Page 82 of Unmasking My Dark Knight

“You said you wouldn’t get mad! They’re here in your possession now, aren’t they?” I said. “Nothing happened to them.”

She checked the box, pulling out both wedding bands, inspecting them in the dim light we had. “You make a valid point. I’m just shocked my maid of honor lost them after she promised me she was the safest person to hold onto them.” She arched her brow.

I hunched my shoulders. “Sorry! I swear!”

“You’re forgiven. No use being mad at something that already happened. Tell me what you were going to say.” She closed the box and tucked it into her robe pocket.

“Well… I met someone because I lost the rings?” It came out more as a question than a statement.

She squinted. “Please tell me it’s someone more interesting than Antonio.”

“What’s wrong with Antonio?” I scoffed, not really needing a reason. We already knew the answer.

“Nothing at all!” Tallulah said, sounding supportive. “He’s just… there, you know what I mean? Both of you are.” She looked around the room as if searching for the perfect words to explain it. “When you two were carving pumpkins together, it was like watching two hamsters forced to live in the same cage at the pet store. These cute little creatures mandated to interact with nowhere to go.”

“At least he’s a rich hamster…” I argued.

“That’s a bit bleak, Ivy Jade.”

“Who cares? It doesn’t matter; it’s not him anyway,” I waved off, massaging her feet. “Remember how I told you I fell down a ditch and a clown performer helped me that night when we all went to the amusement park?”

Tallulah shook her head eagerly. “Sounds hot! Is he the someone you met? Ivy Jade with a clown performer! Ow-ow!”

“Shut up, you lame bitch,” I told her. We both cackled like witches up to no good. “Long story short. I’ve been going back to the Scare Park every night to find the rings, and the performer has been helping me. I… ended up having a crush on him. NOT ANYMORE THOUGH. It was such a horrible idea!”

“Why was it horrible?” she asked.

“Literally, Tal, he freaked out on me tonight, and we sorta had a huge argument.”

“What’d you say to him?”

“How can you be so sure it’s me?” I huffed, throwing her feet off my lap.

“Damn, okay.” Tallulah brought her legs back around and sat facing me. “Because of your poor attitude. When you don’t get your way, you’re kind of a grouch, and that’s putting it nicely.”

“I was just telling him the truth!” I defended myself.

“What truth?”

“That I can’t see him anymore, and that having sex with him was a mistake.” I winced as I said it. I couldn’t believe I said those things to him; he didn’t deserve that.

“Sex with a hot clown? Ivy Jade! You’re a bad girl,” she nudged my arm.

“Hardly. Mami made some good points. I can’t be with someone like him or Ro because they aren’t cut from the same cloth as… our family. I couldn’t take that kind of risk on a stranger or my future.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… Ro? What does Ro have to do with any of this? Also… your precious Mami can fuck off.” Now Tallulah was mad.

I gasped. “What did she do?”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Just… tell me about Ro, then we’ll move on to me. Okay?”

I frowned at her. “Okay, well… Ro and I may have gotten close.”

“Shut the fuck up! How close!?” she shrieked happily. “I knew you’d get over whatever mental image you had of him, and get it on with him. He’s a hottie, right? Like the sexy, tortured Robert Pattinson Batman, kind of tortured.”

I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Tallulah. I’m supposed to be with Antonio. Neither Ro nor High Jynx fit the bill, and…” I paused to take a breath. “You already know if I don’t marry him, then I’m royally fucked. We've talked about it for over eleven years now. They’ll cut me off, and I can’t live without their support. I can’t do anything on my own. Not really.”

Tallulah stood up, pacing back and forth. Her anxious energy was palpable. “See, this is why I never liked your mom. She’s so wicked with her traditional viewpoint in life that she can’t even let you and Gustav just live your lives!”