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“Noah…as in your ex, Noah? That’s who the guy is stepping in for Luke?”
“You didn’t know who he is?”
Stacey shakes her head. “Marc said he asked one of his friends after Luke dropped out. I trusted he could handle it; I had my hands full with my mom and everything else. I didn’t ask. It’s…wow.”
I nod. “It’s crazy, right?” I can’t believe something like this slipped through the cracks. I can’t believe no one worried about who the replacement would be when image is so important.
“They trust Marc,” Stacey says as if she knows what I’m thinking. “He knows what this game is all about; he’s in the spotlight a lot. He reassured us he would find someone newsworthy.”
I snort. “I guess Noah could be newsworthy.”
Stacey shakes her head. “Tell me what happened.”
I start telling her what happened with Brett, how things got serious between us, and how he betrayed my trust now.
“You can’t blame the guy for it,” Stacey finally says.
I stare at her. “What?”
“This is early days, Jen. You need time to get to know each other. You can’t just assume he’s going to share everything with you because you slept together a few times and said you might want to take it further.”
I’m getting angry. “You’re supposed to take my side,” I say.
“I’m on your side,” Stacey says. “But you have to be realistic. Relationships that are built on trust don’t just happen overnight. You know that. Brett might have messed up, but if Noah was his best friend back then and you’re the girl…I can see how it gets complicated.”
“But he told me he wouldn’t hide something from me.”
“Why would he say that?” Stacey asks.
“Because I asked him to,” I say. “It was just after I told him about Marc and his—” I cut myself off.
“And his what?” Stacey narrows her eyes.
I shake my head. I’ve gone too far.
“It’s nothing,” I say.
“No, tell me,” Stacey says.
I can lie to her. I can tell her something else so that it’s no big deal. But she’s my best friend. I can’t do that to her. I wanted to tell her about this from the start. Brett is the one who said I shouldn’t. I’m starting to see now that keeping secrets is his thing. I shouldn’t have listened to him in the first place.
“Marc’s fixing games,” I say.
Stacey pales. “What?”
I tell her what happened when I overheard him on the phone. The more I talk, the whiter Stacey becomes until she looks like she’s going to faint.
“I’m so sorry, Stace,” I start.
“How could you?”
“What?” I’m confused that she’s upset with me.
“How could you not have told me this?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
Stacey shakes her head. “You’re a hypocrite; you know that?”
