by Saba Kapur
“Who?” Aria asked, and Veronica gave a little sigh.
“Cops?” I exclaimed, as if it was ridiculous for them to even think that way. “Dr. D? No! That’s crazy talk! These guys are . . . the Los Angeles Pest Department. I think we have termites.”
It was definitely one of my better on-the-spot explanations. It deserved a gold star at the very least. Aria made a face and inched closer to Veronica, as if bugs were suddenly going to burst out from under the floorboards and attack her.
“Oh, hey guys,” Jack padded into the living room with a relaxed smile on his face. Aria and Veronica both greeted him with genuine warmth, but Brendan actually groaned a little.
“Don’t you have a house of your own?” he snapped at Jack.
“Is that an invitation to move in with you?” Jack replied. “Because I accept.”
Aria and Veronica both gave quiet laughs, but I didn’t even crack a smile. It was hard enough dealing with the two boys when they pretended to like each other. Now that they were being open about their hatred, it was going to be ten times worse!
“Isn’t there somewhere private we can talk?” Brendan asked, giving me an exasperated look.
“The house is kind full right now with the pest department . . .”
“Pest department?” Jack said, raising his eyebrows.
“Yes, Jack,” I shot him a go with it look. “The pest department. We can talk outside if you want.”
“The pest department’s van is blocking your driveway,” Veronica told us.
“Yeah, good luck getting past that thing,” Aria added, inspecting her nails. “Besides, I’m staying for this conversation. I drove you all the way over here, Brendan. I’m not your chauffer.”
I caught Veronica’s eye but looked away immediately. Aria may have bought that lie, but Veronica could see right through me. I was waiting for her to call me out, but she stayed silent, and I found myself more grateful for her than I had ever been before her.
“Oh for cryin’ out loud!” Brendan exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Fine! Everyone can stay.” He turned to me with an intense look and said, “Gia, I’m dropping out of school.”
“What?” everyone in the room said at once. We all looked at each other, as if our brains had suddenly connected and morphed into one.
“I’m moving to Texas.”
“I’m sorry, what was that?” I said, scared that I may have heard correctly.
“I got a job on a cowboy TV show!”
“What in the actual—” Aria began.
“Hell?” Jack finished for her. “You got hired to be on TV?”
“Dude,” Brendan said, trying to remain calm. “I play a lot of sports. I will not think twice about kicking your ass. You want to take this outside?”
“You can’t, the pest department van is blocking the driveway,” I reminded him.
“’Cause I will take this outside if you want me to!” Brendan continued.
“You can’t,” I repeated, rolling my eyes. “The pest department van is—”
“What are you going to do?” Jack sneered, ignoring me. “Throw your ping pong ball at me?”
“Hey!” Brendan cried, rising to his feet. “I am a four-time champion!”
“Enough!” I exclaimed. “Jack, shut up. Brendan, are you insane? You can’t drop out of school! We only have a few months left!”
Brendan glared at Jack for a few more seconds before reluctantly turning his attention back to me. “Gia, this could be my big break. I’ve been trying to get into the industry for forever, and I finally scored this opportunity. It’s not a big role, but it’s enough for me to take a risk.”
“Brendan,” I said, trying to be patient with his stupidity. “That’s great and all, but I don’t think you’ve thought this through. I mean, it’s Texas! Texas! You’ve lived in Hollywood your entire life! How are you going to live in Texas?”
“I’ll adjust!”
“So when you say it’s not a big role . . .” Jack prompted, and I shot him a warning look.
“If you must know, I play a horse trainer on the show. My character’s name is Cowboy Stan,” Brendan replied haughtily.
“Stan?” Aria said, making a face. “Boy, that’s unfortunate.”
“No, cowboy, that’s unfortunate,” Jack told her, and Veronica and Aria giggled at his lame joke, despite half-assed attempts to keep it in.
Okay, that one had been kind of funny. But poor Brendan was clearly not enjoying the conversation, and I didn’t need to make it worse. But seriously, who’s ever heard of a cowboy named Stan? Doesn’t the Big Book of Cowboy Baby Names only contain Bill, Billy, Bob, Bobby and Howard? There’s no Stan on that list!
“You can laugh all you want,” Brendan said to my friends and Jack. “But when I’m famous, you’ll all be sorry.”
“What do your parents think about this?” I asked, fully aware that it could not have gone down well in his house.
“They weren’t pleased,” he admitted. “I don’t think my dad will ever speak to me again. But I have some relatives who live in Austin and I’m moving in with them. My parents don’t really have a choice. I’m eighteen; I can do what I want.”
Somehow I thought that the police and parents around the world would disagree, but hey, he had made up his mind. There was obviously no way I was going to stop him now.
“So, I guess we’re breaking up, then?” I asked, taking a wild guess.
Two police officers walked past the living room and disappeared through the front door. Hopefully they were almost done with their inspection so I could kick everyone out and bury my head under a pile of pillows.
“Well, I was thinking,” Brendan said, suddenly looking excited. “Why don’t you come with me?”
Everyone in the room was silent for a few seconds. Jack coughed quietly.
“Come again?” I said, checking to make sure I had actually heard that correctly.
“You don’t have to drop out,” Brendan explained. “But you could apply to colleges in Texas and come live with me! I think it could really work!”
I couldn’t think of a nice way to say “hell no, you must be absolutely delusional,” so I kept quiet for a few seconds. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings or anything, but if Brendan thought I was going to become Cowgirl Stan, he had another thing coming.
“Brendan, I’m not moving to Texas with you. I’m sorry but that’s just never going to happen.”
“Can I just say something?” Jack asked, raising his arm as if he was in elementary school.
“No!” Brendan and I said at the same time.
“Fine,” Jack replied, making a motion of pulling a zip across his lips, which were curved into a wide grin.
“Just think about it!” Brendan pleaded.
“Brendan, I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “I—I’m sorry, but I just can’t!”
Brendan gave me a defeated look. “So this is really it then?”
“Looks like it.”
“Does it have to be?”
“I’m sorry, Brendan.”
Aria and Veronica awkwardly exchanged looks with Jack, who was finding this whole situation incredibly amusing. I actually felt a sudden wave of sadness sweep over me. Okay, so Brendan and I didn’t have an amazing Katherine Heigl-worthy love story. But we had a pretty good “like story.” I had spent all this time thinking Brendan and I were going to have a mutual breakup; end things as friends because we both knew it wasn’t working out. But clearly we hadn’t been on the same page. I had just dumped someone! I had never done that before.
“I think I should go,” Brendan said quietly. “I leave next week, so I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Next week?” Veronica asked him in surprise. “That’s so soon!”
Brendan shrugged and I felt even worse. He looked so sa
d, and I didn’t feel nearly as guilty as I should have for neglecting him ever since Jack had moved in.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” I told him, even though it was about fifteen seconds away.
“No that’s okay,” he said. “I know the way out.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Milo walked into the living room and cut me off.
“We found a total of eight bugs so far; two in your bedroom,” Milo informed me. He turned to look up at my friends in surprise. “Oh! Sorry, I didn’t know you had guests.”
“Oh my gosh, EW! Bugs?” Aria cried, running for the front door. “I’m waiting in the car! Just don’t come near me!”
It took me a few moments to overcome the fact that Aria had actually believed the pest department cover-up before finally turning my attention back to the real issue at hand. Aria must really hate bugs if she hadn’t even noticed how hot Milo was. Brendan gave me one last sad look and followed Aria, leaving Milo, Veronica, Jack and I standing in the living room.
“Was it something I said?” Milo whispered to me.
“No, that’s okay,” I assured him.
“That’s my cue. Good luck with the bugs,” Veronica said and gave me a quick hug. “Call me.”
I promised I would and watched her walk out the door, my head spinning in confusion. I had ended things with Brendan. I was prepared for this. But for some reason, I still felt so empty and sad. Maybe it was because I knew Brendan hadn’t taken it well, or maybe it was because he was one of the very few normal things left in my life. I didn’t mind all the new entries, particularly the good choice in men that the LAPD had. But my life had gotten pretty crazy in the last few weeks, and it felt like everything was passing me by at an incredible speed.
“Well that was . . .” Jack began, struggling to find the right word to describe what had just happened.
“Abrupt,” Milo finished for him.
I wheeled around to face both of them with a defeated look on my face. Both men were looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to cry or laugh or just say something. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what I could say. Some psycho freak had somehow managed to get into my house and plant listening devices all over the place, I had just dumped my boyfriend who wanted to make me his cowgirl bride, and now I was very much single and had two painfully attractive guys standing a few feet away from me. I was a complete and utter mess.
“Who was that?” Milo whispered to Jack.
“Who?
“The sad one.”
“Nobody!” I replied for him. Milo didn’t need to know about my relationship with Brendan. Or lack thereof now.
“Are you okay?” Jack said finally, actually looking a little scared that I was going to throw a lamp against a wall or something.
“Yeah.” I said with a shrug, struggling to keep my emotions in check.
The LAPD seemed to have completed their job because they were slowly making their way out of the house and loading up their van with their intricate devices and black thingy-ma-bobbies.
“Any more?” Milo asked a passing officer.
The officer held up two tiny electronic bugs in his gloved hand, exactly the same as what was in Milo’s hand. “One in the master bedroom. I think Andrews has some more with him” he replied, before leaving along with his fellow cop friends.
“That’s insane!” I cried, turning to Milo. “How could he have even gotten into the house?”
“Was there anyone who came over recently? Someone that isn’t a good friend, or maybe an unexpected visitor?” Milo asked.
“Not really,” I said with a frown. “Not that I can remember.”
Milo nodded grimly and said, “Who has access to your entire house besides your family?”
“Just Anya and the housekeepers. But they’re completely harmless. I mean, Anya has been with us for almost eight years!”
“We’ll need to interview all the housekeepers anyway, just to be sure. Anyone else?”
“That’s it,” I replied with a shrug. “Oh, and the bodyguards I guess.”
Milo looked at Jack thoughtfully, before nodding slowly. He had an assessing look on his face as he sized Jack up. Surely he didn’t think one of the bodyguards was to blame! I mean, Jack was annoying and frustrating and probably capable of some form of evil, but I highly doubted he’d gone around my whole house planting listening devices for himself or anyone. Kenny, I’d probably believe a little more. He was really scary with his beady eyes and his bulging muscles. But every muscly, beady-eyed guy can’t be presumed an evil genius just because of his unhelpful features.
My parents were standing in the hallway near the front door, talking to another police officer that was filling them in and most likely asking the same questions Milo had just asked me. Up ‘til now, it seemed that Ao Jie Kai was the prime suspect. But Milo looked like he had just found another one. Jack wasn’t an idiot; obviously he had noticed the intense look Milo had been giving him. But thankfully he kept his mouth shut and pretended to be overly interested in a painting hanging in the living room.
“We’ll send these to the lab,” Milo told me after a few, excruciatingly awkward minutes of silence. “Maybe we can find some fingerprints. But mostly it gives us a good indication of how far this guy is willing to go, and how high-tech.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t really understand what he was talking about. If planting listening devices didn’t already tell us Dr. D was a lunatic, then I don’t know what would have. Milo’s lips curved into a half smile and my heart did its break dancing thing for a few seconds, before he left the living room and walked toward my parents.
“He thinks I did it, doesn’t he?” Jack asked, the moment Milo was out of earshot.
“Jack!” I exclaimed. “That’s ridiculous. Of course he doesn’t.”
“He gave me a look!”
“Don’t be so dramatic. He didn’t give you anything.”
Jack looked at me knowingly. “Gia.”
“Okay fine! He gave you a look.”
“What would you do if I actually had done it?” Jack asked, and I looked at him.
“What?” I replied. “Planted all these listening devices in my house for some psycho freak to listen in on everything that happens so that he can call me later on and freak the living daylights out of me?”
Jack thought about it for a few seconds. “Yeah, that seems about right.”
“I’d kick your ass.”
“I’d love to see you try that.”
Whatever sadness I had experienced five minutes ago had passed and I was actually really glad it was over. I mean, yeah that was a bit quick, but whatever. You can’t dwell on the past. Now I could focus on the more important things in life, like my stalker, my schoolwork, and potential colleges. Oh, and my future life with Milo Fells, and naming our two children. I may even name one of them Stan, in honor of Brendan. Okay, that’s a joke. I’m not naming my kid Stan.
“He can run all the background checks he wants on me,” Jack said, as we both watched closely as Milo and other officer talked to my dad. “But he’s not going to find what he wants.”
I cocked up an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Well,” Jack replied, with a nonchalant shrug. “You dig deep enough you can find anything on anyone.”
“Even on you?”
Jack smiled, his gaze still on Milo. “Especially on me.”
Chapter Twelve
It was already past noon on Thursday, and I was still lying in bed, half asleep. Only two days had passed since the Brendan break-up and I was already contemplating making plans to go partying with another guy on Saturday night. Congratulations to me, I am a terrible person. A terrible person that would, however, still go party with another guy, despite accepting that it may be considered insensitive. Especially because it was the same night as said ex-boyfriend’s f
arewell party. Look, he was running off to become a cowboy and leaving me behind with all my troubles. Brendan wasn’t allowed to be offended.
In the meantime, I needed to get my act together and do something productive with my life, because lying in bed all day, eating junk and watching Netflix, was not a good use of my time. Mom had pointed out that strawberries did not count as a healthy snack if they were drenched in chocolate, but as long as there was fruit involved, I was making good life choices. If my borderline dangerous levels of fitness weren’t bad enough, my extreme lack of motivation to catch-up on schoolwork was really becoming a problem. Staying at home and procrastinating had resulted in a pile of homework the size of the Empire State Building to mount on my desk, only nobody proposed or filmed romantic movie scenes at the top of it. Plus, Famous needed a bath, I was still not allowed past the mailbox and I was still being stalked. Good times all around.
What I really couldn’t deal with was why Milo suspected Jack to be involved in the stalking. I even reasoned with myself that he didn’t, and I had just taken his look the wrong way. I mean, people give each other looks all the time! That doesn’t mean they always convey what they’re meant to. His thoughtful nodding could have meant anything really. Like, maybe he liked Jack’s outfit, or he was thinking about what to have for dinner. Maybe he was thinking about making Jack a groomsmen at our wedding. Who knows?
Either way, there was no way Jack planted those creepy listening devices, and there was even less chance of him actually being Dr. D himself. Absolutely no way in heck. Okay, maybe a slight way in heck. Maybe it was Chris. He barely spoke! He was always just present, but never really a participant. It made sense. Lurking in the background? Check. Thought I was attractive but never outright showed it? Check. Had full access to my house? Check. Those were all features of a potential undercover stalker. Then again, maybe it was Kenny. But being buff and scary looking wasn’t a crime. Plus, anyone who gets teary when Oprah gives away a free car can’t be evil. Oprah brings out the best in all of us.
The sound of my phone violently buzzing on my bedside table broke into my sleepy thoughts, and I clumsily reached for it with a groan. Without opening an eyelid, I answered the call, sliding the screen like a pro.
