Just Like Me

by Dani Hall

  I quickly rearranged so the back of my hoodie was facing him, my gaze on a commercial on the T.V. I kept watching Lisa out of the corner of my eye, she whispered in a low voice to Ben. Something to the effect of: If he starts anything I will hold it over your head forever if you don’t say something.

  And hell would have it that I’d see Lisa’s gaze stop right by our table, I heard a familiar laugh as Chris slid in beside me. Me.

  “Watching for your face on that T.V. screen, Kale?”

  I was frozen. Do I look at him? Do I keep looking at the T.V.? Do I say a word? I finally moved my eyes off the T.V. and towards Lisa. Her eyes were wide. Not a single time since we had been in college had Chris acknowledged my existence.

  “Heard you screwed that zombie kid, I have to say you certainly downgraded your taste.”

  He reached over, like a shameless ass, and took a sip of my coffee.

  “I see your taste in beverage hasn’t changed. Iced mocha, you’ve always been predictable, Kale.”

  “If I screwed the zombie kid it’s none of your business.” I snapped. I still couldn’t look at him.

  I had a flashback to the time at the beach when he had taken pictures with me, kept his arm around me, as if I meant something to him. As if I meant anything to him. How he had shamelessly tossed my affections out like a sack of trash that was stinking up his life. I had never had anyone, never loved anyone. It took me a lot of time to realize that decent people don’t do stuff like that.

  “So you are screwing him?” Chris pressed, I felt his eyes drilling into me.

  “Maybe she is, it isn’t your concern.” Lisa snapped.

  “Stay out of this, Lisa. You always were such a nosey bitch.”

  I finally turned to face him.

  “Don’t talk to her like that. You want to get into it with me? Fine, but you don’t have to snap at her.”

  “Get into it? Right. I never wanted that, Kale. You know that.” He readjusted himself and slid an arm around me. I tried not to physically revolt at his movement. “So what’s so special about this Jett guy?”

  “None of your business, Chris.”

  “Is it because he’s a celebrity? You never were into them before.”

  “I guess I’m not as predictable as you thought I was.”

  I kept counting to ten in my head, over and over, knowing that this couldn’t last forever. He would have to leave. He would have to. I turned my gaze back to the T.V.

  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  “Hoodie and sunglasses inside? You never wore those before either. Huh. I guess you have changed.”

  Seven.

  Eight.

  Nine.

  I watched him in my peripheral as he glanced around Bert’s. He seemed like he was looking for something.

  I took a second to glance around Bert’s as well, trying to figure out what he was looking for. Then I realized…Chris was the type of guy who would do anything for attention. Anything. He mocked me to our friends behind our back during our…whatever it was. He would purposely go out of his way to make me miserable. Maybe even calling up media to get a good shot of Kale Delaney already moving on with another guy.

  “Oh.” The word angrily escaped from my lips as I shut my eyes tight. I wasn’t sure what to do. If I got up and left, would the cameras follow? Should I make a scene and make sure the cameras caught that I wasn’t interested in him?

  I caught Lisa’s eye, she kept flicking her eyes near the doorway. I took a quick glance and noticed a guy, looking like a college student, nonchalantly polishing a camera. But, he wasn’t moving the camera around, it was held steady. I could make out a piece of black tape over where the recording light was probably blinking.

  “Chris.” I said rather loudly. I noticed the camera guy’s eyes look up. “We’re over. And it’s really pathetic that you’d come crawling back like this.”

  I stood up quickly. I would crawl under the table to get out if I had to. Chris looked at me, confused.

  “Move!” I hissed. When he didn’t budge, I hesitated, but then climbed up on top of the table, hopping down into the aisle. I was surprised that I hadn’t kicked off the pizza tray, I’m normally a klutz.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” He thundered, stepping out with me.

  “I’m sick of this. Leave me alone, you stalker.”

  I hurried out of the restaurant, hoping I had done the right thing. I caught sight of the cameraman, looking after me, confused. I had made Chris look bad, which made me feel great. But I had also got the point across that I was not interested in him. I hoped that helped Taylor. Even if I didn’t do the right thing, I hoped it would reflect badly on me instead.

  I was racing to my dorm, and suddenly they were everywhere. Cameras, flashing lights, pops, people, they all crowded around and were shouting demands at me. Are you with Taylor? What is your relationship status with Chris Tanning? Are you and Taylor a couple? Are there any plans to advance your relationship with Taylor?

  On and on they came, and I found myself shoving and pushing my way through the crowd. I saw a break and took it, blasting through the sea of people and racing to my dorm room. I had just made it inside when Mr. Nolan’s number popped up on my cell phone, he was calling me.

  “Mr. Nolan?” I asked.

  “Ms. Delaney, we had word that a cameraman from Star Gaze was at your school. Is everything alright?”

  “Yes…umm…a cameraman? There are more like…dozens of them, Mr. Nolan. Someone I used to be…involved with…called them, I think. He was trying to get a rise out of me, make it look like I was dating him or something. He might’ve been doing it out of spite, but I’m not entirely sure. I’m guessing they may have paid him. But I called him out saying we were over. I had to climb on top of a table to get around him…but I’m out now and heading back to my room. I got surrounded by a whole bunch of people with cameras, but I’m in my dorm building now, and you need to swipe a campus I.D. to get in.”

  “Ok, that’s ok. I’m not sure how this will be interpreted. They didn’t hurt you, did they? Who is this person you said was calling them?”

  “Chris Tanning. Is there any way you can stop him from calling the cameras here?”

  “I can try. Thanks for giving me the information, I’ll call your Chancellor and see if I can get some chat time with Mr. Tanning. Just stay put in your dorm if you can, Ms. Delaney. I’ll call as soon as those cameras are off campus. Just give it some time and they will leave you alone. They will press for a while but once your communication with Mr. Jett stops, they will leave you alone. To insure your safety I will have body guards temporarily sent to your location.”

  “Oh, no-no-no. That’s ok. I don’t need any body guards. Thank-you, Mr. Nolan.”

  By the time I hung up the phone I was at my dorm room, shoving my key into the lock, Lisa and Ben were now behind me.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “Dude…you climbed on top of a table.” Ben exclaimed. “You’re like my new hero.”

  “What the hell was that, Kale?”

  “Chris must have called cameras in. He was trying to make me look bad in front of media, but I’m hoping when I said we were over, it would make him look bad instead. I bet they were paying him. Maybe they found him, somehow.”

  “Good idea. What a jerk. God. I was wondering why he would be talking to you after all this time. I mean, the jerk did break your heart.”

  “Yea, yea. Anyway.” I waved it off. Just my heart, no big deal. “I’m supposed to stay put up here until they can get the cameras off campus. Apparently Taylor’s agent is going to have a talk with Chris.”

  I grinned at the thought. Maybe Mr. Nolan would look as angry as he did last night when he found Taylor in my hotel room. Maybe Chris would leave me alone.

  And then I thought back to what Mr. Nolan had just said…that my contact with Taylor was ending. That everything would be normal soon enough.

  I sighed, feeling my hea
rt sink in spite of myself. If there was any hope…any at all left that Taylor might like me, that was the confirmation I needed. He was moving on, I was moving on. Whatever.

  “So what’s the story with that guy?” Ben asked, sitting down in Lisa’s desk chair. Lisa and I exchanged a look.

  “That’s one story meant for a later day.” Lisa finally answered, forever protecting me. I gave her a grateful look then turned the T.V. on. Joe was on talking about our now infamous date.

  “-two went for a walk on the beach before hitting the movies. It’s said Taylor grabbed a rather large popcorn and soda while Kale only drank water. Is the pressure of Hollywood already making her conscious of her image? I’m thinking so. After the movies they briefly stopped by a restaurant but left early in order to get back to Kale’s hotel. They looked in a big hurry to get up to her room…I guess we’ll find out if the love birds are actually starting a relationship or a simple one night stand.”

  “Dude, you screwed the guy?” Ben asked, glancing from me to the T.V. Sometimes it felt like Ben had no shame.

  “No! That’s the stupid media!” I shook my head, flipping my computer on. “They make up crap. I’m just glad they didn’t say anything about me in the restaurant.”

  “Yea, that would have been bad.”

  I glanced and noticed my phone was blinking with a new message. I dodged to messages and noticed I had one from Chris Tanning (do not text him).

  What the hell is your problem???

  I forwarded the message to Mr. Nolan without a flinch, hoping it might help him in some way.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Mr. Nolan had texted me letting me know it was safe to come out, but I stayed holed up in my dorm the rest of the night. I’ll admit it…I was scared I’d run into Chris. I haven’t been able to face him in two years. After what had happened between us, especially what he had just done, how could I possibly look at him?

  Soon my alarm clock was ranting and raving the next morning. It seemed to be laughing that I had to get up this early. Lisa rolled over and put her pillow over her head, drowning out the sound.

  “Lisa.” I croaked, dragging myself to the closet. “It’s time to get up. You’ve got science or whatever.”

  She groaned.

  “I want to sleep.” She mumbled into the mattress.

  “Me and you both. Now get up.”

  In history everyone was there and accounted for. My history professor ranted and raved about everyone missing Friday (not everyone, I was obviously in attendance. And if he had gone ahead with class I wouldn’t have found Taylor Jett). But everyone grumbled apologies and class continued like normal. No one paid attention to me, and you have no idea how glad I was for that.

  Class ended quickly and I stomped my way back to the dorm. I dragged myself up the steps and through the front doors. I saw a figure standing by the secretary; the secretary was there to sign visitors in and out. We can’t have boys in our room after midnight and of course they have to have a record of who is in what room. The hooded figure, I noticed, had a familiar lean.

  “I just need to figure out when she’s getting back.” I heard Taylor’s voice echo through the halls.

  “I’m sorry, sir. That is private information that we aren’t able to lend out to anyone. I have to follow protocol.”

  He sighed and suddenly glanced behind him, surprised I was standing there. The sunglasses hid the surprise in his eyes, but his body jumped when he realized I was right behind him.

  “I guess I need to sign him in.” I grumbled nodding my head towards Taylor. The secretary gave me a skeptical look, but grabbed her pen.

  “Name?”

  Right, he just asked for my information, how can you not know my name?

  “Kale Delaney, 312B.”

  “Alright. I’ll need some I.D. so I can sign you in, sir.”

  “I don’t have a license.” Taylor said, putting on the best surprised face I had ever seen. “What else can I offer you?”

  “I have to see your I.D. before I can sign you in.”

  “It’s against my religion to have identification. If I died and had identification on me…I’d go to hell.”

  I suppressed a giggle as the secretary glared at him.

  “Fine. What name do you want me to write down?”

  “Zach.” I answered for him. “Zach Coffee. Thanks.” I answered quickly and tugged him toward the elevator.

  “Zach Coffee? I mean, I get the coffee part, but Zach?” He made a hurt face. “I don’t think I look like a Zach.” He feigned being offended.

  “It’s something Lisa and I came up with.” I said as the elevator doors snapped shut. “I didn’t just want to throw your actual name out there around campus.” I pressed three. Taylor observed me doing this, seeming to catalog the information into his brain.

  “Floor three, huh? That information would have been useful say…ten minutes ago.”

  “I wouldn’t have been there.”

  “I could have waited.”

  When the doors opened I dragged him down the hall to our room, 312B. I unlocked the door and shoved him in. He glanced around, interested in our decorations.

  His eyes followed Lisa’s side of the room first. Her pinkalicious princess themed bed and decorations along with her favorite hot guy pictures posted on her walls. Then he looked at my side, my favorite movie posters hung up along my wall and my bedspread was a bright tie-dye.

  “Huh, I never guessed you to be such a hot guy hoarder. I’m impressed.” He teased.

  He stepped in closer, looking at a picture of himself that I remembered Lisa tearing from a magazine a couple days ago.

  “I think we both know that I’m a lot tamer than that.”

  I sat down on my bed and watched as he observed all of Lisa’s boy cut-outs.

  “This guy’s an ass.” He said, pointing at the Jude dude. “This guy’s ok.” He said pointing at a guy I didn’t know the name of.

  “That guy’s an ass.” I said pointing at Taylor’s picture. He rolled his eyes and finally parked in my desk chair.

  “What’re you doing here?” I asked after an awkward beat of silence. I fidgeted and glanced at my clock. When would Lisa get here?

  “You didn’t text me.” He answered, studying my computer. Had it even been 24 hours since I had last seem him?

  “You didn’t have to fly out here; you could have gotten my number from Jerry.”

  “Yea…but that doesn’t seem as romantic.” He pressed the power button on my laptop. He had guts to just be messing with my stuff. I was thankful when the password screen came up. Taylor attempted my password code, but he didn’t guess it. He glanced up at me. “I mean, isn’t this a turn-on? The potential love of your life, soaring across country just to sit in your room and mess with your stuff?”

  “I think the soaring across country bit is a tad exaggerated.” He continued to punch buttons on my computer, trying to unlock it.

  “What’s your password?”

  “Why are you here?”

  He continued tapping keys.

  “Nope, that didn’t work.” He sighed. I gave him a look. He let out a breath, leaning back in the chair and lacing his hands on top of his head. “I heard you had some trouble yesterday with some guy. I wanted to check up and make sure you were ok.”

  “I’m fine.”

  He considered that, he nodded coolly and gazed at my computer screen.

  “Can I cut you a deal?”

  “Depends.”

  “I tell you about Chrissie Fast and you tell me about Chris Tanning.”

  “Funny how they both start with ‘chris’ huh?” He didn’t find it funny. I leaned against the concrete wall and dangled my feet over the side of the bed. I was surprised he even knew Chris’s name. Maybe he was genuinely worried.

  Or maybe I needed to snap out of it.

  “Why do you care about Chris?” I fenced.

  He began wringing his hands and let out a frustrated sigh. “Because…
I…” He rolled his eyes and looked at me. “…care about you, Kale.” He grinned and threw his hands up in mock frustration. “I care about you. And how dare you make me, a manly man, admit that. A man should never reveal his feelings. It is unmanly. I am tough and strong and confident and I shouldn’t have to act all…emotion-y.” He finished his spiel with his bottom lip protruding and his eyes big and sad.

  “Yea, manly. Ok. You first.”

  “How do I know you’ll tell me about Chris?” He accused.

  “I guess you’ll have to find out, huh?”

  He turned back to my computer. “Your sister’s name is Nori?” He asked. I nodded. He spent a moment punching keys on my keyboard, and to my surprise my home screen popped up.

  “What?! Lisa can’t even guess my password.”

  “You said your sister’s name was Nori.” He said.

  “Yea.”

  “Nori is a seaweed wrap. Your password is seaweed. I tried ‘leafy green’ which is what kale means, but that didn’t budge. So then I tried your sister’s definition.” He shrugged, no big deal. “I have to ask how a mother names her two kids after food items. Come to think of it, leafy green items.”

  “She named us both after what she was craving during her pregnancy but couldn’t have. With me, she wanted salad all the time. Something green…but my dad…well, he had control over what food items were in the house. So she had to stuff herself with snack cakes and chips. It made her really sick. She wasn’t about to name me lettuce, so she called me Kale. With Nori…she wanted sushi. All the time. But her doctor said she definitely couldn’t consume raw seafood.”

  “So she named her after the seaweed wrap.”

  “Yea.”

  Taylor went on the internet, pulling up my social network site. I was automatically signed in. He went to the search bar and looked up Chris Tanning. Chris’s page popped up and he viewed a page that showed posts and pictures we had shared. He bit his lip as he went through pictures of us during my senior year. Us at the beach, at a play, at school. He looked at the posts we shared too.