“You’re a con artist, just like her.”
“Not me,” Sofia says. Her outburst causes me to roll my eyes.
“That’s not true, Quinn. She’s lying.”
I nod. “And so are you, Eleanora. I guess I’m a little better off than my father was though or worse depending on how you look at it. You didn’t have to drug me to fuck you.” With that, I walk past her, bumping my shoulder into hers. I don’t look back, not even when Zeke is calling for me. I just need to get out of here and fast. It’s not until I’m home and I open my door to find my mom sitting on my couch do I break down and cry.
32
Eleanora
It takes seconds for reality to set in. I can accept that I lied to him about my name, but everything else, no. I have no idea what’s going on. I’ve never been so confused in my life about everything that’s happened, and I’m so hurt by Quinn’s words. I look at Sofia, her smug face laughing at me, and then to her mom, who is so out to lunch she doesn’t realize that we’re the only ones in the room. I do though, and rush out the door, yelling after Quinn.
Zeke calls my name, but I ignore him and head out the front door. I have no idea how Quinn got here, I never asked him. We were taking my car back to his place tonight after a drive around to look at the stars. The streets are empty, which doesn’t seem possible for Sunset Blvd, but they are. I look left and then right, and back to my left and nothing. No sign of Quinn.
Back inside, I head to the dressing room and push the door open. I march up to Sofia with my finger pointed at her and spit out, “You!”
“What about me?”
“What have you done and why? Why, Sofia?”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Well, why don’t you fill me in because I have no idea what’s going on and my life literally imploded in this room.”
She looks at her nails as if I’m boring her. “For years I listened to how perfect your life is, how everything was so great. The entire time, you’ve had Roy, but always acted interested in my brother and I hated it. He’s my brother, not yours.”
I hold my hands up. “First off, you sound like you have some incestuous relationship with Quinn, and I know for a fact he’s never met you, so this crush you’re harboring is gross. Second, I loved you like a sister. I thought of you as one, up until I came to see you. When I came here, I was excited to look for your brother because that meant I’d have someone in common with my best friend. There was no hidden agenda. And third, let me remind you, you told me that Quinn wasn’t your brother. I was really confused, but now I know why.”
“Doubt it.”
“No, you see, you tried to throw me off because you were afraid I’d say something about you and your weirdo mother to him.”
Sofia looks behind her where her mother is pacing the floor and talking to herself. It looks like she’s having a full-blown conversation with the air, complete with hand gestures.
“My mom isn’t weird.”
“Really? That’s all you have to say? What about the lies you just told Quinn? I have been nothing but nice to you and you completely railroaded me, making me look like I’m a stalker, like I sought him out and purposely pursued him. None of those things happened, Sofia, but that’s what he thinks right now.”
“Well, I told you I didn’t want you near my brother.”
“That’s not your decision. Quinn’s a grown man.”
“His name’s Charles. Charlie for short,” Alicia says, interrupting us. I look at her and then Sofia.
“Is she even home upstairs, Sofia? Like seriously.”
Sofia looks at her mom. “She just gets confused sometimes.”
“And what about you? Do you always set out to destroy your friends’ lives? Because that’s what you’ve done here, Sofia. You’ve hurt people who didn’t deserve it.”
She laughs. “Clearly by the things my brother said to you, you’ve been doing plenty of lying. Isn’t that right, Nola? Tell me, does he even know about Roy or should I pay him a visit?”
Shaking my head, I step away from her and rest my hand on the doorknob. “You should go back to Arizona, back to your strange house and with your bizarre mom. It’s my mistake for thinking we were friends. I wish I had never met you.”
Her voice stops me before I can exit the room. “But then you wouldn’t know my brother, so I guess you don’t regret it that much, do you?”
There isn’t anything left to say. I go to the employee lounge, punch out, and grab my things. I’m done here, and I’m never coming back. Zeke can keep my paycheck for all that I care.