The Millionaire Myth (17 page)

             
“Jealous? I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous?”

             
Okay, no need to spare my feelings. I tried to ignore the feeling of my self-confidence draining out through my feet. Message received, he was not attracted to me. “Why are you so angry?”

             
“Because Mick is probably on the phone with Trina right now! He's probably telling her that I'm having an affair, which is ridiculous!”

             
Is it physically possible to shrink down to the size of a cell phone? That's what I felt like. No, scratch that, cell phones are sleek and sexy. I more like a stapler; clunky and gathering dust. So far I was a girl that no one would be jealous of, and the idea of sleeping with me was ridiculous. I was starting to wish for Slick again.

             
Drew didn't notice that he'd hurt my feelings. “She's going to want to know what I was doing over here, and I'm going to have to tell her the truth.”             

             
I held up my hand to stop his rant. “Wait a minute! Why is this the end of the world? Can't you just tell her that you were here hanging out with a friend?”

             
He shook his head. “She wont believe me. She's always been the jealous type. She will automatically think we're sleeping together.”

             
“But you told Mick that she trusts you.”

             
“Yeah, only because I was hoping it would keep him from calling her, but I know he did. I'll just tell her the truth.” He ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “I've gotta go. Have a good night.”

             
Without so much as an awkward hug, Drew left my apartment. I stood in the middle of the room, staring at my front door. What had just happened? Five minutes ago, we'd been having a great time. How was it possible that my night had been ruined so quickly?

Chapter 29

              “Boy that Trina sounds like quite a catch. I mean, really, what kind of uptight bitch doesn't trust her boyfriend to have women friends?” Kami was trying to decide on a nail color for her pedicure. She addressed the woman sitting in front of her, “Forget it, just do french. I can paint them a regular color anytime.” She looked back at me. “So you haven't talked to Drew since?”

             
I sighed and leaned back further into my massage chair. “What am I supposed to say? He's the one who stormed out of my apartment. Besides, it's been days, it'd be weird to say anything now.”

             
“And since when have you been bothered by weird?”

             
“What's that supposed to mean?”

             
She shook her head and laughed at me. “Get real Estelle, where should I start? There's the Millionaire Myth (Yeah, Kami had come up with a catchy title for my inheritance lie), then you bone down with Slick,” She turned to me and eyed me over her glasses. “Who has never really been your boyfriend. Then during this whole weird Slick boning time, you meet this other guy, while he is looking at houses with his
girlfriend
.”

             
I cut in, “Hey! I have never done anything with Drew! I-”

             
“Uh-uh!” She let out a sharp whistle. “I'm not finished! So you meet studly Drew, and before you know anything about him, you decide it's perfectly logical to go camping with him. Let's see...” She looked up at the ceiling of the nail salon and started counting on her fingers. “That's one, two, three...um, we're up to about a
billion
things that you've done that are weird!”

             
I crossed my arms in a huff. “It wasn't weird to go camping with him.” Even though I wouldn't look at her, I could see Kami looking at me over her glasses again. “Would you knock that off! Why aren't you wearing your contacts? You look like a librarian, I swear.”

             
Kami pulled the glasses even further down her nose. “A
hot
librarian, thank you very much. That's what Jack says.” She leaned back into her own chair. “Besides, it's my Relaxurday. I didn't want to deal with my contacts.”

             
I rolled my eyes. “Please tell me you don't use that word with anyone but me.”

             
“Of course not. No one else would get it anyway.”

             
“Well that's a relief.” I smiled over at her, laughing as she raised and lowered her glasses. Thankfully, Kami stopped acting like an idiot as a woman sat down in the chair next to her. I noticed that even though Kami smiled in greeting, the woman didn't return it. She just looked at Kami with disgust. Then I noticed she was looking at both of us with disgust.

             
Oh, shit.

             
It was Trina.

             
Trina, who had just heard our entire conversation. Kami and I weren't known for talking quietly, especially when there was no one around us. But she had been around. She'd been sitting at a manicure table not ten feet from us. But her back had been facing us during her manicure.

             
But now her face was facing us and I was screwed. My mouth was instantly bone dry. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a sad little wheeze.

             
Kami leaned closer. “Are you okay? What's wrong with you?”

             
I gritted my teeth and looked at her. I was hoping I could psychically communicate since my verbal communication was temporarily unavailable.

             
“I believe she's trying to introduce us. I'm Trina. The uptight bitch who can't trust her boyfriend.”

             
Like I said,
oh shit.

Chapter 30

             
I'm screwed. I am totally and completely screwed!

             
I paced back and forth in the mall parking lot, waiting for Kami. As I paced in front of her car, I tried to convince myself that the last few minutes had been a dream. I hadn't really vomited all of my private thoughts about Drew with his girlfriend within earshot. I winced as I remembered how Drew had said Trina is a jealous person, and how awful it'd be if she knew about the house. Though he'd never specifically mentioned it, he probably didn't want her to know about the camp out either.
I am screwed.

             
I was about to turn and pace to the other side of the car when I saw Kami, walking out toward me. I froze and watched as she got to the car. She held up her foot which held a black flip flop, and exactly two painted toes. “Thanks for the great Relaxurday, Estelle. I think after this one, I'm going to have to rename it.”

             
“I'm sorry about your toes, but in the grand scheme of things, I think I have bigger problems.”

             
Kami nodded in agreement. “Oh yeah you do. That Trina chick was fuming. I can't believe you high-tailed it out of there and stuck me with the bill.”

             
“I'll pay you back and you know it. C'mon! Tell me what happened after I left?”

             
“Left? You mean after you ran away like a big ol' baby?”

             
I let out a frustrated breath. “Yeah, after I did my chicken run, what happened?”

             
She shrugged and unlocked the car door. “Nothing, really. I mean, I didn't exactly try to have a heart to heart with her. I just gathered up our things and paid the bill. Before I left, I turned and said, 'nice to meet you'.”

             
“Hang on a second. You said, 'nice to meet you'? Why would you do that?”

             
We got into the car as Kami giggled. “I have no idea. I felt like an ass just walking out like that. I wanted to say something.” She shook her head in amusement as she put the key in the ignition. “She didn't seem impressed. She just glared at me.”

             
“Oh, this is not good!” I leaned my head back against the seat and shut my eyes, hoping again that this was a bad dream.

             
“It's not an ideal situation, I'll give you that.”

             
“You are the queen of understatements.”

             
Kami turned the car onto the highway. “Please calm down. I know this is embarrassing, but it's done.”

             
I looked over at her, amazed that she could be so calm. “Are you crazy? This thing isn't done! I've still got to go back into Lawson & Stone on Monday! What am I supposed to do? Just hope that Trina is so mature that she wont immediately call Slick?” I shut my eyes and fought the urge to vomit as the next thought occurred to me. “Oh my god. Kami, she's going to tell Drew. What am I going to say to him? He's going to hate me.”

             
Finally, Kami wasn't so relaxed about everything. “Crap. You're right. I hate to agree with you on this, Babe, but Drew will probably be the first person she tells. He is her boyfriend.”             

             
Kami pulled the car off at the next exit and parked in the nearest gas station. She unbuckled, and turned in her seat to face me. She stretched her neck and met my eyes. “Okay. Here's what you're going to do. I hate to say this, but Drew's not really your concern right now. I know you like the guy, but he's got a girlfriend. You can't do anything about that.” I started to argue but she spoke over me. “What you need to do right now is get ready for work. You've got tomorrow off, right? So, first thing Monday, you go into that office with your head high. You laugh all this off, tell them that of course it was a joke. You just wanted to see how everyone would act.”

             
When she took a breath, I cut in. “They're going to hate me, Kami!”

             
She shrugged. “So what? Didn't they hate you before? Besides, when you think about it, do you really care what they think?”

             
“No. But right now, I really wish the inheritance thing were true, because I DO NOT want to go into work on Monday.”

             
Kami rubbed by back and said, “Honey, it's called the Millionaire Myth.”

Chapter 31
             

              When I heard my alarm go off Monday morning I groaned, feeling like I'd been drugged. I snaked an arm out from under the safety of my blankets and slammed at the alarm until the racket ceased. I just wish it was that easy to solve all the annoyances in my life.

             
I made my way to the bathroom, trying to shake the groggy feeling. I spent the entire night tossing and turning. I was either wide awake, or struggling though weird dreams. As I turned on the shower to scalding, I remembered one particularly disturbing one; Slick and I were in line at Disneyland, and after hours of not moving, they announced that the Small World ride was closed because the canals were clogged with money, and the water couldn't flow. I remember someone tapped me on my shoulder, it was my 5
th
grade teacher, Ms. Brown, shaking her head with disdain, and saying, “Money ruins everything.”

             
I tried to shake off the creepy feeling of the dream as I got in the shower. The hot water went a long way toward waking me up, but unfortunately, there was no temperature setting that would lift my spirits.

             
Even though I tried to stall my morning routine, it wasn't long before I had to leave for work. I seriously considered just not showing up the entire way there. Even as I put on my blinker to pull into the parking lot, I fantasized about going straight. But I knew I couldn't. I had to go in there and deal with the fall out, and then I had to find a new job.

             
I parked my car right next to Gina's silver SUV. I was grateful to see her waving at me from her driver's seat. When I called her on Sunday to tell her what had happened she'd promised to meet me this morning. Safety in numbers.

             
I got out of my car and locked it, but I didn't move a muscle until Gina was right next to me. She smiled at me and gave my arm a squeeze. “You ready for this?”

             
I shook my head as I looked at the large glass doors of Lawson & Stone. “Nope.” I looked over at her. “Maybe by some miracle Slick took pity on me and didn't say anything to anyone?”

             
“No such luck.” Gina showed me her phone. “I got an email last night after you told me everything. Looks like Slick sent it company wide. He told all the details to everyone. Sorry.” Gina tugged lightly on the arm she still had in her grasp. “Don't worry about it. You know I'm here for you, right?” She let go of my arm and ran back around to the driver's side of her car.

             
I watched her unlock the door. “Seriously? You just said you'd be here for me. Did you change your mind?”

             
“No, just hang on.” Her voice was muffled as she leaned into her car. She came back around and handed me a paper gift bag.

             
I took the bag, but was too confused to open it. “What's this about?”

             
“I just thought you might need a little pick me up. When I saw this I thought it was perfect.”

             
I opened the bag and pulled out a black t-shirt. When I unfolded it, I saw two stick-figures in bright white, one was holding a stick in his hand, and the other stick-figure was just a head and two legs. At the bottom of the shirt it said,
I got your back.
It was actually really cute, and made me laugh for the first time in days. “Aw, I love it. Thanks, Gina!”

             
She laughed too. “I thought it was so cute when I saw it, I couldn't resist.”

             
I put the shirt back in the bag and set it in my car. “I'm taking this as written proof that you're going to back me up in there.”

             
“Like you ever had any doubt. Let's just get in there and get this over with.”

             
We walked toward the doors, Gina pulling me along behind her. “C'mon you big baby!”

             
“Oh, alright. It won't kill me right?”

             
Gina gave me one last grin. “Pretty sure you'll live.” With that she pulled open the glass doors and we stepped into enemy territory.

             
Deserted enemy territory. Everyone must have been in their offices or the conference room, because the reception area was vacant. I looked at Gina for guidance, but she just shrugged. I figured I may as well just get along with my morning. I was here to work, so the best thing was to probably just get to it. I set my bag down on my office chair and went into the back to get some coffee.

             
Slick was in the back room. So much for my plan to act like everything was normal. Obviously waiting for me, he looked like a tiger eying his prey. His expression stayed cold as he greeted me, “Morning, Estelle.”

             
Fight or flight, fight or flight.

             
If only flight was an option. “Morning Mick.”

             
“Surprised to see you here this morning. From what I hear, you had a pretty stressful weekend. Must be hard trying to keep all your lies straight.”

             
I took a deep breath, and pulled my shoulders back, looking him right in the eyes. “Mick, I know Trina talked to you. I know you know about everything. I also know you're probably furious at me. I never should have let this go so far, I...”

             
Slick moved to a chair and sat down calmly. He leaned back in the chair and looked at me. I kept waiting for him to say something, but he remained silent. The room was so quiet it made me feel like I had to fill the void somehow. I chose to fill it by rambling. “I never meant for anyone to be hurt. This was just supposed to be a joke. I mean, you all ignored me every day, and when this idea occurred to me, I couldn't resist. I just wanted to see what you all would do.”

             
Finally he spoke, “Bet you really had a lot of fun Estelle, making us all perform like trained monkeys. Dangling your inheritance money like a great big carrot. I'm glad to know that we could amuse you.”

             
I was struggling for something to say when I heard Gina's voice, “Hell, Mick, who said you had to perform at all? Stella never forced you or anyone else into anything. You all turned into monkeys on your own.” She had been leaning against the doorjamb of the coffee room. She shrugged off of the wall and walked toward Slick. “Did it ever occur to you that if you had treated Stella like a human being from the beginning, that she never would have felt the need to do any of this?”

             
Mick scoffed. “Are you really defending her, Gina? Aren't you pissed that she made a fool out of all of us?”

             
Gina stood for a moment, considering his words. “Nope. I'm not pissed. But then, she didn't make a fool out of me. Stella told me about everything months ago. And I have to say that I can see why she did it. It's been really entertaining.” She looked at him with a big smile on her face, relishing in the satisfaction of knowing she'd pulled one over on him too.

             
At first Slick looked stunned that she'd kept this from him, but it didn't take him long to recover. His shock morphed into his famous grin. The one he used when he knew he was going to win the battle.

             
As Gina saw his smile appear, hers faded. She knew that grin as well as I did. “What, Mick?”

             
“Oh, it's nothing really. I just just find it ironic that you've been keeping this big secret about Stella. And how you've been enjoying the way she's humiliated me.” He took his phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me for one second, won't you?” He texted someone, then slid the phone back into the pocket of his suit jacket. Gina tried to ask him what he was doing, but he held up one finger. “Give it a second.”

             
A second was all it took. Gina heard her phone beep and she looked at the screen. “'Get to the coffee room immediately'? Mick this is from you. Why did you text me this?”

             
He shook his head. “Oh no, I didn't just send it to you. I sent it to all the agents. I wanted to make sure that everyone was here for the big news.”

             
I could tell from the evil tone in his voice that Slick was about to do something horrible, and I knew this time it wasn't going to be aimed at me. He'd already aired my dirty laundry to the entire staff. I was afraid that this time he had Gina in his sights.

             
I wanted to stop him somehow, but unfortunately, time was slipping away from me. I could hear the rustling of feet and quiet chatter of the dozen agents headed down the hallway toward the coffee room. When Slick gave an order people followed it. Tess was the first one to round the corner and enter the room. She walked over and stood by him. She looked over at me and smiled. “I gather this little meeting is about Stella and her propensity to make up stories?”

             
Slick smiled back at her. “Not quite. This little meeting
is
about secrets though. Seems that Gina has known all along about Stella's creative imagination, but decided it was better to keep it to herself.” His voice rose enough for the entire room to hear, “I thought it would be fair that I share the secret I've been keeping too.”

             
I knew there was probably nothing I could do to stop him, but I had to try. “Mick, please don't do this. I know you're angry at me, but don't take it out on anyone else. This is all my fault, you know that.”

             
He tore his eyes from Gina to look at me. “Oh, I do know that. And I want everyone here to remember that all of this was caused by you. You are such a useless waste that you had to lie to get attention. Well, just remember, you brought all this on.” He turned back to Gina and clapped his hands together with excitement. “Now, back to my secret. Gina, I am so glad that you've enjoyed watching Stella toy with me like a ball of yarn. That makes me feel better about all of this. After all, since you like it when women play with men, you should be thrilled to know that a woman has been playing with
your
man.”

             
Gina tried to follow Slick's words, but she had a hard time keeping up. “Mick, I don't know what you're talking about.”

             
“Forgive me. I didn't mean to be vague.” He turned his head and grinned at Tess, who suddenly looked like she was going to pass out. “To put it simply, Tess has been sleeping with your husband, for what?” He counted on his fingers. “Eight, nine months? Something like that?”

             
Tess started shaking her head and argued, “That's a lie! Gina, you have to believe me, he's making this up!”

             
Slick shook his head. “She's right, that was heartless of me. After all, I don't know exactly
how
long they've been sneaking around, it was careless of me to guess like that. I mean, it was about nine months ago that I first saw Tess's head bobbing up and down in the front of that green Hummer. I can't guarantee that they were doing anything specific, but Steven sure seemed to be enjoying Tess's...talents.”

             
Slick grinned as he watched Gina take in what she'd just heard. She slowly turned to look at Tess, her eyes wet, tears threatening to fall. “Did you do this Tess? Did you sleep with Steven?”

             
Tess kept shaking her head. She'd been shaking it since Slick stopped talking. “Gina, No! I wouldn't do that to you.” As she spoke she looked from Gina to Slick, who was still grinning. “He's lying Gina, he's only doing this to screw with us.”

             
Slick shook his head. “Tess, you're on a sinking ship right now. Just give it up. You've been terrified for months that I'd tell Gina.” He looked at Gina. “She's been less scared lately though. Looks like you and old Steve-o are breaking up. She's been looking forward to replacing you.”

             
Gina took a step closer to Tess. “How would Mick know about Steven and I, Tess? I know I haven't told him.”

             
Tess looked at Gina, pleading, “Gina, listen to me, okay? I didn't mean for this to happen...”

             
Gina held up a hand, silencing Tess. It was odd that a room with so many people in it could be so silent. Everyone was shocked and waiting to see what would happen next. Gina stared at Tess for a few seconds, deciding what to say. Her face was so full of anger it looked like she might explode. Then finally she did. She took a deep breath and screamed at Tess, “I can't believe you! I always knew you were a liar, but I had no idea you'd stoop this low! You spent months trying to convince me to leave Steven, and now I know why! You are such a whore!”

             
Tess came back at Gina immediately, “Don't talk to me like that! I didn't mean to have this happen, Steven and I...we just-”