I couldn’t tell if he was joking or bantering or what anymore. I was about to say something to defend myself, but Oliver cut me off.
“…her hair looks awful since you stopped handling it, by the way,” he said.
I was taken aback by his concession. He was giving me footing.
“Wait, really?” I asked, poking at the cherry flavor.
Oliver nodded. “That bish needs to get her house in order. You heard what happened, right?”
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling I’m about to find out,” I muttered. Even though I was trying to act like I didn’t care that much, I was hungry for scraps of gossip about Alina. Maybe this was what it felt like to be Mason…
Oliver leaned in and whispered, “Her and Rachel had some sort of falling out.”
“Wait, you know about that?!” I cried.
“Of course I know about that,” he snapped. “Who do you think she came crawling to be her new Gay Best Friend after she ditched you?”
I pursed my lips. I didn’t like that I could be so easily replaced.
“Anyway, yeah she told me. And she also told me that she and Rachel had some kind of fight. Rachel threatened Alina with some video or something… I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention.”
“You’re a bad friend,” I said dryly.
He shrugged. “Bish came knocking on my door wanting to be friends with me! I didn’t agree with it — I had to work.”
I re-crossed my legs. “So Alina and Rachel are over with. Got it.”
That explained the weird tension in the scene today.
Then, things began to knit together in my mind. Rachel’s husband had something on Reese — some evidence that he was using as blackmail. Could that be about the guys in his basement…?
“I… I have to talk to Reese,” I said suddenly, standing up.
“Wait, what? What the hell Charlie, you can’t just ask me out and then leave—”
“Just go back to work where you want to be!” I snapped, then stormed out of the gelato place.
The only thought that was on my mind was finding Reese. There had to be some misunderstanding with this whole thing; some sort of missing piece of information that would re-color the whole thing.
Reese wasn’t a monster; he couldn’t be.
“Charlie, wait!” Oliver cried from behind me.
I picked up my pace.
“Fine, don’t slow down!” he complained as he caught up. “I’m coming with you.”
“Why? Don’t you have work to do?” I snapped. It may have come out of my mouth harsher than I intended…
“Not right now. I want to get to the bottom of this with you,” he said. “I work for Reese too, remember?”
I nodded begrudgingly. So we were both going to confront him at the same time; this could only go so well.
But Oliver did have a point; he deserved to know, too. We all deserved to know the truth.
When we arrived at Reese’s trailer though, we could hear a charged discussion happening inside.
I raised my hand to knock on the door.
“Charlie, wait—!” Oliver hissed.
But it was too late. I was done eavesdropping; I was done hearing about information from different sources; all the gossip and rumors and lies. That’s the kind of thing that made my high school self miserable.
I knocked on the door.
The voices inside went quiet. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal Reese standing there. Mason was on the couch behind him.
I narrowed my eyes.
Reese looked from me to Oliver, then stepped aside to let us in. It was like he was expecting us all along.
“I think I know what this is about,” he said sharply, his tongue dancing around the words.
I was quiet as I stepped up into the trailer, then took a seat on the couch across from Mason. Oliver sat next to him, looking uncomfortable.
Reese turned to Mason and asked, “happy?”
Mason nodded slowly, looking like his mind was a million miles away.
“You know what, I might as well call the others in here, too. Let’s just announce everything to the whole bloody cast, shall we?” Reese said, running his hand through his hair.
Mason didn’t say anything. He was watching Reese with a strange curiosity on his face. Though, there was an edge missing from it.
He wasn’t trying to create drama. For once he was watching it unfold without being the puppet master.
Reese typed on his phone for a bit as we all waited in silence. A few minutes later, there was another knock on the door. Reese opened it to reveal Crim and Leo standing in the night.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice,” Reese said cordially. “I was hoping Alina could make it too, but we’ll have to make do without her.”
I shifted in my seat as Crim and Leo sat on either side of me. Here I was, surrounded by all of my crushes. Blush rose into my cheeks; I couldn’t help it.
Crim snuck his arm along the back of the couch so that it was draped over the pack of my seat.
I began picking my thumb nervously. In a way, it felt like I was about to get yelled at or something; like I was the one who’d been caught doing something wrong.
Reese straightened his tie, regaining control of the room. “I’m sure you’ve all heard the rumors,” he snapped, glaring at Mason. “So I invited you all here to set things straight. As many of you know, Mason and I used to date.”
“Worst mistake of my life,” Mason grumbled, though there was a look of longing in his eyes whenever he glanced at Reese.
“Your perception of what we had isn’t my responsibility,” Reese said cooly. “But what is my responsibility is your perception of me as your boss.”
I bit my lip, watching Reese as my respect for him increased a little. Maybe he wasn’t a monster after all; maybe this was all a huge misunderstanding.
Leo leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. His
