I Find Myself in You

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” Joe said slowly. We were sitting on my couch after bowling. The guys had come over to hang out a bit. It was nice to have them here again, to be able to talk to them, and laugh with them, and just be here with them again. It almost made whatever Jesse would retaliate with worth it. “He’s blackmailing you into going out with him by saying he’d tell everyone you and I were really together?”

“Pretty much,” I said, nodding.

“Are you serious?” Joe asked, his tone hysterical.

“No she’s lying,” Nick rolled his eyes. “She just spent like 20 minutes telling us the whole story. Do you think she’s serious?”

“Even I got that Joe,” Kevin smirked.

“Not what I meant guys,” Joe rolled his eyes. He looked at me, his expression angry. I cringed a bit under his gaze. I knew he was probably mad that we were linked together, it probably hurt him. “Why didn’t you just let him?”

“W-what?” I asked, taken back. That was definitely not the response I had been expecting.

“It’s not that big a deal,” he rolled his eyes. “I get linked with celebrities all the time. Apparently I went through a heartbreaking breakup with Emma Watson last week.”

Nick laughed. “Oh yeah, and the week before you were moving in with Carrie Underwood.”

“Oh remember when he was declaring his undying love for Queen Latifa?” Kevin added.

He and Nick started dying with laughter. Joe and I just stared at them until Nick sobered up and cleared his throat. “Our point is the media seems to be linking you with everybody.”

Joe rolled his eyes and looked at me. “Exactly. Being linked with you wouldn’t be a big deal. I’ve seen the worst of it when I was apparently turning gay for Chase Crawford.”

“Yeah but neither of those,” I stopped, his words catching up to me. “Wait, the media really said you were going to go gay for Chase Crawford?”

“I think it’s cause he’s jealous that I’m better looking them him,” he said smugly.

I laughed, and rolled my eyes. “Right, whatever you say Joe. But yeah, I mean none of those incidents have actual pictures of evidence.”

Nick looked as if he was thinking about it. “That’s true,” he said.

“Still doesn’t matter,” Joe insisted. “The fact is that you let the cheating asshole blackmail you for nothing.”

“Gee thanks for your comforting words,” I mumbled.

“You’re going to set him right now, right?” Joe asked hopefully.

“I guess I’ll have to,” I sighed. “I just – I know he’s going to make it seem like I’m the sleaze in all of this, cheating on him. He hurt me so bad and I’ll still look like the bad guy.”

Joe stared off into space for a second. I watched as his eyes brightened and he looked at Nick. “What if--,” he started.

But Nick cut him off. “Way ahead of you,” he said, pulling out his phone.

“It could work,” Joe grinned.

“Um what could work?” I asked. I was so lost. I looked at Kevin. He looked as lost as I was.

“Lainey you want the world to know Jesse cheated on you, not the other way around, right?” Joe asked me.

“Well yeah,” I said. “What are you going to do?”

“We are going to show the world exactly that,” he grinned excitedly.

“Oh really?” I asked skeptically. “How so?”

Joe scoffed. “A little trust please.”

“Thanks man,” Nick said, hanging up his phone. He grinned at us. “They’ll be here tomorrow.”

This seemed to throw Joe off too. “Wait, what will be here tomorrow?”

“That’s not part of your plan?” I questioned.

Nick smiled slyly. “They are. The surveillance equipment to spy on him and get him to admit he cheated on Lainey, not the other way around. Then we can give the footage to every gossip source in the country and bam! Lainey’s cleared.”

Joe groaned, and smacked his forehead. “Nick, you retard. That wasn’t the plan.”

Nick looked confused. “Wait, what?”

I was so confused now. “What is going on?”

Joe sighed. “I thought you were calling Miley.”

“Miley?” Nick and I said at the same time. This seemed to throw us both off. I recovered first. “Why the hell would he call Miley?”

Joe shifted uncomfortably. “You um didn’t know?”

“Know what?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

“Nick and Miley,” Joe tried to laugh. It came out as a snort. “They um go out.”

“What?” I rounded on Nick. He was looking at the ground, his face red. “You –you go out?”

“Um, haven’t you been seeing the tabloids lately?” Nick asked nervously.

“Well yeah, but I thought it was one of those linking things,” I said slowly.

“Well um, it wasn’t,” he said. “Surprise!”

I crossed my arms and glared at him before rounding on Joe. “Why would he be calling her now for this?” Suddenly his plan was becoming more and more obvious.

He seemed to get that I knew. “It’s smart isn’t it? I mean, she’s been wanting to make up with you since it happened. What better way than this?”

“No,” I said firmly.

“But--,” he started.

“No.”

“Just listen,” he started again.

“No Joe,” my tone wavering now. Was he serious? I was not going to forgive her. Was I? I mean, why should I? She had hooked up with my boyfriend. That was not what ‘best friends’ did. But then again, it had come to show me what an asshole Jesse was. Did that mean I should just forgive her? “Besides,” I said. “Why would she ruin her own rep for me?”

“Because you’re her best friend,” Nick said. “Lainey, she feels terrible. She’s always telling me how bad she feels. It’s really killing her. I think she would do it.”

“I like the surveillance idea better,” I mumbled.

“Lainey, come on,” Joe said, sighing. “This could work.”

I crossed my arms. “Fine, but I’m not asking her. You guys can if you want to so badly. And make it clear that we are not best friends again.”

They looked at each other, probably debating if they should argue with me, but the look on my face probably stopped them from saying anything. “Okay,” Joe said. He nodded to Nick, who pulled out his phone.

I sighed, and ran a hand through my hair. Why did this seem like it would go completely wrong?