Believe Me, I'm Lying

“Alex I really don’t like the way this is going,” Zack says as he sits back on his knees on the floor of Alex’s living room. “It just…I don’t know. I mean, Jack hasn’t told her yet, but he’s telling you to start packing your stuff up?”

“First of all, he’s telling her today,” Alex clarifies, shoving another one of Devyn’s toys into a box with his name on it. “Second, I’m going to need to pack up eventually. I trust Jack. And you should too.”

“I don’t. I don’t trust him Alex and I have every reason not to. And so do you! I mean, he’s a nice guy and whatever, but when it comes to being honest about everything…he hasn’t given anybody a reason to believe him.”

“Whatever, Zack,” Alex mumbles, shutting the box and grabbing the tape off the coffee table. “He told me he’s telling her when she goes over for lunch at one. And after that he’s coming over here. So just…wait and see what happen. He’ll prove you wrong.”

Alex nods to himself and stands up, looking over at the kitchen table where Rian is helping Devyn start to learn his numbers. Alex has been trying to go over them with him every night, so that he’ll be ready for preschool in the fall. Devyn seems to get the basics of it but. Not quite there yet.

“Next I wanna start packing up the books and stuff,” he tells Zack just as there’s a knock at the door. With a glance at the clock, he reads that it’s just after one. It couldn’t be Jack already…could it? “Keep working,” he says, pointing at Zack as he walks to the front door. “Don’t stop just because I’m not watching you.”

“Yeah whatever,” Zack calls back, clearly not interested.

With a sigh, Alex unlocks his front door and pulls it open, expecting to see his landlord asking for the rent. He doesn’t really have an excuse as to why he doesn’t have it for this month but he’s sure he’ll be able to come up with something. However, unless his landlord turned into a tall, thin blonde twenty five year old woman with angry blue eyes, then he is definitely wrong.

“Hi Alex. Can we talk?”

“A-Ashley,” Alex stutters, gripping onto the door handle even tighter. “Um. What are you doing here? How’d you know where I live?”

Her lips form a thin line and she takes a step backwards. “Maybe we should talk out here. You seem to have some people over.”

“I…” Alex turns around, finding both Rian and Zack staring at him. “Right. Okay.” He steps outside into the hallway and shuts the door tightly behind him. His heart is thudding against his chest, feeling like it’s just going to jump right out. This isn’t going to be a good conversation.

“I got your address from Alex Marshall. His dad owns the coffee shop you work at,” Ashley says coolly, her arms folded across her chest. In her hands is a piece of paper and Alex wants to ask her what it is. But he keeps his mouth shut. “I’m not as stupid as you and Jack apparently think I am, Alex.”

“I…What?”

“It wasn’t hard to catch on to the fact that you’re not his student. I just really never had any proof and I was always a little uncertain. But then Jack pretty much handed me the proof.”

“I don’t understand where you’re going with this…” He’s lying of course because he’d have to be an idiot to not know. But he figures he should try and maybe buy himself a little more time. For what, he has no idea.

Ashley sighs, clearly irritated, and holds out the paper she’s holding. “I found this yesterday.”

With shaky hands, Alex takes it. On the right at the very top of it, it reads, ‘Pros’ and on the left it says ‘Cons’. “What is this?”

“It’s a list, Alex. A list of the good and bad things about dating you. If you’ll just read the first one…” She points one manicured nail the fourth point on the con list. “Alex would be a good fuck. That’s about all the evidence I need.”

“I didn’t…. Jack said he was-”

“What? Did he tell you he was going to leave me for you? Alex, this has obviously been going on behind my back for a while now. Don’t you think, if he really cared and really wanted to be with you, he would have left me already? Called our wedding off?”

“H-he said he was going to talk to you today…”

Ashley tilts her head to the side, obviously confused. “I was just there…He didn’t say anything to me. I found this,” she takes the paper back from Alex and folds it up, “in the pocket of his jeans while I was cleaning up his room. We’re going to dinner tonight. Alex…I’m sorry but-”

“Stop. You’re not sorry. Don’t even pretend that you are,” Alex interrupts, his voice wavering as he leans against his door. “Just…Just leave, okay?” He blinks, trying to get rid of the water forming in his eyes. Jack lied to him. Again. And he was stupid enough to fall for it. “You can have him. I don’t care anymore.”

The blonde stands there, staring at him with an unreadable expression. “I’m sorry we’ve both been lied to and pushed around-”

“Seriously, just leave!” Alex shouts, reaching behind him and grabbing the door knob. “You’re not sorry. You’re a fucking bitch who’s somehow managed to convince herself that her fiancé loves her – even though he’s the biggest asshole on the planet that cares about nobody other than himself. Just…Go away, Ashley. Go marry Jack. You two deserve each other.”

Leaving her out there in the hallway, Alex slips back into his apartment, slamming the door behind him. His hands shake as he tries to lock the door, Rian quickly coming to his aid and doing it for him.

“What the hell? Who was that?” He asks, grabbing Alex by the shoulders and keeping him in place. “Dude you’re freaking-”

“Rian,” Alex says as calmly as he can, “I need you to help me start packing up Devyn’s stuff in his room. I’m going to call my brother and see if he can get me a flight to New York for tomorrow.”