To Find the Lie, We Must Discard the Truth

When Veronica entered the room, Katie left, probably sensing the tension. But even without her in the room, it still felt weird having this conversation at someone else’s house.

“could we go talk over breakfast?” I ask her.

“um, yes. That sounds good.” She was already dressed and ready for the day so we just left. The car ride was silent which slightly annoyed me, but I just accepted it. I didn’t want another fight to brew over it or anything.

When we got to New Moon, a small café in town, she was the first to get out. I follow quickly, but it was obvious from how she was walking that she really didn’t want to be here so I stayed a couple steps behind.

I kept opening my mouth to say something but then shut it before speaking. Everything that I wanted to say was based around the fact she called my mom on me. So because of that I don’t want to talk.

“what’s this about?” Veronica asks far from polite.

“can you at least pretend to have manners for a second Veronica? This attitude of yours is getting quite tiring.”

She sighs, “fine. What do you want to talk about?”

“us.” Silence passed through us again and I figured this is when I’m supposed to talk. “look, I’m not going to apologize for what I said. I meant what I said yesterday, every word of it. But the way I went about telling you wasn’t appropriate and I guess neither was the swearing. It’s just, I’ve done everything I can to try and make this relationship work and it seems as if you’re doing absolutely nothing.”

Veronica didn’t look happy at this, “you think I’m not trying? Ryan, I don’t have to try because I already like you!”

I laugh, “no you don’t. that’s my point. I hate cleaning and washing the dishes. I only do it because I hate it even more when the house is dirty. I can’t stand people who skip meals and watch their weight when they have a metabolism such as yours. Soap operas, reality shows, and stuff like Maury just disgusts me and I don’t see how anyone can enjoy watching them. Cheerleading reminds me of Amanda, which is a whole other problem within itself. And family is one of the most important things to me. I’ve just gone with the flow with you because I didn’t want to fight. But look where that put us.”

She sits there, taking everything I said to consideration. “so every week when we’d sit down and watch Real Housewives ofNew York…?”

“I want to scream at the top of my lungs.”

“oh.”

“It’s not so much you Veronica. It’s just what you thought that I liked or even tolerated isn’t me at all. Along with that, Sky is and will always be a part of my life whether she is found or not.” I pause for a second, letting her take in what I said. “I brought you to see your aunt and uncle because I want you to know them. They weren’t always the best of parents, but they’ve cleaned up and I’m sure it would mean a lot to them if someone would come and visit every once and awhile. It has nothing to do with Sky and everything to do with your family.” I finish my speech and so now it was all up to her.

Veronica takes a sip of her drink before starting, “I’m sorry too for overreacting about stuff. I should definitely be one to understand not being able to move on instantly. All forgiven?”

“I don’t have to watch anymore TV with you?”

she laughs lightheartedly, “you don’t have to watch anymore TV with me.”

I smile widely since I honestly didn’t know what I would have done if she made me sit through that crap again. “All is forgiven.”

She claps her hands together as if another item on her checklist was finished, “well, now that that’s done, I have some bad news.”

“you sure know the right time to talk about it,” I chuckle.

“yeah, well, we kind of haven’t been talking for awhile…anyways, my mom did something like really stupid.”

“like really, really stupid? Or really, really, really stupid?” I mock her jokingly.

She slaps my arm, “oh shut it. She planned about a week for me to go wedding dress shopping”

“oh, sorry, that must suck.”

“to you mister, I actually enjoy shopping. That’s besides the point though. I leave tomorrow forNew York.”

“New York City?”

“yeah…”

“so you’ll be gone for my birthday weekend?”

“yeah…and I seriously tried to get it changed but she did that whole Say Yes to the Dress thing and ugh, I couldn’t change the dates.” She sounded so worried about it when in all honesty, I almost forgot it was my birthday coming up.

“don’t worry about it Veronica. It’s not really my birthday so it doesn’t matter. And it wouldn’t matter anyways. I’ll celebrate with you when you get back.”

She beams at this idea, “I get to plan it?”

I chuckle, “yes, you get to plan it.”

Then she does something very un-Veronica like. Something that reminded me of Sky. She fist-pumped the air with a follow up “yes!” I laugh at the action. If she was this excited about planning it, then the wedding is definitely all hers.

“now that you’re in a good mood, can you please call my mom and tell her it’s all fine? She was literally about to tear my head off this morning.”

Her smile grows, “I almost forgot about calling your mom…”

“yeah, not funny. That was a one-time thing Veronica.”

In turn, she rolls her eyes and pulls out her phone to have that terrible conversation with my mom. When she finished, we went home and got her packed up for her week inNew York.