To Find the Lie, We Must Discard the Truth

“I think I’ll make dinner tonight.” Veronica says out of the blue. We’re cuddling on the couch watching a cooking show and I look down at her with a laugh in my eyes. “what? You don’t think I can?”

“I didn’t say that Veronica.”

“But you were thinking it.”

I chuckle, “have you ever cooked?”

“no. but I can read. It can’t be that hard.”

I think back to when I couldn’t cook worth anything. Now though, I was amazing at it, with a lot of hard work that is. “yeah, it’s harder than it looks.”

“when did you learn?”

“about three months before I met you was when I finished my lessons.”

She moves her head so that she can look at me, “why did you take lessons?”

We’d already talked about how I was now allowed to say ‘Sky’ without her freaking out on me. But Sky was still a touchy subject that I didn’t like to bring up often. “um, just someone had me rethink the idea of having everything done for you.”

I knew Veronica would see through my words, “So Sky?”

“yeah.”

“how?” did she really want to go into this? “I mean, that just seems like a random lesson to get from your ex-girlfriend.”

“she had this whole thing about being able to take care of herself, support herself.”

“and then she started falling for you…relying on someone else?”

I smile, “right. That’s was kind of the last conversation we had. She was moving back home to reassure herself that in the end, she didn’t need anyone but herself.”

“but you needed her…” Veronica voice had an edge of sadness on it that I’d never heard before. It was like she was really hurt by Sky’s actions. “It’s like some tragic love story.”

I shrug, pretending like it was nothing. While honestly, it was worse than a tragic love story. “of course you’d see it like that, you’re a girl.”

“or a fairytale. Depends on what the ending’s going to be.”

I lean up and kiss her, “the ending includes you, not Sky.” I tell her, centimeters from her lips. I feel her tense under my touch and pull back confused, “you okay Veronica?”

“uh, yeah. Just got a random chill. You ready for me to make dinner?”

“how about we make it together. I do, ya know, want to survive the night.”

She playfully shoves me before hopping off the sofa and running to the kitchen. I follow and stand in the doorway watching her. I must say it’s quite an amazing sight to watch your fiancée attempt to make something. What she was going to make with hamburger, apples, and tomato soup I do not know. That’s why when she started to reach for the cinnamon I stopped her.

“remember sweetie, we’re doing this together.” I whisper in her ear, setting the cinnamon back. “Now, what exactly are you trying to make?”

“I don’t know, something with meat?”

“right…how about we make some nachos. I feel like junk food tonight.”

“fi-ine. But someday, I am going to make an actual dinner without your help.”

“after you take some classes.”

She sticks her tongue out at me and then turns away, grating the cheese.

After dinner we sat back down on the couch and watched the movie Stardust. Not that I was paying attention to it. Neither was Veronica though. Instead we were tossing popcorn into each others mouths.

“come on, you have to open wider than that or it won’t fit.” I complain, trying to aim it correctly.

Veronica starts to laugh, “oh god Ryan, never say that again. EVER.” She says between giggles.

“what? All I said was-” I chuckle to myself, “right, sorry about that.” She moves her legs from my lap and sits up a bit straighter.

“So, I was thinking….”

“really? Well, that’s a relief.”

She punches me lightly, “I was thinking that we should figure out where we’re going for our honeymoon. I mean, we only have like a week.”

“well, if we leave Christmas, then we can spend a week somewhere and come back after new years.”

“why not leave night of our wedding?” she stares at me with her ‘I don’t like where you’re going with this,’ look.

“You know I’m a family guy Veronica. I’m spending Christmas with my family no matter what.”

“only if I can choose where we go.”

“fine. We have a deal. You choose, and we leave Christmas afternoon.”

“okay.”

“okay.” The credits start running on the movie and that snaps us out of our little argument.

“so, what do we do now?” I ask, putting the movie back into its case.

“Katie should be over any second. She said it was an emergency, so we’ll be up in the room talking.”

“and you just tell me?”

The doorbell rings, “sorry. You can make some delicious cookies. You know how much I love those.” She leans over and gives me a quick kiss before letting Katie in. The two of them run up the stairs and I sigh. What type of emergency would Katie tell Veronica and not me?

I do as I was told and make a batch of cookies. Just as I’m about to knock on the door to allow them to have some, I hear their voices. Curious, I press my ear against the door.

“you haven’t told him yet!?!?”

“well, we’ve been busy. And I don’t want him to be mad at me.”

“you made that mistake a long time ago.”

“Katie, he’ll leave me if he finds out. I don’t want that to happen.”

“He won’t. you and I both know how much he loves you. besides, it’s an arranged marriage, remember?”

They were silent, or quieter for a little bit before it came back to my hearing range. “and how does Nate know?”

“Nate is a genius, you know that. He put the pieces together and chased us down. I swear I didn’t tell.”

“you told your boyfriend.” Veronica argues.

“you can’t just toss something on me like that and expect me to keep my mouth shut. You’re lucky I haven’t told your fiancée about it yet.”

I knock on the door, not wanting them to fight any longer. “The cookies are finished you guys.”

With that, the rest of the night was spent with Katie and Veronica talking about wedding dresses. I sat there and listened, but honestly? I don’t care at all. I guess that’s what happens when planning a wedding starts.

But even if it was my type of thing, all I could think about was the conversation between Veronica and Katie.

What exactly are they talking about?