We Must Be Careful Who We Pretend To Be

I stood in the baggage claim, trying to figure out where I was supposed to go. Scanning the airport, I stood on my tip-toes. All of a sudden, I caught a glimpse of a girl with short fiery red hair and bold blue eyes holding a card with my name on it. I made my way over to her.

"Lily?"

"Hi! You must be Abby, nice to meet you."

We talked as she drove me to my hotel. Lily was a cool girl. We made arrangements to meet the next day and I went and checked in.

As I stood in my hotel room, gazing at the LA skyline, I began to feel empty. I wanted to pick up the phone and call Will. But, I was afraid. Afraid he wouldn't want to talk to me, afraid that he would talk me out of moving. So, instead I took a shower and went to sleep.

The next day I met Lily and began to look at apartments. We found a beautiful 1 bedroom loft with hardwood floors, ceiling to floor windows, a huge gourmet kitchen, and a spa style bathroom.

"God, I wish I could afford this place," I sighed, running a hand on the countertop.

"Well, it's in your price range," Lily shrugged.

"Yeah, but then I'd have no life," I told her.

"Didn't they tell you? Your rent is part of your salary. Consider it one of the perks of not living by Fueled By Ramen's headquarters."

"Why am I in LA anyways?

"Well, Decaydence is Pete's baby. I guess he'd rather be able to work with you in person rather than through email. He just bought a place out here."

"Well, then I'll take it!"

I excitedly looked around the apartment, imagining my things in it.

"So, Adam wants to meet us for lunch. He wants to look over the final draft of the artwork."

"Ok."

So, I had my meeting with Adam. He approved of all the artwork. I was smitten by him. He was friendly and funny. I liked him a lot. He gave me a hug and asked me to get started on some thumbnails for t-shirt designs.

I spent the rest of the day in the hotel room, working on my computer. I was startled by my cell phone ringing. I looked at the caller ID and it said Will. My heart stopped. I decided to reject the call instead of having to deal with the heartache. The phone rang again and once again, I rejected it. Finally after the third call, I gave in and picked up the phone.

"What?"

"Stop rejecting me!"

I snorted at that comment. As if he knew anything of rejection.

"What do you need Will?"

"Where are you? I called your house and Ellie said you were gone."

"I'm in LA. I just found my apartment; they're putting the deposit down tomorrow."

"Oh."

"Will, why did you call?"

"When are you going home?"

"Tommorrow, why?"

"How's Pete?"

"Oh, do I detect a hint of jealousy?" I asked snidely.

"Yes."

His answer caught me off guard.

"Pete is my boss and… well he's my boss," I lied, not wanting to admit I had never really met the guy.

"I really think we need to talk."

"What is there to talk about? I think we said everything that needed to be said."

"Us."

"God, Will! There is no us. I just don't want to talk to you right now. I need some time. Now, I'm going to hang up this phone and if you try to call again, I'll just turn it off."

"Fine!"

Then, I ended the call. He didn't call again, and I started crying again. Just because he rejected me didn't make the feelings stop. This is what I needed, a new start without Ellie or Will or anyone else. My head told me to move on, and my heart told me to call Will. It's sad because the only thing following your heart will give you is pain. I picked up the phone and called Ellie.

"How's LA?" she asked bitterly.

"I'm having second thoughts."

"Really? Just come home. Because I had a brilliant idea."

"What?"

"Boston."

"Oh yeah?"

"Look, there's a position comparable to mine that opened there. I all ready decided to go. After all, I thought you were ditching me."

"Oh, I don't know Ellie. Will"

"It was Will's idea."

"I thought you said it was yours."

"Ok, I lied."

"That would be torture for me. Why would he? Nevermind. What would I do for a job? These graphic design jobs are like 1 in a million. They aren't easy to find, especially the good paying ones."

"Well, you could teach art."

"I don't want to teach! I want to design. I want to do art. I hate people!"

"Just sleep on it, ok?"

"Ok."

"Call me in the morning."

"Ok," I said again.