Chapter #2

" You are my only friends and if you let me finish this cake, then we will go to the club."

I paste a smile on my face and try to act normal because I don't want her to get suspicious about it. I covered the cake with gold spray paint. And I can see Robin from the corner of my eye that she doesn't look convinced at all. But she doesn't push me further and began working on making pastries.

A few minutes passed, and Robin was making ganache for her cupcake filling. And I was putting the sugar decorations on the cake.

" Stas, can you get me fresh strawberries from the storage unit?"

" Why don't you go and get them for yourself? I need to finish this cake off. We need to deliver this cake by tomorrow. I am already stressed out."

" You're closer to the storage unit and if I move from here for a single second, the chocolate Ganache will burn and then, I have to remake it."

She looked at me with her puppy eyes and I couldn't say no to those eyes, so I placed the spatula down next to the phone.

I walked into the storage unit. It was a walk-in fridge and I glanced over the shelves to get the strawberries, but I couldn't see any except citrus fruits. It took me two minutes to realise that strawberries were out of season...

" Oh no, holy crap! My phone." I sprinted out of the walk-in fridge and found my phone in Robin's hands.

I parted my lips as though I were going to scold her, but, after a moment, I felt numb, terrified, and scared that she had to find out what I did.

" ROBIN! I yelled at her, and she was going through my phone when she looked at me.

She quickly ran towards the other side of the table and everyone was looking at us. I charged toward her to stop her, but she said, "Why is this guy calling you Heather? What are you hiding? I want to know who's this guy that you have been talking to and not telling us."

" GIVE ME THE PHONE BACK!"

" I won't until I find out about this guy are you going to tell me or should I go through your more text messages to find out what you are up to?."

" What? No! Look, everyone is looking at us... stop this shit. Give me my phone back."

" If you don't want to tell me, then I will... She looked at the three-tier wedding cake on the centre table that I did two days of hard labour on.

She smirked and I knew what she was thinking. But I can't let that happen.

" Don't you dare even think of doing that!" I'd warned her.

" Oh, yes, I am going too. If you weren't going to tell me."

The next thing, I know, I am sitting on the interrogation table, and in front of me are Robin and Heather sitting.

" Help!!! Someone Help me!!! Please!!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs for the longest time. And I know I should stop, but I can't. It just keeps coming out.

I get everyone's attention around me, and they are all staring at me like hell. I am a crazy person who is asking for help for no reason, but I have a solid reason. Furthermore, I turned my face to give them an awkward smile.

I have made myself embarrassed again.

I would like an invisibility cloak to get the hell out of this mess. I knew I'd messed up badly. Not only that, but I don't know how to solve this mess. How could I make such a huge mistake? I am so careless.

Heather and Robin rolled their eyes at me. And Robin even threw her bangle at me in full frustration. I believe if she had a gun on her bangle right now, she wouldn't even think twice about shooting me.

" Stop being so overdramatic! We haven't done anything yet," Robin said.

Heather is busy slurping her smoothie and I could feel the pores of my body open like a million mouths and slurp the water in like a sponge. Robin elbowed her and said," Will you stop Heather? We are here to talk about something."

" I am sorry, please continue..."

She put her smoothie aside and Robin continued," Would you like to tell us what has been going on with you?"

I deeply sighed and couldn't do anything because Robin still had my phone and even if I lied, they would find the truth.

" Okay, I am going to tell you... Look, I was just mad at Seon. He broke up our three-year relationship for another chic, and he was unfaithful to me. I was just so angry at him and wanted to take revenge on him. I made that dating profile to talk to him, but I couldn't find him on a dating app called Salad Match."

" I didn't know about this dating site," Robin interrupted. Heather elbowed her and made her stop, and she continued by saying,

" Yeah, because he was in a relationship with this girl. He is the father of her child."

" Yeah, I was blinded by hatred. I didn't think about it, but I met a guy over there, and he was also going through a breakup. We began talking to each other and exchanging numbers. In the beginning, I didn't think... that things would get serious, but I don't know when things got serious between us. But the only problem is that he thought that... I am Heather."

" Wait for a second, that doesn't make any sense. How would he think that you are Heather?"

" I-I... I... made that profile in Heather's name and used her pictures. I am sorry, I messed up."

" YOU USED MY PICTURE TO GET THE REVENGE ON YOUR EX! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?" Heather scoffed.

" Please... that sounds so wrong if you put it in that way."

" Oh, yes! You are right, it sounds so wrong, and you did this to your friend. I don't want to be part of this bullshit! You're catfishing people using my name."

" I am not catfishing people using your name. I've just talked to Ed only."

" Using my name and pictures, that's called catfishing."

" Ladies, please stop! You're fighting like cats... Stop it... you are both making yourself embarrassed."

" What do you want me to say? Give her an award for that. You become smarter and can make your own decisions. You know what is wrong and right for you. Why do you need us then? How could you lie to us? I am extremely mad at you. I don't want to talk to you right now. I should leave."

" I am sorry."

Heather crossed her arms and scrunched her nose and she looked so mad at me. She could throw fireballs at me right now.

" Ignore her, she is overreacting, and tell me about this, Ed. Who is he? Where does he live? And how long is this going on?"

" We have been talking for two months. He lives in Milan, and he works at a factory and his name, as you know, is Ed."

" Wow, She is sending pictures of me to a factory worker. I am a model and at least have some standards" Heather is talking brusquely.

" You are not a famous model, Heather. You only did a commercial for a baby's diaper. And stop being so rude!"

" I will one day be a famous model, and you'll see when my face will be on every hoarding in New York."

" Sure, I will be President of the United States. C'mon, give me a break and Heather it's not about you right now. It's about Stassie."

" No, she is saying everything right. I shouldn't have done that. I hurt her so much, and she has a reason for being mad at me, but seriously, I don't want to do this, but it just happened. And now, I can't fix it."

" Yes, you can fix it. You just need some guts to tell him the truth. And how long do you want to keep on lying to him?" Heather said.

" She has a good point. Why don't you tell him the truth? You are not Heather."

" What do you think I didn't think about it? I want to tell him the truth, but I am just afraid that he might not like Stas as much as he likes Heather."

" And why would you think like that?

" I mean, look at me. Do I need to say anything else? I was called fat and ugly almost my entire life. I understand that being judged by others comes with space, but it broke my heart and ruined my self-esteem. And I am just afraid what if he doesn't like this ugly big girl."

" Stas, if someone doesn't see you as beautiful, that means they don't deserve you, and you deserve better than that crap, dick boys. You are beautiful because you have a beautiful heart," Robin said.

" Yeah, fuck him if he doesn't want to talk to you. Call him and tell him the truth." Heather said I don't know how I feel about that. Robin slides my phone on the table towards me.

" Call him, Stassie, and tell him the truth." Robin also said.

I stare at the phone vividly like it is a time bomb that is ticking. My brain cells are committing suicide one by one. I couldn't think straight. I am not brave enough to tell him the truth. Furthermore, I can't tell him the truth.

Suddenly, the phone begins vibrating on the table and Robin asks me, who is calling you?

I glanced at the screen and Ed was calling me.

" It's him."

" C'mon, pick up the call and tell him everything. Why are you waiting for an invitation?"

" I-I... I... just can't... Robin didn't let me finish and just grabbed the phone from the table and picked up the call without even asking me. She put the phone on speaker.

" Hey, Heather."

Robin and Heather were pointing at me to talk to him, but I froze, unable to speak like I, lost my ability to speak.

" Heather?? Hello... are you there?"

" I guess I am not..." I blurt out.

" Where are you? I need to talk to you?" He said and instantly, I regretted telling the truth to them.

Robin and Heather are writing instructions on the napkin, and they were showing me to tell Ed.

" I... am at home. And I also... want to... couldn't read what they wrote because of bad handwriting... walk with you."

Robin shook her head to say, no. They were confusing me so much. I feel as if there's too much information going into too small a brain.

" You want to walk with me?"

" No... no... I mean, I wanna talk with you."

" Okay, but first, you will hear me."

Robin gestured for me to say, no, but I was not going to listen to her.

" Okay, what do you want to talk about?"