Gabe appeared from the doorway behind her. ‘He’s here to see me, Aunt Natalie.’
Aunt.
Fucking.
Natalie!
When I said everyone who works at Sunset Estates knows someone who either lives or works there, I didn’t mean it like that!
The boy I like isn’t supposed to berelatedto one of my managers. Especially not the manager who prides herself on being a sadist and who blackmails teens into behaving in exchange for letters of recommendation.
Also, why wouldn’t she tell me Gabe was her nephew when he was hired?
Also-also, why the hell didn’t Gabe tell me Natalie was hisaunt Natalie?
Also-also-also, why was I still holding up my phone to take a picture of her car?
I looked at it, then swiped the camera away and held it up to the sky, then down toward the ground.
‘Sorry,’ I said, trying to keep my voice as normal as possible. ‘I sent you a text, Gabe, not sure if it went through. I have sh— really crappy service out here.’
I locked my phone and put it away.
‘I got it,’ Gabe said. He had the self-awareness to be very clearly embarrassed, so thank God for that. It meant he knew he’d done something wrong. ‘You can go up. I’ll be right there.’
I nodded. ‘See you at work, Natalie.’
Where Ihope to only see you ever again.
She waved and turned back to Gabe, who she started speaking to quietly. I couldn’t catch much of what they were saying, but I did hear Gabe say, ‘I’m friends with a lot of people from Sunset Estates. If you didn’t want me making friends, maybe getting me the job there wasn’t—’
At that point I was far enough away that I couldn’t hear him.
Also, he was calling me his friend, which for my own personal well-being I’d like to hear as infrequently as possible.
I waited on the couch, mind reeling. My face burned. What would this mean for me? Natalie clearly didn’t like her nephew hanging out with the gay know-it-all from Sunset Estates. Would she start treating me like crap? No, of course not – she already did that.
A wave of nausea numbed the heat on my skin. What if she decided not to write me my letter of recommendation after all? Maybe this was just the thing she needed to disqualify herself from having to write it entirely. Of course, she’d let me complete the second task and whatever the third mystery challenge was, but right after that she’d give me that smile that looked like she was going to unhinge her jaw and swallow me whole, and then say,I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to write a letterof recommendation for one of my nephew’s friends. Conflict of interest and all that, you understand.
The door to the apartment opened, and Gabe entered, his shoulders slumped. Thank God he didn’t bring Gertie and Arnold, because I wouldn’t be able to fake the doggie talk, which I just wasn’t in the mood for.
‘Natalie is youraunt?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You couldn’t have said that three months ago when you first started?’
He hopped up onto the counter, still keeping his distance from me. ‘I was afraid you’d treat me different.’
‘Of course I’d fucking treat you different! My boss is your aunt!’
‘Ourboss.’
I thought about all the times I had talked shit about Natalie – about his aunt. How many times I gave him shortcuts that accomplished exactly what she wanted, just not the way she wanted it done. How many times I’d called her ‘Shat-alie’ around him – which, fine, was only once because it still needed some workshopping.
But this was way too much to deal with.
Then it hit me. It wasanotherthing Gabe had lied to me about. No, I’d never asked him if Natalie was his aunt – because why would I? – so it was lying by omission, but still lying.
