He sucks a gummy worm into his mouth like it’s pasta. “Now you go.”
“You’re not going to elaborate?” I sit back in the booth, trying to focus on Sully’s face to keep the room from spinning.
“I will after you share your secret.”
“How can I beat that?” I say louder than I mean to.
His blue eyes are soulful as they pierce into me. “Be honest. I want to know the real Veronica.”
The cozy little restaurant melts into an interrogation room with a metal table and I am handcuffed to cold steel as my brain rolls around with something deep to share that I can live with having someone else know.
The scraping of my empty cup is deafening. I take a final lick and chew on the end of my spoon.
He rests his chin in the palm of his hand, not giving up on me spilling my guts to him.
Do I tell him I shoplifted a shirt once in the fifth grade? Sometimes I wish I could be a real mermaid and be left alone in the quiet ocean where I’d never have to worry about money or my next post on social media. Reveal how my high school boyfriend dumped me because I wouldn’t sleep with him. Or should I tell him about “the incident” with my ex?
I can’t sound pathetic. What should I confess? Steal a story from a TV drama or a novel and hope he doesn’t notice.
He crumples a napkin and tosses it into his empty cup. “If you don’t want to share, it’s cool.” He checks his phone and says the words that mean the death of any date. “It’s getting late, maybe—”
I’ll never ask you out again because you’re dull and terrible and I don’t feel connected to you anymore.I guess the rest of his sentence as he shifts his weight to stand up.
“Hold on.” I slide the mermaid-tail ring up and down my finger. “Two months ago, the guy who I thought would be my future husband publicly humiliated me. He reserved a table at the then brand-new French restaurant in town. He made this show of how fancy it was. How the chef was from Paris and would help prepare our taste buds for France. To me, all the signs of a proposal were there. Romantic atmosphere, check. He hinted around about wanting to know what kind of rings I liked the month before. So, thinking he had a diamond ring, check. He liked putting on a good show and a public proposal was right up his alley, check. But no…” My lungs forget how to function as I choke on my tongue.
All the blood in Sully’s face drains as he sinks into the booth, running a hand over his jaw. “Oh…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“It’s okay.” I tap my fingernails on the table. “I never talk about it. Alice knows the basics, but I never shared the entire story. He set up thisentire scene and even got down on one knee and took my left hand. He kissed it and told me he wanted to break up. Then he laughed as I burst into tears. My former college roommate filmed the entire thing across the way. He’d been screwing her for months. They posted the ruse online to tank my career.”
Sully frowns. “Holy shit, what an arsehole.”
“Yeah. The real joke was I taught him how to be a social media influencer and connected him to people who could help him. He wanted to do stupid pranks and he got famous fast. He and my college roommate met at my birthday party and hooked up while I danced with my friends.” I toy with my spoon to avoid looking at Sully’s face, not wanting to see the pity in his eyes. “Then he strung me along because he needed my contacts to help him have a solid fan base. My reward? Him trying to ruin me in every way someone can destroy another human being.” My voice stutters as a sob closes my throat.
Sully offers me a napkin and I dab my eyes with it.
“What happened after?”
“Last I heard, they moved to New York. But he recently texted me, saying he’s in LA and wants to meet. I blocked him. I can’t see his stupid face or even say his name.”
“If he shows, let me know,” Sully growls. His face twists in wolfish rage, and it honestly makes me hot. I like having someone fight for me.
“Thanks.” I sigh, tearing my napkin in half. “The only bright spot was my lawyer, who helps me with the business side of my mermaiding, has a husband who deals with defamation cases. He threatened to sue them if they didn’t delete the video and issue a public apology. But it’s still in the dark corners of the internet.”
“People are terrible. I’m leery of dating too after my ex. Thought she liked me for me, but it was the band life she wanted. When she realized we were not super famous around the world or shitting out gold, she dumped me in the middle of our last European tour to shag another bass player who was headlining a show in the same city we were in. She hopped onto his bus and vanished.”
“What a bitch,” I say, sniffling and rubbing my hands together. My skin is itchy when I overshare. “Guess we both have good reasons for being bitter.”
He offers me a hand. “Let’s make a deal to never look back. They’re the past and we will never allow them to ruin our future.”
His ocean-blue eyes sparkle as he leans in. I inhale and take his hand. “Deal.”
We shake on it.
“I’ll be right back,” Sully says and goes to the register. He talks to the cashier and returns only to flash me with a handful of quarters.
“How are you at pinball?” He nods toward the two machines.
We walk over to the spaced-themed pinball machines. “I haven’t played since I was a kid, but I’m game.”
