“I thought you knew me better.” I giggled nervously. “Do you think I sat home twiddling my thumbs after he dropped me off?”
14
“Oh no.”Sydney groaned. “Please don’t tell me you did something stupid.”
“Moi?” I placed my hand over my heart. “Never.”
My friend threw a paperclip at me. It fell on the ground, and I picked it up and placed it back on her desk. “You are so immature.” I snickered.
“And you’re so annoying! I have work to do. Seriously, I have a meeting in half an hour.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll talk fast.” Usually, my drive surpassed hers, but my motivation had called out sick. I felt sad and sluggish. My mind was meandering all over the map but kept settling in the same place.
“Saturday night after Pete walked away, I was confused. The drive had been great. He was so easy to talk with. I was positive Pete felt a connection too. Except, then he turned cold. After he shot me down, I knew it was a formal goodbye.”
“Agreed. I’m sure it was nothing personal. I bet he’s probably seeing someone.”
“Yeah, I thought so too, but then I realized if that was the case, wouldn’t he just say so?”
“I guess.”
“I think the pain I caused him when we were young runs deep.”
“Maybe…”
“You know I don’t like guessing games. But analyzing data”—I rubbed my hands together—“that’s another story.”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“By the time I scooted up my stairs on my rear-end and crawled my way into my bedroom, I was determined to find out more about him. I wanted to try to decipher his words or lack of them.”
“Do I even want to know what you did?”
“Don’t get your bikini briefs in a bunch. All I did was gather intel.”
Sydney grimaced. She always teased me about my mad cyberstalking skills, yet when she needed some obscure inside scoop on someone or something, she came running to me for help.
“It took hours of clicking, but I was able to get a good picture of the man Pete became after high school.”
Sydney reached into her drawer, pulled out a sleeve of chocolate chip cookies, and handed it to me. “I think this story calls for a snack.”
“Totally.” I took a cookie and a small bite. “I couldn’t find an online presence for Pete, which I expected because of his job. Fortunately, my mom, who never sleeps, has the memory of an elephant—”
“Dolphin,” she corrected me.
“Regardless, she recalled his mother’s name immediately. From there, I found his younger sister. Both of the Ennis ladies are obsessive posters. They love to share every minute detail of their lives.”
“I’m not surprised,” Sydney said. Ever since her stint as PTA treasurer, she’s had a love-hate relationship with social media.
“I also found his wife’s old profile and his secret one. He goes by the name Seiner Pent, which is an anagram for his name if you’re wondering.”
“I was.” She chuckled.
“I’m sure his online search for anagrams inflicted him with a bit of post-traumatic stress disorder. The word ‘penis’ was quite prevalent.”
“I can only imagine.” She rolled her eyes and I felt the familiar stab of guilt that had haunted me since Saturday.
A lot of what I discovered was unhappy but not all. In my mind’s eye, I flashed over all the pictures I saw in my quest. “It appears Pete underwent a complete transformation before he started college. I’d bet he craved a fresh start to erase all traces of the pain I had caused him. The boy must have had round-the-clock trainers or popped steroids because he bulked up big time. While he was still muscular, he leaned down by the time he graduated top of his class from John Jay, with a degree in criminal justice. He joined the force soon after and became the star of his precinct’s baseball team, which was ironic given his past when no one wanted him on their team.”
