"No biggie? Did you hear anything I just said?"
Mistral doesn’t answer.
“Who’s looking after the library?”
“Bess. She can handle it until we get back.”
I eye her for several seconds before turning my back on her and retreating into the room.
She follows and closes the door behind her. She doesn't turn the light on, so we look at each other in the gloom, waiting for the next words.
I speak first. "How did you get it?"
"There's honestly nothing to worry about."
"How did you get it?"
Mistral hesitates before saying in a rush, "I saw you pull it out of your pocket and read it. I guessed what it might be by the look on your face. Then I pick-pocketed you when you didn't put it back properly and it was poking out."
I shake my head at her. "But it never went missing. I still have it."
"That's because I photocopied it and put it back when I pretended to lose my balance and fall into you. Remember? At the front counter yesterday?"
Christ. The level of deception. I knew Mistral was a stirrer, a meddler, but I never thought her capable of this.
"You are playing with both our lives – mine and Bess' – and you've done it without our permission. I don't understand how you have that capacity. What kind of person thinks that's okay?"
Mistral has the indecency to place her hands on her hips. "I’m sorry, okay? But this is for the greater good."
"What? The greater good of the community? None of this affects you, Mistral. You have no right to make a decision about it on their behalf." If I had the ability to fire her, I would. But, unfortunately, this is not a matter of inappropriate work conduct and I couldn't make an argument for it if I tried.
"It does affect me, actually. I live in this community, too. I care about Bess and all the artists she supports. They're my friends and I want them to continue to be able to live and flourish in this community."
"But, apparently, you don't care about me. Am I just collateral damage to reach that greater good?" I place my palms on my temples. "I wrote abouttracing her skin with my finger, Mistral. That kind of thing coming from someone you have no feelings for, is creepy as hell.” I slide my hands down over my eyes. “Oh God! Our friendship will be over in a heartbeat. My life here will become..." I drop my arms. It's too awful to contemplate. She works across the road from me. There's no escaping her and the awkwardness that'll pervade everything. No more Tuesday Night Art Fights. I could potentially lose the whole friendship group. "You're so unbelievably selfish and thoughtless."
Mistral tosses her ponytail over her shoulder with a flick of her head. "She won’t find out, Ed."
I stare at her for a beat. "You haven't thought about the smaller picture, have you? It didn’t occur to you this would affect our working relationship?" I point at her, then me, and back again. "That by breaking my trust, you would taint the place you love working in. Is that a sacrifice you intended to make?"
Mistral doesn't respond.
"You can't even apologise to me for throwing me under the bus." I pause to give her opportunity. She doesn't take it. "What I'm really struggling to understand is how you don't see the wrong in what you've done."
"Look. She'll never know. There's not a single thing in there that suggests it's either written by you or that it's about her. Even the eye colour's wrong."
"Oh, you think you can keep this from her? That the truth of it won't come out at some point?"
"Ifit does, we can either say someone else wrote them –"
"So, lying to cover your lie."
"– or we can say you did, she realises she's been in love with you for the last year, too, and you both live happily ever after until you die."
I refrain from hitting my head, or better yet, Mistral's against the concrete wall. "We've shared everything for the last year. Don't you think if she had feelings for me, she'd have realised them by now? All your meddling will do is ruin our friendship. Jesus, Mistral, you haven't thought any of this through, have you?"
"I'm...taking it one step at a time."
I eye her for five long seconds of disbelief. "What you are doing is building a house of cards that is going to come tumbling down. And here's the first casualty. Our relationship is entirely professional from this moment onwards. Don't expect anything more – anything that might resemble friendship – because you won't get it. You just proved you don't deserve it."
