I recoil from secondhand embarrassment. I’ve always known Gavin was socially awkward. At birthday parties, he was the kid who sat off to the side, removed from the rest of the group when they sang “Happy Birthday.” And he was the birthday kid. But I thought he’d grown out of that. At least that’s what it seemed like in all the articles I googled about him.
“You seem about my age. Are you in high school? Or college?”
“High school or college?” Then, inexplicably, he begins coughing. His brain seems to be malfunctioning. Right. Time to do damage control.
“Hi, Callie. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Gavin’s sister, Elena.” I swoop in and flash my disarming smile.
Callie’s expression changes. “Elena?” Her eyes light up in a way I’m more than familiar with by now. “You must be—”
“Yes, I am.” I nod, smiling modestly. I knew Mr.Ahn was wrong. It was only a matter of time before someone would recognize me here. And if I had to put my money on anyone, it would be someone like Callie. She’s cute in that no-makeup makeup type of way.
“That’s what I thought.” Callie seems delighted.
Now that I’m getting a proper look, I notice she’s about our age too. I could even see us becoming friends. That is, if we were staying long enough to make friends. I give a subtle I-told-you-so look toGavin, who seems even more uncomfortable than before, which I didn’t think was possible.
“I usually know everyone here, so I know when new people move into the town.”
I blink at her. New people? As in, people she’s never met before? I deflate. So, Callie doesn’t recognize me.
“Or maybe I’m wrong. Have you been here long?” she asks, noticing the shift in my expression.
Without thinking, I say, “Yes,” at the same time that Gavin says, “No.” It feels like we’ve been here an eternity.
“What we mean to say is, we arrived here yesterday,” Gavin says after a subtle but intense glance at me.
“But we’re not staying very long,” I add, recovering from the unexpected anonymity.
“Oh, I see,” Callie says, seeming to buy our clumsy explanation. “That’s a shame. It would’ve been nice to have more people my age around here.”
I’m struck by her sincerity, since she obviously doesn’t know who we are. Why should Callie care if nobodies like us stick around?
Gavin clears his throat. “How can we pay you back?”
“And I promise, we’re not poor or anything. We left our wallets at home, I swear.” Without the recognition, I feel the need to make the distinction.
Gavin side-eyes me.
“No, I believe you.” Callie takes notice of my ensemble. “You wouldn’t be able to find something as nice as this in any store around here.”
“Thanks.” I manage a weak smile. At least this outfit wasn’t a total waste.
“You can find me here.” Callie motions to the convenience store.“I come to the store to restock the shelves every morning around this time.”
“We’ll make sure to run into you here to pay you back before we leave,” Gavin says.
“No problem.” Callie smiles. “Hope to see you around.”
After we say our goodbyes, we head back down the dirt road with our groceries in tow. As we walk I stare at my pedicured toes in the cheap shoes. The burgundy polish clashing against the neon-pink flamingo-print flip-flops is like me in this town. I don’t belong here. Because Callie wasn’t the only person who didn’t recognize me. No one did.
“What’s wrong?” Gavin says when we pass by another couple on the other side of the road.
“Who says anything’s wrong?” I say defensively.
“You haven’t talked about that person’s hairstyle or this person’s clothes in a minute,” he says.
“I’m just surprised that no one recognized us.” The incident with Hal reminded me of how much I have to lose if I can’t recover from this setback. Without my reputation, I have zero credibility. “I mean, considering how much It’s Ok! has been in the news lately,” I add so he can’t accuse me of being a narcissist.
“No one wants to be associated with the George Bronstein scandal,” he says, buying my explanation. “It should be a relief to know people here don’t recognize us.”
