My table is counting on it
Yeah. There were questions about my pocket square
Sorry not sorry?
Speaking of ... remember to tell Addie that any rumor
that I don’t like Taylor Swift is all a ... Hoax
I Hate It Here
Champagne Problems, Stark
I’m going, I’m going. And
I Bet You Think About Me
I always do, Stark. I always do
Chapter 31
I thought about going upstairs in my purple dress but decided underwear might be in order for this particular visit. I’d left my underwear as Malone’s pocket square—no wonder Lucius had given me such a strange look—and I didn’t need to further contribute to the delinquency of a minor.
So I was in a T-shirt and shorts when I knocked on April’s apartment door. Luckily, Addie answered.
“Just the person I wanted to see,” I said with my most winning smile.
It didn’t faze the teen in front of me. “You can’t come in. Mom ran to the store, and we’re not allowed to have anyone in the apartment when she’s gone. I wouldn’t have opened the door except it was you.”
And the fact I owed her twenty dollars couldn’t have hurt.
“I won’t keep you long. Just wanted to say thank you for looking out for Bren—BB, and to pay you,” I said as I took a crisp twenty from my back pocket. “And, ah ...”
She took the twenty. “Yes?”
“Well, remember when I told you that Mr. Malone didn’t like Taylor Swift?”
She leaned against the doorframe, arms across her chest, chin jutted forward. “And?”
“I had him confused with his cousin.”
As soon as the words left my lips, I knew she wouldn’t believe them. Funny thing about the truth, sometimes the truest things are those people have the hardest time believing.
“It’s not nice to lie,” she said.
I winced. I never lied without crossing my fingers behind my back. Childish? Yes, but also a good reminder to not lie unless I absolutely had to. “It wasn’t a lie so much as ... ‘Vigilante Shit.’”
Her eyes got wide at the reference to a Taylor Swift song. “That’s right! Mom said you’re a detective.”
“I am.”
“Still, if he’s a nice guy, then I shouldn’t have sent the bugs.”
“I know, I know. At any rate, Mr. Malone sent me to fess up. He said to tell you ...” I paused because I felt the groan coming on, and I would just have to swallow it. “He said to tell you that he likes Taylor Swift ‘All Too Well.’ Anything to the contrary is just a ‘Hoax.’”
Her eyes brightened with a level of hero worship that made me wonder if Malone would prefer her antipathy to her adoration. “He said that?”
“Direct quote. I’ve apologized to him, and I would like to apologize to you. Please forgive me for misleading you. Oh, and please don’t unleash any more ladybugs.”
