The floor dropped out as I stared at the message, confused, certain he had to be mistaken. She’d definitely said we’d been classmates. She’d claimed to have a crush on me. What the hell?
Three dots appeared, and I waited until the next message loaded.
You must have made a good impression because she was asking me about you.
My head felt like it might split in two.
Right then, the door to Dr. Price’s office opened, and she paused to share a few words with her last client before turning to me. “Evan? You ready?”
As soon as I was seated, I blurted, “Can you be catfished in person?”
She leaned forward. “Would you care to elaborate?”
She already knew about my new job, and last week, I’d trauma dumped my unrequited second chance romance. “The woman I ran into from my high school?” My mind was still reeling, trying to replay our initial meeting. How had she known to impersonate Lizzy specifically? The night played out in my head in hyper speed, and it hit me. “Oh, my God. I slept with her.”
“Right. You told me that last time.” She glanced at her notes. “Lizzy, right?”
“No, sorry. It was never her. It was—” I swallowed down the rising bile. “Who did I sleep with?”
“Evan, you have to catch me up.”
So I did. But it was like building a plane mid-flight, dropping the revelations as they came to me. “I just can’t understand why? Why’d she pickmefor her con? Who does that? Why would someone pretend to be someone else randomly?”
“I don’t know, but let’s take this apart piece by piece, shall we?”
We spent the full hour analyzing how the news made me feel, and honestly, as confused as Kyan’s message had left me, it had at least cleared the air as to why Lizzy Grant was shutting me out. And while I still had to sit with the gross hangover of shame and confusion from that entire thwarted conversation, I could at least start to separate it from the night I’d spent with this other woman. A woman I didn’t even know.
What replaced the fog of confusion was a pure burning rage.Elizabethhad taken something from me that I wouldn’t have knowingly given her: my time, my truth, mybody. What kind of sick person does that?
I was so angry, I couldn’t even begin to touch on the hollowness such an obviously bankrupt fuck left me with. I’d thought she knew me, really knew me, but I’d been a stranger to her, just a face, a body, a hint of a person.
“Would you like some water?” Dr. Price asked.
I thought I might throw up. Elizabeth hadliedto me. She’d tricked me into letting my guard down and infiltrated my defenses.
“Why does this keep happening to me?” I asked. “Am I such an obvious mark? Does the universe just hate me?”
She pressed her lips together. Right here, she’d normally tell me something about how fortunate I was, how I needed to focus on gratitude, but this was our last session, and maybe that’s why she said, “You’re right to be angry.”
I swallowed down a lump in my throat, “At least anger feels better than the embarrassment I’ve been torturing myself with for two solid weeks.”
“Anger isn’t a healthy place to remain either, but it can at least spur you to healthy action.” She narrowed her eyes, and I swore she was mad on my behalf. It felt good. “This woman owes you some answers.”
That shocked me out of my pity party. “Are you giving me permission to confront her?”
“You deserve clarity. She’s the only one who can answer your justifiable questions about her motives.”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. Our time was running out. “You have friends you can contact to work through this, right?”
“I can call my friend, Bas.” He might laugh at the situation, but at least he’d been there that night. He’d understand how fucked up it was.
She stood and led me to the door. “Good luck with this next phase of your life.”
We shook, and I wished I could just continue working with someone I’d grown to trust, but changing states meant changing therapists.
I drove aimlessly for about an hour, trying to untangle Elizabeth from Lizzy. I’d really liked the woman I’d met that Friday night, but I had no idea who she was. She’d never texted me again. Had it all been a joke?
Kyan had called it a prank, just like high school all over again.
