Bad Seed

“How much did you hear?” I asked.

“Pretty much everything,” Andrea said.

I nodded. I knew that would be her answer. When we saw that it was Michael at the door, I ushered Andrea out of the room. She hid in my bedroom to give Michael and me some space, but I knew it killed her to not be right beside me. If I knew my best friend, she had her ear pressed against the door until the minute Michael left.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” I said, speaking more to myself than to Andrea.

“I’m so sorry,” Andrea said. She put her hand on top of mine and squeezed my fingers. I tried to smile at her, to show how grateful I was that she was there, but I couldn’t. Even my face was exhausted.

“This is insane,” I said. “How did this happen?”

“I don’t know.” Andrea shook her head. “It does seem surreal.”

“It’s beyond surreal,” I said.

“Fucked up,” Andrea said. “Fucked up is the best way to describe this.”

“How could he lie to me?” I asked. My eyes burned with fresh tears, but I blinked them away impatiently. I didn’t want to cry anymore. Not tonight.

“Maybe he thought he was doing the right thing,” Andrea said softly.

I jerked my head up to stare at her. I thought for sure I’d misheard her. For a second, it sounded as if Andrea was going to defend Michael.

“What?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Andrea said quickly. “But, it just… He really seemed to like you. I can’t imagine he would do something like this just to hurt you. It doesn’t make sense.”

“It does if it was some sort of game,” I said. “If he and Joshua cooked up a scheme or something.”

“Do you really think that’s what happened?” Andrea asked doubtfully. “I mean, you said yourself that Joshua was shocked when he saw you with Michael.”

“It could have been an act,” I said.

“And the whole ‘I still love you’ thing?” Andrea pressed. “Was that part of their game?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Don’t ask me to understand how their minds work.”

“It just doesn’t add up, Julie,” Andrea said. “It doesn’t make sense for Joshua and Michael to plan this whole thing out just to screw with you.”

I shook my head and looked away. The last thing I needed was for my best friend to defend Michael and, yet, I knew she was right. It didn’t make sense. Joshua was way too surprised to see me with Michael. He was shocked. Livid. There was no way he knew about us until we showed up for dinner.

Still, Michael knew the truth the whole time. That first day in the café, he knew who I was. He knew all about my relationship with Joshua, and he never said anything.

“How could Michael lie?” I asked again. “And why? What was the point?”

“I don’t know,” Andrea said. “That part really doesn’t make sense.”

“I mean, he could have just told me who he was,” I sai

d. “He could have said, ‘Hey, I’m Joshua’s brother, and I recognized you from Facebook. You’re Julie, right?’ It would have been that simple.”

“Maybe.” Andrea shrugged. “Or maybe not.”

I frowned and stared at her. Andrea was usually the first person to man-bash. Every time either one of us went through a breakup, she was vicious with her insults. It always helped us move on, but now, she was only confusing me more.

“What’s going on with you?” I demanded. “I thought for sure you would hate Michael for what he did to me.”

“I do!” Andrea said quickly. “Julie, trust me. I’m pissed as hell right now.”