10 Drowning Her Sorrows

Jonah took a deep breath before being more specific. "I had to go to the office today to pick up a few things from my boss. On the way out, I ran into Eden. She saw me. Not all of me—she only saw me from the left—but I totally panicked and ran away like an idiot. I don't know how I'm going to face her tomorrow."

Troy raised an eyebrow. "You never 'face' her. You're in a dog suit. She won't be able to see how embarrassed you are. What's the big deal, anyway? It's not like she knew it was you."

He didn't understand; he had always been popular. His friends accepted Jonah because they felt obligated to rather than because they actually liked him. Because of Troy, he had people to occasionally go do things with as a group but he preferred staying home because of the stares.

Or going somewhere far away from people. Driving out to the redwood forests or mountains about an hour away to hike the most secluded trails was one of his favorite things to do.

"That doesn't matter! What if she had seen my whole face? I don't…I couldn't stand it if she looked at me the way everyone else does," Jonah said miserably.

Troy's look of skepticism grew even more pronounced. "Jonah, do you like this girl?"

"I got her a Valentine's Day gift; what do you think?!"

"Dude, seriously? You haven't done that since the fifth grade. You really do like her! What are you going to do about it?"

"Nothing," he snapped. "Absolutely nothing. I'm never going to see her again after I finish this dumb favor for you because I'd rather have good memories to hold on to forever than potentially risk screwing it up."

Troy clapped a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. "You can't do that! Not when this is the first girl you've liked in forever."

"It's kind of hard to like anyone when they're all afraid of you. What am I supposed to do then? If I end up talking to her on the phone, she might want to see me in person at some point."

"Then say you moved to Minnesota or something. I dunno, man. I just don't think you should give up on this so soon when she makes you happy. I haven't seen you light up like this before. Even though you're tired from overworking—thank you again for that, by the way—you seem way more lively than usual."

He had a point. Jonah felt more alive than usual too. Eden had that effect on him.

"Minnesota? That's really the best thing you could come up with?"

Troy shrugged. "It's the first thing I could come up with. Give me a few minutes and I can think of all sorts of exotic locations for you to suddenly be transferred to. Or I guess I should say that I could be transferred to…this is confusing.

"You can't add her on social media either because she thinks you're me. Sorry about that. I can't believe you actually met a girl you liked for the first time in about fifteen years and it had to be while you were pretending to be me."

No kidding. It was the only way he would ever be able to interact with a girl normally though. Either online like some sort of creepy catfish or in a Freddie Funnington costume.

Jonah was being himself for the most part though. Aside from his name and why he was working at Freddie's, he had been completely honest rather than trying to act as if he was Troy. It didn't matter since Eden wouldn't know the difference.

They had already agreed that Troy would talk to Marty about switching his breaks once he went back to work normally so he wouldn't stir up any suspicion by not being able to keep up with conversations he hadn't been a part of. He should be able to get out of this scot free.

Eden didn't intend on staying at Freddie's for very long anyway. She was actively looking for another job. Was that what she had been doing near his work yesterday? He was pretty sure there was some sort of science-related business in that area. He should have thought of that possibility sooner.

"Thanks for the reminder," Jonah said dryly.

"Sorry, dude. But seriously, don't give up on her yet. You never know; she might surprise you." That was Troy's parting shot with another pat on the shoulder before going off to raid the fridge.

Surprise him? By what, being accepting unlike everyone else he had ever met? He seriously doubted it.

===

The next day at Freddie's was slow again but this time Jonah and Eden were assigned to clean in the same general area. He dusted while she cleaned out some of the ticket dispensers that were all clogged up with junk.

"Psst!" she called quietly. "Hey, Troy!"

"What's up?"

"Thank you again for the candy. I drowned my sorrows in it yesterday after my job interview."

So Eden had been at a job interview. But why would she need to drown her sorrows afterward? Had it not gone well? She had been in a pretty good mood on her way out of the parking lot though.

Ah. It was completely obvious; she was embarrassed about hitting Jonah with her shoe. He had been so concerned with hiding his face that he hadn't thought much about how odd it was that her shoe had hit him in the first place.

He was curious about it but unsure how to ask without giving himself away. Unless…

"Did it not go well?"

"Actually, I think it did go well. It's what happened afterward," Eden lamented. "Maybe you'll appreciate knowing I have my fair share of klutzy moments too since you fell on me before. I hit a guy with my shoe and he was so horrified by what I'd done that he ran away."

That wasn't how it happened at all! But Jonah couldn't admit that.

"Uh…how did you hit someone with a shoe? Were you throwing it at something else and missed?"

She sighed and leaned her forehead against the side of the machine she was working on. "No. I ran out of steam after being super confident in the interview and my legs turned into jelly so I couldn't walk in high heels anymore.

"I was walking barefoot and swinging my shoes. I was caught up in my thoughts and didn't notice one slipped out of my fingers until the guy reacted. He looked at me like I was completely insane then ran away after handing it back to me like it was contaminated. I just about died of mortification."