Goddess Next Door (2)

Mark

"Hey, do you know if Tiffany and Micky are still together?"

"I hope so, why?" Jamie replied, taking out his car keys from his back pocket.

"What do you mean, you hope so?" I strangely felt betrayed by my best friend, who should always be on my side no matter what.

"Because they broke up twice already, and it's usually Micky who does the breaking up and making up, and Tiffany singing, 'I don't know where we went wrong, I, I thought our love was so strong...'" Jamie had suddenly started singing the chorus of Girl in mid-sentence and usually this is amusing, but not right now.

"He doesn't deserve her, man," I shook my head and headed for the passenger side of his car, pulling the door open as soon as I heard it unlock. I noticed that Jamie just stood there, looking around the parking lot. "What are you looking for?"

He shook his head while continuing to scan the lot. "Nothing," he replied. I didn't wait for him and got in his car.

When Jamie finally got into the seat beside me, he had his phone out and was scrolling through it. He stared at something, I don't know what, on his message inbox. Finally, he put the phone on his dash and belted up. I reached over and took the phone for myself.

"Seriously, let me install the app on your phone once and for all," Jamie groaned. I smiled at him and keyed in his passcode without needing to look at his phone.

As he turned the ignition on and drove us out of the building, I clicked on search and looked for Tiffany's account. Her profile photo was last year's Goddess Athena publicity shot, not of the whole band, but a solo, in the concept costume. She had diamonds on her face and feathers in her hair and her smile radiated innocence and joy.

"You're such a jerk, telling LJ this is going to be our last album," Jamie muttered.

"I said probably, and only as the worst case scenario, instead of getting fired," I argued defensively. "There aren't any photos of Micky on Tiffany's social media account."

"This is seriously what you're concerned with, right now," Jamie snorted.

"Better than shitting myself in the pants like LJ," I quoted what he said back at him.

"Did you ever have photos on Kate's page when you guys were going out?" Jamie asked, and then proceeded to answer his own question because he's a smartass. "Oh, you have no idea because you don't have social media, let me answer that, no, she never put photos of you, ever, because Geends will kill her."

"But didn't they make that public announcement that they were going out? So it should be okay to have photos together, right?"

"Are you nuts? Remember when Missy and Connor publicly announced they were together and Tech Mech fans destroyed her on her own social media account? They broke up in two days."

I actually did remember that. We all felt bad for Missy. "That was before she and Steve started to promote Baby I Need You, and Steve had to joke that he was in love with Missy and told the fans to stop hating her because it broke his heart," I said. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket and lifted my butt to fish it out. It was my mom calling.

"Except he wasn't joking," Jamie said as I answered the phone.

"Lovey," Mom said, which meant she needed me for something. "Remember we're watching the ballet this Saturday, okay? Did you clear your schedule?"

"A ballet, huh?" Mom usually watches musicals, this is the first time she was dragging me to see a ballet. It was, she liked to complain/brag, the only time she can spend time with her precious son. Though sometimes, I wondered if I really were her precious son or she liked the other guys better. Once, we watched the musical version of Catch Me If You Can, and was so pleased to see Jamie in the show that she kept telling everyone around us that "the handsome lead guy is my son's friend."

"Someone gave me tickets, and I'm so excited, it's Romeo and Juliet, there will be sword fighting and people dying," she said. "So, we're really going on Saturday, okay? Don't make me call Ned."

Yes, Ned is not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. "Don't worry, Mom, I've cleared it and can make it to the ballet with you."

"Ah, you're the best, Lovey," Mom said and hung up.

Romeo and Juliet. Hey, I wonder if Juliette is in that. I looked at my phone screen to open social media again, but realised I was looking at my own phone. And noticed a text from Kate.

Kate: [Sorry about today's mixup. Let me know when you want to resched. If you still want to talk, that is.]

I finally have the ball in my court, in this match with Kate, a match I have been playing for far too long already. And strangely, for the first time, I didn't feel like playing anymore.