Sebastian said Leo was checking on the tennis court construction, so he’d text him. In a few minutes, Sebastian got a text back. “Uh, Tiffani, Leo says he’s in the middle of something right now, but he’ll meet you here in the lobby in half an hour.”
“Sure, tell him I’ll wait as long as he needs. It’s my day off. Um, Nora, I’d like to talk to you. Can we chat somewhere privately?” she asked sweetly, blinking her false eyelashes at me.
I fidgeted. “Sure,” I said, getting up out of my chair and leading the way to the band room.
I held the door open for her as she walked in, and as soon as the door shut, she said, “Stop whatever game you’re playing because Leo is mine.”
“I’m not playing a game,” I said. Did everyone know how I felt about Leo?
She went on. “I got news for you. I called your mother up last week and asked her to lunch, and when she heard I knew you, she couldn’t wait to meet me and fill me in.”
I let out a deep breath. Mother. When would I be free of her?
“Yeah, I thought that would get your attention,” she said, crossing her arms. “You know, I knew you were a snobby bitch who thought she was better than everyone else, but I never dreamed you’d be enough of a slut to screw your own brother.”
Deep shame rushed over me, and I wanted to run from the room and hide. She knew the truth; she knew how disgusting I was. But had Mother told her? I couldn’t believe she’d spill our dirty secrets, but how else would Tiffani know? I couldn’t see Finn admitting his crimes to some girl he’d never met, so it had to be true.
And if Mother told her it probably meant she was paving the way for Finn’s defense in case I went to the police. Was she spreading rumors about me to everyone I knew? Who was next?
I sat down.
“I’m going to tell Leo everything about you. About the drugs, about your brother.”
I stared out the window, imagining Leo’s face if he saw the pictures Finn had taken. Would he blame me for it all? Would the man I loved do that? My heart told me no, that he would never think badly of me because of what had happened. But my head wasn’t sure.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” Tiffani said with a sneer.
I arched a brow at her. “You think you know the truth, but you don’t.”
She glared at me. “You’ll never get Leo. He may put on a big act about how tough he is,” she said, “but he loves me. He said so.”
Her words made me want to scream. She had to be lying.
I jumped up and paced around the room, feeling feral, like I wanted lash out and claw her pretty face. I calmed myself by taking deep breaths and running a list of new words through my head. Words that described her, such as: bird-brain, hobbit-chick, and slut.
If Leo loved this vile creature then let him have her.
I opened the door for her.
She gave me a haughty look as she moved to the entrance. “Tell you what. As long as you stay away from him, I’ll keep my mouth shut about your sex life.”
“If he really loves you, Tiffani, then he will stay away from me. And he’s paying me to work not chat, so if you’ll excuse me,” I said politely, using the skills Mother had drilled into me. I straightened my shoulders and went back to the front desk.
After a few minutes, Leo came striding down the hall with his eyes locked on mine the entire way. I deliberately scowled at him and then pointedly looked at Tiffani. He did not have the right to pull his eye whammy on me when she was right here. No way.
Tiffani squealed when she spotted Leo and ran up to meet him. She threw her T-Rex arms around him and squeaked out, “Leo! I’ve missed you, darling!”
He disentangled himself. “What’s up? Everything okay with the food order?” he asked her. I wanted to think he seemed annoyed at her, but that was debunked when she asked him if they could go upstairs and be alone, and he agreed.
Ten minutes later, she came back down without Leo. She stopped in front of us, opened her purse, and took out a compact and a tube of lipstick. Sebastian and I watched as she carefully applied it and then puckered her lips at herself, wiping the excess away with her fingers. She snapped it shut, dropped it back into her purse, and looked over at us slyly. “I don’t know why I even bother wearing makeup around Leo.” She shrugged and walked out the door.
We watched her the entire way, both of us deep in thought.
“She’s smarter than I thought,” I said.
Sebastian nodded. “Yep, that whole scene was orchestrated for your benefit. She thinks you’re a threat, always has.”
“Not anymore.”
“She’s a naturally territorial person,” he mused.
“Yeah, she reminds me those meerkats you see at the zoo. You know, they’re kinda small, excitable, and self-absorbed in hierarchy. That’s her, an evil little meerkat.”
Sebastian exploded in laughter. “Nora, you’re a nut.”
I agreed.
“What animal am I?” he asked, wrapping his arm around me as we headed to band practice.
“Still working on it, my friend. Keeps me up at night thinking about it.”