Woes of the Outside

As always, I hope you enjoy! My schedule is cramped, seriously! I just came home from a meeting with the radio staff. I have a test tomorrow in math (ahhh!) and a whole bunch of other homework I have to do. It's also my birthday tomorrow, which doesn't mean much in the school sphere of work. I'll try my best to squeeze in a post though! By the way, this is chapter 5 of Coffee Shop. 

Woes of the Outside

Ryan smiled as he walked in. Caroline, the girl who sat at the front desk, greeted him and didn’t even make him sign in. 

“Can I know what it is this time?” He and Caroline had a little game going on. Caroline was always stunned by some of the things he had managed to find. 

“Sure, if you can guess. You’ll probably be disappointed.” 

“It has to be shoes,” Caroline said eagerly. She had a sixth sense for guessing these things. 

“Ding, ding, ding,” Ryan said leaning against the counter. 

“Ryan, I never asked you before but why do you get these things for Claire?”

“You work here too. You know how hard it is. She deserves a couple nice things to keep her morale up.”

“Here I was thinking you were just another jerk. I wish someone would leave all these things here for me too. I would kill for the fall premier bag from Dolce and Gabbana that you got her. No one has that bag! It’s so romantic. I didn’t know you were a romantic,” Caroline said. 

“I’m not a romantic! This is not romantic,” Ryan yelled. He was just glad that there wasn’t anyone else here to witness this. His arguments fell on deaf ears as Caroline was checking her email. 

“It’s better than anything in movies for one thing and better than anything you’ve ever done for Vanessa. You have a reputation at this school believe or not.” Why did everything have to be tied to Vanessa?

“Well I have to go now, Caroline, but yes shoes,” Ryan said. He wasn’t in the mood for their game anymore.

It had been a month since he started interviewing Claire. In that time, he had made sure that the staff didn’t overwork her. Ryan was the only one who could do that. He was dually bothered by Eugene. Here he was again popping back into Ryan’s life. Eugene was making Claire do all his homework, not that she realized of course. Ryan had tried to bring it up but she had shot down any of his logical words. He smiled before handing a new wrapped parcel in her P.O. Box to Caroline. Caroline nodded before he left. She was probably the only person that knew about that secret. He left only to be found by Vanessa.

“Ryan, how come you never tell me when you’re here?” Vanessa said in her whiny voice. It was Saturday at one and Vanessa had somehow found him again. “Do you have something for me?” She looked a bit cross today and Ryan wondered what it was. He used his thumb to wipe a bit of the excess lip gloss on her mouth. Ryan could feel her swoon. She wasn’t mad anymore. 

“Is it your birthday?” 

“No,” Vanessa said. She always fell for that one.  

“Then why would I get you something?” Vanessa was red in the face. He hoped he wouldn’t have to touch her mouth again. 

“Mara said she saw you buy a bag at Dolce and Gabbana, and not at the sale section. Is it for Melanie?” Vanessa and Ryan both knew that Melanie was not into designer purses. They both also knew that Ryan never bought anything for his family. “Who is it for?” 

“No one of interest, Nessa, you’ve got to stop being so nosy,” Ryan said biting his lip. Vanessa shook her head. She couldn’t argue with that.  

“Unbelievable Ryan, you spend more time with Claire than me,” she said blinking her eyes. “Is there something going on? You know that she could never like you.” 

“When did I ever say that I liked her, Nessa? And why couldn’t she like me? I need to work on my project, with Claire. See you later,” Ryan said and left the premise. Why did Vanessa think that Claire could never like him? Not that he did like Claire. Claire wasn’t even worth considering as a potential girlfriend. 

“Hi,” he said coming into the staff room. The staff greeted him grudgingly. Claire waved at him. Dark circles had found their way onto her face. He smelt fresh pie baking in the oven. “It’s for Eugene,” Claire said. 

She was doing chemistry homework and Ryan glanced at the papers full of scratch marks and dark eraser smudges. “Let me help you. Stoichiometry is easy. You have ten grams of CO₂ but you need to turn that into moles.” He took her pencil and started to write a new equation. Claire stared at him with an exasperated look. 

“Er, thanks,” Claire said looking at the paper with a newfound clarity. “I think I understand.” 

“Why are you giving me such a weird look?” 

“You’re smart? So you drive around your motorcycle pretending to act all tough? You’re a poser?”

“Just because I helped you with your chemistry homework doesn’t mean I’m suddenly a genius, Claire. I am not a poser! Have I told you that I’m not smart, Claire?” 

“Well I guess you never told me that you aren’t smart. But guys who ride motorcycles can’t be smart. Even Eugene had trouble with that problem,” Claire said dumbfounded. “Even Eugene.” She had the weirdest ideas.

“You place Eugene on too high of a pedestal. And you have such muddled up ideas about pop culture. I can’t blame you since you have been living in an apartment for what, fifteen years of your life?” Ryan said. “Do you need help with anything else?” Claire shook her head. She saw how carefully he was avoiding her last comment. 

“Why don’t you do well in school? Eugene does. Guys who ride on motorcycles generally aren’t smart! That’s why Vanessa doesn’t want you to ride that thing.” Eugene. Eugene. Eugene. Vanessa. Ryan stood up and ruffled her hair. She was always annoyed by this but that never deterred him. Claire was even wearing the dress that he left in her P.O. Box two weeks ago. The bag from Dolce and Gabbana was on her bed, still in its perfect packaging.  She seemed relatively happy now and Ryan wondered why he wasn’t the same. 

“Look, Claire, it’s nice that you’re trying to learn more about me, but this is a project based relationship. I’m out of here.” Ryan stormed out and Claire moved on to problem number two of her chemistry homework. Ryan didn’t turn back and decided to talk to Vanessa. It had been a while since he had seen her. She seemed pleased when he called her. They met up by the cafeteria and Vanessa had a smirk on her face. 

“You don’t look so happy after seeing Claire,” Vanessa said clinging on to his arm.  Her grip had gotten a lot tighter since the last time he had walked around with her. 

“She does all of Eugene Miller’s homework. She overworks herself for that douche,” Ryan said hoping Vanessa would understand just this once. 

“She’s in love with him, Ryan. People do crazy things for love.” Vanessa’s tone was colder and lost that playful element. Ryan knew too well what she was trying to convey. “Ryan, you have me. Aren’t I enough for you? Why aren’t you content?” It was the first time that Vanessa had ever asked something like that. They sat down on a bench and Ryan wondered what to tell her. He decided not to say anything. 

“Ryan, I can’t do this forever.” 

“We’re probably going to get married, Nessa,” he blankly recited as someone would say that one plus one equaled two. “I should get going.” 

“Take care,” Vanessa said before embracing him in a hug. Ryan didn’t flinch and he slightly hugged her back. Vanessa smiled before waving. Ryan walked back, kicking a pebble, to his motorcycle. He had an uneventful ride home and thought of all the things that Vanessa had said to him today. Ryan threw his messenger bag on the floor but took out his English folder reproachfully. He started to write down the things that he observed from Claire. All he could think about was Eugene. Only Ryan was allowed to use Claire like that, everyone knew that. 

“Are you doing homework?” Melanie asked as she carefully came in. 

“Is it that strange?” 

“No,” Melanie said leaving in a swift turn. 

“Wait, Melanie, come back. Which is a better color for shoes, turquoise or teal?” Ryan asked pulling up the Steven Madden website.  Melanie wondered what this was all about. 

“Vanessa buys her own shoes. Don’t even try to make me like her. Isn’t Steve Madden a little ...?” 

“Just pick one, Lanie. Jimmy Choo or Miu Miu is a bit too classy for this occasion,” Ryan said smiling. He couldn’t even imagine Claire’s face if he had gotten her five inch heels. “I can’t do any of my math homework until you pick a color.” Melanie rolled her eyes before pointing at the teal sandals.

“Thanks, Melanie,” Ryan said before ordering a pair. He couldn’t risk going shopping physically after a rather awkward run in with Mara. 

“Are you into women’s shoes now, Ryan? You won’t impress anybody with Steve Madden,” Melanie repeated. Why was she so hung over the fact that he was getting second rate shoes?

“It’s a gift, not to impress but for practical use,” Ryan said tapping his pencil. “Like I said before, the shoes Vanessa likes aren’t fit for the occasion.” Melanie shrugged and wondered what the world was becoming reduced to.  He started to work again until he saw a bright add pop up on his computer screen. Ryan was about to click out of it until he saw the word O’Shea and Claire. The O’Shea family was missing a daughter named Claire? They were advertising now? Who advertised for a missing child? How come this was the first time he heard this? Ryan walked down the stairs and found his parents hunched over the sofa peering at the newspaper. It must have been the first announcement today. 

“Ryan dearest, help yourself to an apple,” his mother said looking up for a nanosecond. Ryan went back up the stairs and clicked open Firefox. He searched up O’Shea Coffee on Google and found fifteen different links to all their coffee chains. There had to be something about the backstory. His parents always looked down upon the fact that Benjamin O’Shea didn’t truly belong to the 1 percent. He finally found something on Wikipedia, his favorite website. 

15 years ago, baby Claire O’Shea was born into the world of coffee and love. The O’Shea family had initially denied Benjamin the right to their daughter, Natasha’s hand.  She had gone against her parents’ wishes and married him anyway saying that she was “following her heart”. Natasha had given up all of her riches and status for a single man. They were happy together, if on a tight budget. Neither of them liked appearing in the press.  There was one secret that Benjamin O’Shea had neglected to tell his wife before her hospital day. He had sold his child away 15 years before an actual child was born. The bank, Bank of Manhattan, came straight away. The bank laughed when Benjamin was quoted saying “I thought they wouldn’t come.” Baby Claire was taken away and the O’Shea family had never given up search. The baby was sent to Lower Manhattan Children’s House (LMCH). The child was adopted almost right away and once the O’Shea family dropped by, their child was gone. The record files stated the adoption by someone under the name Lyle Scott. The O’Shea family made sure to check the address that was under Lyle Scott. It turned out that it was a fabricated address and that the LMCH hadn’t thought of checking. It was almost as if that child had dropped from the face of the earth after that. Benjamin and Natasha broke away from Natasha’s parent’s coffee chain, forced by her parents to leave. Natasha joined Benjamin’s small coffee chain, which with hard work became competition for the first O’Shea coffee company and the Nichols’ coffee chain. The Nichols had always been competition for both branches of the O’Shea family. The O’Shea family soon joined forces and Benjamin was legally admitted into the O’Shea family.

Ryan stopped reading and wondered who had written such an awful article. It was a soap opera waiting to happen. He skimmed the rest of Wikipedia to find the link to the orphanage that Claire O’Shea was sent to. There were a lot of links, even one to his parents’ coffee chain. There were an eerie amount of similarities between that Claire and his Claire. Except that Claire was probably prettier. He searched around the internet for any photos. There were a couple family portraits but other than that nothing of the older Claire. He had even searched up Lyle Scott but there were far too many links. The clock on his computer read six. It wasn’t too late to go out. The orphanage website said that they were open until eight. He had been passed their building several times before but had never thought of venturing in. Ryan took his wallet. Corruption was everywhere in New York. The good side about that was that there were no limitations with a couple hundred dollar bills. Ryan snuck out quietly. His parents were still investigating the newspaper. He went out the back and turned on the engine of his motorcycle. Its engine whirred and made a revving sound before he left. He glanced on last time to see that Melanie had spotted him from her bedroom window. Ryan drove off without turning back. There was something really important that he had to figure out. 

The streets were empty and he found the Lower Manhattan Children’s House quite easily. The lights were still on and Ryan went in not knowing quite what to expect. The place was crawling with children, literally. He stood at the front desk but saw that it was severely understaffed, even more than Le Cordon Bleu. 

“Excuse me, I’m looking for someone.  Well actually, not someone here but someone who was here, maybe fifteen years ago,” Ryan said. He took out a twenty from his wallet. The lady at the front desk looked the other direction. He slapped another twenty on the counter and the lady smiled and motioned him to ask. 

Anderson hated how late Claire slept. Lola was already asleep and Grady, the newbie chef, was smoking a cigarette outside. Claire was in the kitchen banging pots together and making a whole mess of the evening. Nowadays she was always in the kitchen concocting some delicious type of dessert. Anderson slowly got out of bed and walked to the kitchen. He used to coach Claire until she started spending all her afternoons with that boy, the one the staff all hated, Eugene. Anderson saw Claire haggard still trying to make a perfect cake. He dipped a metal spoon into her mixture and forcefully swallowed.

“The cream is too thick, Claire,” he said in his deep voice. “Nothing good can come out of that one.”  Claire nodded her head and started turning the burners down and adding more milk frantically. “Ah, ah, that makes it thicker.” Claire sighed in defeat and poured her ruined mixture down the drain. She had already used about half of the milk supply. At this rate, there would be nothing for Lola’s coffee tomorrow and Lola was never happy without coffee. Bowls with blackened soot loitered around the sink and gooey spoons with all sorts of burnt caramel were thrown into the deep pits of the sink.

“Pop, you got to help me, please. I’m making Eugene’s dessert for tomorrow. It’s supposed to be a pastry puff.” Claire looked exhausted and Anderson wondered why she worked herself half to death for this boy, Eugene. 

“He must be special, huh. Is it the boy who always drops by every afternoon?” Anderson knew well enough that it wasn’t. Claire was too in love with someone else to realize that the other boy had somehow fallen in love with her. She had never once given that idea a thought. 

“Ryan?” Claire pulled a face. Even in her weariness, she would never say a good word about the latter. “Ryan doesn’t care for me like that, Pop. I was unfortunately picked as his partner for his English project. Ryan is just using me. He’ll toss me like a half-eaten doughnut when his project’s done.” 

“The flowers are looking cheery. Lola enjoys their company immensely.” Anderson started to beat a couple eggs. Claire watched his precision and speed with awe. 

“Those are from Eugene, like everything else. He sent something yesterday too. It’s a math textbook, the one that Eugene uses to help me. He treasures it and never fails to mention that there are only a couple copies. Who else could have secured a copy so fast? It’s really cute how Eugene thanks me. Tell Lola not to touch anything.” Anderson sighed while whipping the cream. 

“Go to sleep, Claire. I’ll finish this and it’ll be done when you wake up. You should consider telling your other friend thank you, from me, not you,” Anderson said smiling. Claire looked utterly confused but she nodded anyway. She was just too tired to fight Anderson’s instructions. 

“Thank you, Pop,” Claire said before tucking herself in. Anderson watched her fall asleep. She was like a daughter to him and because of that he couldn’t watch her get hurt. Love was a strange, strange thing. How could she be so blind to reality? He had never had a daughter before. Anderson had run away from home at seventeen. He hadn’t finished high school and miraculously, he had been accepted to a culinary school. Anderson put the finished cream puff pastry in the fridge and saw Claire snoring. 

“Sleep tight, grasshopper,” he said affectionately patting her head. Anderson sat on his bed and eventually he fell asleep. Claire was already gone when he woke up. The pastry was out of the fridge but she had left a considerate note. 

“Anderson, life was so much better when that girl, not me, was always cleaning dishes,” Lola said already scrubbing away at pans and plates. Grady nodded in agreement. 

“You will treat no daughter of mine that way,” Anderson said and Lola returned back to her diligent cleaning. Grady was preparing lunch with two hundred other five star chefs. The days always passed by slowly in the kitchen. 

“That pesky kid is here again,” Lola said before leaving. She was wearing a smile and it was obvious that she enjoyed having the pesky kid in the staff room. Was it already three? Anderson retired to his rocking chair and closed his eyes. Grady had a good hold on the kitchen meals and there was nothing that he couldn’t handle. 

“That’s all wrong, wrong, wrong,” Ryan was saying while Claire was shoving a paper in his face. They looked more like an old married couple than friends. She was always bickering and laughing with that one. Anderson knew too well that none of the kitchen staff really hated this one. He smiled before dozing off again.

“Thanks, Ryan,” she said slipping the paper back into her backpack.  The paper fluttered away but Anderson had caught ahold of her perfect score. 

“Where’s Eugene?” Anderson’s ears perked up at the sound of that name. It was Ryan who was asking. Anderson wondered why a smart chap like him would hole himself up like that. It was a question Anderson heard from him a lot. 

“Oh, I er cancelled on him,” Claire said. Her face darkened a bit before she changed the subject.  She looked embarrassed. 

“Why do you look so sad if you cancelled? Did that son of a bitch…?” 

“Ryan! Don’t call him that! You shouldn’t be swearing around everywhere,” Claire said playfully punching his shoulder. She did seem alarmed whenever anyone cursed, even Grady or Lola.  

“Whatever, the mother f—,” Ryan started to say before Claire shot him another glance. 

“If you have to know, I can’t focus around him. So I decided I needed to study with someone who wouldn’t distract me,” Claire said taking out her homework. Anderson could see the sadness on Ryan’s face. It was probably the first time he was rejected so subtly; or ever rejected at all. “Stoic is pretty easy now but I don’t get oxidation reduction stuff.” Ryan nodded before writing another equation on a clean piece of paper. 

“Claire, tell me about your background, your childhood,” Ryan asked as the clock struck five. He was staying longer and longer nowadays. 

“Well I lived with my mom until you came around. You saw my home. I used to live on lower Man, I can’t remember. Wait, Man, hat, that’s it! Manhattan, that’s where I used to live, I remember seeing it on one of the postage stamps.”

“Yeah I know what your house looked like. I didn’t realize it was on lower Manhattan. If you knew there was something greater outside your house why didn’t you leave? Did you have any childhood friends?”  Anderson could tell there was something special that Ryan wanted to know.  He was definitely digging around for something.

“The outside is a dangerous place. I knew that too well from watching the news and listening to my mom. I didn’t have the desire to leave, Ryan. That can be said about you too. You don’t leave your comfort zone. No one wants to. But oh yes! I had one friend. She was my cousin,” Claire said with a little burst of laughter. “Her name is Lillian, I called her Lilly. I’m not sure what exactly happened to her. After my seventh birthday, she stopped coming over. I think Mom said that she moved.”

“Did you ever get lonely?”

“No, I had the modern luxuries. Geez, I didn’t live in some sort of jail.” Ryan was silent before asking another question.  

“Do you look like your mom?” Ryan was taking notes. 

“No, but I probably look like my dad,” Claire said defensively. 

“What do you like about Eugene?” His questions were seemingly random. Claire paused to ponder about all the things she liked. Anderson almost felt bad for the boy. He was too curious for his own good. 

“Eugene is so kind. He’s the kindest person I know. Eugene isn’t anything like you. He wouldn’t shamelessly ask a girl to make him a sandwich while intruding her home. He’s so polite and chivalrous. Not to mention that he’s good looking,” Claire said with a dreamy gaze on her face. 

“You don’t even know him, not even well enough to be friends.” 

“He’s probably the only person who’s tried to help me. Eugene and I are friends!” 

“Ouch,” Ryan said tapping the paper in front of her. 

“Okay you’re the second, but you know, I’m in this basement because of you.” 

“Do you remember your dad?” Here was another subject switch. Claire didn’t seem to mind. 

“No, he left my mom. Why should I know him? He never even called, not even once.”

“What about that guy, the guy we saw? He could be your dad.” Claire tensed up.

“I don’t know who he is. I know he’s not my dad though,” she said again. “Is Vanessa okay with this? Does she know you’re here?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Claire shook her head again. “I rescued you from that guy. You should call me ‘Hero’.” 

“Yeah right I’ll call you hero. I don’t know why you keep her around if you don’t love her. What’s in it for you?” Claire said carefully. “It just hurts the both of you more.”

“What do you know about love, especially between me and Vanessa? What’s in it for me? I have a beautiful girlfriend, bragging rights. I wouldn’t have any if I was dating someone, I suppose, like you. Love doesn’t exist in high society, marriage is business. Vanessa doesn’t care about love, she cares that she has a boyfriend who makes her look good. Oh and I suppose Eugene is in love with you, huh? Are all those cake requests signs of affection?”

“Of course it is! He doesn’t trust just anyone to bake him food and he eats all the things I make him. Eugene picks up clues in such an unobtrusive matter. He doesn’t have to ask anyone to know that my favorite color is teal,” Claire said pointing at the new sandals by her bedside. Ryan was unaware that he was clenching his fist. “He even got me a copy of that really helpful math book he always carries around with him. I was always telling him how much I’d like to get one. Every time I said that he always responded saying that there were only a couple copies out there. It costs a lot too apparently. But this whole time, he’s really been going through Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere to get me a copy. Wouldn’t you say that’s love?

“Oxidation reduction happens like this,” Ryan said weaving the conversation back to chemistry. Claire nodded and followed his example.  It was already eleven when Claire finally understood it. 

“So acids make water and salt,” Ryan said wrapping up his mini lecture. Claire was already sleeping her face on the desk. She looked so peaceful. He stared at the clock before deciding that he had to go home. 

“Maybe Vanessa is right,” Ryan murmured. “You could never like me. But you want to know something else? Eugene Miller will never like you. He’s the biggest. . .” Ryan trailed off. He didn’t even know why he was so angry that Claire liked Eugene. Even if Claire had liked him, there was no possibility that he could return her feelings. He carried her from the desk and gently placed on her bed. Ryan even pulled the thin covers over her. He seemed preoccupied with something. 

“You won’t be able to sleep in this cold,” Ryan said staring around the unkempt staff room. The windows were creaky and never closed all the way and moss was sprouting all over the floor tiles. Huge cracks were slightly covered by odd paintings of fruit. Ryan put his jacket over Claire and smirked as she let out a snore. 

“You’re prettiest when you’re asleep, did you know that? Maybe it’s because you never argue when you’re asleep.” Ryan said gulping down any other emotions that he felt. “No girl wants to hear that. It’s me, who was always on Amazon.com and was always searching bookstores. Do you know how long I spent looking for the damned thing? Even my mother became worried when I told her I was going to another bookstore. Parents are never worried about kids reading. That’s how often I went. You wouldn’t believe how happy I was when I finally found it, tucked away waiting for me. Yeah, you wouldn’t believe it because you don’t know anything.  You’re logic doesn’t make sense either. You give all the credit to Eugene but I can’t understand how you came to that conclusion.” Anderson watched Ryan prepare to leave. Ryan was like any other heartbroken boy. It didn’t matter how much money you had. You couldn’t get choose the people your heart decided to love. 

“It’d be better for everyone if I didn’t live so close to you.  Fate must hate me. You were just supposed to be the girl that I stole a pair of underwear from, not the girl . . .” Ryan stopped talking for just a second. “You won’t know how happy I’ll be when this project is over.” Ryan’s voice gave it all away. He was trying to reason with himself. He seemed to finally have reached some sort of conclusion to his madness.  

“I think I’m in love with you, Claire Hoskins,” Ryan said tousling her hair before he pushed open the door. He leaned against the wall and kept the door open with his foot.  “I have absolutely no idea why. You’re not that pretty. You’re pretty but never have I ever wanted to kiss a girl like you before. You definitely aren’t sophisticated. You put yourself out there to get hurt. How can you see anything Eugene does as care or love? How are you so positive in a world where only bad things happen? I only date smart girls. You may not think that I’m smart but I’m good at picking girls who are. My mind must have gone insane. I don’t know why I attended that party or why I stole your house key. I don’t know why I came back and I don’t know why fate keeps clumping us together. I just know that for some odd reason, I have fallen in love with you. It’s probably just an infatuation but I can’t stand to see you and Eugene together. I’ve never really been jealous of anyone before. But here is Eugene, a person who’s made me jealous twice. I really goddamn hope that you’re asleep. You’d probably slap me for saying goddamn.” Ryan finally left without any awareness of who might be listening. 

Vanessa felt her spine stiffen once she heard those words. She shouldn’t have been there spying on him but she was just too curious about what they did for almost half the day. He never spent that much time with her. Vanessa skillfully left the cafeteria and found her way back to her penthouse dormitory. She couldn’t break up with Ryan. Why did this hurt more than any other time she had found Ryan with some other girl? Vanessa laid on her bed and wondered what the sensible thing to do was. She decided that she wouldn’t tell anyone. That was how she dealt with almost all of her problems. No one else had to know. It was Sunday afternoon and Vanessa was wandering around school with Jessie. It was cloudy both of them had their sunglasses perched above their hair. 

“How’s Dylan?” Vanessa asked looking out for Eugene. She had never seen him in the hallways before and he was harder to find than a sample sale for Prada. Jessie rolled her eyes and tried to look in the same direction that Vanessa was intensely staring at. Was Jessie having issues with Dylan too?

“What’s with the eye roll? Did you guys have a fight?” Vanessa was intrigued when other people had relationship problems. 

“Ugh, yeah, he can be so disgustingly vain. You’re lucky to have Ryan, Nessa. Who are you searching for? Is Ryan here today? I don’t see him much anymore.” That was how anyone perceived him. She was lucky to have someone like Ryan, even if it meant ignoring reality. 

“Mm, no, I’m searching for that nerd in our math class, Eugene,” Vanessa said. 

“Oh, I like devious Vanessa,” Jessie said immediately. “Let me call Mara up.”

“Kay,” Vanessa said flipping her sunglasses on. “Hey-y-y-y Eugene.” 

“Vanessa,” Eugene said back. He was wearing an average sweater vest and Vanessa couldn’t believe that she was doing this. 

“Come with me,” she said seductively waving a finger at him. 

“I’ll be here,” Jessie said. She was texting Mara and felt bad for Vanessa. Vanessa sweetly smiled and walked all the way to the grove, almost at the edge of the campus. No one would see them here. 

“Do you like Claire? I’m being straightforward.” Vanessa didn’t want to spend any more time with Eugene than necessary. But she knew that he could be one of her best allies. “You’re the only one I know who likes to spend time with her.” 

“Vanessa, you should know this best of all,” Eugene said with a laugh. “We’re alike, you know.” Vanessa stiffened. She knew it was true. 

“I asked you a question. I want an answer.” 

“Don’t you realize how ridiculous that is?” Eugene smirked and Vanessa crossed her arms. He was leaning against the redbrick walls that sealed off the campus from the outside. She closed her eyes briefly. 

“I know Eugene, but why do you spend so much time with her then?”

“Au contraire,” Eugene said faking a French accent. “She’s been blowing me off to talk to Ryan.” Vanessa felt the contents of her lunch briefly lurch in her stomach. Claire was supposed to be in love with Eugene.  

“I have a proposition for you,” she said smiling again. “You want to get back at Ryan and I want Ryan back.” 

“Okay,” Eugene said slowly. “I get it. You want me to make Claire fall in love with me. Then Ryan is heartbroken and he returns to you.”

“How smart you are, Eugene,” Vanessa said sticking out her hand.

“What’s in it for me?” 

“Isn’t that part most obvious, genius? Why have you been spending so much time with her? Plus you want to get back at Ryan, don’t you? After Sasha chose him, you’ve been the inferior one, right?” Eugene’s smile tightened. 

“Right, okay I’ll do it. It should be easy since she’s already head over heels for me,” Eugene said nonchalantly flicking a piece of dust off his sweater vest. “We have a deal Miss Atkins.” 

“Good day to you to Mr. Miller,” Vanessa said with the sudden desire to throw up. They shook hands and she promptly left the scene.  It was the only way. She knew that well too. This was her ultimatum. 

“What was that about?” Mara asked as she pranced around.  Vanessa simpered and shrugged. 

“Eugene has wanted to see me for a while now. It turns out that he’s in love with Claire,” Vanessa said. “Oops, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.” Vanessa winked and Mara grinned.

“Oops,” Mara said with a haughty look before showing Vanessa her phone screen. A message sent out to every single person on campus. 

“You are horrible,” Vanessa said with appreciation. They walked, linking arms, to Vanessa’s dormitory. Ryan was in for a surprise. A person couldn’t get everything they possibly wanted. It was Vanessa or Claire. 

“Excuse me girls,” Vanessa said excusing herself. There was just one more thing she had to do. Jessie leaned back on the recliner. Mara followed suit after getting an Evian from the fridge. 

“I love it when Nessa stocks up on Evian,” Mara said. She was satisfied just by hearing the pop sound that the little cap made when she twisted the lid off.  

“Evian, really, Mara?” Jessie said. “Get me a Pellegrino. Anyone knows that Evian is out of style.”

“Whatever, Jess, everyone knows Evian tastes better than Pellegrino.” 

“Ku-h-l-a-r-e,” Vanessa exclaimed almost running after her. Claire seemed a surprised but fondly waved. 

“Hi Vanessa,” Claire said adjusting the strap on her backpack. 

“Oh hi, Eugene just wanted me to tell you how pretty you look in those teal shoes,” Vanessa said. Claire glanced down and she blushed immediately. 

“Teal is my favorite color. I don’t know how Eugene knew that. It’s always so considerate of him to send gifts. It’s really cute how that’s his way of saying thank you for all the cakes I bake for him. He’s too shy to say it in person so he just does this. It’s really romantic of him.” Gifts? Vanessa paused to think about her previous conversation with Eugene. Eugene was definitely not the type to send gifts, especially to Claire. 

“What a nice guy,” Vanessa said. “You know he won’t be around forever. It’d be a pity for him to like someone else. It’s so obvious that you guys look adorable together.” Claire was blushing uncontrollably.

“You really think so Vanessa?” 

“Absolutely!” Vanessa couldn’t care less about who Claire fancied, well as long as it wasn’t Ryan. 

 There was only one person you could trust in the world, and that was yourself. Mission accomplished. Vanessa stared at Claire from head to toe, giving her the Manhattan once over. Claire seemed really fashionable. Vanessa’s eyes zeroed in on her bag. That bag was the same one Vanessa had wanted since three months ago. It was the limited edition bag from D&G and a select few got it early. She knew that Eugene would have no way of securing something like that. 

“Where’d you get that from?” Vanessa pointed at the bag. She wanted so badly to touch it and snatch it away from Claire. Claire probably didn’t even know how nice a bag that was. She probably didn’t know what maker it was from. 

“Oh! This came in maybe last week,” Claire said shrugging. “It’s really pretty isn’t it? It’s one of the gifts I received. These teal shoes are another.” Wait. Wait. Wait. Everything was starting to click. Didn’t Mara see Ryan at Dolce and Gabbana? Ryan had been so secretive about what he was buying there. How had he gotten his hands on one of these before her? Vanessa had put herself on every single mailing list and all the executives at every store knew her name.

“It is really pretty. I haven’t seen you carry it before. What’s the occasion?” Vanessa said trying to control her primal desire. 

“I just thought Eugene might want to see me putting all his gifts to good use. I don’t think I’ll carry it around all that much. Just today,” Claire said.

“Well you’re so lucky to have Eugene. I’ll see you around.” She didn’t have solid proof about anything yet. Claire nodded and left with some sort of determination. The only thing Vanessa was determined about was to get a limited edition bag too. It was a good thing that Claire ate lunch in the staff room and didn’t carry that thing everywhere. It would’ve been a disaster if people saw that Claire was carrying something that Vanessa couldn’t buy. Vanessa called the one person who probably wouldn’t lie to her about Ryan, his mom.

“Hello, Mrs. Nichols, this is Vanessa Atkins calling,” Vanessa said. 

“Vanessa! It’s so good to hear from you. Did Ryan have another, um fling?”

“Oh nothing of that sort, Mrs. Nichols, I was just wondering if Ryan ordered the limited edition D&G. I was wondering if I should put my name on a list or two. I’m a little late but it wasn’t one of my favorites. I didn’t want to order it now if he already did. He sometimes does such romantic stuff. He didn’t answer his phone either.” Vanessa had to admit that it was romantic. And here he was playing Prince Charming for someone like Claire.

“How absolutely odd,” Mrs. Nichols said. “He said he had to give someone that bag and you know I get the 411 at least half a year earlier. It wasn’t one of my favorites either so I let him have it.  I assumed he gave it to you but I guess he had a teacher to bribe or something like that. I must be off but I’ll ask Ryan.” 

“Thank you, Mrs. Nichols,” Vanessa said trying to be as collected as possible. How was it that a Nichols got ‘the 411’ before an Atkins? She wouldn’t let the Nichols win next time. Oh not even close. This was the reason why she had to hold on to Ryan too. Once the Atkins and Nichols were combined, no one would withhold precious information from her. She felt a seething hatred for Claire.

xx