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back, Evan.” I heard what
sounded like kissing and then she came back to the phone with a sigh. “Sorry, I
was kinda busy.”
    “Are
you with Evan, the guy from the party you tried to hook me up with?” I asked,
surprised.
    “Yeah.”
Her voice sounded happy. “He’s great and I just love being with him.”
    “How
do you even know him?”
    “I
met him months ago at a frat party.”
    “You
did?” I frowned. “You never told me.”
    “Well,
you know,” she sighed. “I didn’t think he was into me.”
    “Okay,
and …?”
    “I
met your Zane before as well.” Her voice was light and my heart skipped a beat.
“I didn’t have time to tell you before.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yeah,
a few weeks before the party. He was with Evan and that DJ guy, hanging out
with some guys I know.”
    “And
…?” Please God, don’t let her say that she slept with him. Please God no.
    “And
nothing much.” She paused. “Look, it might not be a big deal, and I wasn’t
going to tell you, but he was the reason why I pushed so hard for you to go to
that party that night.”
    “What?”
I frowned into the phone, feeling confused and overwhelmed. “What do you mean?”
    “I
don’t really remember exactly. But I was telling Evan how crazy you were and
how you had left school to go to LA with some guy named Zane, and Evan was
like, ‘Wow, stalking really works.’ And he reminded me of what had happened
before.”
    “What
are you talking about?”
    “Well,
Evan had asked if I had any hot friends to bring to the party and I’d been a
bit upset because I thought he had been into me and then I thought he really
wasn’t, because if he was, why would he ask me to bring a friend? Well, who
knows, I mean I—”
    “Leeza.”
My voice was sharp. “Get on with it please.”
    “Oh,
sorry. Well, he asked if I had any friends to bring and I guess I said something
like I could bring my friend Lucky.”
    “And?”
    “And
that creepy guy, Zane. Sorry, you know, your Zane? Well he looked at me hard and was like, ‘Lucky?’ Or something like that.
And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s her name.’ I was like, ‘I can ask her to come, but
she’s a waitress and works late nights, so I don’t know.’”
    “Ok.”
    “And
then Zane was like, ‘Does she work at Lou’s Diner?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah,
yeah.’ At the time, I didn’t think about it. But that’s just weird that he knew
that.”
    “And?”
    “And
nothing. The conversation ended. But a couple of days later, Evan called me and
he was like, ‘Can you try really hard to bring your friend Lucky? I’d like to
meet her.’ And of course I was upset, but then he said he’d hook me up with
some concert tickets, and so you know, I invited you.”
    “I
thought you wanted to hang out as roommates.” My voice was cold and dry as I
tried to process all the information she was giving me.
    “I
did, I did.” She paused. “But, you know. Anyways, I saw Evan a couple of days
ago and he was all like, ‘Hey what’s up?’ But I was like, ‘You wanted to date
my friend.’ And he was like, ‘No, no, no. My friend, Zane asked me to call you
and to make sure Lucky came to the party, but to leave his name out of it.’ I
was like, ‘Why would you do that? You didn’t seem like great friends.’ And he
was like, “Well, Zane’s dad is huge in Hollywood” and you know Evan is trying
to be an actor.’”
    “I
see.”
    “Yeah,
he’s hoping to make it as big as Braydon Eagle.”
    “Uh
huh.” Mentally, I was no longer paying attention to her.
    “You
know him, right? Handsome blond, I think I saw you talking to him at the
party.”
    “Look,
I have to go, Leeza,” I sighed, frustrated. I needed to think about the
information she had just given me. Zane had wanted me to be at that party? But
he didn’t even really know me, aside from the diner. And he’d never let on, not
for one minute, that he had orchestrated that whole event. What else had he
done? I felt cold as I thought