"Maya," Tyler tapped her impatiently. Her spacing out has gotten more often over the past few days and although he wanted to ignore her at first, he couldn't help anymore but be concerned.
Melissa had informed him that IMaya had left the house and although that was something he had rejoiced over with a bottle of vodka, he could tell she wasn't telling him something, there was more and he suspected that more had everything to do with how strangely she had been acting especially since the big noticeable rock on her finger which she claims to have misplaced was gone. Like how exactly do you misplace a rare blue 8.5-carat diamond ring?
The goal was to break them apart yet it had happened so first. Just one picture and his ring were gone from her finger. Something just didn't feel right, at all. He had his plans all stacked to perfection.
He was supposed to sow the discord, allow it to brew then make them enemies. But he wasn't even beginning yet and somehow they were already apart and Xavier was not making a fool of himself, by coming to the office every day to ask her to come back into his life.
He clenched his fist. He had watched Diane beg and grovel for Xavier's love. He had watched his sister desperately try to make him want her just the way she wanted him and yet, why couldn't he get to be an audience in seeing Xavier wanting something just as desperately but being turned down.
"Are you okay?" Jared's voice snapped him out of his reverie as he noticed just how painfully clenched his arms were. His eyes were on Maya. He was worried. That was good, he thought to himself. More than good in fact perfect.
He needed to make sure Xavier watch Maya with someone else the same way his sister had to. The gossips she had to listen to, how Xavier was fucking the cheerleader in the Janitor's closet, he needed to see Maya walk hand in hand with Jared and still smile at him, asking him what was wrong?
He needed him to suffer and feel every raw jealousy, anger, and helplessness like he had made Diane feel.
Maya stood up, bolting for the door and Tyler raised his brow at Jared wondering what he had said to upset her.
"I just asked her why she wasn't wearing her Ring?"
Tyler grinned, even as he beeped his assistant.
"Please tell Ms. Maya that she needs to be ready in 15 minutes to discuss her role and be handed a script."
Jared glared at him immediately he dropped the call.
"And I thought you were worried about her?"
"I am. That's why I don't want her to have any breathing space or even thinking space. I want her to be so busy working she doesn't have time to think about Xavier and at home, so tired she is drained to think about anything than her bed." He chuckled, "You see? I do care."
"What did you do, Tyler? Ever since she came back from the weekend, she has this lost look on her face and her ring is gone too!" He eyed Tyler suspiciously, "You do know you are acting like a sick person huh?"
"You can get me medical care. Why ain't you saying anything mm? Why ain't you running to Maya and telling her about my very elaborate plan? Why are you still here putting up with this hypocritical bullshit?"
"You want to know why huh?" Jared snapped, "Because you are my best friend and I'm loyal to a fault. Besides, I still believe that you just might change your mind and if you don't, I'd rather go down with you than rat you out. I can't remember at this point any memory without you in it, that's how long we have been friends." He hit the desk in the editing room frustrated, "Please don't throw everything away."
Tyler stared at him calmly and then minutes later burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter, "Loyalty? You are such a joke, Jared. An indecisive joke. You want the girl but you don't want to hurt the girl in any way. You can't make up your mind on wanting her even though it means she gets a little sad because let's be Frank, she just left a relationship which was so serious, she was damn ready to marry the asshole so it is perfectly normal for her to give up a few tears for him."
Jared rolled his eyes, pushing his seat backward and standing up. "I did like Maya a lot but I'm starting to wrap my head around the fact that if I need to go through such a slimy dirty way to get her then she isn't for me. She belongs to Xavier and she is happy with him. The sooner you accept this Tyler and let go, the better it'd be for you." he smoothened imaginary creases on his leather jacket and then shook his head at Tyler briefly in chagrin then walked out.
***
Maya ran into her office, not even minding the alarmed look Jessica gave her. Who was she playing? Of course, her nosy assistant must have figured out that something was wrong with her especially with the stupid misplacing story she has been spinning when she was asked about her ring.
She placed her head against her desk, tired of holding the tears back in as memories of the painful words Jessica, Jasmine, and Melissa had told her came flashing into her eyes like a vision. Some sort of trance.
"What kind of a person are you? How could you keep such a big secret from us all this while, Maya?" Jessica shook her head, "It is almost like I don't even know you."
"When were you planning to tell us the truth if Xavier had not said a word? Next week? Next month? Next year, wait," Jasmine's voice was hoarse as she glared hard at her, "How about in ten years when we are done choking ourselves with pints of ice cream and watching cheesy high school movies that make us cry with you thinking we were helping you forget about your supposed breakup when in fact we have been nothing to you but a joke? Or maybe never,"
"Jasmine," Maya took a step close to her but she took another backward.
"Don't you dare come close to me because I don't know you? The Maya I know isn't capable of keeping up with such a huge lie, she isn't capable of fooling her friends for so long. No."
"I feel like such a big fool right now, Maya. I feel like the biggest fool of the century, knowing that I'd thought you were different from the rest. Yes Xavier had lots of women in his arms, uptight rude privileged women," Melissa's eyes screamed of pure fury and disappointment then there was also the pain in there too, "But none of them ever lied hard like you or stuck long enough to make us believe they were family. None of them were hugged by my mom and she never knew their names."
Then they had left and she had sat on the fucking uncomfortable Cain chair and had called their numbers until it was dawn even though she knew it'd go straight to voicemail.