Page 75 of I Did Something Bad
Despite my fears, there’s no crowd at my building, and we park and make our way up without any of the other residents spotting them. I fish out my keys, unlock my door, take a step inside, and, conscious of how quiet both of them have gone behind me, flick the light switch.Let’s get this out of the—
“Surprise!” Nay and Thidar leap out of the storage closet a few feet away.
“Aaahh!” Eyes squeezing shut, I stumble back. I miss a step and get that sinking feeling when you know your butt is seconds away frommaking contact with the floor. Except it never does. Instead, my butt makes contact with Tyler’s waist as one of his hands wraps around my stomach, and the other, my arm.
“I got you,” he says.
“Thanks,” I say, rapidly readjusting myself when I see the way Nay and Thidar are smiling at each other. “What the hell was that?!” I yell. When I glance back, May’s and Tyler’s faces are lit with giant grins.
“It’s your surprise housewarming!” Thidar says with glee. She points over my shoulder. “I texted Tyler an invitation. And also to make sure you came straight home after work. And also to find out whattimeyou’d be home from work.”
I try to purse my lips in an incensed manner at Tyler and May, but I’m smiling too hard to even remotely succeed. “You guys aresuchliars!” I say.
“Hey, we’re not Oscar-nominated actors for nothing,” May says, opening a palm that Tyler, still grinning, slaps.
“But surprise!” Nay throws out her hands in ata-da!gesture. “Do you like it?”
I step inside and motion at Tyler and May to join me. “Like wh—” I start, but a flash at the end of the hallway where it opens up into the living room catches my eye. Strung across the floor-to-ceiling glass windows is a banner with gold glitter letters that sayI LIKE TO MOVE IN MOVE IN. Next to it, I count precisely four transparent helium balloons filled with confetti floating about. To be honest, the balloons look sad in the shadow of the giant glitter banner.
“You guys!” I laugh. “Why are therefourballoons?”
Thidar chances a glance at Nay before widening her eyes at me to warn,Don’t get her started.
With an exasperated sigh as though she’s had to answer this exact question multiple times already, Nay explains, hands flinging aboutin frustration, “I told the storefortyover the phone. However, it turns out the connection was spotty and they heard four. And when I got there, I was like,Where’s the other thirty-six?And they’re like,What thirty-six? You said fourand gestured at these—” She points at the balloons bobbing around. “—like,Duh. Can’t you count to four?And I asked,Why would I want four balloons?And the woman was like,I dunno, maybe it’s for a toddler’s fourth birthday party,and I asked,Do I look like I’m dressed for a toddler’s fourth birthday party?” She stops to gesture theatrically at her lilac pantsuit. “SothenI told them I specifically asked for forty and—”
“It’s perfect,” I say, seizing her by the shoulders.
“Really?” Nay asks with a small smile.
I nod. “Really. Three for each of us, and one for extra luck.”
“Awwwwww.” Thidar leaps forward and throws one arm around each of us. “So? Were you surprised?”
To be honest, part of my brain is still somewhat distracted by Dipar’s call and what Yasmin revealed, but my friends’ faces are so buoyant that it positively melts me. I push away everything else, becausethisis what I want to focus on right now. “Yes. Thank you. Just… thank you,” I say, pulling them in closer to me, wanting to permanently print this moment, this feeling, on my heart forever.
“Mwah!” they say simultaneously, and the switch clicks in tandem with them placing a kiss on either side of my cheeks.
All this stressing and scheming and hiding is piling up like a giant mental Jenga tower, and as much as I’d like to keep pretending that I’m on top of things, I know I am a handful of moves away from the whole tower collapsing. My gaze catches on the pile of shoes by the door, and it occurs to me that I can’t remember the last time I had so many shoes gathered there. I’ve missed all of this more than I’d let myself acknowledge—being with my friends, throwing parties, havingfun. Not being on the run every minute of every day. Remembering how to just…be.
I want it back.
And there’s only one way I can do that.
This secret of mine has cost me so much already, and it will only continue to drain me until I am a shell; I can see that now. But that’s not all. If this towerdoescome crashing down, I’m not the only one who’ll be buried underneath. It’s already prompted Dipar to lie to the police. The whole movie—this movie that I know meansso muchto Tyler and May and Yasmin—is on the verge of being shut down. It feels wrong to keep any secret, but especially one this big, from Nay and Thidar, but if I tell them, I have no doubt they’ll lie for me, too.Theywill put everything on the line, too. All for me. Allbecauseof me.
The sight of my office door out of the corner of my eye sparks a memory, and I immediately look over at Tyler, who’s whispering something into May’s ear, both of their faces still creased with glee.You are agoodperson,I think as I remember the whiteboard in that room—and now, I feel like a fool because I can’t believe that I ever considered he could be anythingbutgood. That at one point, I viewed him as just an actor whose secrets I could use as stepping stones to a glamorousVoguejob. I mentally wipe the whole board clean, all those little threads that I wanted to pull at and unravel to discover who Tyler Tunreallywas. I know who he is now. I’m not printing his secrets, which I also know means I’m not getting theVoguejob this time. In fact, I know with certainty that after tomorrow, I’m notevergetting this job—or probably any other full-time media job again, for that matter—but that’s okay.
The epiphany doesn’t feel like an epiphany, because epiphanies are meant to be sudden, unforeseen. I’ve seen this one coming for a long time in my peripheral vision; I just didn’t want to acknowledge it. But I know how this movie ends now.
“Hey, are you… tearing up?” Thidar asks, a frown tugging her brows together.
“I’m PMS-ing.” I dab my eyes before she can turn it into A Thing, and, remembering something, stretch my neck to look around. “Wait, where’s Pa—”
“Out of the way, people, fresh lasagna coming through!” Patrick says, rounding the corner from the kitchen,myturquoise Le Creuset baking dish in hand, and we all part for him.
“Hi!” Nay bares her teeth at the two newcomers by my side. “I’m Nay! We haven’t met!”
Tyler’s face splits into another grin. “No, we haven’t, but I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Tyler.”
