Page 154 of Dream Girl
“Grace, can I ask you a question?” Riley said using liquid eyeliner to give herself cat-eyes.
We were in her dorm room, getting ready. After dress shopping, Spencer had offered to take us some place, but Riley insisted that we get ready in her room. Evan would come and take us to the restaurant.
“Of course.” I tried to decide what color eyeshadow to use.
“You love my brother, right?”
I applied a pale shade all over my eyelids. “I do.”
While we hadn’t said it yet, I did love Evan very much.
She moved to the other eye. “You know, your story doesn’t make sense? The whole thing with you and Wes meeting as kids and all that, right?”
“It doesn’t, does it?” I put a darker shade in the crease. We’d never really come up with a backstory for me.
“No. Um, you know I know that you didn’t have a record?”
I nearly dropped the eyeshadow brush. “You do?”
“Yeah.” She got out a tube of mascara. “Even if your mom took you from here when you were seventeen, you’d have a record.”
“Maybe I just visited. That’s why his dad and sister never met me.” I added some highlighter.
She gave me a look. “You went to university. There’d be a record of you someplace, somewhere.”
“How do you know I didn’t have a record? Did Evan tell you?” I frowned as I added a hint of sparkle.
“Yeah, when he asked me to make you one. What? He and Wes didn’t do it themselves. They’re not that smart.” She added another coat of mascara to her long eyelashes.
“Oh. Evan didn’t say it was you. Wow, you’re talented.” I mulled that over. She was talented enough to create a government record for me? Wow.
“It’s a secret. Also, Spencer’s right, I promised I wouldn’t do shit like that anymore.” Riley appraised herself in the mirror.
I took a deep breath, taking a moment to put away the eyeshadow and get out my eyeliner. “What did Evan say about me?”
“That it’s not his story to tell.” She rolled her eyes.
“Evan, Spence, and Wes know. Do you really want to know? I don’t want to hide things from you. But… it’s a secret.” I started to line my right eye. If anyone would believe me, or at least keep an open mind, it would be her.
“I can keep a secret. But you shouldn’t keep secrets from Bren and Jett.” She frowned and chose a lipstick.
“I know.” I sighed. “We’ll tell them soon. We’re still figuring everything out. It’s weird.”
“I’m listening.” Riley applied lipstick.
“Do you remember this morning when Spence freaked out over you mentioning hacking the universe?” I lined my other eye.
She nodded. “That was weird.”
“I met Wes when I was ten in that park we went to. I was also dreaming. I still don’t know how it happened exactly, unless you believe those stories of scent matches dreaming of each other.” As I finished my makeup, I gave her an abbreviated story of my interdimensional misadventures.
Riley stared at me when I finished. “Fuck me with a pineapple. You honestly expect me to believe that you came here from a parallel world?”
“But I did. Designations don’t exist in my world. Evan calls me agamma, but I’m nothing. I can’t even remember how I got here. When I saw Wes, after thinking he was someone I’d made up in my head as a kid, I freaked out. Evan was there,” I told her. “When I met Spencer, he justknew.Like he looked at me and said,You don’t belong here.”
“Okay, but what? That’s so weird.” She fixed her hair.
“I know, and I can explain the math later.”
