Geek on the Side!

Vanessa has a realization

"I'm home," I said as I walked into my parent's home. No response. Ah well, I oughta lay down on the sofa; it's been a bog witch of a day. After taking off my shoes and laying on the sofa, I check my phone for messages or something. I got something from Paige!

How's LA? I used to wanna visit the city when I was younger, LOL! Is it as glamorous as TV and the movies paint it to be?

I wrote back to her. "Nah, that's only the nice neighborhoods. Most of LA is kind of trashy. I kinda hate it here; I prefer Arbordale."

I checked to see if I had any other messages; I had one from Daisy, and one from Kevin! I checked Kevin's message first...

You OK? I heard from Paige you were in LA.

He's such a sweetie, just like a little brother. I wrote back to him "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you and your parents doing OK? Getting along?"

Finally, there was Daisy's message. I thought about opening it, but I still feel weird about her. No, I'm not ready to read her message yet.

Man am I glad this house has air conditioning, because May in L.A.'s a bother. I thought about watching a little TV, but I felt so exhausted from my abortion that I decided a little nap was better for me...

I'm laying in my bed, naked. Right beside me is Paige, the girl I work with. After a few weeks of hard work, I finally managed to seduce her. She's beyond beautiful; we make a lovely pair.

As time goes on, though, our 'relationship' stagnates. We have nothing to talk about. She hides things from me, things that excite her. She joins me for my streams and shows, but is always apprehensive about it. She smiles, but her smile is always so forced.

One day she sneaked out of our house to go play this kid's game in a place called Amberville. There, she met a woman named Daisy Derriwinkle. After that day, I noticed that Paige seems more cheerful, but also far more private. She never lets me look at her cellphone, she hides her laptop from me, and has changed her passwords.

As time goes on, Paige grows more distant. She won't even fuck me anymore, always claiming to be too tired or feeling too sick. One day, I managed to hack her computer, and find her messages with Daisy.

Paige: "So what would you do to me?"

Daisy: "Oh, baby, I'd lick you like a cat!"

The messages continue, clearly of a sexual nature. What I read next, however, breaks my heart...

Paige: "Vanessa's cool and all, but she's so boring. She doesn't care about anything I care about, and she's just so slimy sometimes, ya know?"

Daisy: "Ugh, babe, don't you think you deserve better?"

Paige: "I do."

I woke up, startled. What the hell was that dream, anyway? I like Paige as a FRIEND! I've no more interest in her, I swear! Why couldn't I have the NICE dream I usually have, with my dream family and the blueberry pancakes?

I checked my phone; I've got some hate mail again from what I suspect are people whose spouses I've slept with. None of these are worth reading.

It is close to dinner time. I get up, yawning, and head to the kitchen. I had not eaten a thing all day, and was STARVED! Mother was having dinner: salmon and wine. Ugh, I hate salmon.

"How was the abortion?" She asked so casually, like asking me how a movie was, or a dinner date.

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said, sighing. "Tasha left before the procedure was done, so I was all alone."

"Probably because she got what she was hired to get," Mother said, shrugging. "Your father's been itching to find a way to divorce me, lately."

I already knew that.

"He thinks finding evidence that you're not his will help him," she said, smirking. "It won't."

"What?"

"Oh, your father is betting it all on the off chance that you're not his," she said. "He's always suspected that you're not biologically his daughter, but he's always been too chicken to find out the truth. It'd ruin his image, you see; what with him being such a 'family man' and all. But now he's looking to retire, probably marry a trophy wife, and leave me with nothing."

What?

"The poor bastard," she chuckled as she sipped her wine. "He's been looking to divorce me for over a decade now, but what he doesn't suspect is that I've been preparing for him to try anything. If he ever tries to divorce me, it'll be the most expensive divorce in Hollywood history!"

"Is it true?" I managed to choke out. "Is he... am I..."

"Now what would you gain from knowing?" Mother asked, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't you grow up in luxury? Always having three squares a day, with your very own bedroom and everything? Didn't you grow up and go to exclusive schools? Enrico Russo did his part by paying the bills; does anything else really matter?"

"B-b-b-but," I sputter out, tears in my eyes, my chest feeling tight.

"So shut up and enjoy your life," Mother said, smirking as she sipped more of her wine. "I was smart, Vanessa. Smart enough to recognize the opportunities I could get us, and I was strong enough to seize them without remorse. I had to drop a LOT of dead weight to get us where we are now, and I think you're not being grateful enough right now."

Suddenly what she's told me made sense. Get pregnant, marry a rich man, and pass off the kid as his. She was giving me that advice because that's exactly what she did. It worked out for her. It worked out for her!

"Dad's," I struggle to say the words out loud. "Not my dad."

She chuckled. "You finally figured it out. See? You ARE a smart kid!"

My eyes are burning, my throat is dry, my body is trembling, my chest is tight, and my teeth are grinding! No, it's not true! It can't be true!

It can't be! I AM Enrico Russo's daughter! I HAVE to be! Mother's lying! She's always lying! She's lying again! SHE HAS TO BE LYING!!!