Samantha

The Secrets We Keep

“So let me get this straight,” Erec started. “You want me to lie to Christina, and tell her that you came over to my place, instead of her’s, because my girlfriend dumped me?”

Eric was sitting in the chair he pulled up from under his bureau, trying to process everything I just told him. He was failing miserably!

“First of all,” he continued. “What girlfriend Zack? As far as I know I’m still single,” he stated plainly.

“Yes,” I agreed. “But Christina doesn’t know that” I tried to convince him. “For all she knows you could have been dating several girls without her knowledge. So this excuse isn’t entirely outside the realm of possibility.”

“Okay okay, that’s true,” he conceded. “But then the real question here Zack, is why? Where were you exactly? And why are you willing to go through all of this trouble to hide it?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably under Erec’s skeptical gaze.

“I-I can’t tell you that Erec” I mumbled. “I wish I could, but I just can’t right now, I’m sorry.”

I was starting to feel guilty for having to be so mysterious. But I didn’t have a choice, no one was to know about my history with Samantha! Not even Erec.

Erec snorted. “Really? That’s your excuse? You want to confide in someone, but can’t, because you’re trying not to involve anyone else?”

I avoided his eyes. As always, Erec had no idea how close he was to unraveling my secrets. He stood up and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“What's going on Zack? Are you in trouble? Did you get involved in something so bad, that you can’t turn back?”

You have no idea, I thought. I fell in love with the wrong girl, and now my entire life had been warped, into something foreign. The previous me wouldn’t have deceived my brother, the old Zack wouldn’t have cheated on Christina. And yet, no matter how much I tried to convince myself otherwise, I found my entire situation, extremely thrilling. Samantha was surrounded by an air of excitment and danger, that I was constantly attracted to, and I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. I put on my most carefree expression.

“it’s fine Erec. Nothing like that. If things were really that serious, I can guarantee, you’d be the first to know about it,” I replied.

Eric gave me one last observant glance, and shrugged. “I suppose it’s fine if you don’t want to tell me, and out of respect for you and our friendship I won’t pry any further, I’ll even help you as best I can. I just hope you know what you’re doing Zack, and I hope it’s worth it, for both our sakes.”

“You and me both man,” I replied uncertainly.

Erec frowned, but decided not to ask me any more questions. The less he knew the better. He most likely realized that as well. Okay, I got Erec to agree to help me. Believe it or not, that was actually the easy part. The hardest part was yet to come . . .

“Zack?” Christina’s voice sounded both worried and pissed off, over the phone.

“Hey babe,” I answered calmly.