Beer, Spaghetti, and Pharmaceuticals ||COMPLETED||

Forty Three

Even as a computer nerd, it never failed to amaze Alice how quickly information spreads on the internet.

Since news broke about the scandal that brought Isaac to New York, and that Isaac ultimately took the moral road, the business section in nearly every journal gossipped about the event.

As Alice dangled her legs over the arm of her couch, lying flat on her back with her cellphone high over her face, she obsessively absorbed every word.

Each headline told a different story:

"Hanes Pharmaceuticals Stocks Plummet After CEO Pulls Multi-Million Dollar Drug"

"Is Isaac Hanes the CEO of the Future? Experts say 'Yes!'"

"Consumers Grow Frustrated by Negligence in Modern Big Pharma"

"The Hottest Thirty Under 30 Proudly Welcomes Isaac Hanes to the List!"

Reading the comments on these news websites was surreal. Millions of strangers voiced their opinions of her sort-of boyfriend. Everyone analyzed him under a microscope, either praising or criticizing the mechanics of his decision as if they knew him personally.

Although she had to fight the need to jump in and defend Isaac anytime an anonymous user berated him, she was impressed that the majority of the responses was positive. Most were commending him for his ethics, although, some were simply derogatory comments by girls fangirling over him.

Alice thought that was pretty cool.

As she continued to scroll through the articles, she mused about the benefits of living in an era of mass-communication.

Communicating was easier than ever. In fact, if anyone struggled with communication, the internet offered millions of self-help pages explaining exactly how to effectively communicate.

And it was because of that thought, that a pathetic groan of agony slipped from her lips and she dropped her phone on her mouth.

"Ow!" she yelled, rubbing the tender, hot spot on her lip. Even with the throbbing pain, she still couldn't refrain from rolling her eyes at herself.

If communication is so easy, then why the hell am I just now confessing to my best friend that I've been lying to her for months about seeing Isaac?

She lied back on the couch and covered her eyes with her forearm, singing out loud to herself in a patronizing tone, "Whyy do I suuuck?"

Isaac was back from New York. That meant that, just as he promised, they would be telling Emily about their little affair.

Alice felt a little petty and immature. Isaac's name buzzed all over the internet because of a high-profile scandal, and Alice sat on the couch, fretting over telling her BFF that they were sleeping together.

Woe is me.

Part of her wanted to postpone telling Emily a couple more days. Just to give Isaac a nice bit of stress-release after his long week, but she knew she couldn't.

Besides, it was time for Alice to take a bit of control of the situation she was in.

Not to mention, the same thought had been echoing in her mind all week.

Emily's going to be sooo pissed.

It was one thing to lie to her in the first place. That alone was enough to make any friend upset.

However, the fact that Emily was the last one to find out... that both Alice and Blaise each lied to her face the night before when they went to dinner together...