Pattern Recognition

“His magical ‘what’, Courtney?” Paige asks again with her arms crossed and a little more forceful this time. You hate yourself for noticing it, especially under these circumstances, but how Paige is crossing her arms just makes her breasts pop out even more.

“Yeah, Courtney. What’s so magical about me?” You ride along with Paige, trying to act oblivious to what Courtney meant. You decide this route might still work since Becca was able to stop Courtney just before she completed ‘magical app’, so the two of you can still talk your way out of Paige’s curiosity.

“You’re really gonna make me say it?” Courtney asks you, and with her being a wildcard, you realize maybe it was a mistake to pass the responsibility to Courtney to get you both out of trouble.

“She just meant my personality, Paige.” You lie weakly.

“HA! Yuck.” Courtney immediately debunks your weak excuse. “Your personality is garbage, daughterfucker. You and your fucking pussy ass virgin bitch—” Courtney’s just relishing the opportunity to insult you now.

“I get it!” You finally cut her off.

“—Personality. Garbage.” Courtney adds, wanting the last word.

“Like I’ll believe that.” Paige sarcastically returns Courtney’s earlier jab to her.

“Okay, back off, bitch. I was just trying to be funny.” Courtney replies aggressively.

“If any of that was true then why’d you stop her from saying it, Becca?” Paige calls Becca out, and it’s this point from Paige that makes you a bit more anxious as to where this is leading.

“Uhh, yeah. Maybe it’d be better if we just drop the topic.” You suggest, seeing that Paige is a lot more serious about this than you first anticipated.

“No.” Paige says forcefully. “Honestly, I probably would have dropped it before Courtney’s comment, but I’m a lot more sure about it now. There’s something… weird… going on.” Paige calls the three of you out.

“The only one being weird here is you, bitch.” Courtney fires back at Paige, a lot more annoyed now.

“Yeah? Then why do I have the feeling that you and Jay had sex in there?” Paige fires back, matching Courtney’s energy.

“WHOA! Paige! We just talked! What made you think we did that!?” You say in genuine confusion.

“Because that’s what you do!” Paige calls you out. You glance at Becca for support, finding it weird that she hasn’t chimed in at all yet. You can see it in her eyes, Becca doesn’t want to keep lying to Paige. And what Paige says next explains why exactly that is.

“The last time you guys had problems with Becca’s family, you had a group meeting inside this exact same room, and then you end up propositioning girls that aren’t in your relationship.” Paige explains, to your complete shock.

“First it was with Riley and Erica, and now Viv implied it with me and Tricia. I mean, it’s only happened twice, but still… that’s too weird to be a coincidence. Especially if you and Jay just did what I think you did in there.” Paige adds.

‘Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times…’

You can’t believe Viv would do something so reckless as to hint to Paige that you're farming Lust Points. Especially after what happened earlier today with Brooke and Courtney. Then again, you weren’t there. You’re pretty sure Viv didn’t just basically give your secret away to Paige.

You look at Becca again, and her face says it all. This isn’t the first time she’s heard of Paige’s theory. Paige has been connecting the dots all on her own, and Courtney’s statement and your reactions to it were enough to embolden her that her suspicions were valid.

“UGH! Fine. I’m gonna say it.” Courtney says in defeat. “He has a magical—” Courtney just continues on without hesitation.

“Courtney!” You shout to Courtney.

“DICK!” Courtney finishes… just as the door to the VIP room swings open.

“He has a magical dick.” Courtney repeats her sentence while directly looking at Lizzie, the latter looking horrified that her uncanny powers of timing has cursed her again.

“I’m sorry.” Lizzie says out of clear embarrassment. “Sorry for interrupting.” She adds, before going back inside the VIP room and closing the door again.

“Oh my God!” Paige says in reaction.

“Jesus Christ! I just said dick, you fucking prude!” Courtney says in exasperation. “What did you expect me to say anyway?” Courtney asks, not just at Paige but to you as well.

“What am I doing?” Paige asks herself while Courtney was talking, clearly not listening to her at all.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I don’t know what got into me.” Paige suddenly apologizes in a panic.

“I don’t know what came over me. I was just so sure that something weird was going on just because coincidences happened twice, and then Lizzie appeared like she was ‘summoned’ by the word ‘dick’, and now I can’t help but think I’m an idiot. Lizzie’s been doing that thing of hers so often it’s become a running gag with all of us. How can I have been so sure that…” Paige continues to explain in a panic.

“I’m just… I’m so sorry for hassling you guys all of a sudden.” Paige just gives up trying to finish her thought and apologizes.

“It’s alright, Paige. None of us took offense to your behavior.” Becca calmly assures her.

“Speak for yourself!” Courtney immediately rebuts Becca’s assurance. “What do you mean it’s alright? I just got harassed by this bitch!” Courtney reacts.

“You’re right! I was being weird! I’m sorry for suspecting you of anything, Courtney.” Paige apologizes.

“Of anything? Bitch, you just accused me of fucking this grooming dirtbag.” Courtney tells Paige. Though it’s obvious she’s just milking Paige’s discomfort at this point.

“I know! I’m sorry. I started overthinking! I just wanted to help Becca so badly that I wanted to figure out what was going on without them explaining it to me.” Paige explains, and Courtney raises an eyebrow after hearing it, obviously considering how she should react to Paige’s apology.

“You’re lucky someone told me I should be nice if I’m ever going to get what I want.” Courtney tells Paige. “Just make sure I have a drink in my hand for the rest of the night and you’re forgiven.” Courtney adds.

“That someone probably also told you to be nice without expecting anything in return.” You remind Courtney.

“HA! Good luck with me ever doing that.” Courtney says in reaction.

‘Well, good luck unlocking your trait shop.’ You mentally fire back.

“Consider it done, Courtney.” Paige tells her.

“Oh, and don’t ever fucking accuse me of fucking this daughterfucking… fucking… fucker ever again. You got that, bitch?” Courtney tells Paige, who nods profusely in submission.

“Good.” Courtney says, before placing her arm around Paige’s shoulders as a power move. “Then lead me to my drinks.” Courtney instructs Paige, who looks at Becca for permission first, before walking with Courtney inside the VIP room once Becca gives her a go-ahead nod.

The door closes behind Paige and Courtney, and it’s clear that you and Becca aren’t going to follow them inside as you both remain planted to your spots outside the VIP room.

“Jesus Christ. If that went on to be another fucking thing we had to deal with today, I would’ve jumped onto oncoming traffic.” You joke out of relief, but you immediately regret it once you see the look on Becca’s face.

“I’m kidding! And I’m not blaming any of you for these problems, Becca.” You immediately assure Becca out of panic, and you can’t help but relate to how Paige reacts whenever she thinks her actions displease Becca.

“I haven’t said anything.” Becca tells you, still very serious.

“Well tell your face not to say it then.” You tell her, and she just gives you a meaner look than before. Seeing your frightened and panicked look seems to break her though, and Becca finally cracks a smile.

“To be perfectly candid, a part of me did wish to tell Paige the truth about our situation.” Becca admits, taking you by surprise. Knowing it’s coming from Becca, you’re assured that she’s not saying those words lightly and have considered the consequences of Paige knowing already.

“Do you think that’d be smart, Becca?” You ask to hear what she’s thinking explicitly.

“I can’t be sure of anything anymore.” Becca says honestly, with a hint of bitterness that she can’t seem to hide. “However, I do think it would be for the better to ease Paige of her suspicions. She deserves to know if she’ll be around our group indefinitely.” Becca answers.

“If that’s our metric of who gets to know, then a lot of people deserve to know, Becca. Not just Paige.” You point out. “Sofia and Nelly, Tricia, Dana… heck, even Lizzie. They’ll all be around our group for the foreseeable future, aren’t they? Am I supposed to tell all of them eventually?” You ask.

“Would that be so bad?”