Mistakes Were Made

The following chapter is written in 3rd person POV...

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

…

“Are you two horses talking about your favorite food?” Viv jokes, trying to break the awkwardness between Cassie and Stella’s greetings.

Jay and all his girlfriends are finally at the private dining area of Pho Hoa, after accepting Brooke’s call for an emergency meeting.

“Horses eat hay for sustenance.” Becca chimes in unexpectedly. “It is as if you’re implying your favorite food is rice.” Becca explains to Viv.

“But rice is my favorite.” Viv jokingly replies, making Becca roll her eyes.

Tanya seemingly has had enough and pokes both Viv and Becca by the ribs to non-verbally tell them to leave the two girls to talk without interruption. “Ay dios mio. Read the room.” Tanya tells them.

Despite Tanya’s attempt to give Cassie and Stella some time to talk privately, Brooke doesn’t give them a chance with her announcement.

“We have a problem.” Brooke announces, reminding everyone why they’re all here.

Everyone decides to take a seat around the table, and Jay can’t help but notice how their chosen seating arrangements are telling of how much more distant Cassie and Stella are today, as they decide to sit the farthest apart from each other.

“It must be something major if you’re calling the entire group.” Jay comments, as he takes his seat next to Stella. The looks of guilt from Stella and Cassie are obvious, after Jay basically confirmed that what happened between them last night counts as something ‘major’.

“Yup.” Brooke confidently answers.

“And we were so close to having a full week without those.” Viv comments, and both Stella and Cassie sink even lower in their chairs with guilt.

“It’s going to be fine, baby.” Jay tries to assure his daughter in a whisper. He notices that Becca is also whispering something to Cassie, who nods before straightening up in her seat once more.

“What’s the problem?” Tanya asks Brooke.

“Courtney.” Brooke answers, immediately grabbing Jay’s attention away from consoling Stella, and making his head snap back to look at Brooke’s serious expression.

“What happened?” Jay asks.

“She told me about the app.”

A couple of hours ago…

“This… is the app.” Courtney says, as she shows Brooke the screen of her phone.

“Bitch. Is this a joke?” Brooke asks as she stares into Courtney’s phone home screen, trying to hide as much as possible from Courtney that she already knows about the existence of her app.

Brooke decided to not outright tell Courtney she knows about the app after Courtney’s initial negative reaction towards Jay. Confirming to Courtney that Jay has the app without him being able to defend himself or explain it clearly to her would only lead to more confusion and paranoia from Courtney. Then again, when Jay finally does confirm he has the app to Courtney, she’ll realize Brooke lied to her initially. But that’s a battle Brooke would rather have than the alternative.

“It’s no joke. Those numbers represent how much you really like me.” Courtney explains.

“Riiiiight. Uh huh.” Brooke continues her ignorant facade. “Care to look at what you’re showing me again?” Brooke tells her.

Courtney looks at Brooke in confusion, and flips the phone around to confirm that she is indeed showing Brooke’s profile page towards her.

“Are you fucking joking!? It’s right there!” Courtney shouts angrily, as she shoves the phone screen closer to Brooke’s face.

“All I’m seeing is your home screen, Court.” Brooke tells her.

“What!? Are you fucking kidding me!?” Courtney asks angrily.

“Woah, bitch. Calm down.” Brooke instructs her, as Courtney’s obvious frustration at the situation is rising. Courtney starts fidgeting with her phone some more, clearly panicking, and Brooke decides to place her hands on Courtney’s shoulders to try and share her calming energy.

“I’m not fucking with you, Court. I really couldn’t see anything.” Brooke tells her truthfully.

“He must have done something to protect his mind control, and that’s why you can’t see it.” Courtney starts to mutter.

“Can you please stop blaming everything on my boyfriend?” Brooke asks, trying to sound as polite as possible.

“Then why can’t you see it?” Courtney asks, her eyes almost begging Brooke to tell her that she can actually see it and confirm that she’s not crazy.

“Has it occurred to you that maybe only you can see it?” Brooke nudges Courtney in the right direction. “What the fuck am I saying?” Brooke adds in faux exasperation, in another attempt to feign ignorance.

“Well that’s fucking dumb.” Coutney says in reaction.

“And suggesting that my boyfriend has me ‘mind-controlled’ isn’t!?” Brooke fires back, and Courtney can only raise a side of her upper lip in annoyance. “Wait, does that mean you’ve shown this app of yours to someone and they could see it?” Brooke asks out of genuine curiosity.

“No.” Courtney answers. “You’re the first person I decided to tell.” Courtney admits.

Brooke can’t help but be taken aback by Courtney’s admission. Though Courtney would never admit it, Brooke takes that as a sign of the amount of trust Courtney has for her. Brooke feels honored at first, but can’t help but feel guilty that she can’t be genuine with Courtney at this moment and has to lie to her continuously.

“Oh! Your score went up!” Courtney shouts in excitement. “Wait. Why did your score go up?” Courtney then asks.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brooke lies.

“Oh don’t flatter yourself!” Courtney shouts, after figuring out why the app registered Brooke’s growing affection.

“I still have no idea what you’re talking about.” Brooke replies, although she can’t help but crack a smile at Courtney.

“You’re taking all this bullshit awfully well.” Courtney comments, voicing out her growing suspicion.

“Court, trust me when I say this — I’ve heard you say crazier shit.” Brooke expertly deflects, not even resorting to lying this time.

“Does that mean you believe me?” Courtney then asks.

“You don’t think I’m crazy for believing that there’s an app that shows me what people really think of me?” Courtney elaborates.

‘It can do more than that.’ Brooke immediately thinks to herself.

“I believe that you believe it.” Brooke answers.

“What about the part where I said your boyfriend is a mind-controlling cult leader that deserves to be stopped?” Courtney asks, pushing her luck with Brooke.

“What the fuck do you think?” Brooke asks back.

“You really hate it when I accuse your boyfriend of that, huh? Your score went down by a point.” Courtney tells Brooke.

“Now it just sounds like you’re making me your guinea pig for that thing.” Brooke jokes.

“Can you fucking blame me!?” Courtney shouts, returning to exasperation. “You’re the only one who knows about this and you’re acting like it’s a normal thing for me to talk ‘crazy’! And you can’t even see it like I do! I’m paranoid enough as it is that I’m imagining all this bullshit!” Courtney finally admits.

“Court, I’m really sorry if I said that I’ve heard you tell me crazier shit and not taking this as seriously as you are.” Brooke apologizes. “But I’m not even sure what your end goal is in telling me all this.” Brooke tells her.

“I already told you. My end goal is to free you from your boyfriend’s clutches! You deserve better than a manipulative sack of shit like him!” Courtney shouts.

“If you don’t want my score to go any lower, you better stop talking about Jay like that.” Brooke warns Courtney, not even concerned with how suspicious her level of acceptance of the app is already.

“Gaaaah! Fine!” Courtney shouts in frustration.

“Thank you!” Brooke says, finally feeling like their conversation is going somewhere positive.

“But I’m not giving up on you! I will free you… somehow.” Courtney says, her confidence with her statement going lower after realizing she’s not exactly sure how.

“If you really are willing to do everything, why not just talk to Jay?” Brooke suggests, now that she’s feeling more confident with how she’s dealing with Courtney.

“NO!” Courtney vehemently answers.

“Why not? Seems to me that you can clear this whole thing up quicker by just talking to him.” Brooke argues.

“I don’t trust him.” Courtney quickly replies.

“And how can you start trusting him if you don’t even wanna talk to him?” Brooke continues to argue, her confidence turning into annoyance due to Courtney’s resistance.

“I don’t want to start trusting him! What if he puts me back in his trance? The same trance he has you on!” Courtney argues back.

“You already said that app of yours cleared your mind of his so-called influence. Why would it stop protecting you after just talking to him?” Brooke counters.

“Because I still don’t know how this thing works!” Courtney answers.

“Well maybe he does!” Brooke accidentally shouts in exasperation.

As soon as her words leave her lips, she knows she slipped up. Courtney’s eyes grow wide at the revelation that comes with Brooke’s suggestion. Courtney starts piecing all of it together in her mind — how her obtaining the app coincides with Jay’s mind-control no longer influencing her, Brooke’s calmness in learning the app, and her sounding like she’s more familiar with how it works than Courtney does.

“Court… I…” Brooke tries to explain what she meant by her previous statement, but she can’t find the words quick enough before Courtney runs out of her office.

Back in the present…

“Fuck.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. That’s what I said too.” Brooke admits.