Oh, my God, he did not just go there. I nearly hung up again.
Instead, I inhaled then exhaled slowly. Stay in control. Let him think he's winning.
"Well, that just happened to be the highlight of my life," he continued smoothly in an attempt to dig out of the hole he'd created for himself.
Liar. But that's fine. I could play the long game too.
I was beginning to realize that there were two very different versions of Tristan—the one from the past, and the one talking to me now, all charming and persistent.
So there was a tiny chance that maybe he'd changed a bit since high school. Most of us had.
But—and this was the biggest but in the world—what he'd done back then was unforgivable. And someone who had a good heart, who had any decency at all inside them, would have never done it. That kind of black soul could maybe be covered up by a sophisticated liar, but it was still there, and it always would be.
This current iteration of Tristan was just a good actor, and if push came to shove, that ugly heart would come right back to the forefront. He'd simply learned how to hide it better.
And I knew the truth about him. The real Tristan wasn't a man at all... just a monster wearing a pretty mask.
Ignoring his obviously disingenuous line, I decided it was time to cut to the chase here. "I need to ask you something."
"Hmm? Yeah, anything, baby."
I groaned inwardly. Not the baby. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself back on track. "Why did you want to find me? Wasn't what happened between us just a one-night stand?"
His exhale was audible. "No. Not for me. It was way more than that."
This guy with his lies. "I'm sure you say that to all the girls."
"No. Actually, I don't. I've never had a one-night stand before."
Yeah, right. That was pretty hard to believe. "You haven't?"
"Nope. Have you?"
"Well, no," I admitted. "Except for ours."
"If I have anything to say about it, it wasn't just one night. But obviously, you don't agree with that, or you would tell me your name."
I was silent because I couldn't think of anything to say to that. For all the obsessing I'd done about this call, I sure was all over the place with my responses. After we hung up, I'd have to do some serious thinking about my game plan here.
"Why aren't you willing to pursue this thing any further?" he asked, his tone tight. "You don't think our night together was anything special?"
Damn, how should I respond to that? Once again, I had absolutely no idea.
He sighed, and I could feel his frustration through the phone. "Listen," he said, "I don't mean to push you into anything premature. I mean, we did kind of jump the gun a bit the other night, but we can certainly slow things down and just get to know each other."
Another voice cut into the call, loud and impatient. "Dude. You know you're supposed to feed me, right?"
"You just ate an entire pizza two hours ago. How can you possibly be hungry?"
"Because I'm growing?"
"Did you even look in the fridge?"
"Yes. I'm not an idiot. But there's nothing good in there."
"Because you ate it all." A pause then a resigned sigh from Tristan. "Can you give me a second? I'll get off soon and order something for you."
"About time." There was a beat of silence, then... "Hey, don't forget to tell her that your hair's fake and that you're really bald. Honesty's important in a relationship."
