Pushing Perfect(45)

“He’s hiding his secret boyfriend,” Raj said.

“That’s because it’s fun.”

“Is that really it?” I asked. “How long has he been hiding him?”

“A while,” she admitted.

“So why would you think he’d tell you about Walmart if he won’t even tell you about the boyfriend?”

“Because—” She stopped. “You’re right. Maybe it was stupid of me to think that.” She leaned back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest. I was getting confused. Alex had barely seemed fazed at all when I told her Raj was involved, and she seemed to be much better friends with him.

“We’ll never know how he’s involved unless we ask him. Can one of you guys text and tell him to meet us here after work? Blocked Sender gave me from one to five to pick up the pills, which I bet means Justin gets off work then. If he’s in this like we are, he deserves to know what’s going on. And if he’s Blocked Sender, then we deserve to know that too. You guys know him better than I do—will you be able to tell if he’s lying?”

“Maybe,” Raj said.

“I’d like to think so,” Alex said. “If I’m wrong about him, then I don’t think I can trust my judgment about anyone.”

She got out her phone and sent the text message.

Raj polished off the rest of the fries while we waited, but Alex just sat and nervously stirred her shake.

Finally, Justin texted back.

Be there at 5:30.

That meant we had hours to kill—it was only two—so we decided to go back to Raj’s house and watch the rest of The Usual Suspects. Alex was right; I hadn’t seen the ending coming. The creepiness of it made us all anxious, though, and we still had time, so we watched some dumb comedy to try to take our minds off things before we headed back to the diner.

Eventually it was time to go. We drove over together in my car, Raj in the front seat, Alex in the back, complaining about the radio station like a little kid. The music was a distraction, but it lasted only until we sat back down at the table we’d left just hours before. Not-Pinky-the-waitress didn’t seem super happy to see us, at least not until we ordered more food.

And then we sat, waiting for Justin to arrive.

I was dying to know what he’d say.





17.


Five thirty came and went with no Justin.

“He’s bailing on us,” I said.

“He wouldn’t do that,” Alex said.

“You keep saying that. I don’t understand why you’re so sure. I mean, I haven’t known him that long, but isn’t he always bailing on stuff? He leaves parties early to go see his secret boyfriend, and he doesn’t come out when you ask him.”

“I know him,” she said simply. “He’ll be here.”

And then, at six, he was. He took the seat next to Alex, across from me. I couldn’t quite make eye contact yet. “I take it this isn’t just a social call.” He didn’t look super surprised to be there, which didn’t answer the Blocked Sender question, though it clarified that his presence at Walmart wasn’t random.

“Don’t be glib,” Alex said. “Raj does glib better than you.” She wasn’t looking at him either.

“This is serious,” Raj said.

Justin slumped back in his seat, chastened. “Okay, okay. Sorry.”

I wasn’t sure what to ask him first—I wasn’t sure that Justin could be Blocked Sender, but even if he wasn’t, I didn’t know whether confronting him right away was the way to go. Alex wasn’t about to wait for me to decide what to do, though.

“What’s the deal?” she asked. “Do you just happen to have a job at Walmart you never told me about, or did someone get to you?”

“As soon as I saw Kara, I had a feeling it was all about to hit the fan,” he said.

“Please, just tell us what you know,” I said. “Tell us what’s going on.”

He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know what you know,” he said. “How about you guys tell me first?”

It was one thing for me to tell Alex and Raj what was happening, but I didn’t know Justin very well. “I think you have a better idea of what’s going on than we do,” I said. “And you didn’t seem all that surprised to see me. Not as surprised as I was to see you.”

“Oh, I was surprised,” he said. “You were the last person I expected.”

“But you expected someone.”

He sighed. “Okay, fine. I started getting these text messages about a month ago from someone who knew things I didn’t want them to know. A smartass, too—said if I was such a good actor, I’d find a way to convince Walmart I was a pharmacy student so I could get an externship. I was supposed to get the gig and then await further instructions.”

Await further instructions. I’d heard that before. He was one of us, then. If he was telling the truth.

“I basically just finished training and today I got another text telling me to do a good job on my first official day of work. I didn’t know what it meant until I saw you, Kara. I’m assuming that Novalert prescription wasn’t for you?”

“Not exactly.” I didn’t want to say anything else, though. This whole situation was getting weirder with every new thing we learned.