The Fire Between High & Lo (Elements #2)(90)

Ignoring my protests, she continued, “So anyway, that was a favor, not retaliation. You’re welcome.”

“Ugh,” I grunted in exasperation, throwing my arm up and kicking my legs out. “When I get back to Los Angeles, I’m going to fight you.”

“So as I was saying, I knew exactly how to get you back for saying that I would be painting the faces of—.”

“Of women who possibly have Stockholm Syndrome,” I interrupted, finishing the statement with thinly veiled amusement. Unable to hold back, my head tilted upward and a deep belly laugh erupted out of me. “That was funny. I crack myself up.”

“It’s still funny… which is why I had to come up with the perfect way to get you back.”

I stared at my black tipped fingernails, focusing on a small chip I hadn’t seen earlier. “Faking this letter and this paperwork is pretty good,” I admitted begrudgingly.

“Wait, I haven’t even told you the best part,” Koko insisted between giggles.

“The best part? The best part was how good of a job you did with the legal jargon. Maybe you should’ve attended law school with me.”

The line went silent as my words hung in the air.

Shit. Here it comes.

“Well…now that you brought it up, are you ready to talk about the bar yet?” Koko’s tone shifted abruptly from flighty to serious, catching me off guard.

She wasn’t talking about Breakers Bar, the bar in which I worked. She was talking about the California State Bar Exam, the exam in which I skipped.

I frowned, shaking my head even though she couldn’t see me. “Nope.”

Koko made a grumbling noise from the back of her throat. But it wasn’t a judgmental noise. It was the noise she often made when she was struggling to hold her tongue.

I exhaled nosily in defeat as I slumped deeper into the chair. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate her concern, because I did.

“I just couldn’t do it. It’s—it’s hard to explain.” I lowered my voice so my mother couldn’t hear me if she was walking around. “My mom is here and I haven’t told my parents yet. But as soon as I get to the airport, I’ll spill.”

“Swear?”

“Swear. But you mentioned something about the best part?”

“Oh yes!” Her voice cracked before she broke into her gasping giggles. “The best part is that it’s real!”

I felt my brows crease in confusion as a smile pulled at the corner of my lips. “What? I can barely understand you.”

No matter what, the loud gasping screeches of Koko’s laugh amused me without fail.

Okay. I pulled the phone from my ear with a rueful smile. It’s a decent prank, but it’s not that funny. I shook my head.

“Hello?” I called out, hoping to get her back on track. “What are you talking about?” My stomach plummeted when the realization hit me. “Did you steal this from work? Kumiko! I know I gave you shit about it, but this really is a great opportunity for your career. Don’t get fired over this.”

For whatever reason, my warning just made her gasps turn into a wheezing, choking sound.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to be amused by her. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. “Koko.”

“No, I didn’t steal it. The letter is real!” She explained between pants as she calmed down.

I froze. The word ‘real’ echoed in my head as I struggled to pull what she meant from it. Part of me knew, but I needed confirmation. “Real? What do you mean it’s real?”

“My goal was to submit a packet for you to be a contestant and then post the response letter up at Breakers to get everyone in on the joke. Just being on the set this early, I already know they send out ‘thanks but no thanks’ letters and confidentiality agreements. I should’ve waited for you to get back so I could’ve seen your face! But I had waited too long already for this day so I had the package forwarded to your parents’ house as soon as it arrived here.”

“So you’re saying that the package is real?” I jumped out of the chair and marched out of the bedroom toward the living room. “No, no, no. You’re bullshitting me right now. There’s no way. The paperwork said that I passed the background check. There’s no way it could’ve gone that far without…”

My sentence trailed off.

Over the course of our seven-year friendship, Koko and I told each other everything. We shared our L.A. apartment and we stored all of our personal information in the same safe. Koko knew almost everything about me. She could’ve easily filled out the necessary paperwork.

Gripping the thick stack of papers, I returned to the bedroom. The door closed with a louder bang than I anticipated. “You illegally accessed my personal information and forged documents in order to submit an application for me to compete on a show that I don’t watch and don’t believe in to get me back for joking on you?”

The question was met with immediate silence.

After thirty seconds, Koko cleared her throat. “Too far?”

“Hell yes!”

“Are you mad?”

“I’m mad that I’m now associated with this crappy show and there’s a paper trail and electronic proof floating around. I’m mad that if I want to get elected to the Supreme Court, someone is going to pull out the list of applicants to The One and I will lose my bid because this clearly displays poor judgment.”