Maisie Knowles has hidden her identity and lies to everyone she knows to follow her dreams of becoming a successful author, but when she meets Theo Park, the actor playing the male lead in the movie based on her book, all the secrets she hid so well...
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A significant part of me just wanted to let the phone call from my mom ring out, but the other part knew doing so would only result in her attempting to call me ten more times until I answered. Or worse, show up on my doorstep. She didn't know exactly which apartment was mine, but she did know which apartment building I lived in. I hadn't even wanted to disclose that information to her but did it solely for safety reasons.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting myself have three extra seconds before I pushed myself into a sitting position and answered the call. "Hello?"
"Maisie, do you remember my friend Mikaela?"
"Yes," I said even though the honest answer was no.
"Well, she called me the other day and said she has a mole on her skin she thinks looks a little funny. She sent me a picture of it and I told her I would ask you if it was cancer or not."
It took everything in me to hold in a groan. This was exactly why I didn't want to answer. "Mom, why would you tell her that? How could I know if she had cancer? Even if I look at the mole?"
"Because you're a nurse," she responded, as if a nurse would have answers to every single medical question in the universe.
Let alone someone lying about being one.
"I'm an ICU nurse," I said, the lie coming too naturally to my tongue. "I'm not a.. a..." I panicked, momentarily forgetting what kind of doctor specialized in skin, afraid my hesitation would cast doubt on her belief of my lie. "Dermatologist!" I nearly shouted a moment later. "And even if I was, she'd still need to get tested to find out."
"So, you don't have cancer patients in the ICU?" she said and I could imagine her lips were pursed.
My grip on my phone tightened. "Even if we do, all I do is monitor them. I don't treat cancer. I'm not a doctor."
"Yet, right?" she hedged, as she always did.
It was never enough for her. I always had to have a higher goal for my career. I couldn't be content where I was. And so, it just forced me to keep on lying to her. "I'm still looking at medical schools."
"You should really hurry. Your brother finished his Ph.D. at your age."
"I know."
"Imagine the money you could make. Then you wouldn't have to live in that tiny apartment anymore."
I glanced around my so-called tiny apartment. A one bedroom with an office space, it was more than enough space for myself. My living room alone comfortably fit my couch, a recliner, my coffee table, a T.V-stand, a standing lamp... as well as my two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that held copies of my own books, the books I collected, as well as a dozen or so nursing textbooks that I'd googled college students used for their courses. I'd been able to decorate it the exact way I wanted, unlike my room at my parent's house. They hadn't even let me re-arrange my room growing up.
