~
I pull open the door to the cute breakfast/brunch place Malory sent me the address to and walk inside, looking around for her.
My eyes land on my sister, who's enthusiastically talking with someone I don't recognize because their back is facing me at a table just ahead of me.
I walk over and Malory quickly looks up with a wide smile on her face.
"Fal!" She smiles as she stands up and gives me a hug. "Look who I ran into-" She motions to the woman, who looks up at me.
"Maggie!" I say, trying to seem excited. "He-hey!"
"Fallon, right?" She smiles, her faint british accent coming through.
"Yeah- uhm- how have you been?" I force a smile as I sit down next to Mal. "Haven't seen you in like a year."
"I've been good." She shrugs, coyly. "Just trying to do my thing."
"She was telling me about this house she just bought." Malory adds in.
"Yeah-" She giggles. "After Noah and I split up I wanted to pick myself up a little bit, so I saved up a little extra and worked on my credit score..."
I nod along, hoping my nerves aren't showing as bad as they feel.
"Long story short, around mid January I bought this little townhouse about thirty minutes from here." She brushes her hair behind her ear. "What have you been up to, Fallon? Malory already gave me her recap about her engagement to Nicholas."
"Oh- uh- not much." I laugh it off, clearly anxious. "Just producing."
"Producing?" She twists her eyebrows.
"Oh my god!" Malory's jaw drops. "Nicholas and the boys got her a job at Sumerian as a co-producer!"
"Really?" She looks back at me. "I'm surprised Noah hadn't told me."
"Well, we hadn't really set it up or even talked about it until January." I explain.
"No, I get that-" She laughs, almost maniacally. "I mean when I met up with him not too long ago."
"What?" Malory and I ask at the same time.
"Well, we promised not to talk about it..." She winces, clearly having intending on telling us anyway. "But a few days after New Years he called me and asked if we could have dinner."
My heart feels sunken in as she speaks of it so sweetly, spite and a sense of disgust in the back of her voice.
"I just let him come over, he seemed like he needed some actual comfort, y'know?" She bites her lip. "He stayed for a couple nights, but we decided we'd give each other space due to our split last September. But don't worry! We ended on really good terms." She assures us.
"I didn't know about that!" Malory gasps. "He didn't even tell Nicholas, Jolly, or Nick?!"
"He promised he wouldn't tell anyone as long as I didn't- but then again I have nothing to lose." She giggles. "Sorry, that probably sounds so bitchy."
"You're fine!" Malory quickly says, but I can tell she doesn't mean it, which I thank god for.
"Anyway, I don't know why he wouldn't have told me that you're producing! I would've said something or had him bring me to the studio to congratulate you."
"Oh, it's not that important-" I swallow. "I'm just trying to get by."
Her phone starts ringing before she can respond and she brings it to her ear as she answers it.
