Truth Be Told | ✓

| a m y |

❝Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter.❞  -Dr. Seuss

| a m y |

AMY'S MIND was racing as she nervously fidgeted in her seat, coiling the strands of her hair around her agitated fingers for what felt to be the hundredth time. She didn't want to look at the boy next to her, didn't want to meet his gaze and leave her feelings there. Exposed.

She was beginning to wish she hadn't so quickly seized the idea of creating a false past--clearly it had just been a clever method of running away from a reality she didn't want to share. That she was a shy, ordinary Massachusetts girl who wasn't going to college like everyone else apparently was at nineteen. There was nothing intriguing about that--nothing that would single her out as anything more than "just another nobody" to the piece of masculine art sitting next to her.

Then why did he keep delivering her these strange glances? He must not believe her; that was it. Slowly, Amy felt the guilt washing over her. Perhaps staying honest might just have been a better solution than committing herself to this charade. Now she was accountable to this awful reputation she'd created for herself over the course of a few shaky breaths in a matter of seconds. 

My dad used to work for Kanye West? Where had that come from? The idea could barely have been further from the truth, justifiable by her father's minimum wage paycheck as a car mechanic.

I'm an amateur actress headed to Hollywood to audition for a Marvel movie? What would her colleagues at Dunkin Donuts think of that concept?

Well, she thought, it may not be Hollywood, but if this interview is successful, I'll be able to leave Dunkin's in the dust. In actuality, her story about being invited to California for an audition had not been entirely false. The only difference was that her interview was with a software company and not a Marvel film director.

There was a rustle in the seat next to her, and then Ori was speaking again in a tone of inquiry. "You thinkin' about college at all?"

It was difficult to cringe at his words when they were related to her in such a creamy swagger of a tone, but the chills which attacked Amy's arms the next second had nothing immediately to do with his voice.

What to do, what to do.

"Um," she murmured, forcing a smile on her face, all the while cursing herself inwardly for being such an idiot. "Well... I... uh... I dropped out of college to pursue my immediate acting career," she finally blurted out in nearly a breath, suddenly aware of how quickly such an acting career would undoubtedly crash. Why couldn't she talk normally?

She was terrible at this.

"Oh, I had a friend who did that," commented Ori speculatively. "She's a dancer, but she was so talented that she figured she would make it farther in the world if she took an offer from a studio rather than spend four years in college." There was a pause, and then he added, "You must be really good."

Is he messing with me, she wondered. Or does he really think I'm that good? 

It was nearly impossible to tell. Ori's words were calm and had a sense of sincerity to them, even while they rolled off his tongue in a manner that was irritatingly smooth.