Page 49

They all turn to look at Millie in surprise. Vera hadn’t been expecting that question to come from sweet, quiet Millie. Her hands twist in her lap, and she looks down and mutters, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“No, don’t worry about it,” Natalie says. “Totally fair question. To be honest with you, everything I do, I do for content. So obviously, I’ll be recording as much of Vera tonight as I can—she’s blowing up everywhere. The Internet adores her.”
Vera cocks her head to one side, studying this bright young woman in front of her. She can’t decide if she approves of Natalie. On the one hand, Natalie is obviously ambitious, which Vera, as a Chinese mother, admires. But on the other hand, Vera feels somewhat exploited, because Natalie is using her. But on the other, other hand, Vera also admires Natalie’s honesty and gumption. If she were in Natalie’s shoes, she would’ve totally done the same thing, except she wouldn’t have been so up front about it. Finally, she decides that she doesn’t particularly like Natalie, but she also wishes that Tilly and Selena were more like her. If they were, Tilly would be a named partner at his firm by now, and Selena would be chief of the SFPD for sure. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Natalie said the Internet “adores” her. As well they should.
“Okay,” Vera says. “I go and ask everyone who know Xander.” She stands and sways ever so slightly.
Aimes jumps to her feet and grabs Vera’s arm. “Please be careful,” she says under her breath.
“I am Chinese mother, I am incapable of being not careful. I know million and one ways that people can die in this very room alone.”
Aimes gives her a look. “You know what I mean, Vera. You can’t just ask random people if they knew Xander, that’s not going to get anything out of them.”
“I am—”
“Chinese mother, yes, I know,” Aimes says.
“Then you know no one can keep anything secret from me.” With that Vera marches out of the office with Aimes, Millie, and Natalie hot on her heels.
•••
Over an hour later, Vera is very drunk and has zero answers. Or rather, she has an answer—the same one from everyone. That nobody knows Xander.
“But you all see his photo, yes?” Vera says to a group of young people.
“Yeah, of course,” one of them, a girl wearing a bright pink crop top, says. “I follow him, he’s amazing.”
“His life is amazing,” the girl next to her adds.
“But no one has met him?” Vera says.
“We haven’t. I actually tried reaching out to him, but he didn’t respond, so…whatever,” the girl in the pink crop top says. She notices Aimes for the first time, and her eyes widen. “Hey, you’re Aimes! Weren’t you his girlfriend?”
Aimes seems to shrink in size.
The girl turns to Vera and says, “Did you ask her about Xander? They were dating, you know. Tons of photos of them. You guys made a cute couple. I’m really sorry about what happened.”
Aimes nods and mumbles something under her breath. It’s clear, even through Vera’s buzzed gaze, that Aimes looks very uncomfortable. She should press Aimes, she’ll likely get some answers, but Vera finds that she doesn’t have the heart to do so.
Instead, Vera lurches away from them and locates her next victim. The same conversation is repeated. Maybe she’s too drunk to be doing this. Someone had offered her a test tube full of bright blue liquid, and Vera had said, “Chemistry is good for you” before downing the whole thing, and now she is beginning to question her life choices.
“I think we should take Vera home,” Millie says to Aimes.
“But I have not find Xander friend,” Vera says.
“I don’t think anyone here has met him in person,” Aimes says. “Or if they did, they’re hiding it for whatever reason.” She doesn’t meet Vera’s eyes as she says this.
“Why they would hide it?” Vera says. “He was famous superstar on Internet. I’m sure many people would love to meet him, and he has so many fans. Why are they hiding it? What are they hiding?”
“I don’t know,” Aimes says. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
What are YOU hiding?Vera wants to say to Aimes. But she recognizes that Aimes is probably not in the best mood right now, and perhaps pushing her for answers isn’t the thing to do. Vera is no longer a hot-blooded twentysomething-year-old. She is older and wiser, and she can afford to wait a bit before jumping down Aimes’s throat and demanding the truth from her.
“Vera, how’s it going?” Natalie calls out from the crowd.
Vera frowns at her. Is it just Vera, or is there something curious about Natalie? She claims not to have known Xander, but then why did she invite Vera here in the first place? Dimly, Veraremembers Natalie admitting that she invited Vera over for content. Right. Some part of her realizes that this probably means that Natalie has been filming her as she stumbles around and asks random people intrusive questions. She sighs. The night is a bust, and she has made a fool of herself.
“Thank you for having me,” she says to Natalie. “I will go now.”