2.
Tiffany was head–over–heels for Chad, no
matter how flaky he was with her. She was
happy to play his game. And me? Well, I was
head–over–heels for Tiffany’s face–for it
<
was Sarah Lu’s spitting image.
I had been in Tiffany’s debt ever since we
met. She’d pulled me out of my own personal
hell. It had been three years since I last heard
from Sarah. Everyone was saying Sarah was
gone. I was a zombie, just going through the
motions.
Then I met Tiffany, a freshman who was a
year younger than me. I saw her face, and it
was like Sarah’s. I cried. I found ways to get
close to her, always showering her with
affection. Everyone knew I was Tiffany’s
tagalong, carrying her bags, grabbing her
coffee, relaying messages when she and
Chad had a fight, and driving her home when
she was drunk. I guess I was good enough for her and she finally couldn’t just ignore me. So
one night, after she had another fight with
L
Chad, she turned to me, drunk, “Do you like
me?”
Looking at that pale face, I just nodded.
That’s how I became Tiffany’s secret
boyfriend. If you can even call a backup that.
It lasted for years. Tiffany and Chad never
made it official, but me and Tiffany moved in
together. Sometimes, she’d hug me and say,
“Tao, you’re the best guy to me. You don’t
even want my money.”
I’d joke, “If you offer, I wouldn’t say no.”
“But you don’t spend it.” Tiffany would stare
at me with those bright eyes of hers. “You
don’t spend my money and you don’t force
me to go public. You’re different than all the
other guys who hit on me.” She even said,
<
“Sometimes, I think you’re just keeping me as
your backup.”
I ruffled her hair and snuggled into her arms,
not really caring about labels. We’d spent six
years together. It was important to me. But
Tiffany didn’t see it that way. She was still
obsessed with Chad. If he called her drunk at
2 a.m., she’d rush to pick him up.
She used to just leave without a word, but
then started to offer explanations, looking a
bit guilty. I thought that meant I was finally
starting to matter to her. But I was wrong.
She still ran after Chad overseas, giving me
no chance to beg her to stay. Just like that,
she was gone for a year.