My Imaginary Ex (COMPLETE)

Chapter 5

Coffee shop, present day

"Zack didn't ask anyone out for months after you broke up with him," I said, offering that up as evidence of his true feelings for her. "You really messed him up."

Lena shook her head. "He didn't ask anyone out because you were there. He didn't need anyone else. I'm surprised you're still in denial about this." But she wasn't angry that I didn't believe her. If anything, she was amused.

After that awkward conversation in college, I did speak to Lena again. We were classmates in philosophy, and we eventually started saying quick hellos in the halls. At graduation, we even hugged—but I figured everyone was emotional that night.

"Are we really going to keep talking about this?" I whined.

"She's here! Finally." Lena's eyes darted to someone behind me, and I turned to look.

I almost choked on my tea. "Marjorie."

Marjorie Pineda had shorter hair now, and she'd lost some weight, looked more athletic. She took the empty seat next to me, and dropped the heavy bag she was carrying under the table.

Marjorie was Zack's second girlfriend.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the meeting took longer than it should have," she said. "What have you talked about already?"

"I gave her the gist of what we want her to do," Lena said.

"Oh, of course." Marjorie turned to me, her eyes a little brighter. "And what did she say?"

"She is not on speaking terms with Zack."

"You're kidding me," Marjorie said, addressing me directly now. "What happened?"

I still wasn't sure what was happening but I answered her anyway. "I don't know. He just stopped—You know what? I don't have to explain anything to you. Or to you. How did you two even meet?"

"Yoga," Marjorie answered. "Didn't figure out who she was until I found out her last name."

When Marjorie saw Lena's name on the attendance list of her weekly yoga class, she immediately yelled, "As in the ex of Zack Tomas?!" in her typical borderline-tactless fashion. Apparently, she had never met Lena—she had seen a small picture on some website somewhere—and barely knew a thing about her.

While Marjorie bought herself a drink, Lena filled me in on how their strange friendship formed.

"I heard that he had a new girlfriend, but I didn't know who she was," Lena said. "Just that she was a girl he had met at work."

"Yeah, they got hired at the same time." I remembered that, at least.

"Well, Marj is cool. She's not what I expected."

Marjorie returned to our table with her own tall mocha. "This is too funny! Zack's three exes, all together."

Zack's TWO exes, but never mind.

"Sorry," Marjorie said. "You were saying?"

"Lena said you weren't what she expected."

"Oh, that's so true. She wasn't what I was expecting either. I kind of thought that Lena would be more like me, you know? I thought Zack had a type."

Looking at the two of them in front of me, I understood what they meant. Lena reminded me of college—all enthusiasm, spirit, pep, positivity.

Marjorie was reserved. I found her a bit serious, less quick to laugh, not too smiley. That didn't mean they were opposites, just that they were very different.

I noticed there was an ease between them that I didn't feel. "But you're friends now. Maybe you're not so different."

Lena laughed. "Oh, we almost have nothing in common. Believe me, we tried. Apart from yoga and Zack, we have nothing."

"We can't even go to movies together." Marjorie smiled, after faking a frustrated look. "It was interesting getting to know Lena, though. Because Zack never talked about her."

"Well, he talked about Jasmine a lot," Lena said.

"Totally," Marjorie added. "I knew all about that boss you hated, that work stalker you tried to avoid... and I heard all about you and Tim."

Me and Tim?

But Marjorie was obviously still on the subject. "I knew what was happening between you and Tim from when he first asked you out—to that basketball game. You two fought a lot too. I felt like Zack was telling me about a new fight every two weeks."

Why are they dragging this all out? "I broke up with Tim a long time ago. So what you know, Marjorie, is old news."

"The point is," she replied, "Why would Zack care so much about you and this guy? You and Zack broke up in high school. And still, we followed your relationship's ups and downs like it was a telenovela."

"See, it's not just me," Lena said. "Marjorie agrees."

"Zack is totally in love with you," Marjorie said, dead serious. "He'll end it with Kimmy if you ask him to."

"I'm not going to ask him to do that!"

Marjorie arched her eyebrows. "Really? You don't remember what you did for me five years ago?"