Vindicated

“I can't believe you would say that about my best friend.”

I stood in the door way of Jonah's room as I looked over at him. He'd broken away from our, very intense, conversation and made his way to the living room. He propped his legs up on the couch and turned the T.V on. It was almost as if he were ignoring me on purpose.

“You really can't believe it, Lynn?” He managed to say without taking his attention away from the screen. He wasn't even watching anything, just flipping through channels. He eventually stopped when he came across The Colbert Report. It was too soon for him to even know what was going on, but he still smiled like he'd gotten the joke anyway.

I walked around the couch, not covering his view, but standing just enough off to the side to get his attention. “I get that what she did tonight was wrong, but that's no reason for you to be so...”

Jonah's eyes snapped up at me when I suddenly paused. Like, he knew I was about to say something I'd regret.

He cleared his throat and sat up right after turning the T.V on mute. “No reason for me to be what?” His hands cupped one another and his arms laid over his knees. “Plausible? Rational? Coherent?”

“Judgmental. Irrational. Insolent.” Jonah's eyebrows rose with each word.

He continued to stare at me for a second before he grabbed the remote again and turned the volume back on. “Alright.” He went back to watching T.V as he relaxed his posture onto the couch.

I could tell by how tense his eyes were that this was his way of stopping our conversation from going any further. There was laughter coming from the audience on Colbert's show, but Jonah didn't even flinch to pretend he'd heard it.

“It's like you...” Before I could even finish my thought Jonah had cut me off.

“Lynn!” He looked back up at me. “I work over eighty hours a week. I have people coming after me left and right all day, everyday. I'm fucking exhausted! Let me have a moment of peace and just drop it already. She's not worth the argument.”

His attention diverted once again.

“Fine” I huffed. I walked into Jonah's room to grab my purse. Before I could walk out of his bedroom he met me in the doorway.

“Don't leave” He stood in the middle with his arms holding on to either side of the door frame.

“You wanted your peace so I'm giving it to you.” I continued to walk towards Jonah hoping he'd move out of the way, but instead he leaned his body in the direction I walked, blocking me in again.

“That's not what I meant, Lynn.” He sighed and rolled his head down. “I'm sorry”

I could tell his apology was the furthest thing from sincere. “For what?” I raised my eyebrow, testing my theory.

“That you can't see how conniving and manipulative she is.”

“Wow, Jonah, really?” I pushed his shoulder back, causing him to move away and giving me enough space to walk out the room. “It's like you're not even listening to me.”

“I hear you, I just don't understand you.”

“Let me make it easy for you.” I grabbed the knob for the front door, but Jonah had his hand leaning against it. “She is me. I am her. We are each other.”

“Fine” He took his hand off the door. “Leave if you want. But you need to realize how far from the truth that is.”

Jonah opened the door and walked out with me.

“What are you doing?” I looked at him confused.

“It's late, Lynn. I'm not gonna let you leave without getting a cab for you first.”

I rolled my eyes to mask how appreciative I was that he remained a gentleman no matter how irritated we were of each other. Damn you Jonah Cohen.

A day had went by before I decided to go see Kadie. I entered through the elevators to her office and knocked on her door.

“It's open!” She shouted from behind her desk.

She sat in hair and makeup with a pretty little dress on. Her body rocked back on her chair as she twiddled on her phone.

She glanced up at me. “Ugh, you didn't bring anything to eat?”

“Nice to see you too.” I threw my book bag and purse onto her couch and sat in the tufted wing-back chair across from her.

“Do you mind?” She pulled out her wallet from her desk drawer and placed a couple 20's on the table.

“Later, K” I pushed the money away. “I wanted to talk to you about something.”

She seemed disinterested again and went back to playing on her phone. “What?”

“What was with the drama at dinner the other night?”

Her eyes grew wide as she leaned over her desk suddenly engaging in our conversation. “So you noticed it too, right?” She dramatically set her hand over her chest “Oh, thank God! I thought you were just going to let it slide.”

“It was out of character for you to do something like that.”

She cocked her head in confusion. “Out of character for me? Or Jonah?”

“Jonah has nothing to do with this except that he had to make up for your ill-behavior.”

“Oh, Lynn” Kadie furrowed her brows as she looked at me with sympathy. “Is that what you think? Bless your heart.”

I mimicked her confusion as I waited for her to continue.

She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “This always happens. You always get too much love dust in your eye and it clouds up your judgement.” She rocked back forward in her chair as if she were leaning in to tell me a secret. “He was clearly flirting with the hostess. I was just trying to be your best friend by looking after you.”

I laughed as Kadie sat quietly and watched. “That's ridiculous. She was just a fan. You know Jonah's not like that.”

“He's a man in demand, Lynn. I'm sure he's figuring out that he can get what he wants. It happens a lot in this industry.” She raised her eyes, shrugged her shoulders, and went back to playing on her phone.

I was hit so hard with an epiphany it felt like I had ran into a brick wall. Jonah's words kept running through my mind. Was he on to something? Was Kadie always like this? Was I just noticing it now because of what he said?

I sat quietly, staring out her office's floor to ceiling windows. I couldn't believe it. She was irritated that Jonah called her out for her behavior and now she was trying to turn the argument back on Jonah. She spoke with concern, knowing if she did I'd believe her. She was manipulating me.

“Are you okay?” My attention snapped back to reality as Kadie stood up from her desk.

“Yeah I'm fine.” I smiled.

“Do you want a drink? “ She walked over to her mini bar.

I stood up from my seat. “No, it's getting late. I should probably go.”

“Okay, well, you know I'm always here for you.” She held out her arms for a hug.

I tried to smile instead of furrowing my brows. I didn't want Kadie to know anything was wrong. She was really trying to make me believe something was going on and that she had my sympathy for when, or if, I ever figured it out.

I gave her a hug and hurried out her office.

I ended up going straight to Jonah's apartment instead of mine.

“Lynn?” Jonah opened the door happy to see me.

“You were right.”