Laurie Stolarz, author of a whole slew of YA
novels, including BLEED, DEADLY LITTLE SECRET and PROJECT 17 is here to party!!!Thanks so much to Linda for inviting me to her cyber launch party!!! I’m very excited about DEATH BY LATTE!
Okay, so here’s the story of how I learned that when it comes to BFF’s and their significant others, lying is sometimes the best policy.
Several years ago my BFF of ten years broke up with her boyfriend of six years after giving him an ultimatum – either he propose or it’s over. He, much to my friend’s disappointment (and mine as well – I really liked the guy), chose the “over” option. My friend was devastated at first, but got over it quicker than I imagined when she started dating this other guy.
Let’s call him Dick.
So, Dick is 30 years old, has never held a job, and is supported 100% by his parents.
We’ll let that slide.
He also likes collecting Nazi memorabilia, pays (or has his Dad pay) 10K so that he can shoot polar bears (a hobby of his, in addition to collecting dead animal heads), and calls certain females the most horrendous names that you can imagine.
We’ll let most of that slide, as hard as that is to imagine – and please know that it was EXTREMELY hard for me (a liberal-vegetarian-supporter-
The unslide-able part? After three weeks of dating, Dick wanted to whisk my best friend away to NYC for the weekend. Pretty romantic, yes? It would’ve been even more romantic if he’d arranged for them to stay in a hotel. But, no, they’d be staying at his friend’s – a male prostitute’s – apartment. Though, according to Dick, the redeeming factor there was that his prostitute-friend had slept with Charlie Sheen.
My friend: So what do you think? Should I go?
Me: Run for your life. This is the beginning of the relationship, the “honeymoon phase,” when he’s supposedly trying to make his best impression. What kind of guy name-drops his prostitute-friend’s John (even if it is Charlie Sheen) as a way to impress you?
In other words, I told the truth. And it cost me my friendship. Not right away. But things were never the same after that, and eventually we stopped talking altogether.
I vowed not to do that again.
And so, years later, when something similar happened – a friend of mine broke up with his girlfriend and started dating someone new – I didn’t say anything when that new girlfriend made me cuddle with one of her four pet rats. Nor did I say anything about the fact that she liked to walk around naked in front of whoever happened to be in her apartment. I simply nodded, smiled, and agreed when he told me that she was the most amazing woman he’d ever met.
And, you know what? We’re still friends.
For more information about liars, like the characters you’ll find in my books, check out my website here: www.lauriestolarz.com. Leave me a comment below and enter to win yourself a copy of one of my lie-containing titles.
