The Muse Read Free Page B

crushed again.  Maybe all of those things are the reason why I'm alone.  I'm not a bad guy though.  Someone came and shattered me into a million pieces once before, and no one has ever tried putting the pieces of me back together.   Sometimes, it's just hard watching everyone else have what you wish you had.  You can't understand that though.  You can have whatever you want whenever you want it.  I'm sure that's always been the case.”
                Faith nodded.  “I know you will probably find this hard to believe, but I understand that more than you know.  All I've ever wanted is a normal life, and that's not something you can buy.  I don't want to be surrounded by phony people who are with you only for your money.  That's one of the reasons I moved here.  This is real.  This is how people actually live.  People here have hopes and dreams and work hard every day to reach them.  People here see the stars at night and fall in love beneath them.  Where I'm from, the stars are manufactured, and people see what they want to in the glow.”
                “You make this seem like paradise,” Gibson said.  “This place isn't paradise.  It's not even close to perfect.”
                “I suppose that all depends on your perspective,” Faith said.  “From this vantage point, I like what I see.  I see a chance for a life without all of the pretension.”
                “Oh, there is plenty of pretension here,” Gibson said.  “The pretensions here are just dirtier and hungrier than they are where you come from.  People where you come from have ulterior motives but they hide them behind facades that have seen a plastic surgeon one too many times.  People where I come from have ulterior motives, but they don't bother trying to hide them.”
                “It's a totally different world here,” Faith said.  “People do what they do here out of necessity.  People act the way they do where I come from out of a sense of entitlement.  They think the world owes them something.”
                “I'm sure people in your circle have hopes and dreams and fall in love and live normally like they do here.  Things are just easier where you come from.”
                Faith considered this for a moment.  “In some ways, I suppose they are.  In other ways, not so much.  Where I come from, I can't date anyone without wondering what they hope to get out of being with me.  My father runs in very influential circles.  I've dated guys who used me in order to get to him.  I've dated guys who were attracted to my family's money.  I've dated guys who used me as a status symbol to elevate their social standing.  Everyone has a motive for being with me, and none of those motives involve me.  All they care about is what I can do for them, not how they feel when they're with me.  I've never met anybody that was totally into me for me.  It's one of the reasons why I moved here.  People here don't know me, and I can interact with the world around me without looking over my shoulder to see who's moving in to take advantage of me.”
                “That's really how you feel?”
            “It is.  I got sick of all the trust fund kids, the spoiled brats, and the frat boys.  None of them are real.  Real is what I'm looking for.  I want to find someone who understands me, who shares my ambitions in life, who wants to walk hand-in-hand with me on my journey, not piggyback on me to make their journey easier.” 
                Gibson saw Faith differently for the first time.  She didn't seem as stuck-up and snobbish as she had seemed before.  She seemed a little more tangible and grounded than he had given her credit for.  She also seemed just as lonely as he was.  “You could date guys from this life and get the exact same thing,” he pointed out.  “Surely you realize