Alison

Alison told Belinda it wasn't possible, she'd just seen Justin herself, here in L.A., "He's shacked up with an heiress, Bel," she said, but Belinda insisted, Justin had returned to N.Y. a few days ago & reunited the Collared.....Why they would still come at Justin's call so many years after he took off on them is a mystery to Alison, but asking Belinda why doesn't get her much of an answer. "We knew he'd come back, and he did," was all she would say. "Do you remember the artist from Gavin's gallery?" Alison asks Kelly. "Not really. The food was awesome, though," Kelly answers, not looking up from her book. Alison tries to give her the background, so she can explain what's going on now, but Kelly finally looks up just to say, "Look, I'm trying to study, Ali, so can you tell me about it later?"

It doesn't work at all, Alison is too distracted to focus, and sends the crew packing at lunch time. Meaning to get to the bottom of the mystery, Alison heads out to Marina del Rey, to Justin's house. She walks up to the door, but pulls her fist away just before knocking, then turns steps quietly around the house, hoping they don't have security cameras or dogs or anything. From the backyard she can see Justin in his livingroom through the window. Yesterday Belinda said he was in New York, had been there for days, and here he is today in L.A....It's just not right. Justin looks up suddenly, and seeing Alison outside, heads quickly toward the back door. Alison meets him on his patio, demanding an explanation. Of course, Justin wants her to explain why she's in his yard. "What are you up to, Justin?" Alison insists. He gestures at the large flat screen TV on the wall inside, the screen paused, a frozen moment of extreme violence, clearly one of those games that are cutting so deeply into movie sales these days. "I'm in the middle of a gun fight with a bunch of cops," he says, "What are you up to?" Alison tells him she talked to Belinda & watches his face for a reaction: he seems confused, like he doesn't remember who Belinda is, then he frowns asks what that has to do with him. Alison tries to read anything from his expression, buy Justin has no expression, just his cold green eyes glaring at her, hard as granite. Alison glares back him, tells him Belinda told her he was in New York, and that he'd gone back to the Collared. That should get something from him, at least.

Justin waves her into his house, without any change at all to his stony face. Once inside, Justin tells her it's ridiculous, he hasn't been to New York in years, and that there is no Collared to go back to. What can Alison do but agree, it is ridiculous, the idea that her friends' little college fascination with Justin could have carried on for so many years, without him even being around to fuel it, or that Justin would even be interested in that when he's got so much right here. "She must be bullshitting you," Justin says, reminding her that she just had dinner with him & his girlfriend, and he's right in front of her now. Belinda told her Justin had returned to them days ago. "Why would she make something like that up?" Alison asks, finding it hard to believe that Justin would be the one telling the truth, even though it's the more logical conclusion. "How the hell would I know?" Justin asks back, insisting he hasn't been to New York & therefore Belinda must be lying. "I guess you're right," Alison says, not entirely convinced, but with no rational basis for any further questioning, feeling like an idiot for sneaking around his yard & peeping in his windows like some pervert. As she heads out to her car, Alison takes out her cell phone & dials Belinda's number again, and gets her answering machine. She had hoped she could catch Belinda in a lie, to hear her say she was in Justin's presence right now, because that would be impossible. Alison leaves no message: what is there to say?

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