"Though it's easy to pretend, I know you're not a fool"--George Michael

Since we are FINALLY getting a bit of snow here, it is a good day to watch the flakes fall (ah, pretty!) and tell a story from my long-ago college days. I'm not proud of my behavior in this story. I was young and petty.

The fake names you need to know for this story to hang together:
Barnaby, boyfriend of a few years
Tom, friend
Mindy, floozy

One of the people that I encountered at school was Mindy, who acted like she was the best thing to hit Earth. Proud of herself? Why, yes, yes, she was! And it didn't seem warranted to me. She was so not all that. Not by a long shot.

Mindy was an engineering student so she was in most of the same classes as Barnaby and she would openly flirt with him, even though he and I were a couple. These days, I'd put the blame squarely on Barnaby, because he did nothing to discourage her attention. But, at the time, I was just disgusted with Mindy.

So, one day, I'm hanging out with Tom in a common area. Tom agrees that Mindy is odd looking. She's pear shaped and she's got this remarkably porcine nose. And we are soon in hysterics, riffing on her Ms. Piggy nose when in walks Mindy.

*laughter stops*

Mindy: Okay, you guys were talking about me, right?

Me, horror-struck: No!

Tom: Yes, as a matter of fact we were.

Me: Tom!

Mindy: What was it? The hippo hips, the thunder thighs or the pig nose?

Me, mortified: No, we--

Tom: That's amazing! It was the pig nose! You're good! *laughing*

Mindy: I figured it was one of the three. *chuckling*

Tom: You know your audience!

*Mindy goes on to meet up with another student*

Interestingly, she wasn't mad at us. It was like she expected to be discussed.

Given the situation, would you have admitted you were snarkily gossiping about her? Or claimed plausible deniability to the end, a la Blagojevich, busted or not?