The Truth About Faking

hottie-future-husband.
    “Then Roving Zombies Take Manhattan it is,” Jason announces.
    “What?”
    “Seriously, H.D. You gotta work with me here.”
    “Oh sure, I’ll check online tomorrow and pick something.” We’re at my house, and I grab my sweater to go inside. “Thanks, Jason,” I say, reaching for the door handle.
    “Hang on…” He catches my arm and pulls me back. I freeze thinking he might try to kiss me. Fake kissing is not in the plan.
    “What?”
    “Don’t look so worried,” he grins. “I’m not going to kiss you.”
    “I didn’t think that…” I lie.
    “I was just going to say I had fun tonight.”
    “Oh, sure.” I start to relax. “Me too.”
    “I mean, I don’t really count tonight as a fake date. I meant it before when I asked you to the luau. For real.” His voice is gentle.
    “Right. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then?” I move to get out of the car before he changes his mind and does try to kiss me.
    “Tomorrow,” he says, releasing my arm. “The games begin.”

Five
     
     
    I text Shelly while I look at movie listings. I don’t really want to know what happened last night between her and Trent, but I’m hoping she might give me a hint. She doesn’t, but she does say Trent asked her to go to the movies tonight. Seems when we were in the bathroom, Jason talked to him about the four of us meeting up. I have to give him credit. It’s a great way to make a fake date count. I just can’t figure out why he didn’t tell me last night.
    Mom’s standing in the kitchen when I walk in to wait for Jason. Dad’s at the church preparing for services, and we’re home alone, just me and her. I debate for a second whether to bring up the new gossip around town, but I know what her response will be. Another lecture on small minds and big imaginations. I just don’t get how she can’t see that she’s fueling it.
    “How was the luau?” Mom asks, glancing up from her book.
    “Fun. Hawaiian. You know, same as last year.” I sit down and look at the book’s cover—something about magnets and menopause.
    “So crash-boy’s who you had me braiding your hair for all these weeks? I was expecting someone different.”
    “Oh, it was someone different. Jason just beat him to me.”
    “Beat him to you?”
    “Well, Jason showed up at the same time and asked me out right in front of him.”
    “Oh,” Mom makes a sympathetic face. “And the one you like…”
    “Yep. Backed down.”
    “Well, I was wondering. You didn’t seem too impressed with Jason after the accident. And I thought the other guy’s name was Travis or Trey…”
    “Trent. And yeah, Jason was sort of annoying at first, but he’s okay once you get to know him, I guess.”
    “So you’re going with him to the movies tonight? That sounds better than okay.”
    She sips her tea, and now I’m wondering what she’d say about my scheme to get Trent. Another lecture about using a stereotypically feminine trap to land a guy, I’m sure. She’s just so perfect and beautiful. She could never understand what led me to take such drastic steps.
    “Well, have a good time,” she says. “Jason does seem like a nice young man.”
    I shrug. “What are you doing tonight?”
    “Reading,” she says, picking up the book again. “Magnets and menopause.”
    I poke out the tip of my tongue. “Ew.”
    “It’s all part of life, Harley. I’m just not sure I’m buying this book.”
    “Where’d you get it?”
    “Ricky loaned it to me. He’s trying to get more into homeopathic remedies.”
    “He’d do anything to impress you.”
    “He’s trying. Ricky’s got a kind heart, if a little misguided.”
    “Misguided in that he’s in love with a married woman?”
    She narrows her eyes. “Misguided in that there’s no way magnets ease the symptoms of menopause.”
    The doorbell rings, and I jump up.
    “Church tomorrow,” Mom calls after me.
    “I know. ‘Night, Mom!”
    I open the door and there he is. He looks really nice actually, in brown cords and a dark blue shirt. Like this guy I remembered seeing in Shelly’s Cosmopolitan .
    “You look pretty,” he says.
    “Oh.” I look down at my dress, wondering why my cheeks feel suddenly warm. “I talked to Shelly and she said Trent would be there.”
    “Right.” His smile fades just a bit. “I meant to tell you I talked to him at the luau about meeting up tonight.”
    “And you acted like I could pick whatever movie I wanted to see,” I pretend to