We clink glasses, and Kira is blushing bright red. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“Too late to back out, now,” Lexie says quickly. “We’re all in this together, to the end.”
That’s not ominous at all.I take a sip to hide my smile, then make a face. It’s a little too sweet for me, but I bet the price tag is insane and rich people probably like it, so I pretend to enjoy it while sipping some more. It’s weird to have so much money on my tongue. I hate to say it, but expensive doesn’t taste as good as I thought it would.
Lexie’s phone chirps and she pulls it out. It reminds me of the fact that they casually gifted me the newest model of iPhone, which sits in my (also new) luggage set, still in the box. I assume it’s just for the week, but something tells me the girls wouldn’t notice if I never returned it. They apparently have an endless supply of cash.
I’m definitely not gonna return it, so I’ll probably sell it or something. Ishouldsell it, and all the luggage. It’s useless to me, anyway. I don’t have anyone to call on a phone, and I’ve never had enough of anything to need more than a garbage bag to pack my shit in. No one would miss me if I disappeared tomorrow, and I’d leave nothing behind. I have no one to call if I ever need help. I’m alone.
Well, I guess one of my roommates, Joshy, might kind of give a shit, so that’s one person. Not enough to justify keeping things like that.
But…maybe I’ll keep it all anyway, just to have. Just to own. I’ve never owned something so fancy before. The luggage evensmellsnew, like plastic or whatever. And it’s packed with all of Tommy Claremont’s things, and if he’s coming home with me, I’ve gotta bring his stuff. Right? Right.
Lexie scowls at her phone. “Janessa just posted from her yacht.”
She turns the screen around and pushes it into our faces. Kira leans in with interest. I don’t know who they’re talking about and don’t really care, but Lexie makes sure it’s right in front of my nose, so I look; it’s a short-form video showing a group of young socialites living it up on an insanely luxurious yacht on the open ocean, surrounded by the endless blue.
It’s gorgeous. I’ve never seen the ocean in person. It sparkles and I wonder if it sounds like it does in the movies, all crash-y and whoosh-y. I haven’t seen a lot of movies lately, but I used to watch them all the time back when I lived with–
Stop it! Shut up!I shove those memories into the back of my head and refocus on the ocean.
My eyes are so distracted by the scenery that I miss most of the faces and people in the video.
“They’re off the coast, near the estate,” Lexie says with a scowl, pulling her phone back. “They’ll probably beat us there.”
Our flight from New York to California will take several hours, so if the rest of the group is already on that side of the country, Lexie’s right.
“Is that a problem?” I ask, looking down at my fake girlfriend to see her biting her lip nervously.
“No,” she admits softly. “I just wanted a little time to get… I don’t know. Ready? They’ll jump on me as soon as we get there.”
“We won’t let them bully you,” Lexie swears. “Right, Tommy?”
“Yeah,” I promise. “Who’s Janessa?”
“Janessa is theother woman,” Lexie says dramatically, a hiss of hatred in her voice. “Brian was the fugly blonde kissing her in the video.”
I didn’t notice that part, too distracted by the water in the background, and suppressing memories of dead people. “Got it. We hate them.”
“Exactly,” Lexie nods adamantly. “You’re so good at this.”
My head spins a bit from all the compliments Lexie keeps giving me. I can’t tell if she’s being sarcastic for praising me over such random bullshit or if she seriously thinks I’m such an idiot that following along with the plan is a feat worthy of some admiration.Should I be offended? Or, like, happy…?I don’t hate compliments, I guess. So I’ll let it slide. I’m not used to them, but…maybe I feel a little fuzzy about it.
“Let’s go over the backstory one more time,” Lexie says before I can get bored and restlessly go look around some more.
“Again?” I ask.
“I want to feel prepared,” Kira says, her voice nervous. “I’d appreciate going over it again. The only thing more embarrassing than going to face them all alone would be for them to find out I’m paying you to be with me… Oh, crap. I can’t do this. Even the thought that they’ll find out makes me feel sick to my stomach–”
“Kira, breathe,” Lexie says, leaning across the table and putting her hands on Kira’s face, squishing her cheeks. “You can do this. You’re amazing, and you’ve got us in your corner. We’re gonna show those idiots how awesome and desirable you are, and that they’re the ones missing out, they’re the ones who messed up, not you. We got this, okay?”
Kira manages to calm down a bit with Lexie’s coaching, and I pet her shoulder gently and hope it helps.She’s such an anxious little ball of nerves. Poor thing.
“We can do this,” I say, smacking a kiss on her temple. “It’s in the bag.”
She huffs a little laugh and wipes her eyes. “Alright, okay, yeah. Let’s go over it all again.”
I don’t really want to, but if that’s what helps my precious fake girlfriend with her panic attack, I’m willing to go along with it. We diligently spend the next hour asking each other random questions and trying to trip each other up with trivia until wehave our stories so memorized to the smallest detail that I can literally answer any question about our supposed meet cute and the dates we’ve been on, the history she’s told me about herself and her friend Lexie, and all the trivial details they made up about my fake rich life.
