Smile Innocently Lie Easily

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The following morning, Rachel took a long minute to think and came to realize she was a little buzzed last night after those beers. Nothing she did or said wasn’t the truth, but this morning gave her a case of the butterflies. Could she really go through with her plan to express an interest in Jeremy? To his face?

It scared her to realize she did have romantic feelings for her best friend, and the fact she could never support his relationship with any girl, was because he belonged with her, and only her. He was destined to be Mr. Rachel Martin. The thought made her chuckle on the way to the bus stop.

Last night yield several different plans and the one thing they all had in common, getting Lisa out of the picture. Rachel had done some scheming to get them together and now it was time to use the same tactic to break them up. She didn’t want it to be anything too drastic that Jeremy might consider a stab in the back, if he found out.

During the bus ride and the walk to school, all she did was try to come up with a fool proof plan. Rachel only had one shot to make this work, or risk Lisa catching on and ruining the whole thing.

Standing outside the gate was the boy taking up all her thoughts. Jeremy smiled weakly when their eyes met. He wasn’t sure how much she’d remember of last night and it was written all over his face.

Another main part of her mast plans was to stop trying to push Jeremy away by being a mega bitch. She walked up to where he stood, returning his smile. “Hey.”

The meek smile turned into a thousand watt bulb, and son of a bitch if he didn’t make her heart skip beats. “Hey! How are you feeling?”

“About what?” Rachel made up her mind on the bus ride to pretend last night was a drunken babble and she didn’t remember any of it. That worked better, for now, for both their sakes.

Jeremy stumbled on her words for a short moment. “About being eighteen and an adult.” He recovered like a pro. It was nice to see her life lessons were still making an impact. It was rare to see Jeremy trip up and get embarrassed anymore. Oh, it still happened sure but now he knew how to hide it better and lie like the rest of the public.

“It’s fantastic, now I can start my career in the sex business.”

He nodded just as seriously as she said the words. “I know you’ve been waiting all year for that.”

She caved, smiling and mooning all over the guy. “You haven’t forgotten how to play along with my crude stupid humor.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything about you, Rach.”

“Heh, look at you with the sweet talk.” Again, she was reminded of yesterday when he gave her the birthday present and the attitude he carried. If she wanted to be honest, this was a pretty sexy side to his usual geek persona.

“I’m shocked you’re talking to me after avoiding me all the month.”

Rachel was careful not to mention their meeting last night. He couldn’t know she remembered it, and risk this getting awkward. “You were right when we spoke at lunch. I’ve been unfair and your gift spelled it out in big letters too.”

“How was your birthday?”

“I went out with Jay.”

His blue eyes dropped from her face and swept the span of his shoes. “Oh. I didn’t realize you were dating.”

Rachel felt pitiful, she wanted Jeremy to be jealous and in her nutty brain, he sure did look jealous right now avoiding eye contact. “We’re fake dating so his sister’s clingy friend will leave him alone. You wanna hear something funny? It turns out he has two sisters, and one of them is Lisa.”

Jeremy’s head shot back up and his blue eyes were the size of dinner plates. “What?”

“Yeah, small world huh? I found out last night at an awkward family dinner. As far as Lisa knows, I am dating Jay for real and it has to stay like that.” Rachel knew without a doubt she was going to keep helping Jay, she owed him that much, and just maybe he was going to help her get everything she wanted too.

“I won’t say anything…on one condition.”

It was Rachel’s turn to look like the fish out of water. This was a serious turn of events and again, gave new layers to the once shy boy she used to know. With anyone else in the world, she would’ve been outraged and probably would’ve uppercut them, but with Jeremy she was intrigued down to her bones. “Like what?”

“You come home with me after school to hangout. My mom really misses you.”

Rachel wasn’t sure how she felt about that, she loved Jeremy and missed him and his family, but for the last month they had lived apart and it didn’t feel right to jump back into their routine like that never happened. “I’ll try. I might have plans.”

“With Jay?” Again it looked and sounded like jealously, but Rachel couldn’t be sure.

“He doesn’t know how to function too well without me telling him what to do. I am great at bossing people around.”

His eyes twinkled under the sunlight, a wide grin across his mouth. “That’s true. The bell is about to ring.” They started for the main entrance of the high school.

Rachel snickered. “Only a certified dork knows when the bell is about to ring.”

“When it comes to being certifiable, you take the cake every time.”

“I might just have to kick your ass, Jeremy Hansen.” It took no time at all for them to fall back in step with each other. Like no time passed, she snaked her arm around his waist, and together they headed for the lockers. It felt damn good to have her best friend back, and she knew without a doubt, she was never going to walk away from him again. It was as he shut his locker, she asked “Where is Miss. Perfect Girlfriend?”

“She has a doctor’s appointment and won’t be in for class until after lunch.”

Rachel looked up and thanked God for the nugget of luck finally befalling her. “It’s just me and you then, like old times.”

“I might even have some fresh baked cookies in my bag too.”

“Now we’re talking.”

It truly was just like old times. The rest of the morning was ripped out of their history pages, during the classes they shared, they made sure to sit by each other. After classes they didn’t share, they met by his locker and caught up. Rachel bitched about the homework they were given, and like always, he offered to help her with it.

At lunch she asked, “If you want me to hangout at your place, does that mean you have no plans for tonight?”

“Lisa has a project due next week.”

“I don’t speak dork, remember?” she grinned, staring into his eyes behind his usual pair of glasses. “What does a project mean?” the more she stared at him, Rachel was pretty sure she was going to burst with happiness. It wasn’t until they were back on track, that she came to truly understand how much she missed him in her life.

“It means she’s busy and has to focus on her work.”

“Leaving you by your lonesome? I took pity on you at the right time. You need some of my awesomeness to spare you from boredomville. Fork over the cookies, Hansen. You’re going to be stuck with me all day.”