Five Years After

thirty-three ~ after i agreed to his request

"You can't get mad at me about this," Callum sighed from his side of the call. "You don't get it."

"No, I don't get it!" I angrily threw myself on top of my bed. "Why would you tell her how you feel?"

"Braylee--"

"You should have told me before doing it! I could have told you, 'Hey, Callum. Don't do that. It's not a good idea. At all!'"

"Braylee..."

"Why would you do that? You only drove her away!"

"I know I did!" he said loudly, cutting off my words. "Look, Braylee. I don't want to be with her either."

Oh my God, they're a couple of idiots.

"What happened?" I demanded. "You just had feelings for her."

"I still do," he told me, sighing. "But I don't want to be with someone who doesn't take our relationship seriously. She doesn't want what I want."

"Well--"

"Just don't, Braylee."

"She has feelings for you too!" I shouted out, desperate to get them on the right track.

"Even if she does, she's not willing to do anything about it. I want an actual relationship with her and she doesn't."

"But--"

"It's fine the way it is," Callum assured me, seeming to be irritated with my constant arguing in this conversation. "Just leave it alone."

"But Callum!"

"I got to go," he says, ignoring my protests. "Bye."

I groaned when he hung up, throwing my phone down beside me. It's so frustrating when two people who so obviously like each other won't do anything about it.

If I knew Ethan liked me back, I'd do something about it.

I mean, not now. Obviously. He's dating Dahlia and I'd never do that to her.

I sighed, slumping down into the pillows of my bed. Ethan. Why do I keep thinking about him?

Maybe because I have a crush on him.

I buried my face deeper into the pillows, trying to figure out how to make that fact untrue. I was suddenly interrupted by a phone call blasting through my thoughts. I answered it and put the phone up to my ear before checking who it was.

"Hey sexy, wanna hang out?"

I chuckled at his greeting, making me get up from my spot. "Hi, Mateo. Pick me up?"

"Already on my way."

He was outside my house within minutes in a big car that looked pretty old. I hopped into the passenger's seat, looking at the interior.

"This car is bigger than Ethan's," I noticed. "It could fit all of you guys, plus me and Dahlia."

"Yeah," Mateo said with a shrug. "This is my family's old car before we bought a newer one. It fits seven, so my whole family can drive in this."

"Seven?"

He nodded. "Four siblings."

"Wow," I muttered. "I only have three, and my parents say that's even too much."

"It is. Imagine having to raise four kids at the same time," he laughed. "That must have been annoying."

"I know, right. And-- hey wait, where are we going?"

I just suddenly realized that Mateo has been driving around my neighborhood, not really going anywhere.

"Is there a park near here?"

"There's a playground in the neighborhood. I think you take a left here, then a right and you should see it."

He followed my instructions, finding a small playground structure nearby, surrounded by patches of grass.

"Hey, it has a swing set!" he exclaimed, turning off the car and running out.

I laughed at his childish behavior, getting out along with him. I sat down on the second swing with Mateo already swinging on it beside me.

"Why'd you bring me here?" I asked him.

"Oh," he said, slowing down. "Uh, I need to ask you something."

It took a moment for him to get his swing still beside me with a pleading look on his face. "Please, can you do a really big favor for me?"

"What is i--"

"I'd do anything if you do this for me. Please!"

"What's the fav--"

"Please?"

"Mateo!" I laughed, stopping him from interrupting me again. "What do you want me to do?"

"Pretend to be my girlfriend for my family."

My smile changed into a grimace. "Why?"

"My asshole of a cousin thinks he's better than me because he has a girlfriend," he all but growled, his expression turning vengeful. "So I told him that I've actually had a girlfriend for months and he should shove his face up his ass."

I couldn't help but snort at that. "So what does that have to do with me?"

I sighed. "My entire family is meeting up Sunday night. He said to bring you because he thinks I'm lying."

"You are lying."

He ignored me. "Can you come?"

"Mateo, I'm terrible at meeting other people's families," I told him.

"They don't have to like you," he said. "If you show up, that will probably be enough. And I'll drive you home early if you want."

I groaned, shaking my head. "Why me?"

"Because your my closest girl friend and I feel like you would be the most believable."

"But..." I paused, trying to come up with an excuse. "I'm going to a party."

"That's tomorrow. Not Sunday."

I narrowed my eyes. "How'd you know that?"

"Because I was invited?"

"By who?"

He blinked. "Just someone. I don't remember who."

"But Sunday is a school night. I have to be home early."

"And I'll give you a ride home whenever you ask me to."

"Mateo..."

"Please! I'm seriously going to go on my knees and beg, Braylee. Please?"

"Okay, fine," I sighed. "You promise I don't actually have to do anything, right? Like, I'm not there to impress them? Pretend to be someone or something?"

"No," he reassured me. "Just meet them. I can tell them we broke up in like a month or something."

"Okay, I'll do it. Just don't beg."

He laughed. "I wasn't actually going to do that. It'll ruin my jeans."

I barked out a laugh, shaking my head. "You're a dork."