Okay, things might look bad, but they're not. The Ferris wheel decides to betray me and only lasts a few minutes, until I have to face reality with Mike in tow. I swear, every time we made our way to the bottom in a full rotation, Caroline looked at me with the smuggest look. Her Cheshire Cat expression just kept picking up.
By the time we finally made it back onto the ground I made sure to send her a smug smile of my own, which kind of threw her off her high horse for a minute. It felt damn good.
"Fancy seeing you guys here!" I make sure to have the first word even if I do sound like a loser by saying the word fancy. What the fuck? Hanging out with Chase is starting to affect my vernacular. I'm losing my edge.
"It is so nice to see you again, Casey!" Caroline croons.
"It's Jacey." I correct with just as much fake enthusiasm. I can't shake the slight edge to my voice though. She forgot my name on purpose, I'm sure. Mike and Caroline's boyfriend have been quiet this whole time, but I shoot Mike a look and see that he has a slightly curious expression. He hasn't said anything because he's scared to mess up whatever is going on. Yet another reminder of why he's my best friend and I'm his fake girlfriend. We have each other's backs.
"My bad," She gives a half-assed response before continuing, "And you are?"
Mike gives Caroline his first name before shaking her hand and giving her a billion dollar smile. Even Caroline falters under Mike's attention. The boy is gorgeous and he uses it to his advantage when he wants to.
"Mike and I are cousins." I blurt out, before Mike can say anything else. He's got my back, but he can't read my mind, so I can't have him feeding Caroline our fake dating story. She looks at me like she doesn't buy it. But what else can she do? It's not like she can accuse me of cheating on my boyfriend. That would be going too far and would require her to have a huge set of balls, which I doubt she has. I wave at her boyfriend just so that I don't seem rude and excuse Mike and I from her presence as quickly as possible.
Mike and I are silent as we make our way back to the car. We both know that our time at the carnival is over, so I crawl into the passenger seat of the car and wait for the shit storm of questions that's coming.
It takes Mike exactly a minute before he starts asking questions.
"Who was that chick?" He asks, not pausing for breath before he shoots more questions like, "How do you know her?" and "Why are we cousins now?"
It's exhausting trying to evade his questions, especially because he's my best friend, but I don't really want to share the fact that I'm Chase's fake girlfriend. For one thing, it makes me look pathetic and it would involve me talking about Caroline's betrayal and that would be a dick move. So I give him the only answer I can.
"Look, don't worry about it." I say, trying to act like I'm looking for the best song ever on the radio. Mike looks over at me with the most offended look on his face ever possible, or at least I'm sure that's what he's doing because I'm trying not to make eye contact.
"So now you're keeping secrets from me?" He says. There's an underlying tone of hurt that resonates with his words, but I try not to let that change my mind.
"What about you? You're the one that's out breaking all of the rules with Jake." I fire back. Mike huffs but doesn't answer. It seems like we both have things we don't want to share, which sucks because he's my best friend and now it's feeling like we're not on the same page. The rest of the car ride is silent until we reach the front drive of my house. Most of the windows are dark, most likely because no one is home. I wish that things between Mike and I were better so that I could spend more time with him and not have to go inside. I'm feeling lonely and I'm still in the car with him, so it probably wouldn't have made a difference anyway.
"I'll pick you up tomorrow morning. I have plans with Jake." Mike says. The last part about having plans with Jake kind of hurts me, because it reminds me that I'm only a cover up so that Mike can spend time with the person he really cares about. A fun afternoon at the carnival has turned into the worst time of my life. I don't answer Mike, instead I get out of the car and hurry up the steps towards my front door. I want to cry, but crying feels like a lot of work.
Instead, I do a little rummaging through my father's liquor cabinet until I grab the whiskey I'm looking for. I don't take the whole thing with me because I know it's about five grand a bottle, but I do drink just enough to get a good buzz going. It's good enough to help me sleep, which is all I care about at that moment.
--------------------------------------------------------
Mike is true to his word and picks me up at around ten A.M.
Magdalena hands me some pastries in a sack while I'm on my way out. I peer into the bag and realize that they're lemon bars and brownies. God bless that woman, because if it weren't for the sugar in a sack she handed me, I would be feeling ten times worse. I push my Prada sunglasses so that they're perched higher on my nose before I get into the car with Mike. He doesn't even say hello, so I don't bother to do so either.
We drive for a few minutes before I pick a brownie out of the bag and start making a huge show of eating it. You'd thing the brownie was giving me an orgasm with the sounds I'm making. I meet Mike's eyes as he shoots me a look, so I pick things up a notch by making a huge point of saying the word 'Yum'. Mike rolls his eyes, but he still doesn't budge.
Jake opens the door when we knock and he makes a huge show of giving me a reassuring smile. I know for a fact that Mike called him already and let him know about our fight. I wonder if he mentioned Caroline. Jake must know about her. But he doesn't let on that he knows I'm fake dating his brother, so I make my way into the house while the two love birds go at it with the typical cute nicknames.
"Chase is in the garage, but you're welcome to use anything you need, Jacey." Jake says with a nervous tone. I know the look I shoot them is a confused one, but Mike is busy doing a 360 and walking out the door.
"We'll be back in a few hours. Hope it's okay?" Jake looks apologetic. I try on a fake smile, the kind my mom uses when she secretly hates a guest she's interviewing, and just nod. Before I know it they're both gone and I'm left alone. I wonder why Chase isn't around, when he's usually always there when I visit. It kind of pisses me off, so I go off searching for him.
"Chase!" I yell, pounding on his door. I know I'm being sort of needy and demanding, but the fight with Mike has me feeling that way. Then I remember that Jake said something about a garage, so I find a door that looks like it might lead to the garage and barge through it.
I find Chase hunched over a worktable with slabs of wood spread throughout. He has a tape measure and a pencil in his hand, like he's measuring and marking as he goes. I expect his typical cocky look, but I get a hard one instead.
"What do you want, Jacey?" He doesn't sound happy to see me at all.
Just like that, I've had enough.
"Are you mad at me too?" I ask.
And then I start crying.
New Chapter! I'm feeling like an updating machine lol Hope you guys liked it! Working on a Twisted Beautiful chapter now :)
YOU ARE READING
Just Fake It
Teen FictionIt's hard being your hot best friend's fake girlfriend, but someone's got to do it. Jacey's been faking it with Mike for a year now and it seems like every night is the same. The arrangement has worked pretty well for both friends, Jacey gets to par...
