Love to Hate You

Chapter Eighteen

After the gig, Laney and I walk back over to her place. Her parents are there when we get back and we eat dinner with them. They seem nice and they ask me lots of questions which, I’ll admit, are pretty awkward to answer. I never know how to talk to other people’s parents but do my best to be polite and maybe even a little bit funny.

They both head off to bed early, leaving Laney and I to have free reign of the house. So, Laney and I change into our pajamas and then head out to the living room, where we currently are, and pop in a movie. She microwaved some popcorn and brought a couple of nail polishes with her before we settled in.

“You look nothing like your parents.” I comment absently, while I stuff a hand into the popcorn bag. Her eyes flicker off the movie playing on the television and she shrugs.

“They’re not my real parents,” she says offhandedly and pulls her legs to her chest as she settles back into the couch. I feel the atmosphere in the room change and lean forward to grab the remote and pause the movie.

“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion as I look back at her. The glow of the television illuminates her face darkly and I see her suck her cheeks in and look straight ahead.

“They’re not my real parents,” she repeats and shrugs before shifting positions again to lean forward and grab a random nail lacquer off of the coffee table. “My mom gave me up when I was a baby. No biggy,” she tells me while uncapping the polish and focusing on her fingers.

I let out a short scoff, scowling at her as she casually sweeps the polish across her thumb nail. It’s like she thinks I’m stupid, or something. It is a biggy. She’s just too meek to say anything. The determined look on her face as she concentrates on her nails tells me not to press the subject, but I can’t fight the urge to not know.

“Are you sure?” I ask cautiously so I don’t rub her the wrong way.

“Yep!” she says rather enthusiastically and lifts her hand up to examine her handy work. She then turns to beam at me, “I’ve got a great set of parents now, don’t I? Plus, I’ve got a lovely boyfriend and a gorgeous new friend,” she nudges me, “Wouldn’t be right to dwell on the past when I’ve got it ten times better with this life.”

Her large eyes sparkle in the dim lighting as we stare at each other for a brief, silent moment. I nod in agreement with her statement and she chuckles in satisfaction before returning to her nails.

“Besides, I’d rather talk about generic girly things than have a serious conversation, anyway,” she continues while carefully dragging the nail brush across her other nails. I hum in agreement and lean forward to pick out a nail polish to join her.

“Is that so?” I tease while shaking the polish up and she turns to smile at me. The movie is still on pause in front of us but we both ignore it and instead engage ourselves in meaningless girl talk. I find it quite hard to come up with silly topics to talk about, but Laney takes to it easily and guides the conversation until we’re arguing about who’s got the hotter boyfriend. The banter dies down with our giggles until it’s silent again and the TV screen has darkened from lack of use.

I wave my hands away from me to dry the layers of polish I’ve applied while Laney blows on hers. We sit in comfortable silence like this for a few moments until Laney speaks up again.

“So,” she begins, “I’ve never really understood the appeal. What’s Justin really like then?” she asks curiously and I whip my head towards her, startled by the question I’ve never really understood myself.

“Um,” I start, and scrunch my eyebrows together in thought. How am I supposed to answer this question? I’ve got no idea what he’s really like. I’m not even sure if the glimpses I do catch are genuine. “He is what he is.” I answer unsurely and Laney rolls her eyes with half-hearted laugh.