Pray the Fakes Get Exposed

14. Hopefully

"You got plans for tonight?" Aubrey asked at the end of the shoot.

"Actually I do. Monty wants to go out for dinner," I replied.

"I need to see you again. Call me, okay?" Aubrey kissed my forehead.

"I will."

I hoped no one saw that kiss.

"Hey, TJ," Erin greeted almost too nicely. "Oh, so this is the famous Drake?"

"Yeah. Drake, this is the editor of En Fleek Magazine," I said, stunned at her tone of voice.

"I'm Erin," she said, shaking Aubrey's hand.

"Nice to meet you," Aubrey replied.

"Nice to meet you! You're such a great role model for the city. I appreciate everything you do for Toronto," Erin commented.

I almost laughed out loud. Why is she lying right now?

"Thank you so much. I'm excited for this article. TJ's a great writer," Aubrey responded, glancing at me with loving eyes.

"I wouldn't have anyone else write this article. She's wonderful. Thank you for stopping by and hopefully the article is published soon!" Erin chimed.

"No problem."

Erin smiled again and walked away with her lying self.

"I thought you said she was mean," Aubrey said.

"She is. I'll call you, okay?" I stood on my toes to kiss his lips. If Erin can pretend to be nice I can kiss my new boyfriend in public.

"Alright. See you." He smiled and turned away.

Natalie met my eyes from several feet away. She winked and gave me a thumbs up. I realized I hadn't looked around after I kissed Aubrey. People were stunned, but I think they were secretly rooting for me. Erin wasn't.

***

Monty and I met at around six at our favorite restaurant. I couldn't wait for him to hear all of my good news. He would die.

"I missed you so much, doll," he mumbled during his suffocating embrace.

"I missed you too," I replied with all the breath I had.

"What's going on?" he asked after putting his name in.

"Oh my god, you will not believe it," I sighed.

We were called in no time and we were led to our little table for two.

"Tell me everything."

"First, Aubrey and me are a thing."

"Shut up!" he exclaimed. "Go ahead, girl! I see you!"

"It happened today."

"Oh my gawd! That's great! What did I tell you? You are meant to be his bae. I told you," he said. "What else?"

"Erin said she's not going to publish the article."

"Are you sure? She tends to be a liar."

"She said she felt sorry for what she did with the cupcake and so she's not going to publish anything," I explained.

"And you believe her?"

"I mean, I guess."

"That sounds too good to be true," Monty said, flipping through the menu.

"Seemed legit to me. She said she was really sorry. I already wrote another article."

"That was fast," Monty chuckled.

"Anything to keep Aubrey. It was easier to write the truth anyway."

"I'm sure it was. I just don't think she really meant that."

"People change, Monty."

"But Erin is evil. Evil people don't change. Like, if Hitler told you he would stop killing people would you believe him? No. No, ya wouldn't."

"But Erin isn't Hitler."

"Are you sure?" he scoffed.

"No."

Monty smiled and closed his menu. "That's my point."

"But what if she's being serious? She liked the nice article and said she would publish that one."

"We'll see. So what's going on with you and Aubrey? He hasn't proposed yet?" Monty inquired, taking a sip of the complimentary water.

"No, he hasn't proposed yet. It would be cool though."

"Maybe after your nice article is published or whatever."

"Shut up."

"I'm worried about you. Don't get your hopes up, please," Monty pleaded.

I nodded. Monty was right. Erin was going to publish the article either way. I don't know why I believed her.

"I hate to be a kill joy but I'm just being honest," Monty explained.

"I appreciate the honesty. I needed that. So what have you been doing?" I asked shifting the focus on Monty.

"I got another writing job. Don't worry about me. I'm not starving," he assured me.

"That's good. Is it better than En Fleek?"

"Yes. Oh my god, yes. The editor is actually nice."

"That's good. Hopefully you'll get published!"

"Hopefully Erin will publish the nice article," he argued.

"Hopefully."