Page 7 of F*ckin’ With Me

My words were caught in my throat. He really is considering being my fake boyfriend. I had settled in my mind that I would just have to be made out to be the liar I was. “Hello, Simonette?”

“Oh, yes! I’m sorry. I’m just surprised that you are considering it.” I hated how I sounded like a babbling buffoon. He repeated his question about when and where to meet. “You can come to my house so I can give you the details. I’m free tonight. Well, I’m free every night.”

There was silence on the other end for a moment. Did he hang up on me? “Cool. Is seven good for you?”

“Yes, that works. I’ll text you my address.” We said see you later then hung up.

Daylen Smith was going to be my fake boyfriend.

I did a little shimmy where I stood in my bedroom with a wide smile.

My movement stopped when I got a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

I look a mess. As soon as he saw me, he would change his mind.

My head snapped to my bedside clock. Okay, I have a few hours to wash my hair and cook something.

I pulled out my phone to order the groceries I needed. Relief settled in when I saw I had enough time to wash my hair before the food arrived. Let’s try to look presentable tonight.

Everything was done by six thirty. I made sure I wore a head wrap while I cooked so my hair didn’t smell like food. I probably should have cooked before I showered. Dummy! I ran to my room to jump into the shower again.

I’d just slipped into a pair of jeans when my doorbell rang. Shit! I threw on my alma mater sweatshirt. “Coming!” I yelled from my room at the back of my house like he would hear me.

I rushed to the door, straightened out my clothes, then opened the door. I gasped at Daylen’s appearance, not that there was anything wrong with it. Time had been extremely good to him. “Hey, Daylen.” I stepped to the side. “Please, come in.”

“What’s up, Simonette? You look nice,” he complimented as he walked past me. I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic.

I closed the door. “We can sit in my dining room to talk. I’m not sure if you still like tacos as much as you did in college, but I made some.”

When we were in college, if we had tutoring four days a week, then he brought tacos with him for four days. His smile was still gorgeous. “Yeah, I’m still a taco eatin’ nigga.”

“Cool!” When he looked at me weirdly, I slightly recoiled. Yeah, I sounded out of my element. “We can sit here.”

While he sat, I grabbed the food to place in the center of the table. “Wow! I see you did the works. That’s what’s up.” He appreciated it.

Yeah, I remembered that he liked beef, chicken, and steak tacos, so I made all three. “Thank you. Do you mind if I say grace?”

After he said it was fine, I said grace. I was about to fix his plate, but he picked it up and started to make his own. My mother would have a conniption if she knew I let a man fix his own plate. That was simply not wife behavior.

We ate silently until he broke the silence after his second taco. “These shits are good as hell.” After I thanked him, he continued. “I see you became the forensic scientist that you always wanted to be.”

Pride overtook me. “Yeah, I did. I love it too. What do you do now? Did you continue with baseball?”

His eyes drew tight after his head angled slightly. “Are you serious? Like is that a serious question?”

I stared at him blankly as I asked myself the question in my head. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the question. “Um, yeah. I know you played in college. From all the wins, I assumed you were amazing.”

He let out a short laugh, shook his head, then spoke. “Yeah, I play a lil’ baseball. Let’s get into the details of this wedding weekend.”

“My sister’s wedding is next weekend in the Maldives, so we leave Wednesday mid-morning to get there.

The flight is like a full day because there are no direct flights without layovers.

” I was scared he would tell me hell no.

My hands went up quickly with my palms facing forward. “I’ll pay for everything.”

It felt like his eyelids didn’t blink for almost a full minute. “Simonette, I don’t need you to pay for my shit. I got it. What’s our story?”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. Um . . . I told my mom and sister that you work a lot. Oh, we can say we’ve been together for like a year or two. You haven’t been around, because you play like minor league baseball or something. You said you still play a little, right?”

He chuckled under his breath. “Yeah, we can go with two years. That sounds believable. How did we meet, Simonette?”

I lifted my shoulders to my ears. “I figured we could say that we met each other in college to establish a pre-existing awareness of each other. We ran into each other a few years ago, and voila.”

“Bet, we can wing the rest of it.” He took a bite of the third taco on his plate. “Are we in love or some shit?” he asked after he swallowed the food in his mouth.

That was something else that I didn’t think about. “I mean, I don’t know. I’ll let you decide if you want to be in love with me.”

“You want your fake boyfriend to make the decision if he fake loves you?” It seemed like more of a rhetorical question. After an intense stare, he said, “I can do that. What do you plan to wear for this weekend?”

I wasn’t expecting that question. He said he needed to know so we could coordinate our outfits. That makes sense. “Um, what I plan to bring is already packed in my room. I’m in the wedding, so I’ll have on a bridesmaid dress that day.”

He pushed back from the table then stood. He wiped his mouth with the napkin in his hand before it was thrown on his plate. “Well, let’s go see.”

I jumped out of my seat when he headed toward the back of my house. I rushed behind him. “Wait. It’s in my room.”

He looked over his broad shoulder after he looked into the first bedroom that was a home office.

“You said that already. Babe, I’m your man now, so you have to be comfortable with me in your space.

” When he found my room, he stopped before he crossed the threshold.

“I mean, you do want this to be believable . . .”

I stood there frozen when he walked into my room and started to poke around. Daylen Smith is in my bedroom! I didn’t snap out of my daze until I noticed him taking things out of the garment bag that I had packed.

He held up a few pieces. When his focus fell on me, I felt small under his stare.

“These are what you’re planning to take?

” When I nodded, he threw the clothes in the garment bag.

I was confused when he pulled his phone out.

After he pressed the screen a few times, he put the phone to his ear. “Aye, Sis, I need your help.”

A Few Days Later . . .

Daylen called his sister, Rissa, who was a professional stylist, to come style me. I wasn’t sure if I should have been offended or thankful. He didn’t like the outfits I picked out, clearly. I stood on a podium in front of a mirror that she brought with her.

She held a beautiful dress up to me. “Oh, yellow is so radiant against your skin tone. Do you wear yellow?” Rissa asked me.

“No, I’ve never really worn any bright colors. I usually stick to more neutral, earthy tones.” I dropped my right ear to my shoulder. “It’s easier to blend in or be invisible that way.”

She pulled the dress down and gazed at me. “Who told you to blend in when you were born to stand out?” She stood on the podium next to me and faced the mirror. “Girl, look at you! You have sun-kissed, clear, brown skin that bitches wish they had.”

She placed her hand in my hair that was all over my head.

“You have gorgeous hair and a nice shape. You got a lil’ gum drop of a booty, but my brother will love that, and he doesn’t even realize it,” she said with a giggle.

“You are absolutely gorgeous, and I see why my brother likes you.” I jumped when she smacked my ass.

Her words finally registered in my mind. “Oh, no! Your brother doesn’t like me. He just agreed to be my fake boyfriend since we knew each other in college. It’s like a favor since I tutored him.”

Rissa pointed at me. “You’re the girl at graduation that he hugged before we walked out. I thought you looked familiar.” Her hand went to her hip. “Let me tell you something, Simonette. I know my brother. It wouldn’t have mattered if you took all his tests and did all his assignments.

“Daylen would not do a favor like this if he didn’t like you or was curious in some way. Another way I know is because he offered to pay me for this,” she revealed. “That was when I knew I had to meet your ass. Now, explain to me why a hottie like you needs a fake boyfriend.”

I stepped down from the podium to sit on the couch.

Like lava, all my family trauma spilled out.

It felt like I waited all my life to just tell someone, anyone, about the hurt and rejection from my mother and sister.

The only part of the conversation that was nice was when I talked about my daddy. I loved him so much.

By the end of the conversation, I was crying, and Rissa had me in her arms. I let her hug me for a moment before I pulled back. “This is so embarrassing. I’m so sorry.”

With a smile that reached her eyes, she said, “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Your mama and sister should be embarrassed. Did you already upgrade your plane ticket?”

“No, I was going to when I purchased Daylen’s ticket. He told me that I didn’t have to, but it was the least that I could do. The ticket is like $2,000.” He shouldn’t have to pay for his own ticket.

Rissa waved me off. “Girl, bye! Day is not hurting over $2,000. Let me tell you what is going to happen.” A devious smile plastered her face.

“We’re going to stunt on all those hos this weekend.

I’m going to accompany you as your friend because it makes sense that Daylen’s sister would be your friend.