Page 42 of Play Fake

I smile before I tuck my phone back in my pocket.

* * *

That afternoonI’m sitting in the quad waiting for her to get out of class, flipping through my phone, trying to keep myself distracted. There’s the slight worry in the back of my head she won’t show up. A couple of guys from the team walk past me on their way out of practice and we nod at each other, and then I see her slowly making her way across the quad. I feel a little turn of apprehension in my gut. The kind I always feel right before a big game when I know the pressure’s on, and I need to be ready.

I grab my bag and throw it over my shoulder, giving her a smile when she finally approaches.

“You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she hedges but manages to give me a small smile in return.

“I thought we could go down to South Pearl. There’s a bunch of little shops there.”

“Works for me. But I only have a few hours. I have a thing tonight.”

“Another date?” I ask before I can stop myself.

She nods.

“Same guy?” I feel a little sinking sensation.

A shrug.

“Things getting serious then?” I do my best to keep my tone playful, like I’m teasing her rather than probing for answers.

“I’m not a fan of the word serious right now,” she finally speaks.

“Dating pool that bad for guys willing to date a girl with a fake boyfriend? My truck’s this way. Figure I can drive us.”

She nods for me to lead the way, so I do.

“Just hard to trust anyone after everything, you know?” She’s uncharacteristically honest with me as we make our way to my truck.

“I can understand that.”

I hope I’m not lumped in the category of people she can’t trust, but I don’t feel like it’s the right time to bring it up, so I just let us walk in silence the rest of the way to the truck.

Once we get to the shopping district, though, she seems a little lighter again.

“You’re gonna have to tell me more about your mom if I’m going to be any help, you know?”

“Good point. Um. Typical widowed southern mom really—“

“Widowed? Your dad passed away?”

“Yeah. Shortly after I started high school.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been rough.”

“It was. He was a really great dad. Always taking us fishing. Teaching us how to work on cars. Taking us to football games. And he came to all my games too.”

“He sounds pretty great. Must have been hard on your mom to lose him.”

“Yeah. They’d been together forever. But she figured things out. Kept life mostly normal for us, despite everything. She’s a really strong person.”

“Sounds like it.”

“But yeah… she uh, you know, has her garden, her cooking, and she reads quite a bit.”