Fake It

(11) standing taller

"Hi, Hayley!" Parker walked into the Italian take away shop, stopping at the counter to talk to Hayley. "I came by because I was hoping that maybe we could talk?"

Hayley didn't even bother to look up - she had loathed Parker the day she firs  laid eyes on him.

Hayley had then heard stories of him and those were enough to let her know he was a waste of time - in more recent months, the girl knew from experience that Parker was a jerk.

"I know I don't seem like the nicest guy, but I was hoping that... Well... Well maybe you could just forget about that for a moment?" Parker questioned Hayley, putting on a friendly smile. "Cause I've been thinking, y'know, maybe we could go out some time."

Hayley continued on with what she was doing, groaning after Parker had asked her out. First Josh is interested in her and now Parker? This all had to be some kind of joke.

Letting a colleague continue with the register as she left to clean some tables, Hayley decided to ignore Parker.

Apparently, ignoring someone didn't meant they would give up. That, or Parker was just not the type of guy who could handle rejection.

Following Hayley around the shop, Parker waited for an answer. As the moments went on, the guy realised he wasn't going to get one.

"Not just out, but maybe to the prom?" Parker asked Hayley with hope, stuffing his hands into his pockets as Hayley whipped her head around in shock.

Parker didn't think it would take Hayley a full two minutes to finally reply to him. He was always so lucky with the female department.

"Yeah. Right. Totally" Hayley nodded, speaking sarcastically. Parker wasn't being serious, was he?

"So I'm guessing that would be a no?" Parker frowned, following Hayley back to the counter where she went to put some trays and cleaning products away.

"That's a fuck no" Hayley bluntly answered, not feeling bad about it.

Parker had given Hayley a hard time when a few months back at school - Hayley wondered if he had forgotten.

One thing Hayley did know was that there would have to be something in it for Parker, or at least there would be something fishy about him asking her out.

"Okay, okay. I mean I suppose that's fair. Why should you say yes?" Parker shrugged, leaning his arms on the counter as he watched Hayley continue with her job. "I just hope this isn't about Josh-"

"Why?" Hayley raised an eyebrow, wiping her forehead before washing her hands.

"He doesn't care about you like that" Parker lied, purely because he wanted Josh to lose the bet.

Making Josh lose the bet gave Parker a benefit - getting with Hayley. He watched as Hayley frowned, and continued.

"He told pretty much everybody that he still has the feels for Tay. But hey, l mean, maybe I've got it all wrong..." Parker trailed off, knowing his words would get to Hayley in some way or another.

Hayley gulped, cutting some vegetables up and slamming the knife down a little harder than she probably should have been.

"Just heads up if you want to go to the prom - I can be your date. I mean, I think we'd have a sweet time and there's no reason you should be hurt by pathetic guys like Josh" Parker gave Hayley a small smile. "I'll see you tomorrow at school."

Hayley didn't answer Parker once again and continued cutting up the vegetables. The girl didn't know what to think.

Was Josh who Hayley thought he was? Or was he keeping something from her?

What Parker had said was not hard to believe at all. Hayley knew Tay and Josh were great together - the whole school had looked up to them as a couple.

- - -

Walking upstairs, Josh was glad to be home from school. Walking into his room, he gulped as he saw his dad standing at his desk.

"You're gonna explain this to me, now" Josh's father demanded, holding a stack of letters in his hand.

Little did Josh's father know that for the past couple of weeks, his son had been getting letters of acceptance through the mail.

"Can we at least talk about-" Josh began, before his dad shook his head.

"Do you know just how much you are jeopardising your future? More than half of these acceptance deadlines have passed!" Josh's father raised his voice, shaking his head.

"It's not easy!" Josh began to explain, looking down. "l just can't pick a letter out of a stack."

"Of course you can. You've gotta start making decisions - you're eighteen!" Josh's father lectured, walking closer to Josh.

"Oh yeah? What about your decisions, Dad? What about those?" Josh raised his eyebrows, folding his arms as he leaned against the wall.

"This isn't about me, Josh" the male sighed, handing the letters to his son.

"Yes it is! You're never home because you're always working! You're pissed off all the time!" Josh exclaimed, before sitting on his bed. "Look, I'm sorry, but you can't fix your mistakes through your son."

"You think that's what I want?" Josh's father shook his head and waved his arms around. "That isn't my intention and never will be. Blaming others won't help the fact that the future is going to come."

Josh's father walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Josh leaned back and stretched out across his bed after throwing out the stack of acceptance letters into his bin.

Closing his eyes, Josh wanted it all to go away. He sure as heck wasn't ready to make a decision that would pan out the rest of his life. It was only just about to begin.