Fake It Til You Make It

1

The music was blasting so loud she could barely hear the people speaking to her. She watched their mouths move but heard not a sound.

She was able to make out a faint voice calling out to her, "Esmeray! Essy!" she whipped her head around to find her closest friend Valentina jumping and waving her hand around trying to be seen through all the people surrounding her. Esmeray completely ditched her conversation to meet up with her friend.

"Val! Hi, boo! How am I in your house and haven't seen you?!" she exclaims wrapping her arms around Val. It was clear she was already a bit tipsy.

"You know as soon as you walk in everyone snatches you up."

Esmeray throws her head back and laughs. "I don't even know what they're saying!" she shouts.

"Oh, Essy, you're so hot, I want you so bad, Essy-maymay!" Val says in a mocking tone.

"Something along those lines, I'm sure, but you are one of the few people who can call me those names, Val." Val shrugs. "We need drinks, boo boo!"

"You seem like you've already had a few."

"I can still walk straight, I haven't had nearly enough drinks. Come on!" Essy drags Val to the kitchen and makes her a drink and pours two shots on the side for them.

"Aye, you wanna pour me one too?" a voice emerges. Essy glances up at the tall boy that appeared leaning across the island counter. She immediately latched onto his bright blue eyes against his light brown skin. She was mesmerized until she realized who was standing across from her.

"You wanna ask a different way?" Esmeray tilts her head with an attitude.

"Can you pour me a drink, please, beautiful?" he asks again. She rolls her eyes and pours his shot. They take them at the same time and the guy walks around to pour himself another.

"Gonna get drunk and fuck everything that breathes, Cameron?" Val sighs.

"Valentina, I am a changed man. I can't believe you think of me that way." he places his hand on his heart and pretends to be offended. Essy snorts and quickly slaps her hand to her mouth when Cameron turns to her.

"Sorry, that joke just caught me off guard." Esmeray caught onto his sarcasm quickly. Cameron takes his shot and looks at Essy as if he's brewing up a question.

"Esmeray, you give every guy the time of day but look at me with disgust." he leans on the counter again. Esmeray places her hand on her hip and furrows her eyebrows.

"For one, I don't give anyone the time of day. You, on the other hand, have a track record. And as my good friend Valentina mentioned, you fuck everything. I think my disgusted look is justified."

"I only fuck the pretty things." he brushes off.

Esmeray scoffs and pours another shot. "I'm not drunk enough." she downs her shot and pushes past Cameron. "You should get yourself checked out, Cameron!" she shouts extra loud on purpose in hopes that someone would hear over the music and think questionable things about Cameron Carter.

~~~

Val finally manages to get everyone out of her house, exhausted at the thought of having to clean the mess. A knock on the door makes her sigh of relief, as she already knew who it was. She opens the door and immediately falls into the guy's arms.

"What's up, girl?" he hugs her back and rubs her arms comfortingly. "Damn, this place looks a mess."

"I don't even wanna think about cleaning up." she groans, pulling herself out of the hug.

"You know I'll help. Where's she at?"

She lets out a loud sigh. "My room. You better hope she didn't puke on my bed or floor." he walks up the stairs and down the hallway and slowly pushes the bedroom door open.

"Ry-Ry!" Esmeray jumps off the bed and runs to jump on him. He had his arms open and ready to catch her because this was her usual reaction when seeing her close friend Ryan.

"What's up, boo? How drunk are you?" he asks while carefully letting her down.

"Only a tiny, teensy, little bit." she slurs her words together, shoving her fingers in his face to indicate how drunk she was.

"Yeah, okay. How you feeling?"

"Like I'm gonna be hella hungover. I start work in the morning, Ry-Ry." she pouts.

"I know, babe. You need me to take you?" he questions. Ryan was always there for Essy. He's only one year older than her but ever since they'd met in middle school, he made it a point to take care of her and be there for her. No matter what it was, he'd be there to hold her hair back when she was puking, and beat up any guy who ever hurt her—he left the girls to Val. He was ready to do whatever it took for Esmeray. Guess that was the effect she had on people, it was impossible to meet Esmeray, and want nothing to do with her.

"Could you please?" she pleads. He nods his head in response and she smiled sweetly at him.

~~~

Essy pulled the shop door open and walked in sluggishly with her shades on and water bottle in her hand. She did not want to spend her summer working, and being hungover on the first day definitely doesn't help. She clocks in, not paying attention to her surroundings as she walked to the back of the shop. As she turned around and headed back to the front, she found Cameron leaning over the counter with his fingers pressed against his forehead desperately trying to fight his migraine.

She almost wanted to laugh when she realized he was also wearing sunglasses because at least she wasn't in this alone. She failed at hiding her smirk as she approached him behind the counter but as soon as he actually faced her the smirk dropped. The reality of having to work with Cameron Carter for the entire summer set in and it was not fun to think about.

"Look who it is," he smirks but she remained expressionless and silent. "What are the odds of us having the same summer job?"

"I wish they were slim to none," she grunts.

"You're more fun when you're drunk."

"You're more fun when you're not here." she flashes a big fake smile at him

"This will be a fun summer," he says dryly.