Fake It Til You Make It

6

Esmeray decided to ask Val to pick her up from work and go to the beach with her instead of talking about Ryan over text. Esmeray kept a bathing suit in both Val and Ryan's cars just for moments like these. She and Val changed into their bathing suits and then laid towels on the beach to chill.

"So what's up? Bad day at work?" Val questions. Esmeray didn't usually ask Val for transportation anywhere, she always asked Ryan because she never had to convince him.

"No, work was fine," Esmeray responds.

"Why didn't you ask Ryan? Are you guys fighting?"

Esmeray takes a deep breath. She didn't know what to expect from Val after asking this question. She was hoping Valentina would tell her that Ryan wouldrh never like her because if he did that would only complicate things. But there was a pit in her stomach. She had a small, terrible feeling that Cameron was right.

"Does... does Ryan like me?" she finally asks. Val's eyes dart to the side and Esmeray knows that she's hiding something. "Shit."

"He asked me not to tell you." she defends herself. Esmeray didn't know if she was more annoyed that now she had to figure out what to do about Ryan or the fact that Cameron was right.

"How long has he liked me?"

"Since sixth grade..." Esmeray's jaw drops. "But I didn't know until freshman year."

Esmeray's phone dings and her screen turns on. They both look at her phone and not only did Val notice Cameron's face on her lock screen, but also a text from him with his contact name as 'Cam' with a red heart beside it. Esmeray snatches her phone up in hopes that it didn't register in Val's head but it did.

"No fucking way." Val gapes. "Are you doing drugs?"

"No!" she shouts.

"Esmeray! What is that?!"

"We're dating?" Esmeray didn't even convince herself of that.

"Just two days ago you were talking about how much you hate Cameron Carter!"

"My feelings changed!" Valentina laughs in disbelief. The laughter grows into more of a cackle and people on the beach started giving them weird stares. "Val, shut up!"

"I'm sorry, this is just so hilarious. Whatever drugs you're on, you need to flush them down the toilet, boo."

"I'm not on drugs, Valentina. Cameron is... nice." that might've been the hardest and most unbelievable thing Esmeray's ever had to say.

"Please." Valentina scoffs in disbelief.

"He's nice to me. Listen, I didn't want to tell you this but, we've been talking for a while. Now we're official." she lies straight through her teeth.

Valentina places her hand on Essy's forehead to check her temperature, convinced that she probably had a fever. "Just wanted to make sure you weren't coming down with something."

"Oh, my goodness. Is it that hard to believe that I am with Cameron Carter?"

"Yes! Yes, it is. You've hated him since before I even met you, Essy. I don't buy this shit. Oh, Ryan is going to be pissed."

"I thought you didn't buy it."

"I don't, but you clearly aren't changing your story. Good job, Essy, you're going to break his heart."

~~~

Esmeray spent the next few hours frantically planning how she would tell Ryan she didn't like him and that she was dating Cameron Carter altogether. Ironically, she got a text message from Ryan. It was a screenshot of a post Cameron made with the picture he took of Essy captioned: look at her. Fuck.

Now she was panicking even more. She called Cameron and was prepared to curse him out when he picked up.

"What's good?" he speaks when he answers the phone.

"Have you lost your mind?!" she shouts.

"Uh, no, I think it's still here."

"This isn't funny, Cameron. Why would you make that post?"

"I can't post my girlfriend?"

"Oh my—" Esmeray caught her anger growing and took a step back. "You could've talked to me first. I didn't get the chance to tell Ryan and he sent me the post."

"Well, who's fault is that? It's been hours." Cameron sounded so chilled over the phone. He didn't have a care in the world.

"I— I'm going to hang up before I say mean things."

"Before you do, you wanna get ice cream on Saturday?"

"I prefer frozen yogurt," Esmeray replies angrily.

"Bet. Bye, Esmeray."

~~~

Esmeray had been ignoring Ryan's calls and texts all day but it became harder to ignore him when he showed up at her house. He barges into her room and he does not look happy.

"Oh! Hi, Ry-Ry!" she shrieks. She couldn't even look him in the eyes, she was so nervous.

"Don't do that. Why have you been ignoring me? And why the hell is Cameron posting you?" he questions. He looked furious, Esmeray's only seen him this mad when he was fighting people who messed with her but the anger has never been directed towards her.

"Listen, he didn't give me a chance to tell everyone." Essy tries to explain.

"Tell everyone what?"

"That we're dating." Esmeray hated lying to her friends, even if the lie wasn't convincing.

"Are you smoking crack?" Ryan seemed to be genuinely concerned when he asked that question.

"Ryan, I'm sorry I didn't get to tell you myself. Please don't be mad."

"Maybe your new boyfriend can be your Uber, then. Don't call me for shit." he turns around and begins to leave.

"Ryan, are you serious? Don't be like that!" she attempted to call out to him but he ignored her and left.

Esmeray's dad comes in cautiously after Ryan storms out. "What's going on?"

"Hi, Daddy. Nothing's going on." Essy thought about telling her dad about everything, especially her and Cameron but she figured it'd be smarter to wait for Cameron's dad to ensure her dad would get a job.

"Okay, just checking. You're mama and I are going out tonight so be safe and responsible. If Valentina and Ryan want to come over they are more than welcome to."

She appreciated the offer but felt so alone because she knew neither of them would come. Lying to her family and friends wasn't on her to-do list for this summer, granted, neither was fake-dating Cameron Carter.

Regardless, Esmeray wasn't the type of person to dwell on things. Whatever happened, she was going to have a good summer, no matter who was in her life or not.