Easier to Lie

Chapter Twenty

Waking up and seeing Eric beside me was something I could easily do every day. He was so patient and kind with me. Like other people our age, our hormones were going wild. However, I wasn't ready, and Eric was more than accepting of that.

"Maybe after three months of dating?" he asked.

"Maybe after there's a princess cut diamond ring on this pretty little finger," I was joking, for the most part.

"Oh, we can get you a ring," I couldn't tell if he was serious or playing around. "Why put off the inevitable?"

"Say what now?" He pulled me on top of him.

"I fully plan on marrying you, so, we can go get a ring."

Did he just propose? I always thought I'd be on a deck overlooking the mountains wearing a cute sundress and holding a bouquet of flowers. Instead, I was lying on top of a shirtless, and very toned, Eric while wearing one of his many Star Wars shirts.

I also wanted The Used, "I Caught Fire" to be playing in the background. I'd settle for the cd if Bert and the rest of the band couldn't give us a private show. Emma was in the other room singing along with Tina Turner so I guess that counts as music.

"We're eighteen, Eric, aren't we too young?"

"Yeah, we're young, but I love you and you love me. Why put it off?"

"What if the ring I want is too expensive?"

"Payment plans and a credit card."

"That was a super-fast answer."

"I thought about it last night. I was watching you sleep and I just kept thinking, 'God, I want to marry her.' You're the one for me, Reggie, don't you feel it too?"

I did feel it. My hand fit perfectly in his. Our noses didn't touch when we kissed. He understood my One Tree Hill references. I couldn't think of a single reason to not say yes.

"Okay, you look terrified right now."

"What? No. I mean, you're right. We're perfect together. I just don't want to rush things."

"Alright, so, how about this?" He rolled over to pin me underneath him. I didn't mind, I rubbed his muscles while he talked. "We get you a promise ring, and when you're ready for it I'll buy you the engagement ring?"

"I like that. If I showed up at home wearing an engagement ring, my parents would freak out."

"Your parents? Is that why you're saying no?"

"I'm not saying no. I'm saying not right now. My parents don't have much to do with it, but I do want to make them proud. Does that make sense?"

He nodded, "Perfect sense," I couldn't help noticing the smile in his voice had vanished.

The rest of our day was awkward. He was doing his best to be happy-go-lucky, but everybody knew something was wrong. They looked to me for answers, but I didn't know what to say.

We went for a drive, neither one of us spoke. Then we went to the arcade and spent way too much money. I saw a real smile from him when he won a plush duck from the claw machine.

"For you," he handed me the adorable, fluffy yellow duck and then it clicked. I had been so stupid.

"Do you want to go look at rings?" No hesitation. I wanted the world to know he was mine, and if a shiny piece of jewelry would do that, I wanted one. "Wait, actually, I have a better idea." There was a tattoo shop across the street.

"A tattoo? What do you want to get?"

"Your name on my ring finger. It'll be cheaper and there's no risk of me losing it in the disaster that is my jewelry box," my argument won him over. Our names were permanently inked on our wedding band fingers. We belonged to each other.

Leah, the girl who got married on a whim, thought we were insane to get tattoos of our names. Her defense, "a marriage can be undone, a tattoo is forever."

"We plan on being together forever," I told her, tightening my hold on Eric's hand.

"But you're going to Clemson for college, how is this going to work?"

"We'll figure it out day by day. We'll make it work," Eric said. His response was enough to satisfy her.

"Okay, well, tomorrow is our last day, actually, Reggie's last day. So, what are we doing?"

"Same thing we always do," Adam suggested, he appeared from the bedroom dressed for the pool.

Lounging by the pool was David and that annoying sales girl, McKenzie. Leah froze in place and began trembling when he looked at her.

"We can go somewhere else," all of us gathered around her, daring David to say or do anything.

The sales girl saw us and rolled over closer to him. She stared straight at Leah as she rubbed David's chest. He pulled his sunglasses down from his head and relaxed.

"No. He's not winning. I'm not his victim. Let's go sit on the other side."

We swam, we played games, we talked all afternoon. It didn't take long for us to forget that David was out there. I caught McKenzie watching us a couple of times. She was easy to ignore. Nothing else mattered except for the four of us. We focused on us and forgot the rest of the world.

"Hey, Reggie," Leah was floating on her back, "I think I want to dye my hair back to my natural color. Wanna come with me?"

"You're not a natural blonde?" Adam sounded genuinely puzzled.

"God, no. My mom made me a blonde when I was seven years old. Now that I can do what I want, I want my brown hair back."

"I can't picture you with brown hair," he said.

"I don't even remember what she looks like," I added, "but yeah, I'll go with you."

Leah was in the salon chair letting the dye do its job. I had been playing a cooking game on my phone while trying to politely let the salesperson know that I wasn't interested in any styles or products. This was Leah's idea of a good time, not mine. My auburn hair was straight and layered—boring, but it was perfect for me.

She couldn't stop checking herself out in the mirror. Walking back to the car, she set her phone to selfie mode and went a little overboard on posting new pictures to social media. Seeing her smiling and laughing like that, I knew my best friend had returned.

Going to college without her made me nervous. I could do anything as long as I had Leah by my side. I didn't want to accept this new reality. I didn't know how to handle all these changes. Sedona was a five-hour drive from Myrtle Beach, how were my relationships supposed to survive that distance?

"I was thinking we could leave around noon tomorrow. That okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure. You're the driver so it's up to you."

"Adam and Eric are going with us; they're packing the bags while we're out. Are you one-hundred percent sure you don't want to stay here with us?"

"It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't."

"Why can't you? What's in Sedona that's worth going back to?"

"My animals. My parents. My scholarship. I have lots of reasons to go back."

She was unsatisfied with my answer, but she dropped the subject. I loved our small hometown—it was my comfort zone. I wanted Eric to be there with me, but that wasn't an option with Emma's health.

My head and my heart were fighting, and I didn't know which side I was on. My life was full of complications sometimes. I desperately wanted to be my own person, to make my own choices and control my own life. I didn't know how to begin making that happen.

We parked near the ice cream shoppe and walked along the pier with our milkshakes. Leah kept stopping to take pictures of us. She said that one of the living room walls would become her "Best Friends" wall with pictures of us. I thought that was a cool idea. I promised to do the same in my bedroom back in Sedona.

Suddenly, a crowd formed at the edge of the dock. Leah and I pushed our way through only to be disgusted by what we saw; the body of what appeared to be an underdeveloped baby. Near the shore on the other side was the torso of a woman.

"Frankie is out," I spoke loud enough for only Leah to hear me.