Fake It Til You Make It

9

"Hey, welcome in." Cameron mindlessly greeted the customer who walked in when he heard the shop bell ring. "We close in 30 minutes," he informed them. He heard no response but continued scrolling on his phone. He checked his messages for the fifth time today to see if Esmeray had texted him but he got the same outcome as the first time: nothing. Her not showing up to work for the past two days was worrisome but he expected nothing less from her.

Cameron caught a glimpse of the customer from the corner of his eye while they were looking around. They had a black hoodie pulled over their head so he could barely see their face. This convinced him to pay closer attention. He shut his phone off and pretended to do something on the computer but that seemed to make the customer panic and they began searching the store more frantically.

"Do you need help finding anything?" Cameron questions. They quickly glance at him and he realizes he recognizes who the person in the hoodie is. They stuff one of the most expensive bathing suits they can find in their bag and race out the door before he can even process it. He rushes to the door but they're already down the street. "Shit," he mutters to himself.

He dreaded having to call his father and tell him about how someone had just stolen from their store because he would never let Cameron live it down. He had to call him though because if he didn't his father would kill him for not saying anything. Cameron locked the shop doors, put the closed sign in the window, and paced around the store anxiously before he finally shrugged his shoulders and called his dad, bracing himself for the consequences.

Of course, his father screamed at him through the phone and was at the store within minutes.

"What did they take?" he questioned immediately. Cameron looked around the store, searching for gaps in any of the stocks but he wasn't even paying attention the majority of the time they were in the store. They could've been shoving things in their bag the whole time without Cam realizing.

"One of those swimsuits." he scratched the back of his head. "Probably a few other things," he added in a quieter tone.

"Probably? What the hell were you doing while they were in here?" his father's voice became louder and more aggressive.

"I was restocking stuff." Cameron lied. He was already in enough trouble, he wasn't going to tell his father he was scrolling on his phone when he should've been watching the store.

"How could you let this happen, Cameron?"

"I didn't let anything happen!" his dad begins walking around the store. He went to the back and then came back to the front with an even more upset expression on his face.

"Where's the girl?"

His father didn't look happy about not seeing Esmeray in the store. "The girl?" he pretended to be confused.

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. Your girlfriend, where is she? Her daddy wants a job she'd better be in my store working!" he shouts.

"She took a break," Cameron tells him. "I let her take a break, she went to the coffee shop down the street."

"So if I go down there, she'll be having a cup of coffee?"

"Pops, come on." his dad walks to the back again to check the clock-in sheet and Cameron starts getting anxious. He walks back out furious.

"You tell that girl she and her father just lost a job. Close up this damn shop and bring your ass home. You got 30 minutes." his dad storms out of the shop.

Cameron sighs deeply and drags his palms down his face out of frustration. Cameron did what he was told and closed up the shop, reluctant to get home and have to listen to his parents chew him out.

His parents were waiting furiously in the living room for Cam to walk through the door. He groaned and shook his head when he saw his parents sitting on the couch with their arms crossed. Cameron stopped being scared of them a long time ago. He was able to get away with a lot of things because his parents paid him no mind. They're too focused on their careers to remember they have children. Cameron is still surprised they didn't send him away like they did his younger sister. Though, after this, they might.

"You must really not care about your mother and me." his father says in an attempt to make Cameron feel shitty.

"Yes, because I paid someone to steal from the store just to see you and Mom cry," Cameron responds sarcastically.

"You think this is funny? Did you tell that girl she's done?"

"No, because if I did, then I really wouldn't care about you."

His mom dropped her arms and tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"You both told me I needed to look like I was in a relationship with her. That's what I'm doing. Her dad needs a job and if you can't give her that, no relationship for me." Cam shrugs.

"Is it so hard for you to find one girl you're interested in and treat her right?" his mom seemed hopeless.

Cameron sucks his teeth and shakes his head. "That's a tough one, ma." he looked over at his dad who still looked infuriated and unconvinced. "She's not the reason the store got robbed. She hasn't been to work because she's been sick. Real sick and I'm not trying to catch what she has so I told her she could take a few days off."

The least Cameron could do was convince his dad not to fire Esmeray. She was insanely annoying and clearly reckless, but she didn't deserve it to end like this. Cameron was trying to change, whether people believed it or not, his first step was getting on Esmeray's good side because if she could forgive him, everyone could.

His dad sighs deeply before speaking. "Next time, let me make that decision."

Cam perked up. "So, she and her dad have a job?"

"She does. I'm still working on her father."

Cameron shrugs with a small smirk on his face. "Works for me."