Fake It Til You Make It

11

Esmeray walked through the door and instantly heard people who knew her or wanted to know her start calling her name. Her eyes found Cameron first in the kitchen getting drinks, of course. She had to look a little harder to find Ryan and Val but to no surprise, they were sitting on the couch, the closest thing Ryan was getting to staying in the corner.

She thought the smarter thing was to go straight to Cam. She needed a drink anyway.

"It has not been 10 minutes," says Cameron.

"I don't care. Ryan and Val are here."

"Oh, maybe if I dye my hair blonde and dress as terrible as Ryan you'll chase me." Cam chuckles. Esmeray bites her bottom lip to stop herself from saying something she didn't want to say in public.

"Ryan has good style. Pour me a drink," she groans.

A small smirk grows on Cam's face. "Whatever you say, princess." Cameron hands her a cup and holds intense eye contact with Esmeray as they both took a sip.

"Yo! Carter!" one of Cam's friends shouts as he approaches the kitchen. They do a weird handshake that Esmeray can only cringe at and then his eyes dart to her. "Oh, shit! Esmeray? Wait, so it's true?"

"What's true?" Cameron questioned.

"Y'all are like fucking?"

Esmeray's jaw dropped. "No!" she answered quickly. Cameron looked at her with wide eyes. "Um, weren't not there," he raised his eyebrows slightly. "Yet," Esmeray added reluctantly. She felt disgusted that people even thought she would do that with Cameron. She felt her skin begin to crawl.

Cameron shook his head. "We're just chilling, right now, bro."

His friend nodded his head with a sly grin. "Type shit." he dapped Cameron up and pulled him in, patting him on the back. "You bagged Miss Untouchable, bro," he added.

Esmeray's eyes narrowed slightly and she took a sip of her drink. The guy finally walked away and Esmeray let out an exasperated sigh while rolling her eyes.

"I'm gonna need to be wasted to get through this night," she said as she poured more alcohol into her cup but then began water-falling from the bottle. Cameron politely took the bottle out of her hand and placed it on the far end of the counter.

"Ok, that's enough," he said softly.

Val entered the kitchen and grabbed two cups. The silence between them was loud while she poured herself and Ryan drinks. Cameron took a small step closer to Esmeray, hovering behind her, before saying, "What's up, Val." she glared up at him and said nothing.

"Esmeray, I think the community dick is following you around. Blink twice if you need help." she insults Cameron. If Val is anything, it's witty.

"Valentina," Esmeray speaks firmly. "Can you just stop?"

"Ryan misses you," she tells her.

"Does he? I couldn't tell."

"Why don't you just go talk to him? He's right over there." Val points to Ryan sitting on the couch.

"Wow, Ryan at a party?" Esmeray acts surprised as if she didn't see them walk in. "I guess he's really coming out of his shell without me."

"Essy, don't be like that."

Esmeray raises her eyebrows, shocked at Val's attempt at making Esmeray feel like she did something wrong and that she should be the one to fix things between her and Ryan.