Fake It Til You Make It

20

Esmeray joined Valentina and Ryan at the table near the window in the cafe. She sipped her coffee anxiously, her eyes darting between Val and Ryan.

"Hi, guys," Esmeray smiled. "I missed you guys. I feel like I haven't seen us all together in so long."

"I've missed it too, Essy." Val returns the sweet smile to her best friend to lighten the mood. Esmeray was preparing to tell them the truth about everything. All about the fake dating and now the real dating. Except they aren't dating. Cameron and Esmeray didn't want to put a label or pressure on it since it was real—something they had to keep building.

Ryan wasn't speaking and he looked at her with cold eyes. She expected that from him.

"I want to start by apologizing. I have been lying to you guys for the past few weeks." Ryan took a sip of his drink, his eyes could burn a hole through Esmeray's head. "When I first started dating Cameron," she subconsciously air quotes and sucked her lips in when she realized. "It was just to help his mom's reputation. She was getting shamed for the way he was acting. She needed him to settle down with one girl and that just happened to be me."

Esmeray could see the anger growing within Ryan. Valentina didn't look surprised. She looked like she suspected this all along and Esmeray wouldn't be surprised if she did.

"My dad needed a job, guys. You know Cam's connections. I was doing what I had to do." Esmeray explains to them.

"And, did your dad get a job?" Valentina asked as she leaned over the table.

Esmeray's eyes drift to the side. "Well, not yet. We're still working on that."

Ryan scoffs and Esmeray braces herself for the meltdown he's about to have. "So what now?" he asks.

"I'm sorry, Ryan. You have been my best friend for longer than I can remember and I don't want us to lose that."

Ryan leans in with a tense expression. "What now, Esmeray?"

Esmeray felt her heart sink. She honestly felt scared. It was a feeling similar to how she felt at the beach when he saw her and Cam. She knew this information would hurt Ryan. She didn't want to lose him. "Cameron likes me. And I like him."

"I loved you, Esmeray," Ryan winced.

Esmeray could hear how hurt he was in his voice. "It's different, Ryan, it feels different." she tries to explain to him.

"It's fake." he spat.

Esmeray shakes her head. "That's not fair."

"Not fair? You didn't even have the decency to speak to me alone. You don't think I deserved to know about this?" Ryan pushes out of his chair, coming to a stand. "You want me to listen to you? Care about me enough to speak to me privately. That's the least you could do." Ryan storms angrily out of the cafe.

Esmeray feels Valentina place her hand on top of hers. "Fuck him, Essy. I know we love him, but he shouldn't be treating you like this. I'll get him in check, you know I will." Val assures her. Esmeray always had Valentina. No matter what happened, they always stuck by each other's side. "You know you're glowing, pretty girl." Valentina smiled at her.

"I am so happy, Val. I'm over everything that happened when we were young. We were young. Cam really likes me. And he gets me on a whole other level." Esmeray spoke about Cameron in a sweet tone, you could hear the adoration in her voice.

"What happened to not talking about Cameron and your dating life?" Val asks mockingly.

"Shut up, I wanna talk." Val gives Esmeray her undivided attention. She could see how happy Cam was making her, it was written all over her face. Her eyes widen and light up when she says or hears his name. "I think he just gets me, Val. I feel got."

Valentina laughs loudly and squeezes Esmeray's hand. "You deserve to feel got, babe."

Esmeray gasped suddenly like she remembered something. "There's a party tomorrow night, one of Cam's friends. We're going."

"We? You're not going with Cameron?" Valentina tilts her head with intrigue.

"Well, we work tomorrow and it would make sense for us to go together, but I want to go with you. You can just pick me up from work and we get ready at my house."

"Oh, so you want a ride?"

"Well, duh," Esmeray answers jokingly. "Speaking of a ride, I drove to Cameron's," Esmeray confesses. Valentina's face drops.

"What?"

"I drove to see Cameron because I felt so bad about the way things went down. He almost called everything off because of what I did with Ryan. I really hurt him and I had to do something about it."

"Essy," Val placed her hand on her heart. "I'm happy for you, you know that. I know I have you shit for whatever was going on with Cameron, but it's obvious you like him and he makes you happy now. Ryan will come around."

~~~

Cameron held the shop door open for Esmeray and put the open sign in the window.

Esmeray hopped up on the counter and started eating a granola bar. Cameron came behind the counter and checked the register. He went around the shop, doing what he had to do to open up the shop.

Cameron came back to the counter where Esmeray was sitting on the counter with her legs crossed, still eating her granola bar.

"I make your job so easy," Cameron tells her.

"I'm here to motivate you," Esmeray says with a flirty smile.

"I'm motivated," he says as he places his hand on her thigh and uncrosses her legs. His hand teasingly traveled up her thigh.

Cameron waited to see Esmeray's breath hitch before he quickly snuck a bite of her granola bar and backed away from her.

"Cam!" Esmeray exclaims. "I have another one you could've asked."

"I wanted yours. Sharing is caring, Essy," he told her. Esmeray hadn't gotten used to Cam calling her Essy. It floated out of his mouth so naturally. She was getting ready to tell him not to call her that but he didn't even realize he said it.

The shop bell rang as Cameron went to the back of the store and Esmeray quickly got off of the counter. Eryn walked into the shop and slowly approached the counter.

"Eryn?"

"Oh, I didn't think you would remember my name, Essy," she told her with clear resentment in her voice.

Esmeray cocked her head to the side. "What's your problem? You robbed the store yet you keep coming back, and you're posting shit about me from an anonymous account."

"Cameron tormented you and so many other people for years. Esmeray, you got the worst of it. Now suddenly you two are in love? It's fucked up and I think I deserve an apology."
Esmeray noticed Cameron come up beside her but he didn't say anything. "From both of you," Eryn adds.