Faking Love (Complete)

Chapter 18 - Colton to the Rescue

Colton looked at me and asked, "You ummm, you feel like talking about it?"

I took a deep breath in before shrugging my shoulders and letting out an exhale. "I don't know. People don't usually like to hear about my drama at home, so I normally just keep it to myself."

He walked over and sat down on the old wooden swing that was hanging by two rusty metal chains from the porch ceiling and patted the seat beside him.

"Well I'm ready to listen if you're ready to talk. It gives me a good excuse to take a break anyway," he told me, taking a long drink of his sweet tea.

I walked over and hesitantly sat down beside him and he started pushing the swing back and forth slowly with his feet. I did actually feel like talking to somebody about it, and I hadn't felt that close to my friends lately, so maybe opening up to him was my best option. Him and I used to talk about everything back when we were kids and I actually missed that a lot, having somebody to confide in that I trusted completely.

"It's just, I've been looking forward to the Senior Trip for a REALLY long time. I've never been to Florida and I wanna go to the white, sandy beaches there so bad. I worked all summer lifeguarding at the pool to save up money for it and I finally had enough. I was actually gonna go into the office tomorrow to pay off the balance."

Just talking about it was making my eyes burn with tears.

"But we just got a disconnect notice from the water and electric companies and apparently they're both three months behind. Mom's refusing to pay them, so I'm gonna have to use my trip money. So ummm, I won't be able to go," I said sadly, hanging my head and looking down at my hands in my lap.

"Seriously? Wow. That's really shitty," Colton said, shaking his head. "I remember your Mom being pretty bad when we were kids, but it sounds like she's gotten even worse."

"Yeah," I nodded, letting out an exhale. "That's not even the worst part. She also told me she's gonna start charging me rent to live here. Five hundred a month and I have a month to come up with it or she's gonna rent the house out to somebody else and I'll have nowhere to live. I don't know what I'm gonna do."

He sat there thinking for a second before saying, "You know what? I saw a posting up on the board at the country club that they need a lifeguard for their indoor pool. That'd be perfect for you. I hear they pay pretty well."

"Really?" I asked, lifting my head. "That would be perfect." Then my smile faded. "But the country club's all the way on the other side of town. I don't know how I'd get there. I don't have a car."

We swung in silence for a minute before Colton said, "My parents have an old car that just sits in the garage that they never use. They don't need it, but they've never bothered to sell it. I bet they'd give it to you just so they could have the garage space back."

I shook my head. "I'm sure they wouldn't want to just give it away. I couldn't ask them to do that anyway."

"You won't have to. I will," Colton said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

I grabbed his hand and stopped him from calling, laughing. "You can't just ask your parents to give me a car."

"Watch me," he said with a smirk.

He pressed a button and then lifted the phone to his ear.

"Hey Mom. You know the old BMW Dad has sitting out in the garage? Yeah, do you guys still wanna get rid of it, cause Sydney wants to get a job lifeguarding at the country club but she needs a car to get back and forth to work."