Can't Fake It

2

Our story begins with Kenna's second year of college, or, more likely her trip back to college the day before classes began. With her car loaded and her mind sorting through everything she packed and anything she may have missed despite her careful planning weeks in advance Kenna was not prepared when a set of burly arms crushed her into a tight hug that lifted her short frame off the gravel parking lot in front of her parent's house.

"Sister! We're going to miss you so much!" Kenna's dork of a brother exclaimed in a childish tone as he reached down to dishevel her carefully placed hair. "Chris, put her down!" Georgia, Chris's wife, shouted from the porch where she sat reclined in plastic lawn chair, rubbing her pregnant belly that held the first grandchild for Kenna's parents.

"I'm coming back next weekend you oaf." Kenna grunted as she shoved her stocky brother away. Chris tugged his curly brown beard thoughtfully at her words before shaking his head and clicking his tongue in a chiding manner. "If I remember correctly, you said something like that last year too but you missed a weekend and had the family in a fit." Kenna shuddered at the reminder of that day, she remembered it well.

It had been the second semester of her first year of college and she had just finished a test that lasted late into the night on a Friday which was her normal travel day. She had decided during the test that she wouldn't be able to make the two hour trip home that night if she wanted to live and didn't give it much thought when she left her testing area and went to bed in her dorm. Little did she know that the next morning she would wake up to discover her phone blown up with messages and a loud knocking on her door from her second oldest brother, Ray, yelling at her to let him in before he busted the door down. From then on she let her family know if she wasn't going to be able to make it home on time, but she always came home.

"Kenna, you had better get going. Aren't you meeting Daniela at one for check-in?" Kenna's mom called as she walked out the door with a bottle of water in hand that she handed to Georgia before walking down the steps to pull Kenna in a tight hug. Before Kenna could respond her mom, Deborah, called for everyone to come outside and say goodbye which produced the rest of her siblings, sibling-in-laws, and her dad.

Chris gave her another bone-crushing hug before stepping back with a snicker as his wife swatted him on her way to hug Kenna gently, careful not to press on her bulging stomach. Ray's hug was quick and his girl-friend's quicker, causing a tension to grow deep in Kenna's stomach. Kenna and Ray had been close before he started dating the she-devil known as Tanya. The whole family couldn't stand her but Ray claimed she made him happy so they all sucked it up for him.

Kenna snapped from her thoughts as her sister, Emily, hugged her and her brother-in-law, Samuel, hugged her and Kenna went stiff in his arms, still not used to the contact from her newest in-law. Her dad, Nicolas, was the last to hug her and she smiled up at him as he whispered, "Be careful."

She pulled back and looked at her family with her signature tight-lipped smile before turning to get in her car. She had her door half way closed when her mom yelled, "Be a light!" Kenna nodded to show she heard before shutting her door completely and driving down the gravel driveway with only the sound of the static on the radio to keep her company. 

Car rides were always Kenna's place to think. And the thoughts she had always ended in the same place. As Kenna drove she thought of her eight year old self and the plan she had made. The plan had many parts and was very detailed by eight year old standards but, for the most part, Kenna had gone through with everything she had set for herself to do. She only lacked in the relationship department. She often questioned why it was that she failed so hard in this area while the rest of her siblings seemed to excel at it. Even Ray had someone who seemed to please him despite the family's growing disapproval.

Kenna sighed at her troubling thoughts as she entered onto the freeway, hitting little traffic that promised to shave a few minutes off her scheduled travel time. This realization brought a twinge of joy to Kenna and she hummed cheerfully to herself until the sound of sirens had her at attention.

Kenna bolted up straight and looked in her rearview mirror to see the flashing red and blue lights closing in on her. Her heart beat picked up slightly and she sucked in a slight breath, trying to decipher what she could have done as she signaled to pull off on the side of the road.

Once she was parked she quickly sorted her paper work and rolled down the window before the officer even had a chance to get out of his patrol vehicle. She watched him through the side-view mirror as he stepped out. She was quiet and fiddled with her fingers nervously before reaching up to smooth her ruffled hair. The man who stepped out was tall and thin with an ill-fitting uniform that sagged around the waist. His badge caught the sun and threatened to blind Kenna, but that was the least of her worries. The officer looked up from his notepad and their eyes met in the mirror and she quickly looked away.

Kenna refused to look up from her hands until the man reached her side. "License and registration please." The officer's voice seemed familiar to Kenna. She pondered its thick country accent that mixed with a higher pitch as she held out her forms to the man without looking up from her lap. She waited a beat before looking up to see the officer staring at her license with a strange look in his eyes.

Their eyes met once more and the man quickly handed her license back as he scribbled something down on his notepad. "I hope that you realize you were going five miles over the speed limit." He said this quickly, and quietly, almost as if her were suddenly shy as opposed to a moment before when he had seemed almost bored.

Kenna's jaw nearly dropped at the thought that she were just pulled over for a mere five miles per hour. She had known many back home who had passed cops at ten miles per hour without a second thought. It was almost expected to speed when she was growing up and she had never been pulled over on her many trips between home and school before.

These realizations came quickly and kindled Kenna's short temper as the officer ripped off a ticket and handed it over to her. Kenna took a deep breath in order to control herself as she looked to the man's nametag that read, Officer Beltran. Kenna paused in her response to process that name and she drew a blank. "I'm sorry Officer Beltran; I will try to be more careful in the future." Kenna's apology was a bit shaky as she took the ticket and attempted to make eye contact with the man once more.

The officer was staring down at his shoes as Kenna apologized and simply nodded in response before walking away quickly. Kenna sat silently for a moment as she watched Officer Beltran pull away and dug deep in her mind to think of where she remembered him from, but then she noticed the time and the entire event flew from her mind.