FAKE

PART III: ANDREW

IV: b-day

Andrew and I arrived early Monday. I called Evelyn in Andrew's car and wished her a happy birthday. She invited me to her house with Andrew later in the day.

We head back to his place and he invited me to spend the night there again. My parents don't mind. From now on, I'm not asking my parents. His house is my home.

I was thinking this until we pull into the driveway and there's another car.

"Mother's home," Andrew smiled. 
What the hell, this is not happening. I am terrified of meeting Andrew's mom. Holy shit.

I don't even know how to act in front of her or what she'll even think of me. Will she be like my parents or the polar opposite of them? Andrew smiles and opens he passenger door for me and I fumble trying to get out of the car. I regain balance and try to walk my jelly legs to the front door. My heart is jelly too out of fear.

"Don't worry. My mom's fine," is all I hear Andrew say before we walk in.

Inside the house, his mom is cooking some food.

"Hey mom!" Andrew says cheerfully. I walk slowly and shyly behind Andrew and she looks at me.

"You must be Jane," she says, holding out her hand for me to shake it.

Andrew's mom isn't how I pictured her. She's wearing dark red lip stick against her pale, pale skin and she's wearing a tight black dress. Her heels make her even taller than Andrew. Her hair is brown like his but hers falls down to her waist. She has sort of a vintage look to her that's astounding. Her eyes are a gorgeous shade of light brown, just like Andrew's.

"You're very pretty, miss," I say, quickly regretting that I just exposed myself for staring at her.

"Why thank you! You're very pretty yourself. Come, I just made dinner for you guys."

She motions me to the dining table and seats me down. She has long, sharp red acrylic nails that make her hand look longer than it probably is. I look at the chipped red nail polish on my nails and immediately hide them from sight. I must've been eating them on the plane from fear.

Andrew's mom, Elle, pours some spaghetti with meatballs on some fancy plate and passes me the dish.

"My grandmother's recipe. Italian descent," she says, winking.

Italian guys are hot. But I'm here to enjoy this food right now. I smile at the thought of that, though. Andrew and Elle sit at the table with me and start to eat. I take a bite and and immediately feel a thousand tasteful flavors run through my mouth. The sauce melts perfectly on my tongue and the spaghetti is tenderly cooked. I don't realize that I've finished the entire plate until when Elle says, "you liked it, didn't you?"

I look down at my plate and there's nothing there.

"It was delicious. The best," I say, rubbing my belly.

"Delightful! Now Andrew and you can go upstairs and I'll clean this all up," she says lightly.

"Would you like me to help, Elle?"

"No, no, you're my guest. Go have fun!" She pats me on the shoulder and smiles.

I tell her about Evelyn's invitation.

"Perfect! You guys go have fun then!"

I shake her hand again and head to the car, Andrew rushes upstairs and grabs himself a sweater. Of course it has some car on it. On the back it says 2017 in bold red letters. He looks really good in it, just like with everything else. I'm always surprised that he looks the best with cars on his clothing. There's just something about those that always catch my attention. Maybe I just like cars.

Andrew starts the car and I grab his phone again to play music. The car ride we're both silent but then I finally say,

"You're mom's really nice, Andrew."

He smiles and says that she can be sometimes. I know what he means. My mom's the same exact way.

We arrive at Evelyn's place and her parents aren't home. She opens the door for us and we walk in. She's blasting music inside and has some fruit punch laid out for us.

"That's just for starters. Later we'll get intense," she simply says.

I'm not drinking, if that's what she's implying. I'm not even coherent half the time when I'm sober. I've never been drunk for my entire life and I'm not risking that tonight.

Andrew takes the fruit punch and I do too. Evelyn starts dancing to the music. After a little while, we eat some cake and watch romantic movies while Evelyn curls up on my left side and Andrew has me in his arms. Evelyn stands up and comes back with a cup for the three of us. Vodka. I smell the cup and instantly get a sniff of danger. I don't want to drink, I'm not going to drink.

"No thank you," I say to Evelyn and she stares at me blankly.

"Come on, you're in good hands!"

I contemplate on whether I should take it or not. I take it. I taste regret as I expected. I don't like drinking. I set the cup down and notice that Evelyn has drained her own cup. Andrew doesn't drink either so Evelyn gives up and we continue watching movies until I fall asleep.

I wake up in Andrew's bed the next morning.