Faking It

5

Our outdoor area of our home has always been a favourite of mine.

A clean, well kept garden surrounds the exterior of our backyard, flowers bloomed as they bathe in the sunlight through out the day, and on great sun filled  day like today, it oozes serenity and peace.

We have this hammock hanging from the two wood paling's beside the outdoor seating area.

Now this, was also my favourite.

As a child, my father bought this hammock and If I ever had a rough day, he would always bring me out into the garden to distract me from any worries I had in my mind, and if on days it did not work, he would swing me up in his arms and place me in the striped, red and yellow hammock; lightly caressing my auburn curls as he sings lowly, and it would always diminish the anxiety that coursed through my veins only moments earlier, as I lay down and relax with my father beside me.

As I lay in this hammock now, i can't help feel increasingly smaller as the large gap beside me burns a hole into my heart.

It was a little after 5pm, my friend's had arrived for a small catch up after not seeing each other the entirety of summer break.

Violet and Carter sit beside me on the love seat, they laugh towards the boy and girl across from them on the outdoor couch.

Mason West and Nora Matthews. Our friends from high school, who we luckily enough got to go to college with currently.

Mason West was your average high school guy, he was the captain of the soccer team and incredibly down to earth. The striking green eyes and his toned skin caught every girl's eye.

Of course, both Violet and I do not deny that this boy was incredibly nice to look at, but he was strictly one of our great friends.

Especially when you had known him for as long as we had.

Mason and Carter were friends all through out school, sharing the same interests and classes, they quickly became best friends. 

Introducing him to the both Violet and I, we all became a tight group of friends, until we expanded once more when Nora moved half way through Junior year of high school.

Nora Matthews was strikingly beautiful, although typically never accepted it herself.

Her long, curly brown hair cascaded down to her mid back, and her eyes were a deep chocolate with a warm sense of invite in them. 

She was undeniably great at writing poetry and creative writing.

She got accepted with a full scholarship to Ravenswood University, which she gladly upholds currently.

I met Nora in American Literature class, we were partnered in a project and we instantly clicked with both our similar personalities, her humour and warming personality caught my eye instantly.

So I did what I obviously HAD to do...

I introduced her to the group and we were whole again.

Especially Mason and Nora. It was the typical high school romance.

Boy and Girl meet.

Boy and Girl become best friends.

Boy and Girl graduate and fall in love.

But they actually did not start dating until the summer break before our freshman year of college, because both were too intimidated and stubborn to admit any feelings towards each other, go figure.

"April, that is like the 2nd time you've spaced out, just today."

Mason's voice booms and it makes me jump slightly as his deep voice snapped me out of my day dream.

"Sorry! Actually, I might just go check on Soph."

I darted into the house as i make myself up the stairs to check on Sophia.

I creak open the door and slowly make my way into the room quietly, making sure I don't disturb her sleep.

I look down at the tiny little girl that's deeply asleep in her bed, before I quietly tip toe out of her room and shut the door behind me, deciding to keep on checking on her every few minutes.

"Are you alright?"

I almost jump out of my skin by the sudden voice as I turned around to walk downstairs.

"Oh my god! Nora! You gave me a heart attack. Don't sneak up on me like that!"

I whisper yell to her in shock as she just rolls her eyes as if i was the one who had just scared the living crap out of her.

She  lightly hooks our arms together as I share a tight smile towards hair, waltzing back towards the garden to our group of friends who continued into their normal conversation, laughing senselessly at whatever the topic.

Looking at them all individually with my eyebrow raised with confusion written upon my face as they stare back.

I look to Violet, expecting her to tell me instead she shakes her head and mouths 'Don't worry' with a sly smirk, leaving me itching with curiousity.

Curiousity killed the cat, April.

I zone back into reality to watch all my friends eyes trained on me.

Oh shit did they say something?

Uh oh, make something up!

"April?"

"Hmm?"

I say with my eyebrows raised, like I had been listening to the whole conversation.

"I just wanted to know if we could order pizza? From Amenias?"

Nora's intense stare looks at me with a hopeful glimse in her eye and I look at her dumbfounded.

"Sure?"

A small chuckle escapes my lips and everyone laughs whilst Nora silently cheers before excusing herself to go order it.

"Oh! And before I go order, is anyone else coming? Like, Adam perhaps?"

Nora's tone bubbly and exciting about the news.

I look to the others as if she asked them.

"Oh! Um— no he's out of town."

I babble on, trying to hide the fact that my boyfriend, Adam, and I hadn't actually spoken since this major fight last week.

Nora just shrugs it off as well as the others do, except for Violet.

She  looks at me with eyebrows raised and I shrug it off, her gaze still looking at me as if I were to  crack at any moment.

But instead I don't, I cant say anything.

And if I could I didn't really know what to say.

We had a fight, big deal. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

You're probably confused on who this Adam character is, right?

We have been dating since Junior year of high school, people liked to call us the "high school sweethearts.

Even if we were anything but sweet.

Although it is only our first year into University, Mid year to be exact —people still labeled us.

What can I say? It's a small town.

We always had petty little fights, about anything really.

But he loved me and I loved him.

One thing was he would get really jealous over any other interaction I had with a boy, even Carter.

Carter.

Who of which is basically my dorky cousin who is in love with my best friend, which would be incredibly weird.

But he was always consistent with it.

I just hope that by the time school comes back around, everything would have gone back to normal.