Page 19 of Between Here and There

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Joshua

So, in an attempt to lay low and avoid Emily, I manage to get myself closer to her by pretending to be her boyfriend. Yes, I absolutely deserve a smack to the head.

“WHAT?” Bon’s voice reverberates throughout the car. “NO. She never told me. She’s there with you, right? EMILY! Em, what’s hap–” Mom cut her off before she could continue.

“That’s wonderful news,” she says. “We’ll see you both in a while.” And then she hangs up.

Silence fills the car. It’s the kind of silence that simmers, like the calm before a storm. And sure enough, when I glance over at Emily, she’s glaring at me like she hates my guts. “What the hell?!” She smacks my arm.

“Look. I’m sorry, okay?” I say. “You heard that conversation. There was no other way to get out of that!” I pause for a while, then continue, “But isn’t this actually good? You’re looking for a fake date, I need a fake girlfriend. Overall, I like to imagine it worked out for you and me.”

“Worked out?” she hisses. “Josh, we didn’t think this through. People are gonna ask us questions,” she says, then she grabs my arm in a rapid motion like she just realized something, “Personalquestions!”

I know she’s freaking out, but her hand on my arm is sending jolts of electricity into my system. It’s probably because her hand is cold. Why is her hand always cold?

I hesitate before answering her, realizing that pretending to date Emily might not be the easy fix I thought it would be. But still, I push forward. “How hard can it be? We can do this,” I say, despite my inner voice suggesting otherwise.

“And you do realize that Bon is flipping out right now, right?” Emily says. “She’s gonna kill me first then she’s coming for you.”

“Relax, Bon will understand,” I say, not fully convinced. “We’ll explain afterwards. Or we can just break up, you know, tell them it didn’t work out.” I know this is all pretend, but fake breaking up with Emily somehow sounds more stressful than fake dating her.

Emily presses her hands to her face. “Oh my god. We only have–” She glances at the clock on the car dashboard, “An hour left to come up with an entire story. We need details about how we met, how we got together, and when we started liking one another,” she says. She pulls up her phone and opens her Notes app. “Oh, and the girls are obviously gonna ask for more details, you know–when, how, where, why, and…shit,” she stops short. “I told them about our kiss. The one two weeks ago when I didn’t know you were you.” She looks up at me with panic in her eyes.

She continues, her voice an octave higher. “They’re gonna wonder why I was kissing strangers if I already had a boyfriend. And if I tell them it was you, how could I justify my breakdown two weeks ago? It won’t make any sense. I have to think.” Her eyebrows are knitted together, and her nose is scrunched as she thinks.

I can’t help but chuckle a little. “Does your brain always work like this?” I ask incredulously, shooting her concerned glances every few seconds while still focusing on the road. “You’re five disasters away from everyone else.”

“Well, I have to be. We’re going home to Magnolia Heights,” she emphasizes. “The nosiest neighborhood in the world. We will be interrogated like we’re testifying in court. Manang Linda alone can smell bullshit from a mile away.

“How do we get out of that?” she says, her face tinged with horror.

“First of all,” I say, “breathe, Emily.” When she takes a deep breath, I pause. I want to convince her that this is the right thing, even when I might have just ruined her vacation. I say, “Okay, about the kiss, you can tell them that we kissed as strangers, but when we saw each other again, we found out the truth. And then we started hanging out every day. And so the relationship is new, that’s why we didn’t want to tell anyone yet.”

She nods, typing my every word into her phone.

“So that covers the questions of how we met and how we got together,” I continue. “As for when we started liking each other, I don’t know about you, but I can say that I liked you ever since you screamed at the back alley of my construction site.”

She looks at me with a glare again, as if begging me not to remind her of that. “Tantrum Em.” I smile playfully.

“Okay,” she says. “But don’t you think this is still unrealistic?” She points to me, then back to her.

“How?” I ask.

“Well, for starters, you’re a commitment-phobe who has never been in a real relationship. Rob has been my only boyfriend. How in the world did this—us—happen?”

“What’s so unbelievable about me falling for you?” I flash her a smile. “Have you seen you?” It’s so easy to fall for her, if only I were the falling type of person.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she teases. “Maybe the fact that you’ve never dated anyone for more than…” she pauses and looks at me.

“One day,” I say.

“Disgusting,” she replies. There’s a flicker of something on her face. I don’t know if it’s nervousness or amusement. I understand she’s worried, and I only want to make the situation light. I’m not exactly good at confronting real-life situations. Problems at work? I can solve in a minute. Other people’s problems? I give such good advice, I should charge them for therapy sessions. But problems that involve me? Emotions? Nah, I’ll crack a joke and I’ll pass.

But that face. Emily’s anxious expression. I can’t just ignore it. “Look, Emily,” I say. “Relax. I know that’s impossible for you and your spiraling brain, but really. You don’t have to overanalyze it. We’ll discuss the usual questions, but for all the other stuff, we can handle it. Just follow my lead, honey,” I say playfully. It makes me wince a bit, I don’t usually use terms of endearment. It’s a reminder of relationships and how I never want to be in one. But since this is just pretend, I even smile as I say, “Hold my hand,” and reach out to her.

She reluctantly puts her hand in mine, and it’s like we’re back in the plane. Temporarily providing respite for each other. Maybe that’s what this is. Just a temporary solution to a temporary problem.

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