Page 67 of Love Me Like It's Real
I’m having a good time and helping a guy make his children happy in the most unconventional way ever. There’s nothing wrong with that. Is there?
TWENTY
FELIX
As expected, when Hayworth picks me up on Friday night we have our usual audience. It’s quite sweet how invested they are in my dates with Hayworth considering they lose interest after five minutes of anything else, be it a chore or a hobby.
“How have they been?” he asks when we’re in the clear. “Are they settling in all right?”
I turn to him expecting to find sarcasm or a playfulness in his tone but he’s serious. Casual. As if he’s genuinely interested in the answer.
“They’re fine. They’re making friends. They’re doing well at school. Elsa is sleeping through the night. It’s all going very well.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Maplewood is a great place to grow up in.”
“What’s up with you?” I ask him with a suspicious stare he doesn’t fail to notice.
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you being…normal?”
He bursts into laughter. “I didn’t realize I wasn’t normal.”
“You are, it’s just…I don’t know. After that night I thought you’d be a horndog who’s only interested in getting in my pants. Again.”
Hayworth stops laughing and throws a smirk my way. “I can be both, can’t I?”
“I suppose,” I tell him and drop the subject. “So where are we going?”
He shrugs and turns onto a country road, which makes me frown. “Well you did so well at the cooking class, I thought you’d love some release.”
I inspect our surroundings that get more and more deserted, replaced by trees, dirt and snow.
“Are you planning to murder me in the woods?”
He shakes his head, biting his lips. “Nah. Too many witnesses.”
“Hayworth! Don’t joke right now. I barely know you.”
“Relax! I’m just taking you to the Smash Bus.”
“The what?” I all but choke, a laugh threatening to spill out of me without my consent.
“The Smash Bus. It’s my little pet project.”
“Sure it is,” I chuckle but he doesn’t elaborate so I keep my mouth shut and my eyes on the road in case I need to find my way back on foot, which is a lost cause already because I’m hopeless with directions.
A few minutes later he comes to a stop in front of a big bus at the edge of the forest. Its wheels are gone but there are sturdy metal wheel stands keeping it upright and in place. The windows are covered and the whole exterior is graffitied within an inch of its life. A sign in front of it readsSmash Busand something else but the lettering is too small to read in the dark.
“What do you think?” He grins.
I wrinkle my nose. “Definitely not what I imagined. Are you sure you’renotmurdering me tonight?”
Hayworth drops his hands to his sides and sighs. “I wish you’d stop joking about that!”
I shrug. “You’re not helping the situation. Quite a grim setting for our secondfakedate.” It didn’t hurt reminding him that we weren’t really seeing each other.
“You’re so impatient,” he says and takes something out of his pocket and approaches the bus door.
