Page 41 of Faking Forever 1
“So, I take it the meeting went well?” I ask, shoving my hands into my pockets.
“Sure. He’s a dip-shit, but I’ve known him since I was your age. We used to be friends at one point—years ago.” he says questionably. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I just need you to cooperate with me,” he says, talking with his other hand.
“What does that mean? Cooperate for what?” I look at him, more worried now.
Whatever he’s cooking, I don’t fucking want it.
“I planned a trip with John and Darcy. A camping trip. I figured you’d wanna bring a friend.” he says, grabbing my shoulders, firmly squeezing them as he smiles at me.
We both begin walking toward the tents.
“Camping. Pop, you couldn’t find a better way to bond with the guy?” I say, trying to hide how I truly felt.
“Joshua, it’s not the end of the world, kid. John and I want to try to meet in the middle. Share some ideas. Why not over a friendly camping trip? Just pick anybody to come with you, and make it someone you can tolerate for three days.” he laughs, patting my back, “I’m going to go meet some people.
Be good.” he teases me before walking away.
Managing to wipe the disgust from my face, I continue walking to the tents, seeing Paisley and her family in little blurbs from afar.
The amount of people that had showed up was honestly incredible. I always forget how big our town is until moments like these. What makes me feel even better is that most of them wore pins that had my last name plastered across them.
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We had genuine supporters who believed in what we had to say.
After everything my family has been through, it felt good to be hopeful about something unrelated to my family not falling apart more than it has. The entire campaign had become a nice distraction if you ask me.
It’s nice to feel a part of something or like you’re doing something good. Especially when it feels like nothing you do is. Most of my life has been made up of trying to meet the expectations of my mother, and her precocious life desires.
It’s one of the reasons I’m a child of divorce now. I spent a lot of nights sneaking out to avoid the harsh arguments between them. It hurt knowing she could only center it around the idea that I would never become anything significant. Now, having considered things, I’m choosing to go to school for law, like my dad. I wonder if that would change her mind or if it would just make her hate me like she hates my pop.
My pop never saw me that way. If he did, he would never let me know, and that’s better than nothing. To him, I’ve done my best and can only improve from here on out. It makes me feel like I amount to what he wants from a son. Not only that but he’s also been burning into my brain the fact that it doesn’t even matter what he thinks. The only opinion that should be great enough to tarnish my perception of myself is mine.
The closer I got to the tent, I could hear Paisley talking with someone but getting her nerves rattled in the process. I speed up, gawking at her and the guy, realizing it’s Nick. I bet he’ll eat this camping idea when he hears about it.
“I just want to know how you truly felt. I thought coming to eat and maybe talking would take off the pressures of us 97
FAKING FOREVER
pretending to be friends,” he says, watching her check the temperatures of each pan of food.
“We canneverbe friends, okay? Believe it or not, I’m happy for once. You could’ve gone toanyother tent, but you chose to come to mine.” she hisses at him.
By now, I was only a few centimeters behind her. Reaching out, I grab her waist and get a feel of how tense she is.
“Is there a problem?” I ask, securing her closer to me.
“No problem at all. I was only mentioning how great Paisley’s food is. It’s easy to miss this kind of cooking. Can’t believe how great she is.” his eyes wander back to her, giving her the same stare that any man would, missing their ex.
“I’m aware,” I say, remaining reserved for now, excusing his crossing of boundaries.
Maybe sheisn’tmy girlfriend in real life, but I would probably still react like this if circumstances were different.
Being able to show her what a real relationship is is like having my actual dreams come rushing back to happen in real-time.
It bothers me that he thinks he gets a pass or even a possible second chance.
