Page 23 of Faking Forever 1
BRING ME FLOWERS
“Yo, Barbie! Sierra!” Beau says, thrilled by our presence.
Both of us snap our heads in his direction.
“Glad you made it. I was starting to think you were bailing because of y’know who,” he smirks.
“Oh really? Bite me.” I smirk back, shoving him.
“If it weren’t for me, she probably would’ve.” Josh chuckles, reaching into the cooler to pick out a beer.
“Oh, oh! Are there any Smirnoffs left?” Sierra peaks into the cooler as well.
A group of guys begin to yell for Beau’s attention.
“Okay, I’ll be back. Josh?” he nods his head in their direction.
Josh looks at us before running away with Beau. Sierra grips my arm and points subtly to our left.
“Look. Kearsten Bradshaw. She’s so cute, it kills me.” she whines.
“So go talk to her, weirdo.” I push her forward softly with one hand.
“What do I say? What if she’s not…yanno.” she waves one hand at me flamboyantly.
“Shut up. Just go.” I roll my eyes, pushing her again.
She glances at me, walking away with hesitance. Soon, I was standing alone. I wasn’t expecting it to happen that fast, but people-watching is also fun. I kneel beside the cooler, digging in to see what I can find. I wanted to get my hands on a nice, iced, cold White Claw.
It was only seconds before I found myself being toppled onto by a giant, spilling some red, sticky mixture of a drink over me. It wreaked like vodka and fruity candy, too. Once I could get my hair out of my face to get a good look at the culprit, I 55
FAKING FOREVER
quickly wished I hadn’t.
“Oh shit—Paisley?” Nick sits face to face with me, taking my hand, as he smiles like he accomplished something, “Wow, don’t you look… different.”
“I’m sure! You just altered my hair color and outfit with your drink!” I yank myself from his grasp, looking down at my hair.
It was red almost halfway down, like I dipped it in paint.
“My hair…” I begin to feel my heart race.
“Paisley, it wasn’t personal, I swear. I can ask Darcy if she has anything to change into?” he says, standing up.
Picking myself up from the sand, I glare at him.
“Darcy? Are youkiddingme?” I hiss.
Eyes were drawn to the scene I was now causing, making people quiet down.
“Pea!” Josh’s thunderous voice approaches me as he jogs in my direction.
He lands slightly in front of me, eyeing Nick down.
“What’s the matter?” he asks, staring at Nick, even though the question was directed toward me.
“Nothing. I fell.” I say, wrapping my fingers around his forearm.
