Page 69 of The Love Interest
“Oh crap, was this supposed to be formal?” asks Juliet.
“Hello!” says Natalie. “It’s only the moment that could shape the rest of Trevor’s life! But there’s obviously no helping you two, and I’m too stressed to care about you being underdressed.” She closes her eyes and breathes in through her nostrils like she’s meditating. “Okay. You’re about to enter a no-negativity space, all right? I’m a mess, and Trev’s pretty nervous as it is, so please be nice to him. Make him doubt himself and I’ll throw you out of the limo.”
The limo window slides down, revealing Trevor. His hair has been buzzed super short, so much so that I can see pale scalp beneath his dark hair. He leans forward and pokes his head out of the window. “Hey babe, you know I can hear you, right? And you don’t need to threaten them, I’m fine. My headspace is golden.”
Natalie sulks back to the limo with her shoulders sagging. Juliet and I follow her. Inside, it looks a lot like the limo that first took me away from the LIC. Leather seats, strips of blue light on the ceiling. Trevor sits wedged between Natalie and a man who looks exactly the way Trevor will in twenty years. They have the same friendly twinkle in their deep-set brown eyes and the same broad shoulders.
“Hey,” says the man who looks like Trevor. “I’m Donnie, Trev’s dad.”
He offers his hand. I notice that his muscular body is covered in an obviously homemade green shirt with the wordsTEAM TREVwritten across the chest.
“Caden,” I say as we shake.
He turns away, signaling the end of the conversation. I turn to Trevor, who is staring at me.
“Hey,” I say.
He drums his hands on his calves and exhales. His hands are shaking. “Hi, Caden.”
I have a strange realization: I want him to do well. We only met because I’m fake, but my friendship with him is real. I care about him and I genuinely want him to achieve his goal.
“Good luck today, man.”
“Thanks.”
“Okay,” calls Natalie. “No more talking. I’m too worried someone will say something that’ll make him nervous. So let’s listen to music.”
She presses a button on her iPhone and an upbeat electronic song starts to play. I recognize the tune, but can’t for the life of me figure out who the artist is.
The stadium is just over two hours away, and the drive ticks by slowly. I spend it staring out the window, thinking about Dyl. No one is allowed to talk, so the only real distraction is Natalie’s playlist, which, thankfully, is pretty great.
Once we reach the stadium, the five of us climb out. People bustle around us, moving in both directions up and down the street, ignoring us. The stadium is illuminated by massive columns of white light from spotlights anchored to the floor. We walk up to the front counter, where a short man is trapped inside a smudged box made of thick clear plastic. His expression, which looks alarmingly like the disappointed emoji personified, doesn’t change when we reach him.
“Hi,” says Trevor. “I’m competing. Like, today, I’m going to swim.”
“Tickets and ID, please.”
I pause, because I don’t have a ticket. Suddenly I’m worried that I should have one and it’s going to be really embarrassing to admit that I don’t. Thankfully, Trev’s dad steps forward and slides a piece of paper into the slot in the plastic.
After we produce our student IDs, the disappointed pool employee hands Trev’s dad a bunch of tickets and we walk inside. The room smells like chlorine. People are rushing about everywhere, buying snacks, heading to their seats, taking photos. The whole place is buzzing.
“This is it,” says Trevor. Behind him is a long hallway. A bunch of guys carrying duffel bags are walking down it toward a set of navy double doors. I assume it’s the professional version of the sign-in area from the school swim meet.
“We’ll scream super loud,” says Juliet.
“Go crush them,” I say.
“Thanks, you guys.”
Natalie leaps into his arms, pressing her body hard against him, and places a kiss on his open lips. Donnie makes a show of looking away, but he’s smiling.
“You can do this, babe.”
“Thanks, babe.”
Juliet and I glance at each other. She smirks but doesn’t say anything. Nat and Trev separate, then he and his dad head toward the lockers.
The rest of us go in the opposite direction, up to the bleachers. Our assigned seats are in the very back row, giving us a freaking fantastic view of the entire pool. The tiles are sky blue and the water is clear. Above the pool are triangular red and yellow streamers. In the very corner of the room is a large screen that shows a bigger version of the events happening in front of me. It cuts to commentators, one male and one female, who are sitting in a booth. I had no idea this was televised, and for some reason that makes it seem so much bigger and therefore scarier. The stadium is already almost full, which really adds to the intensity level. I don’t know what I was expecting, but this is obviously a huge frigging deal, and it feels kind of weird that someone I know is such a big part of it.
