Page 20 of Caught in a Bad Fauxmance
Julian nods between sips of water. “Okay. How much?”
“I…uh…I don’t want money.”
Julian’s lips tug into a frown. “You don’t?”
I shake my head, willing my nerves to cool it for a second while I try to sound believable. “I want to come over to your house. Twice a week. Minimum.” The request sounds as awkward as I feel.
And Julian looks as shocked as I was when Maya first suggested this plan. “Oh…” His cheeks flush as he leans back in his seat. “Uh…why?”
“I’m applying for this mentorship with a CalArts professor that’s due after break.” It’s not a lie, so it rolls clean off my tongue. “I need to work on a piece for it, but my dad’s making us do all of these DIY projects around the house, and Maya and Andy are already chaotic as it is, so I need a place where I can go to concentrate. Just for a few hours.”
Once again, Maya’s way better at coming up with believable lies than me.
Julian bites his lip, the cogs in his head clearly working at high speed.
“All right, fine,” he answers after a pause. “That’s it?”
I tuck my hands under my armpits to keep them from shaking. “That’s it.” This seems too easy, but I’m not going to question it. The hard part has barely begun. “So, what would I have to do?”
Julian reaches into his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of cardstock. He smooths it out on the table before pushingit toward me. It’s an invitation. “Show up tonight at seven. Dress code is business casual. We say our hellos. Done.”
The invitation alone is intimidating. It’s printed on the good cardstock, the kind that costs more than any type of paper ever should. The date is written in elegant script, with a coat of arms at the bottom of the page. What kind of family has their own coat of arms?
The name written below the crest, in a less opulent, but more readable font, strikes me as familiar.
“Allegheny…like the water park?”
Julian nods, his eyes still avoiding mine. “The Alleghenys are loaded, super old money. My ex—Liam—his dad has always had a thing for amusement parks. Building their own was like the ultimate sandbox,” he says with a shrug, as if having enough money to build a water park isn’t absolutely wild.
My mouth hangs open, a bit of drool spilling out onto the table. Luckily Julian doesn’t notice my graceful maneuver of wiping it up with my sleeve. Well, this confirms my theory that the rich only date within their tax bracket.
“How long were you two together?” I ask, feeling strangely drawn to Julian’s history with this water park heir.
“Not long. Two months, maybe less. We tried the whole long-distance thing when I went home to Miami after the summer, but it wasn’t really working.” He sighs as he runs a hand through his hair. “And now he wants to pick things up where we left off.”
“And you already tried telling him to buzz off?”
“Not in those words, but yes,” he replies dryly. “But Liam’s a…complicated person.”
A gulp gets lodged in my throat. What could be more “complicated” than not knowing how to respect boundaries? Meeting Liam just skyrocketed to the top of my list of things I’m worried about—with “Mr. Cooke destroying our cabin,” and “getting rabies from a possum” as very close seconds.
“You’ll be fine, though,” Julian assures me. He must’ve sensed my panic—guess that’s something I’ll have to work on if we want to pull this off.
I take one last look at the invitation, reminding myself that I can still get out of this if I want to. But the thought of Maya, of our cabin, ofwinningis stronger than the urge to run away.
“All right. I’m in.”
Julian looks up at me with a raised brow. “Wait, seriously? You’ll do it?”
“The fact that you’re this shocked is making me think that I shouldn’t.”
He clams up, quickly shifting back to his side of the table. “I just didn’t think you’d actually say yes.”
I groan, burying my face in my hands. “Neither did I.”
Luigi finally makes an appearance, bustling out of the kitchen and setting down the sandwich before Julian can reply. When I lift my head, there’s a small green bottle sitting in front of me.
“It’s tea tree oil,” Julian explains. “My mom said it can help with infections.”
