Page 8 of Fake It Till You Break It
I slammed the laptop shut and twisted around in my chair. “Sure.”
She settled onto the edge of my bed and crossed her ankles. “So, Greg called the house a couple of times. Said your cell phone was turned off or something?”
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about him.”
“Who said I was worried?” Mom smiled and leaned back against the mattress on her hands. It squeaked a bit at her movement. “I figured you must be avoiding his calls for a good reason, so I told him you were showering. Pretty sure he didn’t believe me, but he was too scared to argue.”
“You’re the best. I’ll deal with him on Monday.”
“Good luck with that. So, want to tell me what that’s all about?”
Shaking my head, I kicked at a book on the carpet. “Just some dumb music festival he wants me to go to with him and Rose. Probably just to drive because he’s a lazy ass.”
“Takes one to know one,” Mom joked. “So, do you have your suit ready for tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow…?”
“The wedding?” At the continued blank look on my face, she let out a sigh and crossed her arms. “Don’t tell me that you forgot.”
“No, I didn’t forget. I just didn’t remember.” I scratched my head. “Whose wedding is this again?”
“It’s Mrs. Le’s second cousin on her mom’s side.” She stopped and bit the tip of her thumb. “Or is it her first cousin?”
“Now look who doesn’t remember.” I tried not to sound too smug, but it didn’t work.
It wasn’t Mom’s fault, though. Mia was related to practically the entire town. Everyone was a cousin or aunt or something. My tiny family seemed sad and lonely. Mom loved the Les’ giant family, though. The noise and chaos. Sometimes I wondered why she and Uncle Bran never had kids of their own. Although that was probably a blessing in disguise, since he disappeared soon after Mom—at the time, Aunt Lily—took us in after our real parents died.
“So, if you don’t even know who’s getting married, then why are we invited?”
“Well, technically, we’re not. We’re… going as Mrs. Le’s and Mia’s plus ones.”
Ah, and there it was.
I didn’t even bother to fight her about it. Since Mom loved these weddings so much, I tried not to put uptoomuch of a fuss whenever Mom wrangled me into going with her. Even though I knew that it was partly a ploy to get me to hang out with Mia more.
Plus, the cake was always pretty good. The seven-course meal never hurt, either.
Still looking guilty, Mom cleared her throat. “What wereyou looking at before closing your laptop? College applications? Porn?”
I grimaced and pretended to gag. Well, half pretended. Just hearing Mom say the wordpornwas enough to send chills down my spine. “Please don’t ever say that to me again. Ever.”
Her eyes widened with fake innocence. “Jeez, I didn’t know you were so sensitive about college applications.”
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“I try.” She tapped against my green bedsheets, scratching at the surface a bit with her nails. “But seriously, have you looked at college stuff yet? I know you still have over a year to think about it, but I’d kind of like a heads-up. Like whether I should be renting out your room or something.”
I snorted. “Like you would let a stranger in here. Hell, Finn’s room is still a shrine, and it’s bigger than mine.”
Mom’s face fell a bit. “That’s true.”
The room got quiet, and I was instantly sorry I brought him up. He was a sore point between us. Hell, he was a sore point, period.
After our parents died nearly fifteen years ago, Mom was the one who brought us home. Who kept us together and quit her job as marketing director at a tutoring center just so she could stay at home with us. To take us to school and daycare, nurse us when we were sick, make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (crustless for Finn), and come to all of our soccerpractices. She even went back to her maiden name, Adler, so we wouldn’t feel left out. And although she swears it wasn’t our fault, I know we were the real reason Uncle Bran left.
It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. They were a blissfully happy married couple one minute and then we moved in and they weren’t. He didn’t want to be saddled with two kids who weren’t even his. Mia and I overheard her and Mrs. Le talking about it a few weeks after he left.
That was also the first time I ever saw Mom cry.
