Page 35 of Confessions of a Carpool Captive
It’s been a really long day. It’s almost five and I’m exhausted. I hope everyone else is tired as well. I’m not up for more bickering on the way home.
My phone pings with a text. There’s only one person who texts me. I can’t help but smile.
Finn:Ready for round two?
Liz:Did I mention I’m sorry?
Finn:LOL. I was thinking about that. Just how sorry are you?
I pause. What’s that supposed to mean? As if he can read my mind, he texts again.
Finn:Don’t freak out. I’d ask you in person, but there are too many people around and I don’t want to start crap talk in the car.
Liz:Ask me what?
Finn:For a favor.
Liz:OK. WHAT?????
I see the little bubbles showing he’s typing. The bubbles start and stop a few times. I start packing up my desk and turn off my computer before he answers.
Finn:My parents are coming into town for an early Christmas with me. They wanted to see my new place. I may have fibbed a bit. They were worried about me so I told them I met someone. I need you to pretend to be her. They want to meet her and I have no one else who would lie for me.
I re-read the text five times before I respond.
Liz:No way!
Finn:Please? I wouldn’t ask unless I was desperate.
I place my palm on my forehead and hit the all caps button.
Liz:YOU KNOW I DON’T LIKE TALKING! I CAN BARELY HOLD A CONVERSATION WITH PEOPLE I KNOW, MUCH LESS COMPLETE STRANGERS WHO THINK I’M DATING THEIR SON!
Finn:Okay.
Unable to move from my chair, I sit and stare at his last response. I roll my neck and then review our conversation. He asks so little of me and I treat him like crap. Look at everything he’s done for me. He never asks for anything in return, yet I won’t do something small to help him when he really needsme?
I start to type, knowing I’m going to regret this.
Liz:Please tell me it’s not tonight.
He immediately responds.
Finn:This Saturday.
Liz:Fine. But then we’re EVEN!
Finn:You’re a lifesaver.
Mumbling under my breath, I make my way to the elevators. That gives me five days to prepare myself. What am I going to do? I don’t know how to hold a normal conversation, much less one where I have to lie. Right on cue, I get a text.
Finn:Don’t worry. I’ll do all the talking. I’ll tell them you have laryngitis or something. ;)
I laugh out loud. That could work.
Within a few minutes, I make my way toward Finn’s car. Emerson and Ernesto are standing together and Emerson seems to be trying to talk to him.
“Hey, Liz, what’s the Spanish word for job?”
