Page 73 of The Fake
It’s a little less crowded in the living room where a TV is on a Golden vs UCLA football game. There really is no escaping my past life. A year ago, I might have been there cheering in the student section with Camila. She has a thing for football guys. I glance around with her in mind. She’d be in heaven right now. There are so many big, burly guys I feel tiny by comparison.
UCLA scores and the room erupts in cheers. By some unspoken agreement, we move away from the noise and to the kitchen. We stand in line to get beer from the keg. Bri turns around and leans in, holding her phone up. “Sydney is upstairs in the library. She says to come up there after we get our drinks.”
“The library?” Emily snorts and then looks to me. She must read it on my face. “Your parents totally have a library, don’t they?”
“Where else do they store their first editions?” I mock.
Foamy beer in hand, the three of us make our way up the stairs. No easy feat with the steady traffic going up and down. The first room on the right opens up into a library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covering the entirety of two walls. On the other main wall, there’s a huge gas-burning fireplace, lit for the night.
Sydney sits on the couch in between Liz and a guy I don’t recognize sporting a hipster beard. Sydney waves us over with a big smile.
Emily and Bri take an empty love chair and Sydney scooches over closer to Liz to make room for me.
“Hey,” I say awkwardly to the guy I all but sit on top of trying to take my seat.
Sydney leans forward and turns to make more room for me. “Chloe, this is Frank.”
“Nice to meet you.” His brown eyes assess me.
I can’t tell if it’s interest or friendliness in his tone, but I do my best to keep mine polite with a clear signal I’m not looking for a random hookup just in case. “You, too.”
I look to Sydney and Liz, but they’re in a conversation about one of today’s matches and it feels weird to just butt in.
“You play volleyball, too?” Frank’s tone seems light, like he’s just making conversation to be nice.
“I do.” I nod. “Are you on the football team?”
He tilts his head back, and his mouth curls up around his black beard with laughter. “No.”
“Do you play any sport?”
He shakes his head this time. “Not for me. I like setting my own schedule. Sports are a little too time-intensive for me.”
I don’t know what to say to that. He’s not wrong, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I mean, obviously. I came all the way to Valley just so I could keep playing.
My phone lights up with a text from Camila. I clear it from the screen, but Frank’s eyes stare down at my phone. “That the boyfriend?”
I’m not sure about the title boyfriend, but I don’t correct Frank as he looks at the picture of Nathan and me on the beach laying in the sand. Our heads are tilted toward one another, and I’m smiling at the camera while he looks at me. I hold it up so Frank can get a better look. “Yep.”
He takes the phone and smiles wide. “No way, you’re dating Nathan Payne?”
I laugh at his reaction. It sends me back to when my roommates found out. The man has a reputation by name alone and everyone seems to know and like him, judging by Frank’s smile. “Yeah.”
“I know Payne,” Frank says. “I haven’t seen him around in a while. Now I know why.”
I take my phone back and place it screen down on my thigh. “He’s busy with practice, start of the season and all that.”
“Yo, Frank,” a deep voice calls from the doorway and I look up in time to see a large guy—definitely a football player, motion with his head for Frank.
“Well, duty calls.” He stands and glances down at me. He’s taller than I thought while he was seated. Long legs give way to a muscular build he wears confidently. “Tell Payne I said hello and if he’s changed his mind to give me a call.”
* * *
Nathan
“I’m so glad I don’t live here anymore, but I sure do miss you guys,” Zeke says as he crosses one ankle over the other.
Gabby’s perched on his lap, staring up at him totally dumbstruck in love.
