Toni
Something was up with Kaylee. The whole ride back to my place she kept shooting Sawyer and I suspicious looks. My stomach was in knotts, worrying over whether or not she picked up on how fake this relationship was. We weren't very convincing. For one, Sawyer had none of the attributes that I looked for in a guy. He wasn't sweet, he didn't compliment me or buy me gifts. Not once since we started dating had he bought me flowers. He never opened doors for me either.
"Mind if I crash here tonight?" Kaylee asked. She went straight to the couch, collapsing into the cushions with a huff.
"Of course not," I placed the keys on the counter and draped my purse over one of the coat rack.
"Thanks."
Something was wrong.
Kaylee rarely ever asked if she could stay the night. She just did. Maybe it was because my (fake) boyfriend was living here now and she was trying to respect our boundaries. Still. I highly doubted that was the case.
"Everything okay?"
"Why wouldn't it be?" She asked indifferently.
Sawyer was hovering by the door. He kicked his shoes off and shivered from the cold.
"Honey, would you grab the vodka and two shot glasses?" I asked. Biting my lip, I pointed to the cabinet with all the liquor. "Three, if you want to join us."
"Fuck yeah I do."
He power walked into the kitchen, eagerly reaching for the cabinet with the vodka.
"Let's change into swets and then have a drink." I suggested.
Kaylee narrowed her eyes at me slightly. She followed when I turned and walked to my bedroom. By the time I had a pair of pink swets and a fuzzy white sweater picked out, Kaylee strode into the room in the famous-Kaylee-fashion. Without knocking.
She had black swets and a matching black tshirt in hand. "May I ask you a question?"
I paused to stare at her.
Since when did she ask to ask a question? I'll tell you when. Never. As in, N-E-V-E-R.
"Of course," I said softly. "You can ask me anything."
"Is your relationship with Sawyer real?" She asked quietly. As she was stripping out of her dress and high heels, she gave me a calculative look.
My breath hitched in my lungs. I'd never been good at lying. Especially not to Kay. "What do you mean?"
"Don't fuck with me Toni. Is your relationship legit? Are you in love with him?"
No. No. A billion times no.
I wanted to tell her so badly, to get this weight off my shoulders and confide in her. But I couldn't. I'd sworn my silence and so did Sawyer. "Yes. I am. We're real."
She didn't look convinced.
Instead of railing me about it, she got dressed and walked back out into the living room without saying a word.
I sat on the end of my bed with my clothes in hand, just staring at the floor. It felt wrong to lie to my best friend. To keep this from her. This wouldn't be the wasn't the first lie and it wouldn't be the last. I hated to think about the things I would have to say and do to make this relationship believable.
Dear God, give me strength.
Taking a deep breath, I changed into the comfy clothes and joined my best friend and boyfriend in the living room. They were already seated on the couch, having a contest of sorts.
"You're going to lose, eye candy." Kaylee said. She winked at him right before drinking an entire glass of vodka.
Yuck.
I sat down between them, wrapping my arm around Sawyers. "What did I miss?"
He smirked, swallowing the contents of his glass in three seconds flat. "Your bestie thinks she can hold her liquor better than I can."
"I don't think," she poured them each another glass and one for me. "I fucking know I can."
I laughed, trying to shake off the nervous tension from our earlier conversation in the bedroom. "I don't know honey, Kay's a champion. She can drink pros under the table."
"I'm insulted that you have no faith in me babe," he said shaking his head.
I turned my head away from Kaylee's line of vision to hide my cringe. Babe? Couldn't he think of something cute and personal? I didn't very much like being referred to as a babe.
"Put your vodka where your mouth is." She said sternly.
She had her game face on, which was exactly what I'd wanted. Before she'd asked me about the authenticity of my relationship, she'd asked me if she could spend the night. I wanted to know why. There was more to it than her suspiciousions. There was something else she wasn't telling me.
"Cheers." I held my glass up.
Fifteen minutes later, Kaylee was leaning over my lap, showing us the screen of her phone. On it, was a rather harsh message she intended to send her on-again off-again boyfriend. In the past, she tried to tell me that it was strictly sleeping together, no emotions attached. I'd believed her in the beginning. But then he kept screwing up and she kept going back to him.
"What do you think?" She asked. Her eyes were hooded, darker than usual.
Whereas they'd finished off the entire bottle, I'd only had one glass. It was safe to say I could ask them anything I wanted and they'd give me a truthful answer. It was like using my own personal lie detector.
"It's a little harsh.. Don't you think?" I asked cautiously.
"Hmm," she pursed her lips. "Okay. I'll add an lol to soften the blow."
Sawyer started to protest right as she hit send.
"Were you going to say something, eye candy?" She asked slowly.
"I would have added a and fuck you at the end, but that's just me."
She waved her hand dismissively. Twisting around, she laid her head in my lap and stared up at the ceiling. "I said those exact words in the last five texts."
"Hey Kay?" I asked. I ran my fingers through her hair, gently tugging at the snarls.
She closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes darling?"
"Why did you ask if you could stay here for a couple of nights?"
"Because I'm a fucking failure, that's why." She said bitterly. "Things are slow at the shop. The bills just kept stacking up. Finally I lost my apartment, health insurance. Auto insurance is next. I can't lose that, not when I'll be sleeping out of my car."
"You lost your apartment?" I asked in a small voice.
"That's what I said."
Why didn't she tell me?
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