“Noches and I are pregnant!” he yells.
Chaos erupts. Britt squeals.
“What the hell!” Tommy yells.
“No fucking way!” Adam rages, dragging his chair back from the table and stands.
A dinner roll is thrown and hits Jackson square in the chest.
I stand up. “Jesus, Jackson. Seriously?” I pick up the roll and throwit back at Billy. “Don’t throw food, you child!” I point at Adam “You. Don’t say another word. Sit down.”
“Adam? Am I not good enough for your sister?” he smirks, and I realize then he must have a death wish.
“Jackson. I warned you.”
Later, when I can think clearly, I’ll question that statement.
“Everyone, stop. I am not pregnant.” I look at Jackson and say to him, “Are you serious right now?”
He laughs. “What? I figured break them in with that and then, when we tell them the truth, they won’t be mad.”
I roll my eyes and sit down, pulling him back into his seat, too.
“If everyone would calm down, I’ll explain what’s really going on.”
Everyone sits, but Adam is still boiling, and I’m still left wondering what was with the warning comment? “I’ve decided to try my hand at PR one last time and help Jackson out with his image. His agent suggested he try a different approach to clearing the bad boy persona, we spoke about it, and I agreed to help.”
I look towards Adam, who is still red in the face, fists clenched. “Adam, you and dad actually said this was a good idea.”
“I didn’t think you’d actually do it!”
“It’s not a big deal,” I reply. “We’ve all been friends for years; we can pull this off. It’s just pretend, fake dating for a few weeks until he gets noticed enough for doing the right things and can get a new image attached to his name.”
Adam is leering at both of us. “Pull what off exactly?”
“And where do we come into all this?” Tommy asks.
Jackson speaks up. “We’re going to announce ourselves as girlfriend and boyfriend. We wanted you guys to know so you could confirm our relationship. We’re not asking you to go out of your way to say we’re together, but if you’re questioned, confirm it. Also, we’re going to take some pics, post on social media, all of us, like we always have done, but now add in some pics of the two of us together.”
Britt jumps up, grabbing her phone, obviously excited over this recent development. “Let’s do one right now! And come up with a great hashtag to kick it offright!”
Adam groans and is still giving Jackson the death look. I’m nervous about their little interaction. I try not to look eager, but to be honest, I am kind of looking forward to playing the part. Even though it will most likely kill me in the end, I would do whatever Jackson needs me to do for him.
We all gather around the table and Billy grabs Britt's phone to take a selfie of us all.
“Say ORGY!” Everyone laughs, and he snaps a few pictures as we all eventually look the same way. Britt takes the phone back and in a swift second already has a picture uploaded and tagged of us all on Instagram with the hashtag #oldfriendsnewflame.
I smile when I view it and glance up to see Jackson already watching me. Our group slowly quiets down, and Jackson leans over and quietly says, “I want tobebetter. Better than what they think I am,” he states, still staring at me, answering the question I asked him earlier, of whether he thinks he’s better or wants tobebetter.
I hold his stare and reply, “Then we’re going to do just that.”
After a while, the boys are all hanging around the fire and I’ve taken it upon myself to clean up Jackson’s kitchen. He told me not to, but I can’t just sit around with all this nervous energy. We’re really doing this. Our family knows and though it’s pretend, I can’t help but feel the butterflies and wonder how I’m going to fake this, when it’s been real for me all along.
Britt comes in and stands next to me, tucking the lone piece of hair hanging behind my ear. “You sure you’re okay with this?” I avoid her eyes but can feel them burning into the side of my head. I give a quick ‘yup’ in reply and keep washing. She softly grabs my arm. “Really?” I turn off the tap, wipe my hands on the towel next to me, turn to face her, and lean against the counter. “I’ve felt a certain way for years. Might as well get to showcase it for a few weeks.”
‘I’m glad you’re finally acknowledging it out loud.” She gives me a sad smile.
“I know you think this is a bad idea…”
