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Excuse the mistakes

 Picture of Vance on the side

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“No!”

I pressed my pillow harder into my mouth and nose, and tears streamed down my cheeks. Gus was curled up in my lap, but the slumbering puppy wasn’t enough to stop my small, emotional meltdown.

Suddenly, the light to my bedroom snapped on, and my head whipped up to see Zephyr standing in the doorway. She said something, but I couldn’t hear her, so I paused the video streaming through Netflix on my laptop and yanked my headphones out of my ears.

“What?” I asked, and Gus unfurled his body and stretched out across my folded legs.

“I said,” Zephyr replied, planting her hands on her hips, “The party starts in an hour, and here you are, sobbing over some stupid television show.”

“American Horror Story is not stupid,” I said defensively, “Especially when Violet just tried to kill herself, and Tate is holding her body in the bathtub.”

“Seriously?” Zephyr asked, raising an eyebrow, “You’ve been obsessing over that show ever since it premiered!”

“Just because I’ve watched the first season four times doesn’t mean I’m obsessing,” I stated, crossing my arms over my chest, “Besides, when the second season is posted on Netflix, I can obsess over that.”

“Fine; sounds fantastic,” Zephyr replied, rolling her eyes, and she crossed my room and threw open my closet. I knew that as soon as she got a hand on my clothing, Zephyr was focused on finding me the perfect outfit. So, I just scooped Gus into my arms and placed him on the bed next to me, and I shut my laptop.

After placing it on my desk, I walked into my bathroom and turned on my flatiron. Quickly, I ran it through my hair, which had dried frizzy and wavy this morning when I showered after dance rehearsal.

“Hey, Zeph?” I said, peeking my head out of the bathroom, “How do you think I should do my makeup?”

“Make it pretty,” she replied, not looking back at me, but rather staying fixated on my clothes.

“Wow.” I stared at Zephyr’s back, completely amazed at how unhelpful someone could be. After a moment, I just sighed and threw my hands up, and I went back into the bathroom. I opted for pale pinkish white eye shadow, and then I lined my eyes heavily with charcoal eyeliner and finished with some mascara.

I wasn’t one of those girls who didn’t know how to do their hair or makeup and needed their best friend to be a magician when it came to things like that. No, when you grow up dancing, you learn at a very early age to do makeup and hair.

“Alright,” I said, combing through my hair as I walked into my bedroom, “Let’s see what you got.”

Zephyr, who’d laid out an outfit on my bed, was furiously texting someone on her phone. When she heard my voice, however, Zephyr’s head snapped up. She gave my hair and makeup a once over, and after a moment, she just nodded and returned to texting.

I chuckled to myself and walked over to my bed, and I studied what Zephyr was wearing for the first time since she’d stepped into my bedroom. Her ensemble consisted of a pair of black, ripped nylon leggings, and a hot pink, sleeveless dress that was belted at the waist with a neon yellow belt. As I lusted after the black ankle boots she had on, Zephyr looked up at me.

“Take a picture, babe,” She said, smirking, “It’ll last longer.”

“Sorry, but I’m into dudes, not babes,” I replied, winking at her. Zephyr chuckled, and she dropped her phone into the black purse hanging on her shoulder.

“Hurry up and get dressed,” Zephyr said, gesturing towards the clothes sitting on my bed, “Vance is waiting outside for us.”

Vance was Zephyr’s boyfriend of almost three and a half years, and he was usually our designated driver. You see, Vance was what one might call an angry drunk. When Vance was drunk, if a guy looked at Zephyr, or even me for that matter, he would get angry, aggressive, and usually physical.

We all agreed that Vance drinking wasn’t a good idea.

I stripped out of my sweatpants and tank top, and I pulled on the lacy black bra sitting on the bed. Then, I shimmied into the turquoise, overly ripped pants that Zephyr had laid out. I pulled on the black vest, which showed a hint of my midriff, and I tugged on a pair of black Converse high-tops that were so worn, that they had holes covered in duct tape.

“Alright,” I said, slipping my cell phone into the back pocket of my jeans, “Let’s head out.”

“Awesome,” Zephyr cheered, and she bounced off of my bed and started out of my room. I smooched Gus on the head, and he barely stirred in his sleep. Then, I walked out of my bedroom. I waved goodbye to Thomas, who was playing his PS Vista on his bed, and then I stepped down the stairs.

“Reed, wait!”

I was literally inches from the front door, and seconds from avoiding my mom, but she’d caught me. Although I was itching to join Zephyr and Vance in his car, I let out a deep breath and turned around to face her.

“What, Mom?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I have a guy for you to go out with tomorrow night,” my mom stated, a determined look on her face, “I am not taking no for an answer, because this boy is a lot nicer than that Parker kid who came over yesterday. Plus, he most definitely doesn’t drive a motorcycle.”

“Mom,” I replied, sighing and wishing I was somewhere else, “You know I—”

“Reed, you’re going,” my mom interrupted. “You’re going even if I have to drag you to the restaurant and handcuff you to the chair.”

I thought about protesting, and I really wanted to. However, judging from the look on her face, my mom was dead serious about this. Too bad for her; I had a plan on how to get out of the date.

Would it work?

If I was being honest with myself, probably not. The thought of even asking made me feel stupid and sick to my stomach. That meant I was going to have to go on my mom’s date tomorrow, unless I could come up with a plausible excuse, which wasn’t going to happen.

“Whatever,” I replied, and I gestured towards the door. “Zephyr and Vance are waiting for me, so I’m gonna head out.”

As I started towards the door, my mom called after me, “Be back by curfew!” I almost laughed. My mom always said that when I went out with my friends, but she always forgot that she had never actually set a curfew for me.

I hurried across the lawn to Vance’s car, and I waited as Zephyr pulled forward the passenger seat to let me into the back. Then, after piling into the car, I said hi to Vance, and we were off to the party.

Zephyr turned on the radio, and a new Conor Maynard song began to play. As we drove towards the Westside, where the party was being held, I felt myself loosening up and having fun. I wasn’t exactly a shut-in, but I spent a lot of time doing school work or dancing. So, when I went out to parties with friends, I made sure to have enough fun as possible.

That usually involved drinking.

As Vance pulled up to the party, I asked Zephyr, “Do you know if I’ll know anyone here?”

“Not sure,” she replied, as she stepped out of the car and pulled the passenger seat down, “But honestly, who cares? This party looks awesome, and I’m sure you’ll manage to make friends.”

Zephyr was right about the party. As I climbed out of the car and laid eyes on the house, I could already tell this was going to be a good night. The house was isolated from other houses, so there wouldn’t be any noise complaints, and there were a ton of people here. Some were already drunk and passed out on the lawn, and there were others dancing to the music blasting from the house.

In other words, this party looked kickass.

*

“Reed!”

I looked up to see Zephyr pushing towards me through the mass of dancing people, pulling Vance behind her. I giggled as she reached me, and I pointed to the guy dancing with me.

“Look!” I cried, “I made a friend! His name is Landon!”

“Actually, it’s Harrison,” the guy said, and I turned bright red and laughed.

“Whoopsies!” I shouted, shrugging dramatically, “I guess his name’s Harrison.”

“You are really drunk,” Zephyr stated, frowning, and she grabbed me by the wrist and looked back at Harrison. “I’m going to take her to get some air.”

As she led me away, with Vance putting a protective arm around me like I was his little sister, I turned back to my dance partner and yelled, “Bye, Carl!” Before he could say anything back, Zephyr had yanked me out of the house and onto the back patio, which had a much calmer atmosphere than the house.

“Why aren’t you drunk?” I asked, wrapping my arms around Zephyr’s neck and pulling her head awkwardly against mine. “You’re no fun, Z!”

“I don’t feel the need to push my limits, Reed,” Zephyr replied, sounding annoyingly like one of my parents. She untangled herself from my arms and led me towards a table on the patio, which was surrounded by chairs.

“You stay here,” Zephyr said, sitting me down on a plastic chair. “I’m going to go get you some water, okay?” I nodded vigorously and then grabbed my head as the world started to swirl slightly. “Do I need to leave Vance here with you?” Zephyr asked, looking at me skeptically.

“No,” I drawled, tucking my feet up under my body, “I promise to stay right here!”

Zephyr hesitated for a moment, but then she nodded. “Fine, Reed, but if you leave from this spot, I’m going to skin you alive.”

“Don’t be mean!” I cried, pouting hard like a small child, “I don’t like when you’re mean!”

Instead of apologizing, Zephyr just rolled her eyes. She and Vance walked back into the house, and I started picking at the baby blue nail polish on my thumbnail. I’d only had, like, two beers, but because of dance, I had near to zero body fat.

I’m a lightweight. I’ve come to accept it.

“Well, look what we have here.”

At the sound of his voice, my head whipped around. Sure enough, standing only two feet away was Parker. I remembered him mentioning a party tonight when we were at Paulie’s, and my slow, intoxicated brain pieced everything together. He had his traditional smirk on his face, but at the moment, that smirk was hot.

Maybe, it was because I was drunk, but I found myself blatantly checking him out. Parker was wearing this white v-neck t-shirt that clung to his body in a way that showed off his arm muscles, and it also made no secret of his well-defined abdomen.

“You checking me out, Baby Mama?” Parker asked, grabbing a chair and dragging it over to me. As he plopped down across from me, I turned bright red and shook my head.

“N-n-no!” I stated without conviction, “No, you’re gross. Maybe ,you have cooties.”

Parker raised an eyebrow, and he said, “I have a feeling you’re pretty drunk right now.”

“Maybe,” I replied slowly, and then I started giggling uncontrollably. I think it’s obvious to you, but when I get drunk, I get insanely silly and ridiculously impulsive.

Suddenly, it hit me.

Parker was just the person I wanted to see. I thought back to the plan I had thought up after Parker had left yesterday and I had fought with my mom. To sober me, it seemed stupid. However, drunk me was only too excited to share.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, and then I laughed. “That one doesn’t count!”

“Wow,” Parker breathed, amused. He chuckled and shook his head, and as he leaned back and folded his hands behind his head, Parker said, “Go ahead, Reed. Ask away.”

“Wanna be my fake boyfriend?”

All of a sudden, sober Reed returned.

“Oh my god.”

I slapped my hand over my mouth as I realized what I had just asked. No, no, no! That was never a plan that was supposed to be shared! I’d thought it up because I was pissed off at my mom, but I was never going to ask Parker.

“That’s an interesting question,” Parker commented, raising an eyebrow.

“Pretend I didn’t ask that!” I begged, quickly standing up. Completely humiliated, I had the strong desire to get the hell away from Parker and pray that he had a case of amnesia and forgot what I’d just asked.

“Whoa! Wait a second, Reed,” Parker said, and he grabbed my arm tightly to prevent me from fleeing. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt my heartbeat pounding in my ears. Reluctantly, I sat back down in the chair across from Parker.

“What do you mean by fake boyfriend?” Parker asked, looking more curious than judgmental and mean.

“I’m drunk,” I replied hurriedly, though all feelings of alcohol-infused fun had left my body with my impulsive plan proposal. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“C’mon, Reed,” Parker said, seeing right through me, “You and I both know that you’re smarter than that. What’s this really about?”

“Um,” my voice trailed off as I tried to figure out how to explain my ludicrous plan. “Well, my mom is a matchmaker, and she’s brought it upon herself to find me a guy. She’s been setting me up since I was twelve, and I guess I’m just really tired of it.”

“Why don’t you tell her to stop?” Parker asked, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Parker, you met my mom.”

Parker paused before nodding, “Point taken, Reed.”

“I guess I thought if I had a boyfriend, even if he was fake, my mom would get off my back and let me be when it came to guys,” I admitted, throwing my hands up in the air. “That’s where the whole fake boyfriend thing came from.”

“I get that,” Parker said slowly, and then he pointed at himself, “But why did you ask me?”

“Would you take me being drunk as a reasonable answer?” I asked, and the look on Parker’s face told me he would not. So, I sighed and said, “My mom doesn’t really like you, and I thought it would be fun to piss her off a little, as payback for the years of bombed first dates.”

“Well, that’s devious,” Parker stated, and I frowned at his comment. I was expecting him to flat out reject me, or say that my plan sounded stupid. Devious was the last thing I’d call it.

“Just forget about it, Parker,” I said, pushing back my chair. I needed to find Zephyr and Vance and get the hell out of here. “Don’t tell anyone about it, please.”

This time, when I pushed past Parker and he reached for me to stop me, I dodged his hand. However, I’d only taken four or five steps towards the back door of the house when Parker’s voice rang out from behind me.

“Reed,” he called, “You didn’t let me give you an answer to your question.”

“Why should I?” I replied, turning around and crossing my arms over my chest defensively, “I already know what you’re going to say, and I don’t really want to hear it at the moment.”

“You don’t want to hear me say yes?”

“What?”

My jaw dropped, and I was sure I hadn’t heard Parker right. He couldn’t have just said yes to that ridiculous plan. However, Parker looked dead serious, and even the look in his eyes told me he wasn’t kidding.

“What did you just say?” I breathed, taking a step back.

“Yes, I’ll be your fake boyfriend.”

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Sorry it's been awhile, guys. This weekend was my little brother's last hockey tournament, so I was pretty busy. However, i wasn't going to wait until Monday night to update, especially because this chapter is pretty important.

So???? What did you guys think???

Also, I'm really sad. My Chemical Romance, one of my all time favorite bands, broke up. I'm CRUSHED!!! can we all just be sad about that together?

nah, that's kinda a downer...

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