Read Online The Trouble with Faking by Rachel Morgan - Free Book Online

Laura walks towards me with a mug of coffee.
    “Ah, that smells so good,” I say, taking the mug from her and inhaling. “I’ve always been jealous of your wonderful coffee machine.” I take a sip and—Oh. Wait. Hmm, that’s definitely different. “Mmm, that’s good,” I say, since Laura seems to be waiting for a reaction.
    “Great. I’ll just grab some fruit and cereal, and I think Ben should be down in a minute. Then we can have breakfast.”
    I take another sip of coffee, hoping it’ll taste better than the first, but—Nope. That definitely doesn’t taste right. I try again, a bigger gulp this time, telling myself I’ll get used to it. After all, I don’t want to waste a mug of—
    “Ugh, no, I’m gonna throw up,” I mutter, turning back to the railing as the vomit reflex threatens to kick into action. Without a word, Damien takes the mug from me and tosses the contents over the side of the balcony. “Whoa, hey, what are you—”
    “Now you know why I’m having water,” he says, handing the mug back to me with a sly smile.
    I smack his arm. “Thanks for the warning.”

 
    Sunday evening finds me cross-legged on Damien’s couch with an array of craft materials spread around me while Damien sits at his desk working hard on an assignment. I got an order last night for twenty ‘So many books, so little time’ pin badges, and it turned out I only had nine left. So I gathered up the relevant craft materials in a lunch box and crossed the parking lot to Smuts.
    Quiet music plays in the background while I cut out laminated circles and stitch bits of felt together. The only other sound is the tick-tick-tick of Damien’s typing. Everything is perfect—well, it would be more perfect if we were a genuine couple and there was a whole lot of kissing interspersed amongst the typing and stitching, but it’s as close to perfect as I can get right now—until a knock interrupts us.
    The door opens and Noah walks in. “Hey, look, it’s the girlfriend.” With a nod to Damien, he closes the door, strolls over, and drops onto the couch as if he has nothing better to do than sit here and watch me sew.
    “Yes,” I tell him. “That’s me. The girlfriend.”
    “Well, you’ve got a tough act to follow. I mean, that Charlotte. She was a real keeper.” Damien scrunches up a piece of paper and throws it at his friend. Noah catches it and presses it into a tight wad between his palms. “Anyway, who wants to help me pick out my new tattoo?”
    Damien looks up. “Another tattoo?” He laughs and shakes his head. “I bet your girlfriend will love that.”
    Noah throws the wad of paper back at him. “Fortunately, my girlfriend doesn’t get a say.”
    “How about we swap?” Damien says. “You come finish off this assignment, and I’ll choose your next tattoo.”
    “Not a chance, man. You’ll pick out some girly butterfly or something.”
    “And you’ll fail my assignment.”
    “Or,” Noah says, “I’ll do so well there’ll be an inquiry into why your marks have improved so drastically.”
    “Really? You think your marine biology knowledge will help you with this physics assignment?”
    “My marine biology knowledge will kick your physics assignment’s ass.”
    Damien rolls his eyes and turns back to his laptop.
    “Andi, Andi, Andi,” Noah says, turning his attention back to me. “Is this the stuff you sell on your online craft store?”
    “Yes. I’m making pin badges.”
    “Hmm. I thought pin badges were those plastic circles you pin onto your clothes and stuff.”
    “Well, this is the homemade version of that. See?” I hold up the creation I’m currently working on. “First I stitch the larger felt circle onto the pin part. Then I stitch the smaller felt circle onto the larger felt circle, and then the laminated circle with the words gets stuck on top of that.”
    “Huh. And people pay money for that?”
    A second ball of paper hits Noah’s head, and it fills me with giddy warmth to