Read Online The Truth About Faking by Leigh Talbert Moore - Free Book Online Page A

year.” I sit down and look at the book’s cover—something about magnets and menopause.
    “So crash-boy’s who you had me braiding your hair for all these weeks? I was expecting someone different.”
    “Oh, it was someone different. Jason just beat him to me.”
    “Beat him to you?”
    “Well, Jason showed up at the same time and asked me out right in front of him.”
    “Oh,” Mom makes a sympathetic face. “And the one you like…”
    “Yep. Backed down.”
    “Well, I was wondering. You didn’t seem too impressed with Jason after the accident. And I thought the other guy’s name was Travis or Trey…”
    “Trent. And yeah, Jason was sort of annoying at first, but he’s okay once you get to know him, I guess.”
    “So you’re going with him to the movies tonight? That sounds better than okay.”
    She sips her tea, and now I’m wondering what she’d say about my scheme to get Trent. Another lecture about using a stereotypically feminine trap to land a guy, I’m sure. She’s just so perfect and beautiful. She could never understand what led me to take such drastic steps.
    “Well, have a good time,” she says. “Jason does seem like a nice young man.”
    I shrug. “What are you doing tonight?”
    “Reading,” she says, picking up the book again. “Magnets and menopause.”
    I poke out the tip of my tongue. “Ew.”
    “It’s all part of life, Harley. I’m just not sure I’m buying this book.”
    “Where’d you get it?”
    “Ricky loaned it to me. He’s trying to get more into homeopathic remedies.”
    “He’d do anything to impress you.”
    “He’s trying. Ricky’s got a kind heart, if a little misguided.”
    “Misguided in that he’s in love with a married woman?”
    She narrows her eyes. “Misguided in that there’s no way magnets ease the symptoms of menopause.”
    The doorbell rings, and I jump up.
    “Church tomorrow,” Mom calls after me.
    “I know. ‘Night, Mom!”
    I open the door and there he is. He looks really nice actually, in brown cords and a dark blue shirt. Like this guy I remembered seeing in Shelly’s Cosmopolitan .
    “You look pretty,” he says.
    “Oh.” I look down at my dress, wondering why my cheeks feel suddenly warm. “I talked to Shelly and she said Trent would be there.”
    “Right.” His smile fades just a bit. “I meant to tell you I talked to him at the luau about meeting up tonight.”
    “And you acted like I could pick whatever movie I wanted to see,” I pretend to scold as we walk to his car. “Of course, we’ll see whatever they’re seeing!”
    “He didn’t commit,” Jason says, opening the door for me.
    As we drive to the theater, I notice soft music is playing. He’s quiet, and everything suddenly feels very intimate. Not at all like a casual friends-going-to-the-movies night. It almost feels like this is turning into another real date.
    “Hey, I was thinking,” I say, breaking the mood. “I really should pay for my ticket.”
    “What?”
    “I mean, it’s just a fake date after all. You shouldn’t have to spend money on me.”
    “I don’t mind buying your ticket.” He seems annoyed by my suggestion.
    “But it’s kind of a lot. And I don’t want any popcorn or anything.”
    “Look, H.D., just because we’re faking doesn’t mean I won’t buy your ticket.”
    “I know. I just… I’d feel better about it if I paid for myself.”
    Jason looks at me a second. Then he shakes his head. His expression is a mystery to me as I hold out my ten, almost like he’s about to tell me something, but at the last minute changes his mind.
    “Just put it in the ashtray,” he says.
    I open the small compartment and stuff it on top of quarters and what looks like a rock.
    When we get to the theater, he buys our tickets and leads me inside. I see Shelly and Trent waiting at the snack counter. Trent has on jeans and a plaid shirt with a blazer that I’m sure I’ve seen on one of those headless mannequins in the mall. Then he