“Mother fucker,” I say as Javi bursts from his room.
“Don’t mind me, carry on.” He looks out the peephole and then back at me, his face dropping.
“It’s Hazel. And the rest of the friendtourage. What do you want me to do?” Jett keeps backing away from me and I can’t think straight from the quick turn of events.
“We can do this later,” Jett says, backing even further away from me. He’s shutting down again, so even if I tell them go to away, he and I are not going to deal with this right now.
Hazel pounds again.
“Come on, Shan. I know you’re in there. I just want to make sure you’re okay. I’m worried about you and I miss you and the girls are here and they feel even more like shit and they’re here to apologize. So tell Javi to let us in.” I sigh, but nod to Javi. Guess my idea of letting them think about what they’ve done for a while was a stupid one.
He unlocks the door and opens it slowly.
“I am letting you in because she told me to. If she tells me that she wants you to leave, then you will leave. Understand?” He flexes his muscles just a little bit for good measure.
“Are you her bouncer now?” Hazel says as she walks in and heads right for me. She tries to put her arms around me, but I step back. The rest of the “friendtourage” shuffles in behind her, looking like they’re being led to the gallows.
“You left your phone and I’ve been worried sick. I knew you were here and you needed some time, but I couldn’t take it anymore. We need to talk about this. I can’t stand fighting.” And then she bursts into tears. Ugly, sobbing tears. That’s all it takes for me to melt and put my arms around her. Just like last time. I can’t stand to see her getting that emotional.
“I’m so sorry for treating you that way. You’re right. I take advantage of you, and I was pressuring you and it was wrong and I know that now. I’ll do anything for us to be besties again. You make me a better person. I was such a bitch before I met you.” This makes me laugh a little.
“I was aware of your bitch status, Haze. And it’s not all your fault. I should have stood up for myself. I should have stood up to all of you when you told me that I had to go out and find a guy. I should have told you all to go screw yourselves.” Javi snorts.
Hazel sniffs and I use my thumbs to brush her tears away.
“I’m sorry,” she says again.
“I know.” I hug her again and I hear more sniffling. They’re all crying now. Javi starts handing out the tissues as, one by one, my friends come and hug me and apologize. This was what I wanted all along. For them to treat me like a human being. Their friend. Not someone who needs TERRIBLE advice. Or interventions on her behalf. I explain all this, and they seem to listen. Really listen.
“You have to stop treating me like a child. I’m not. I’m your friend and I’m an adult. I love you, but I need to live my own life.”
They all agree, and there’s more hugging. Javi gives me a round of applause and they all join in and I do a little curtsey. Jett is watching in the back, and I can tell that he’s proud of me, but we still have unfinished business.
This is one step in the right direction.
“Now that that’s over, who wants nachos?” Javi asks, and we all raise our hands. I look over my shoulder at Jett and he gives me a little smile and a wink. I wink back at him.
We need to talk. But first, nachos.
“I’m going to tell them,” I say to Jett as my friends devour the nachos and Javi tells dirty jokes and passes out drinks. “We might as well come out of the proverbial closet.”
He just shrugs.
“That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“I don’t care if you tell them.” Sometimes I want to strangle him. But I like him too much.
“Then you’re coming with me.” I grab his hand and drag him out to the living room and stand in front of Javi’s giant television.
“We have an announcement to make.” I look at Jett and he looks like he’d rather fall through the floor than stand next to me right now. Too bad.
“Jett and I are not dating. We never were. We made a deal that we would pretend to date so that our FRIENDS would stop pestering us to go out and find someone. So. There you have it. Thank you for your attention.” I do another curtsey and start to drag Jett back to the kitchen, but Hazel blocks my way.
“You faked it? The whole thing? Why?” My other friends are too shocked to speak.
“Because you wouldn’t stop pestering me to go to the bar and I didn’t have the balls to tell you to leave me the fuck alone. So rather than confront you, I roped this poor guy into an elaborate scheme with Rules and insanity. I have no idea why he went along with it.” Other than I really, really like Fake Dating Jett.
I turn to Jett, and for the first time ever, his face is beet red. Crap. I shouldn’t have made him come with me. He didn’t ask for this. I’d just gotten mad at my friends for treating me like crap, and now I am turning around and doing it to Jett. I turn to apologize, but he mumbles something under his breath. I move closer to him as my friends start whispering to each other.
“What did you say?” He makes a growling sound.
“Because I liked you! And I wanted to be around you! And now I think I love you!” he yells and the room goes so silent you could hear a mouse sneeze.
“You think you love me?” I say, touching his shoulder.
He faces me and he nods. “Yeah, I do.”
Oh. Wow. I can’t believe it. I know I care for him, but I never imagined he cared about me that much. I look up at the boy with the dragon tattoos and the mohawk and the paper cranes. I care about him so much that I don’t know how I can stand it. He fills my head and my heart and I know that this, right here, is real.
“Well, I think I love you, too.” I’ve been realizing it slowly, day by day, moment by moment. With every paper crane he’d made me, I’d fallen a little more. With every night, I’d gotten a little bit closer.
And now here I am. In Real Love with my Fake Boyfriend.
“What the fuck are you waiting for? Kiss the girl!” Javi yells and I stare into Jett’s shifting eyes and he leans down. And he kisses me.
It’s tender and sweet. He puts his feelings behind it and it’s even better than before. I rise up on my tiptoes and put my arms around him and his arms go around me and it’s everything a kiss should be. Fireworks and confetti and cheering. The latter comes from my friends and Javi.
We finally pull apart.
“So does this mean that you will be my Real Boyfriend now?”
“Yeah, I think it does, Real Girlfriend.”
And we kiss again to seal the deal.