Page 26 of Charmed By the Next-Door Neighbor
"There's no lake spot, is there?" I ask. "On the north side."
"There's a lake. Don't know about a spot."
"So, you just made it up."
"You needed an out."
"What if they'd called my bluff? Asked for details?"
"Then I'd have found a spot," he says simply. "Driven around until we found something worth seeing."
The idea of that, of driving around with Nash, looking for a made-up place, just to keep up the lie, shouldn't make me feel the way it does.
Warm. Safe. Wanted.
"We should probably go," I say, even though I don't want to.
"Yeah."
But neither of us moves.
"Claire," he says, and the way he says my name makes me clench my thighs.
"Yeah?"
"What you said in there. About me being the best thing that's happened to you." He pauses. "You didn't have to say that."
"I know."
"Why did you?"
Because in that moment, it felt true. Because my parents were looking at him like he was something to be scraped off their shoe and I hated it. Because he was sitting there taking it all without flinching and I wanted them to know he mattered.
But I can't say any of that.
"It sold the story," I say instead. "Right?"
He looks at me for a long moment, and I swear something flickers across his face. Disappointment, maybe. Or maybe I’m overthinking it.
"Right," he says. "The story."
Then he turns and walks to the passenger side of my car, and I'm left standing there wondering what the hell just happened
Chapter 6 - Nash
*It sold the story.*
Right.
The story.
Because that's all this is. A story. A performance. Something we're both pretending is real so her parents will back off.
I knew that going in. Knew it when I said yes. Knew it when I put my hand on her waist, on her knee, when I told her parents she was beautiful.
Knowing it doesn't make it hurt less.
I fold myself into the passenger seat of her car and stare straight ahead while she gets in the driver's side. The engine starts, and we pull out of the parking lot in silence.
