Page 12 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
5
CLAIRE
The small plane bounced once and then again before the pilot, who seemed to have just gotten his license, sped across the very short runway. He slammed on the brakes, sending myself and the other twenty or so passengers forward. I had never been so happy to be on the ground.
“We’re here,” Norah said.
I couldn’t help but smile. This was my first real vacation alone. My first vacation since the summer of my junior year in high school when my family still had money to burn. “We’re here,” I said and took a deep breath.
I was both excited and dreading this. While I was someone’s date for his thing, I was showing up to this thing alone. I was dreading the judgment I was sure to face. The rumors about my father had been pretty rampant in the months after his downfall. I knew my old classmates with the money to pay for liposuction, plastic surgery, and personal trainers would look at me and feel pity or laugh at me behind my back.
The plane came to a complete stop. We collected our things and started the process of walking off. We were on the tarmac with a couple of shuttle vans waiting nearby to take new arrivals to their hotels. The heat hit the moment we stepped off the plane. I fanned my face. The humidity made me almost immediately moist in all the wrong places.
“There’s Tony!” Norah exclaimed.
He arrived a day earlier with some of his old high school buddies. I watched Norah run to him. She launched herself at him. He caught her, wrapped her in his arms, and smothered her with kisses. It was cute. A little over the top, but I supposed when one was in love, they did that kind of thing. I wouldn’t know.
“Claire!” Norah called out. Tony had put her down but now had his arm wrapped around her.
I smiled and nervously walked toward the group of cool kids from high school. “Hi, Tony,” I said.
“Get in here!” He grabbed me and gave me a huge bear hug. That was when I caught a whiff of what I suspected was rum.
“Enjoying the beach?” I asked him when he released me.
He grinned and pulled down his dark Ray-Bans. “Hell yeah. Me and a couple of the guys hung out by the pool this morning.”
“With free drinks,” Norah said.
I kept smiling, but I felt so out of place. I had not seen any of these people in fifteen years. I could feel them sizing me up. “Is that Claire Bear?”
I groaned at the old nickname. “Hi, Derrick,” I said.
“No shit!” he exclaimed and hugged me. I knew a hug and when a guy was trying to feel me up. “Claire Bear, you’re all grown up!”
I patted his back and pushed him away. “And so are you,” I said.
He looked me up and down with no shame. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”
With the extra weight.That was what he was really saying. “It’s been a while,” I replied.
A few of the girls I went to school with were in a huddle nearby. All my insecurities came bubbling up. Norah, always so sweet and kind to me, immediately came to my side. “Relax,” she said in a low voice. “You’re here for me. You’re here to have a good time. And to make a lot of money.”
I laughed and took a deep breath. “I know.”
“I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see the Mean Girls Club is still functioning,” she muttered. “Seriously, do they all use the same plastic surgeon? They look like clones.”
I appreciated her siding with me and trying to lighten the mood. “I’m not even going to worry about them,” I said. “I’m going to hang out at the beach, get you married, and go back to my life. I might not be the same Claire from fifteen years ago, but I’m not failing at life. I like my job. I like what I’ve built.”
“Good! You should. Hold that chin high. And don’t worry about them. Seriously, they are like vultures. They are going to pick one another apart. Just wait until the athletic girls show up. Shit’s going to get real.”
I laughed at the idea. The rivalry between the cheerleaders and the girls that dominated in sports had been very real at our school. Norah had been a cheerleader, but she had never been part of their clique. Thank goodness. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been friends.
“Is it terrible I hope there are fireworks?” I giggled.
“I’m going to record it while eating popcorn,” she answered. “You know it’s going to happen. I just hope I’m around when it does.”
“We’re terrible,” I said.
