Page 15 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
6
RYAN
The urge to hop back in my plane and run away from the group coming my way was very strong. At first, I had to look behind me to see if maybe they were flocking toward someone else. There was no one there.
This was weird. I wasn’t used to having this much attention.
“Ryan!”
I didn’t know who said my name. I waved. “Hey, how are you doing?” It was a vague question. My social skills had improved since high school but not a lot.
The guy was wearing khaki shorts and a vibrant shirt with what looked like parrots all over it. The thing was hideous. I recognized the guy and the shirt suddenly made sense. “Anthony?” I asked to be sure.
“Tony!” he said with a laugh and grabbed my hand, slapping his other one against the back of it. “Come on, don’t act like you forgot us. Tony Pike!”
“Oh, Tony,” I said and shook his hand.
“How are you?”
“Good, good,” I said nervously.
The other guys stepped forward. “Ryan fucking Jones,” Derrick exclaimed.
“Nice to see you again, Derrick,” I said and shook his hand.
“Hey, you remember John and Gabe,” Tony said.
I shook their hands too. “Hi.”
As if the jocks who terrorized me weren’t bad enough, the girls who laughed at me every chance they got were now swarming me. The women looked the same as they did back then, with a little more makeup. Some of them apparently hit puberty late. Their tits had grown a few sizes. That or they had some pretty impressive bras.
“Is this yours?” Tony asked.
“The plane?”
“Yeah, man,” he said and rubbed his hand across the wing.
“Yes, it’s mine,” I answered.
“What’s something like this cost?” he asked and poked his head into the cockpit. “Leather seats? Damn.”
I wasn’t going to tell him how much it cost. That seemed a little uncouth. “Leather seats,” I agreed.
He hopped up and looked like he was going to climb inside.
“Tony, please don’t,” I said.
I expected him to give me shit about being a dick or being uptight. “Sorry,” he said with a laugh and hopped down. “I imagine this thing isn’t cheap. What’d it cost? Hundred grand, two hundred?”
“Something like that,” I lied. He was only off by about a million.
“Didn’t I read you owned a few planes or something?” Tony asked.
“Yes,” I said. Again, he was just slightly off the mark.
Another plane was coming in. The sound drowned out the questions being flung my way. Everyone’s attention was pulled away. I considered trying to sneak away.
“Hey, I think it’s Carl!” Derrick said. “He said he would be coming in about this time.”
