Page 36 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
CLAIRE
Everyone would know by dinner. I saw the looks. I heard the whispers. The moment Ryan declared we were together, it was like watching a line of dominoes falling in perfect order. Everyone was going to be talking about us.
I wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed, but I hated knowing people were probably doing the whole scale thing. Ryan was a ten. Hell, he was like a thirteen. I was a six on a good day. More than once in my life had I heard the vile words “you have such a pretty face.” I was certain that would be the focus of the conversation. Along with things about how I let myself go and could still lose the weight.
I told myself I didn’t care what they thought. Truthfully, I didn’t. I felt pretty. I was healthy. That was what mattered. But dammit, every once in a while, those comments over the years came at me like a giant snowball to the face. The trick was to look confident. That was something I learned a long time ago. Be confident. Exude confidence and no one was paying attention to my thighs.
I dressed in a pair of capris, a pretty tank, and my tennis shoes. I wasn’t sure why, but I just had a feeling anything Ryan would want to do would involve sweating. He was probably wanting to go for a walk or maybe even a hike. I was down for it. Despite popular belief, I was actually very active.
When I got to the lobby, Ryan was already there. Three women that I vaguely recognized from our class were hovering around him. He looked like he was ready to chew off his own foot to escape them. I walked right up to him and grabbed his hand while pressing my upper body against his arm. “Hey, babe,” I said. “I’m ready.”
The look of relief on his face was kind of funny. “Yes, let’s go.”
He practically dragged me out of the lobby. “Ryan,” I hissed. He kept moving. “Ryan, your legs are twice as long as mine. I’m running here.”
He stopped walking. “Shit, sorry.”
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Nothing,” he mumbled.
He walked to a waiting cab and opened the back door for me. I climbed in and waited to hear where we were going. When the driver asked if we were going to the airport, Ryan nodded. “Airport?”
“I thought I’d take you up,” he said. “Give you the bird’s eye view.”
“In your plane?” I gasped.
“I don’t actually have wings,” he said. “I wish, but unfortunately, I have to rely on my plane to get me in the sky.”
I was very nervous about the idea. I wasn’t what one would call a good flyer. Unlike Ryan, I believed you should not fly if you were not born with wings. The car stopped at the airport. I followed Ryan in and hung back while he spoke with a man behind the counter at the small airport.
“Ready?” he asked.
“I’m not sure I am,” I said.
He smiled and strolled out onto the hot tarmac. Five minutes later, I was strapped into the very small plane. To say I was nervous was an understatement. He seemed capable as he checked instruments and spoke to the tower. It was like sitting in the future. There was a screen in front of my seat, along with more buttons.
I hoped like hell this was not a joint venture. I had no idea what to touch and not touch. This was one of those situations I needed to keep my hands to myself. I listened to him and watched him flip this and that. He looked so fucking hot. He wasn’t even doing anything. It was the confidence oozing from him that had me really looking at him.
A moment later, he turned to me and smiled. “Ready?”
“I think so.”
“Put this on,” he said and pulled a headset from the dash area. I put it on and looked at him. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a beach on the other side of the island,” he said. “There’s a small runway close by. The airport guy said it’s pretty deserted. We should have it all to ourselves.”
“Okay,” I said. What was I going to say? I couldn’t say no. And it sounded exciting.
The plane started to move. I got butterflies in my stomach, but I wasn’t afraid. It wasn’t long before we were climbing into the air. He looked over and smiled at me. “Relax,” he said with a laugh. “Enjoy the ride. And the view.”
I realized I was gripping the armrest so hard my knuckles turned white. I turned to look out the window and marveled at the view. “It’s so pretty,” I said.
“We’ll stay kind of low so you can see everything,” he said.
“Not too low,” I said.
