by Mia Kayla
When it was time to leave, Mrs. Plack encased me in a long bear hug. I imagined this woman consoling Kent when he was younger—wiping every tear, kissing every wound, and hugging him when he was distraught. I could see why Kent loved his mother and why he put her on a pedestal. This woman exuded kindness and selflessness. I basked in her warmth, and I had to admit that I was envious of their relationship. I hadn’t had these motherly hugs while growing up, and I wished I had. I squeezed her back while thinking of and missing my Nana.
“Hey now,” Kent said, maneuvering between us so that his mom had to release me. “It’s my turn. I’m getting jealous over here.” He enveloped her in a long embrace and smooched her on her cheek.
Mrs. Plack erupted into warm laughter when Kent wouldn’t release her.
Mr. Plack took my hand and shook it. “I hope we see you again soon, Beth.” He turned to give Kent a stern look. “Kent, make sure you drive safely and get this lovely lady home in one piece.”
On the drive to the city, we both stayed silent. Already on the highway and almost home, I yawned and glanced at Kent. He seemed to be in deep thought.
“Hey, what are you thinking about?” I asked, snapping my fingers in front of him.
“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” He paused. “My mom likes you,” he whispered.
“Obviously, she was won over by my sheer awesomeness,” I said, trying to break his mood.
It worked. “Awesomeness? I don’t even think that’s a word.” He laughed once.
“Yes, it is.” I smirked. “If you look that word up in the dictionary, you’ll see my picture.”
A dimple emerged on his cheek, but then his face turned serious. “I can’t bear to hurt her,” he said, no longer smiling. “My father and I might not see eye to eye on a lot of things, but we both would move heaven and earth for that woman.” He sighed. “She likes you, Beth, and the more time she spends with you, I don’t doubt she will fall in love with you. In the end, she’ll be hurt, and I’ll be the one who hurt her.” A brief expression of pain passed over his face.
“We don’t have to do this,” I said, touching his arm. “It was your idea.”
He shook his head to compose himself and the vulnerable state he had shown a moment earlier was gone. “I don’t want to hurt her, but I’ll do what I need to,” he said, his voice resolute.
With that, our conversation ended.
After work the next evening, I strolled straight into Kent’s condo, dropped my laptop bag on the hardwood floor, and slumped against his kitchen counter.
“Bad day?” Kent asked. He seated himself at the kitchen table and scanned a Time magazine.
The clock on the wall read five thirty, but he was already in his PJs.
“I didn’t tell him,” I huffed and blew my bangs out of my eyes.
“Tell who?” he asked, still scanning the magazine.
“I didn’t tell Brian, the guy I’m dating. I didn’t tell him about our deal. Ugh,” I said, disgusted with myself. I’d meant to tell him during our lunch hour, but everything I’d mustered up in my mind that I wanted to say sounded ridiculous.
“Well, if you are so upset, then just tell him,” Kent said.
He still hadn’t glanced up at me, which was starting to irk me.
“I can’t,” I whined, moving away from the counter and shifting in Kent’s line of sight to get his attention.
“Honestly, I don’t see what’s so difficult. You’re upset because you haven’t told him about our arrangement, so tell him, and then you will no longer be upset. The end.” Kent flipped a page in the magazine and I narrowed my eyes at him as he still hadn’t glanced up.
“You don’t understand. He doesn’t know about my debt. I have to tell him about that first before I can tell him about our deal.” I rubbed at my brow, trying to ward off an oncoming headache.
“Well, tell him then,” Kent continued.
I gave him the evil stare. “Stop saying that, will you? I can’t tell him, so will you quit repeating yourself? It’s really starting to piss me off. I don’t know why I came here. You’re not being a supportive friend right now!” I yelled.
It was moments like this when I truly longed for female friends. Where males saw everything in black or white, females knew that it wasn’t that simple. Sometimes, decisions were in the gray.
He put down the magazine and walked toward the counter. “Okay, what’s the problem? I’m listening.”
“Well, thanks. I thought you were already listening.” I rolled my eyes and jutted out my lip in a full on Bethany pout. “The problem is, I can’t tell him about our deal because I’ll have to explain my debt situation. It will screw everything up.”
I looked to him for advice, and he offered none.
“You can’t? Or you won’t?” Kent asked.
“I won’t.”
“Women are so complicated. That’s why I don’t date,” he said, shaking his head. “Well then, I can’t help you, and you won’t help yourself, so nothing’s resolved.”
He shrugged, turned, and walked back to the kitchen table, causing my blood to boil.
“You are so annoying.” I stomped toward him. “You don’t understand because you have never been in a relationship before. I can’t tell him about my debt. It’s too much baggage. That’s like basically telling him that I have a kid. Do you get it?” Exasperated, I raised my hand at him.
He lifted one eyebrow. “You don’t have a kid. It’s debt, and it’s your debt, not his. He’s not going to pay for it. I don’t see what the big deal is, Beth.”
“Okay, let’s see here. I can just imagine how it would go down. ‘Hey, Brian, I have to tell you something. I know you have the perfect parents and the perfect life. But I had a mother who drank herself into oblivion, dated every loser on the block, and put me into debt—a lot of debt. Now, I know you still want to date me because that’s just so attractive,’” I said sarcastically.
I shook my head. “You don’t understand. When you are dating someone, it’s fake in the beginning. It’s the getting-to-know-each-other phase where everything is perfect. You are perfect, he is perfect, everything is absolutely effing perfect. Then, the woman brings out her true side, and the guy brings out his I’m-not-going-to-romance-you-as-much-as-I-did-in-the-beginning side. Eventually, things progress, and you think, ‘Oh, I know you have flaws, but I still love you, and although you have flaws, I want to keep this relationship going.’
“So, no, I can’t just throw him this curve ball in the beginning. It would ruin things. And I don’t want to date around. What’s the point? Every girl dates around to find that perfect guy but I’ve already found him,” I said, rambling on without taking a breath.
“I just don’t want to ruin things. His birthday is in a few weeks, and I want to be around to spend it with him,” I said sadly. “I’ve worked so hard to get where I am, and I just want that happy ending.”
Kent’s eyes softened, taking my words in. He finally stood, moved toward me, and placed his hand on my shoulder. “Beth, once this is all over, your debt will be gone, and you will get your happy ending with Brian. Don’t worry, okay?”
I shrugged and gave him a small smile. “I hope so.”
“I promise, you will,” he replied.
I glanced at the clock on the lower right side of my work computer screen. It was five and time to go. Determined to tell Brian the truth, I’d told him to meet me at my desk after work, so we could walk to my apartment together.
“Hey you, ready to go?” Brian dropped his laptop bag at the foot of my chair. “I’m hungry. Let’s grab some dinner.”
“Two seconds. Let me shut my computer down.” I shifted to power off my computer and turned to Caroline shuffling back to her desk.
She had just come back from a customer call.
“Hey, how was your call?” I put my laptop into my bag as she flashed me a smile.
“Boring as always, but I did hear some gossip.” Her eyes widened as she placed
her hands on her hips. “Bethany Casse, have you been holding out on us?” she asked. “Are you dating the hot Kent Plack of Plack Industries?”
Her eyes lit up with excitement while I rapidly blinked at her, not believing what had just left her mouth. My head flipped to Brian to see his cheerful mood drop. His mouth was set in a straight line.
“Uh…no…I don’t know. Where did you hear that?” I said, pulling at the strands of brown hair on my shoulder.
I felt myself get warm all over. Beads of sweat formed at the back of my neck as the shock of an upcoming train wreck hit me full force. It wasn’t supposed to come out like this. He was supposed to hear it from me.
Brian grabbed his bag and turned to stomp toward the door and I followed right behind him.
“What’s his problem?” Caroline asked, glancing in Brian’s direction.
“Customer deal gone bad,” I said over my shoulder, moving faster to catch him. “See you tomorrow, Caroline.”
He faced the elevator, waiting for it to open, as my eyes studied the back of his striped shirt, noticing the thin vertical white lines contrasting with the blue. I squeezed my palms together, cutting off the circulation, as I waited for him to speak.
“I’ve been played before. Honestly, I’ve done some of the playing, but I didn’t see the signs on this one,” he said, still facing the elevator.
“It’s not like that. I promise you, it’s not what it looks like.”
I reached for his arm, but he shrugged it off.
“If you’ll just let me, I can tell you the truth. Please,” I begged as I shifted to stare at his side profile.
“Now I know why you didn’t want anyone at work to know that we were together.” He turned to face me. “Fine, tell me the truth. Are you dating Kent Plack?”
Am I? It’s not real. It’s just a contractual agreement. “No, I’m not dating him,” I told him.
He squinted at me as the elevator door opened. “I don’t believe you.”
My heart dropped at his words. He walked in, and I stepped inside right behind him. “You have to believe me because it’s the truth. I’m not really dating him. It’s all for show. It’s not real. I’m dating you and only you, no one else.” I looked to him for understanding, but what I’d said didn’t even make any sense.
His face showed no emotion, and I knew he still didn’t believe me. The look in his eyes told me he didn’t want to know anything further. If he walked away when the elevator opened on the first floor, I knew I’d never get a chance to tell him my side of the story. Then, I would always wonder about the what-ifs between us. I watched the numbers decrease with our descent, and I made an impulse decision. I lunged myself toward him, hugging him with my head on his chest.
“Please, please, please believe me. It’s only you. I wouldn’t play you or anyone else for that matter. Give me a chance to explain. Please,” I begged. Squeezing my eyes tightly, I was hoping he wouldn’t push me away.
He didn’t.
After a second, I felt his body loosen in my embrace. The doors opened, and I released him. I met his eyes, and his face turned serious.
“Fine. Explain.”
Sitting in a small pizza joint, I stared at the sugar in front of me. Brian had ordered us drinks, not dinner, which didn’t look very promising on my end.
Not making eye contact gave me more strength to get the story out right away. In the end, I couldn’t tell him the truth. I just couldn’t tell him about my pathetic childhood. I didn’t want to delve into my deadbeat mother who had put me into this mess. Maybe I wanted to seem like I had it together, that my life had been just like his while growing up. I didn’t want him to look at me any differently. I wanted him to see me—the girl I was today, not the circumstances that had gotten me here. I decided to tell him as much of the truth that I felt comfortable with.
“I’m a victim of identity theft,” I said, reaching for the pepper shaker. “Someone used my social security number to rack up debt in my name.” I stole a glance as he observed me, and my eyes dropped again to the pepper shaker on the table. “I’ve tried to contest it, but it’s going to cost me money that I don’t have. In the end, I’m in a lot of debt, but it’s not my fault.” I exhaled a heavy sigh. “It’s not like I can tell you these things when we just started dating.” I said, peeking up at him.
Brian’s face turned sympathetic. “I wish you felt like you could tell me anything.”
I didn’t want his pity. Moving to this big city, starting over, and meeting this great guy were the most normal things that had ever happened to me. My life was just beginning to fall into place.
“I know. It’s just that we’re not there yet, Brian. We’re in the new, exciting stage of dating. I’m supposed to wait to dump this stuff on you in stage two of the dating phase,” I said, meeting his eyes. “Plus, I don’t tell everyone my problems. The only people who know are Kendy, Kent, and now, you.”
Brian’s face blanched at the mention of Kent.
“Now, on to how Kent is involved…” I looked to my entwined hands gripping the pepper shaker. Get this all out and then be done. “He’s going to help me with my debt problem, and in return, I’m helping him.”
I dared to glance up to gauge his reaction, but he gave none.
“His parents want him to get married or else they will take away his trust fund. I’ve agreed to marry him—on paper only—so he can access his money. Then, after a month, we’ll get divorced, and he’ll pay off all my debt,” I revealed, releasing everything in one breath. There, it’s all out.
I tilted my head to look at Brian.
“That’s crazy,” he said incredulously. “Don’t do it.”
I let out a long sigh, thinking of everything I’d overcome to get here. “I know you’ve lived a normal, stress-free life, but you have no idea what I’ve been through or what I’m going through right now. Every day, I have creditors calling me. The worst part of this all is that none of this is my fault. I didn’t cause this, but I’m the one suffering.
“I’ve done all I can to get myself far from Bowlesville. I’ve worked so hard at random jobs through college to get here and into One Financial. I really do make good money for a new graduate, but it’s not enough. I will move up and make more money. I know I will. I’m determined to, but that’s going to take time.”
“I don’t want to lose you over this, but right now, Kent is giving me an out, and I’m taking it,” I said in finality.
“Does he want more from you?” Brian asked.
“No, I told you, it’s not like that.” I shook my head. “This is only an arrangement, a one-month arrangement. It’s purely platonic.”
Of course Brian would be jealous. I would be, too, if our roles were reversed. This situation was far from ideal, but I was born into an abnormal world, so I should be used to it. Still, every part of me wondered if I’d had done something, committed some crime in another life that had doomed my future, and complications were just part of my life now.
He looked at me and smiled.
“What?” I asked, confused by his amusement. This situation, my life, was no laughing matter.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you so intense.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “He doesn’t want you?”
“I told you already, no. He said we could date whom we want and do what we want. The show is really for his parents. I mean, everyone else has to believe we’re dating, too, but it is only temporary. A month after we’re married, we’ll file for divorce.” I grimaced at how ridiculous that had sounded. Using marriage and divorce in the same sentence should be banned.
He placed his hand over mine on the table, startling me, as he leaned in. “I don’t like your arrangement, and I can’t tell you where this, where us, is going,” he said, looking at his hand on top of mine, “but if this is what you have to do, then it’s what you have to do. I believe you when you say nothing is going on between you. Still, this situation is just plain weird. You know what I mean?”
I nodded in agreement as I bit my lower lip. My whole life fell in the bucket of weirdness.
“I haven’t met anyone that I was this into. I like you, Beth, and I want to see where this goes. Maybe we should take it slow until this arrangement is over,” he said. “Even if it looks, sounds, and seems crazy.”
I looked down at his hand on top of mine, thinking he was seriously a godsend. “I’m glad,” I said softly as the tension in my shoulders finally relaxed.
He chuckled with amusement.
“What’s so funny?” I looked up at him.
“You’re cute when you’re serious. That pouty lip of yours is irresistible. I’ve never seen you like this before.”
“I guess that means we’ve moved up to stage two of dating.” I placed both of my hands in his.
“One month?” he asked.
I nodded at his adorable face. He leaned in for a kiss, and I gave him a peck on the lips.
“So, what else does this movement to stage two entail?”
His look was devilish, and I laughed at the look he shot me.
“You’ll find out after we leave.” I gave him a longer kiss on the lips, reveling in their softness.
He pulled back to look at me. “How do I get to stage three?”
“Don’t push your luck,” I whispered.
“Okay, I was just asking,” Brian said, playing innocent. He pulled his wallet from his back pocket. “Drinks are done,” he said, raising his hand to our waiter. “Check please.”
It was a typical evening in Barrington as Kent and I sat on opposite ends of the couch. A week had passed and we were coming to his parents’ house almost every other day. We were watching TV while we waited for his parents to come home. As soon as we heard the front door open, Kent startled me by grabbing my hand, jerking me forward, and pulling me onto his lap. I laughed, hit him, and moved away, but he gripped my wrist and pulled me back.
“Get over here,” he said as both dimples appeared.
“Stop,” I said playfully, shoving his hands away.