Don't Trust the Impostor

by Victorine E. Lieske

  “But,” Destiny said as she dipped her paintbrush into the water jar, “we have them almost done and we’re hanging them before we leave so we can be sure to get a good turnout. Besides, we have this dance every Halloween, so people are used to it. People are already talking about it.”

  Jack’s gaze settled on the jar of water Destiny was cleaning her brush in.

  Eli leaned forward to pick up another scrap of paper and the bottle of glue. Jack was making him uncomfortable. “Then I think you’re okay.”

  Amanda shifted to another poster and started adding gold accents to it. “We should give Eli some assignments for the dance. We need another cleanup person.”

  Great. He didn’t want to be stuck cleaning up after a dance if Destiny wasn’t going to be there. That was the whole reason he was doing this. He shifted in his chair. “I’ll help with whatever Destiny is doing.”

  Amanda looked between Jack and Eli, her eyebrows pulled down. “Destiny is part of the cleanup committee. You can help her and Cole take down streamers.”

  Jack suddenly stood up and walked toward Destiny. “Hey, babe, I’ve got to go.” His shoe kicked the dirty water jar, and it spilled over the poster.

  “Oh, no!” Destiny jumped up so fast, she was a blur. “My poster!”

  Jack leaned down to grab the water jar, but it was too late. Her poster was ruined, buckling where the rivets of water had run. “I’m sorry. Did I do that?”

  Destiny blinked back tears, and Eli waited for her to wail, but she held it together. She rushed to Jack and threw her arms around him. “I know you didn’t mean to.”

  “You’re right. It was an accident. And I’m so sorry I can’t help you re-make the poster, but I’ve got a thing I have to get to.” He turned to Eli. “Can you run to the store with Destiny and get a new poster board, and help her remake this?”

  Eli stood. “Sure, I can help.”

  Jack squeezed Destiny to him. “There. Eli will help you remake it. Don’t worry. It will be fine.”

  Destiny nodded, still looking like she could burst into tears at any second. “But the library is closing soon.”

  “Go with Eli. He’ll help you get more supplies. Then he can help you finish the poster at your house.” Jack smiled. “It shouldn’t take long to redo it.”

  “But we spent all our budget,” Amanda said.

  Jack dug into his pocket and gave Destiny a twenty-dollar bill. “This should cover it.” He kissed her cheek and headed toward the door. “Call me later, babe.”

  “I will,” Destiny said, staring at the space he’d been in a second before. She folded the twenty-dollar bill and placed it into her purse. “I guess we should go,” she said, turning to Eli.

  He felt sorry for her, and even worse that Jack had done it on purpose so he would spend time with her. What a jerk. Didn’t he care at all how Destiny would feel? It just gave Eli more motivation to get Destiny away from that creep. He stepped over the ruined poster and grabbed her hand. “Come on. We can take my car.”

  She walked out of the room with him but took her hand back as soon as they stepped into the hallway. She still seemed upset as they left the building and took the cement steps down to the sidewalk. “You okay?” he asked.

  Destiny wiped at the corner of her eye. “Yeah. It’s just a stupid poster. It doesn’t matter.”

  “Of course, it matters. You worked hard on it.” He took a sideways glance at her. “I’m sorry it got ruined.”

  She gave him a small smile. “Thanks.”

  He stopped at his silver Porsche and opened the passenger side door for Destiny. Her mouth dropped. “This is your car?”

  “Yeah. My dad bought it for me when I turned sixteen.”

  She slid into the seat. “Holy cow. What does your dad do?”

  “He’s an ER doctor.”

  “And he chose to move here? From Santa Cruz?”

  Eli didn’t want to talk about his father, or what led to him and his mother moving. He shook his head. “Nope. He’s back in Cali. Just me and Mom moved.”

  “Oh.”

  He closed her car door and walked around the front, cursing himself for making the mood feel depressing. Why did he have to talk about his father? He needed to get on a lighter subject. He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “Where should we go to get poster board?”

  “Hobby Lobby.”

  “I don’t know where that is.”

  “You drive. I’ll give you directions.”

  “Ooh, scary. We could end up anywhere.” He turned on his sexy smile. “Are you trying to take me to a makeout point?”

  Destiny scoffed. “It’s like fifteen degrees out today. Not a great day to make out in your car.” She rubbed her arms.

  He turned up the heat. “You’re probably right.” Then he gave her a coy smile. “But if you ever want to, let me know. I’m willing to sacrifice for you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why are you always doing that?”

  “Doing what?”

  “Putting up a front. Not being yourself.”

  “Ouch, girl. You think I’m acting? Because I’m serious. I’d totally make out with you, anytime.”

  He cringed. There he went again. Sheesh. He needed to chill. How could he ever win her over if he got all flustered when he was around her? He had to find a way to stop it.

  Chapter 3

  Destiny could feel the smarm coming off him in waves. Eli seemed like a nice guy, so she didn’t understand why he had to put on that fake attitude.

  “You are such a fake. I don’t even think you know you’re doing it. Maybe you’ve worn a mask for so long, you don’t know how to take it off.”

  Eli didn’t respond. He just kept driving.

  She shook her head. It wouldn’t do any good to talk to Eli about it. He was apparently unaware how surface he was being. And that was fine. He could go on being surface because she didn’t care at all about Eli. She was with Jack. That’s who she liked. She huffed. “Go up another block and then turn left.”

  He was silent for a few moments as he followed her directions and then turned into the Hobby Lobby parking lot. He found a spot to park and cut the engine, but he didn’t get out of his car. He leaned his arm on his steering wheel and turned toward her. “I’m not fake.”

  The sincerity in his eyes surprised her, and she blinked at him. She was taken aback. “Well...you were being fake before,” she mumbled.

  “Then I apologize. Because I don’t want you to think I’m like that.”

  Her heart thumped, and she suddenly wanted to get out of the car. “Okay,” she said, grabbing the door handle. “Let’s go in.”

  He hurried to open the door for her as they went into the store, which was actually kind of sweet of him. “What aisle is the poster board in?”

  “Follow me. I’ll show you.” Destiny took the lead.

  “Why don’t you ask me some questions. Get to know me. Then maybe you would like me more.”

  “I like you just fine,” she said. What she didn’t tell him was she maybe liked him more than she should. He was good-looking, and she suddenly was having a reaction to being near him. Feeling things even Jack didn’t evoke in her.

  “No, you don’t. I can tell.” Eli gave her a one-eyebrow-raised look.

  “I just don’t like the faky stuff.”

  He let out a frustrated breath. “Then ask me some questions. I swear, I’ll answer them truthfully. No fake at all.” He held up his hands in a surrender motion.

  Something about the way he stood there made him seem vulnerable. Like he really was trying to be truthful with her. She appreciated it. “All right. Let me think.”

  They walked in silence for a moment while she tried to come up with something she could ask him. “What’s your favorite thing to do?”

  “Surfing. But you knew that already. I told you when we first met. Plus...” He looked down at his I Love Surfing T-shirt, and she felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment.

&n
bsp; “Okay, okay. That was a stupid one. Let me think of a better one.” She turned down the aisle but slowed as she got to the poster board. She wanted to ask him something that wasn’t surface. Something that would reveal a part of him he wasn’t showing her. “Republican or Democrat?”

  He smiled at that question, and for the first time, she felt it was genuine. “Libertarian.”

  “Seriously?”

  He leaned against a support beam and folded his arms. “I told you I would answer honestly.”

  “Okay, that’s interesting, then.” She liked that he didn’t say whatever was popular. It meant he’d looked into it and really thought about it. That was cool. She’d have to go home and read more about Libertarians.

  “Ask another.”

  “What’s the last book you read?”

  “Animal Farm.”

  “For school?”

  He chuckled. “No, I just wanted to know what it was about.”

  Huh. She’d never read it. “What was it about?” She pulled the correct size of poster board out of the holder.

  “On the surface, talking animals. Under the surface, it was about Russian politics.”

  “Maybe I’ll read it, too.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “I’d be interested to hear what you think.”

  “Then I’ll read it and tell you.” She motioned to another part of the store. “I think we need more black and gold paint, too.” She turned the corner and he followed her.

  “When will you read it?”

  “What?” She looked up at him.

  He smiled again and she marveled how good it looked on him when it wasn’t his smarmy fake one. This one made his eyes sparkle. Like he was amused at her. “Animal Farm.”

  “Is it long?”

  “Very short.”

  “Then I’ll read it this weekend.” She grabbed a bottle of black and a bottle of gold paint.

  “Okay. Call me after you do.” He pulled out his phone. “What’s your number? I’ll text you so you have mine.”

  It felt a little weird giving Eli her number, but it wasn’t like she was doing anything wrong. She wasn’t coming on to him or anything. All they were going to do was talk about a book. That wasn’t bad, was it?

  She rattled it off, pushing aside the weird guilty feeling. She was not cheating on Jack. He was the one that told them to go shopping, after all. It seemed like he didn’t mind them spending time together. She liked that Jack wasn’t threatened.

  He fiddled with his phone, and a chime came through on hers. He looked at her. “Anything else you want to ask?”

  “Do you have a pet?”

  His smile faded. “I did.”

  The worst thing shot through Destiny’s mind and she stopped cold. “Oh, no. Did your pet die?”

  He shook his head. “No. They don’t allow dogs in the apartment my mom and I moved into, so he couldn’t come with me.”

  “You had to give up your dog when you moved here?” Man, she felt awful for asking now. “That’s so sad.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you give him to a good home? Can you visit?”

  Eli stiffened, and an invisible wall came down between them. She could see the way his eyes withdrew. “He’s with my father.”

  Oh, that wasn’t good. There was something bad there. Something he wasn’t telling her. She put her hand gently on his arm. “Your parents are divorced?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Is that why you moved here?”

  “Yeah.” He took the paint and the poster board from her and motioned. “Are we done here?”

  Destiny regretted asking. He obviously didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “I’m not upset.” He said it as he walked down the aisle toward the registers. His shoulders were tense. His movements quick. Yeah, right.

  “You are, too.”

  He slowed. “No. It’s just hard for me to talk about. Maybe you should ask about something else.”

  At least he was being honest. She couldn’t fault him for that. “Okay. I’ll think of another question.”

  He turned to her, his expression sobering. “One more. Then it’s my turn.” Why did those words seem to affect her?

  “Fair enough.” She joined him in line, behind a woman with a cart piled high with discounted fall decorations. Destiny pressed her lips together, trying to think of a good question. Something that would tell her more about Eli. She suddenly wanted to know more about him, for some weird reason. “What’s your favorite movie?”

  “Inception.”

  “What’s that?”

  Eli’s eyes grew big. “Come on. You’ve heard of Inception, haven’t you? Leonardo DiCaprio? Only the greatest movie since The Fugitive.”

  Destiny shifted her weight. “I’ve seen The Fugitive.”

  “Well, Inception is better. You’re seriously telling me you’ve never seen it?”

  “Nope.”

  Eli raised his eyebrows. “That’s it, then. You have to come over and watch it. I can’t live another minute with you never having seen the movie.”

  Destiny laughed at his drama. “We have to remake the poster that got ruined.”

  “We can make it in my living room while we watch the movie.” Eli took a step forward as the woman with the fall decorations got done paying for her things. “Come on. You like edge-of-your-seat movies, right?”

  “Yes, I guess so.” She preferred romance, but she didn’t mind suspense. What she hated were the movies with all action. The ones that had weak stories. They were just popular for the car chases and explosions.

  “Then you’d love this one.” He lifted the poster board onto the counter and placed the paint on top. “Say you’ll come watch it with me.”

  Why did his large brown eyes looking at her make her stomach feel all strange? She felt put on the spot. How could she say no? They needed to finish the poster. And he seemed excited to show her the movie. “All right.”

  He grinned and shot his fist into the air. “Yes!”

  She quickly inserted, “But we’re only watching the movie and working on the poster. Nothing else.”

  He squinted at her. “Of course. You have a boyfriend. What are you thinking?” But then he winked at her, and she blew out a frustrated breath.

  “Eli. I’m serious. Stop coming on to me. I can’t be around you if you’re always doing that.”

  He chuckled, but he held his hands up and shrugged. “Okay, okay. I’ll behave. I promise.”

  She turned to the woman behind the register and realized she’d already rung in their items and was waiting for Destiny to give her the money. Destiny flushed and dug out the twenty-dollar bill from her purse and handed it to the woman. “Sorry.”

  Eli slung his arm around her shoulders. “You’re going to love this movie.”

  His touch made her feel a weird sensation in her chest. Kind of like she was hooked up to electrical nodes or something. She ignored it, mostly because she didn’t want to acknowledge it. “I’m looking forward to it.”

  And she was surprised to realize she was.

  Chapter 4

  Eli pulled into his apartment parking lot and cut his engine. Destiny had followed him in her car. She got out, and he led her up to the second floor where he pulled out his key and unlocked the door marked 28D.

  He walked in and set the poster on the couch. He motioned to the small living room. “This is it. Want a Coke or something?”

  She nodded and sat cross-legged on the floor. He went into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. It was strange living in such a small space after growing up in a five thousand square-foot home in California. They’d had a pool house larger than this. He pulled out a soda and returned to the living room.

  Destiny held the two bottles of paint. “Do you have a paintbrush? Because I forgot we needed one.”

  “Uh, yeah, let me go look. I think my mom has some craft supplies in her closet.” Eli went into his mothe
r’s bedroom. He pulled out the plastic container she stored her paints in and rummaged through it. In the bottom sat a couple of paintbrushes.

  He also grabbed the World’s Best Mom mug he’d given his mother when he was five from the kitchen and filled it with water. He loved that she kept that mug, even though it was so cheesy. He handed it to Destiny. “Here. This should work, right?”

  “Yes.” She pointed to the poster. “I outlined the words in pencil while you were in the other room. So, all we have to do is fill it in with black paint, then accent in the gold.”

  “Easy.” He started up the movie.

  At first, Destiny painted while she watched, but soon she got too into the movie to look down at the poster. He enjoyed watching her as she gripped her paintbrush tight when the scenes got intense. He finished painting the sign as the end of the movie unfolded.

  Destiny let out a breath when the credits started rolling. “Geesh, I feel like I need to watch that again to understand half of what I saw.”

  “I know, right?”

  “So, is he still in the dream world, then?”

  “See, that’s what I think. But my best friend in Cali thinks he made it out. The best part of the movie is it’s not really clear how it ends. You have to speculate.”

  Destiny looked down at the poster and gasped. “Oh, you finished it. I didn’t even notice.”

  Eli chuckled. “I don’t mind. That movie is engrossing.”

  She whacked him on the arm. “Yeah. Way to pick a movie that you have to pay attention to while we’re supposed to be finishing up the poster.”

  “I finished.” He gathered up the paintbrushes and took them into the kitchen to rinse them in the sink.

  She smiled at him and picked up the mug with dirty water. “Thanks.” She brought it into the kitchen and poured the water down the sink.

  He stood next to her, his pulse quickening. She smelled like vanilla. He leaned closer to her. “I’m glad you enjoyed the movie.”

  She stared at him, her blue eyes mesmerizing him. He could easily forget himself and kiss her. But he knew that would make her angry. Because she was still into Jack.