“Okay,” Estaine says. “Whatever it takes to keep her here, I will do.”
Relief washes over me with his answer. I wouldn’t have blamed him for saying no. But I really, really wanted him to say yes.
“Thank you so much,” I tell him.
“You guys aren’t going to start kissing, right?” Jake says. “Because I don’t want to see that...”
I roll my eyes at him and feel my face heat up. “No. Please, just, stop. You’re worse than Charlie.”
“Hey, I’m your fake older cousin. I’m supposed to tease you,” he says.
I took at Estaine, glad to see that he’s smiling. “Sorry about him. Actually, sorry about them. And yes, they are always this intense.”
“It’s okay,” Estaine says. “I should probably go to school. Unlike you, I don’t have... bodyguards to get me out of school.”
“They’re not bodyguards. They’re secret service,” I say. “Don’t be giving them ideas.”
“Wow.”
“Yep,” I say, then look at Uncle Matty. “Think you can get Estaine out of school today?”
“Why would I do that?” he asks.
“Because if Estaine is here, I won’t bug you,” I say, grinning big. I know he’s going to cave.
“Phoenix Black, I swear...” he says. “Fine. I’ll call the dean.”
“Thank you,” I say, then look at Estaine. “You cool with it?”
“Are you kidding? I’m absolutely fine with it,” Estaine says. “It’s weird hearing you called Phoenix Black.”
“That’s my name,” I say.
“I know. But I’ve only known you as Phoenix Underwood,” he says.
“Yeah. I hate having to use a fake name, but I guess it’s for my safety, or whatever,” I say.
My safety is definitely important.
Especially, as the terrorists get more and more aggressive.
“Hey, Jake. I’m hungry,” I tell him. “I didn’t get to eat my breakfast.”
Jake rolls his eyes. “Do I look like your slave?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” I ask.
“What do you want?” he asks.
“Bacon. Lots of bacon,” I answer. “And eggs. Over medium. Maybe some pancakes too.” I look at Estaine. “What do you want?”
“Same,” he answers.
I look back at Jake. “Thanks.”
“You’re more bossy than my four year old,” he says, as he walks towards the kitchen.
As Jake is leaving the room, Uncle Matty walks back in, phone in his hand.
“Here’s the story,” Uncle Matty says. “Your cousin... umm... whatever you want to call him or her, died. You wanted your boyfriend to go with you. So Estaine came. That is what you’ll tell kids when you both go back to school in a few days.”
“Estaine isn’t my boyfriend,” I say.
“The dean of the school seems to think so,” he says. “Why else would he go to your cousin’s funeral? He’s officially your boyfriend. Congratulations.”
Uncle Matty walks back out of the room and I turn to Estaine.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I dragged you into all of... this.”
“It’s fine. We will deal with the consequences,” he says. “It’ll all work out.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll let you dump me in a very public way when we go back. I’ll even shed a few tears to make it more believable,” I say.
“You can fake cry?” he asks.
“Who says I’ll be faking?” I ask, completely joking. “When I was about thirteen, Charlie dated this girl who was convinced she was the next big deal in Hollywood. She got some kind of acting job in a commercial. It was ridiculous. But she wanted to take some acting classes, and she forced me to do it with her. We quit after about ten classes because the teacher kept telling me how good I was, but he ignored her. Shortly after, Charlie dumped her and she hasn’t had an acting job since.”
“Are you going to be an actress?” Estaine asks.
“Heck, no,” I answer. “My stepdad is a producer, and I have met enough famous people to know that I want to stay as far away from the limelight as possible. Although, one time I was on this reality show, completely by random coincidence. I didn’t even notice they were recording. My friend saw me on the show and sent me the clip.”
“I guess you see a lot of famous people in Malibu.”
“Enough that it’s not a big deal,” I answer. “But I went to high school with celebrities, so...”
“Wow,” he says. “That’s crazy.”
“I guess,” I say. “So, what are we going to do around here for the next few days?”
“I’m thinking Smallville.”
I laugh. “Okay.”
Tuesday, August 29
We’re entertaining.
I don’t wake up until almost noon the next day, which I fully blame on Estaine. He just kept saying one more episode, until it was four in the morning and we had finished season two. And we will probably do the same thing again today.
I decide to check my phone before getting out of bed. I just kind of ignored it all day yesterday and I can only imagine that I have a zillion messages. When I power it up, my phone just keeps going off for, like, a solid minute straight.
Wow.
That’s a lot of messages.
I see Brooks’ name among the many of names. I wait until last to check his.
TEAGAN: What the heck? Where did you and Estaine run off to?
Two hours later.