Call It One-Sided

by Daniela Reyes

  “I know,” Elena said. “And again, I’m sorry for keeping you up all night. Did I ruin your date with Cecilia?”

  “No,” Will said. “She understands, family first.”

  The word made Elena want to shake Will. Family, he thought she was his family. Well, that removed any chance of him ever seeing her as anything else.

  “Can I take a shower?” Elena asked. She always kept a few extra sets of sweats at Will’s. “I don’t want my dad to see me like this.”

  “Yeah,” Will said. “Go ahead. I’ll let your dad know we’re headed back soon. Do you want to bring him something for breakfast?”

  Elena nodded. Her dad would buy the story more if they brought something over. “Let’s get something from Dulce Street,” she said, regretting the words soon after. “Actually, we don’t have to.”

  “No,” Will said. “It’s okay. Mia hates me, not you. I’ll wait in the car. And besides, I doubt she’ll be in the store. She’s probably sleeping off a late night of studying.”

  Elena agreed and then went to the bathroom. She slipped out of her uniform and let the steam rise from the shower. It covered the mirror and the glass door. She let it soak her skin as she washed away the smells of last night’s dinner. She closed her eyes, wishing none of it had happened, but knowing she couldn’t ignore it.

  Elena knew that past this point, she couldn’t go back. The moment she’d kissed Marco on the cheek this morning, she’d stepped into her role as his new, fake girlfriend. And he was paying her for it. Her dad couldn’t find out about that part.

  __________

  Monday came sooner than Elena wanted it to.

  Surprisingly, her dad had seen the video and thought it was sweet. He wanted to meet Marco when Elena was ready for him to, but other than that he made no other requests. He asked Elena to tell him if she went on dates that were too late, or if for any reason she and Marco stopped dating. That was it. Then he’d gone back to eating his empanadas from Dulce Street, the ones Elena had awkwardly taken from Ms. Ortega for free.

  “No charge,” Ms. Ortega had said. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Elena. How’s Andres?”

  “Good,” Elena had said. She knew better than to reject a kind gesture. “Thank you for asking and thank you for this, oh, and the pie at Thanksgiving. It was delicious. Really. My dad loved it. He ate half of it that night.”

  It wasn’t an exaggeration. He’d taken the pie to his office as a writing snack.

  Ms. Castro had tilted her head then, keeping her smile, but looking confused now. “Pie? Did you buy from the shop?”

  “No. Mia brought one over. She said you’d sent her with it.”

  “Oh,” Ms. Castro said, nodding too much. “That pie. Of course. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Say hello to your dad for me.”

  Elena figured then, Mia had brought the pie on her own accord. She wondered why. Was this Mia’s way of waving a white flag? Should Elena reach out and break their six month streak of not talking? She wanted to, especially now, when she had no one to talk with about her fake dating situation.

  Marco didn’t have her number, which meant they hadn’t been in contact for the whole weekend. It’d been a relief of sorts; Elena could pretend nothing had happened on Friday, and she could work at Melo’s in the mornings and at Bee’s in the afternoons. However, her sense of relief ended when two customers at Melo’s asked if she was the girl from the video, and how it felt to be dating a Silva brother.

  It happened all weekend, until Laura sent Elena to kitchen duty. Still, Marco didn’t contact her, leaving Elena to deal with the mess of people. Luckily, they didn’t seem to know she worked at the bookstore, or if they did, they didn’t bother Andres about it.

  Will hadn’t talked to her much either. She’d texted him, asking if he wanted to watch a movie on Saturday, but he’d had a date with Cecilia. So, Elena’s hope of a calm weekend turned into a weekend stuck with herself and her never-ending thoughts about how someone would uncover the farce that was her relationship with Marco. Or the fact her dad still wouldn’t talk about the financial issues Bee’s was having. He pretended like everything was okay, like Bee’s hadn’t been pretty empty all weekend.

  At school, people whispered, they took pictures without permission and some asked questions they didn’t have a right to ask.

  “Where did you guys kiss?”

  “How did you manage to get him to like you?”

  “How much were those flowers worth?”

  “Does he buy you gifts?”

  Elena’s invisible existence was gone. The worst part was, Will couldn’t drive her to school that morning. He texted her, saying he would be late to school because had to finish an essay for a college application. That left Elena to take the bus to school, which wasn’t too bad, except that it exposed her to more strangers who recognized her. It also meant she ate lunch alone, because Mondays were the only day she sat with just Will. On other days she might sit with people from her other classes, but on this lunch it was just them.

  Which meant today, she was alone, thinking about the money now sitting in her account. She had it, which made the comments and questions seem sort of true. How could she pay the rent without her dad noticing?

  Elena chewed on rubbery piece of chicken before setting her fork down. She forced herself to swallow the chicken. The kids at the tables around her stared. She hated this. Why wasn’t Marco trying to contact her? Not that that would help, but at least he knew this wasn’t real.

  “Hey.” Elena felt someone take the seat next to her. “Are you really dating Marco Silva, or was it more of like a one night stand kind of thing?”

  “Sorry?” Elena asked. She had nothing against one night stands, but the way this guy was asking about it didn’t sit right with her. “You shouldn’t ask that.”

  “So it was,” the guy said, laughing. She realized he had a group of friends sitting nearby, egging him on. “Do you get some sort of payment-”

  Elena rolled her eyes. He was doing this because he obviously had nothing better to do with his time and because he probably didn’t think she’d defend herself. Elena could stand up for herself or for anyone who needed her to stand up for them. She’d once punched a girl on the playground. It’d been how she and Mia had become friends. She hadn’t punched Mia, but the bully bothering her by tearing pages out of her book. They’d been in first grade.

  Elena stood. She’d wanted to avoid this because she knew if she caused a scene it wouldn’t just affect her now. People thought she was Marco’s girlfriend, but at this point she couldn’t care less.

  “Does your sex life suck that much that you have to ask about mine?” she asked. She held her chin up, like her mom had always taught her to. She had nothing to be ashamed about. The guy’s smile wavered. He stayed quiet. More people were watching now, but frankly she didn’t care. ‘Or is this some kind of sick turn on for you? Because normal people don’t go around asking those questions.”

  The guy scoffed, but he said nothing. Elena waited. One of his friends made a sound like he’d been defeated. The guy turned around and told his friend to shut up. Then he stood.

  “I guess he didn’t pay.”

  Elena fisted a hand at her side. She stepped forward, not thinking about actually punching him, but not wanting to let him get the last word. The guy laughed, already walking back to his table of his stone-faced buds. A hand pressed her arm. She turned.

  “He’s not worth it,” Will said. Elena stepped away from him, not realizing until that moment she was mad. He hadn’t texted her all day, he’d let her eat lunch alone, and now he was here, standing there looking absolutely beautiful like nothing had happened.

  “What are you doing here?” Elena asked. “Finish your essay?”

  “Yeah,” Will said. “Just finished going over it with my guidance counselor.” His smile overtook his whole face. “It was about-”

  Elena stepped aside from him. Why was she mad? He was here, smiling, but it wasn�
��t enough. “I have to get to my next class.”

  With that she walked past him, ignoring him completely. She’d never done that, never felt this mad. He didn’t owe her anything, and he’s spent all of Friday night worrying about her. Elena kept walking, stopping at her locker to fish her books for her next class. It took Will a few seconds to catch up to her.

  He stopped by her locker, looking confused.

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “Yeah.”

  She’d only ever been mad twice before, when he’d broken up with Mia without telling her anything, and when he’d taken her as a third wheel to prom after his date had asked him not to.

  Will nodded. “I have an excuse, not a great one, but an okay one for why I didn’t text you much this weekend.”

  Elena shuffled books around in her locker, still not understanding why she was this mad. He had a right to go on a date with Cecilia, to skip school, to not text her.

  “Friday night made me realize how much you mean to me, Elena. I meant what I said, you’re like my family. And that made me realize that I don’t want to go away to New York for college. I’d miss you like crazy, your dad too. It wouldn’t be the same.”

  “But film school in New York is your dream.”

  “Yeah, but dreams can change.”

  Elena sighed. She turned away from her locker. “Not that dream, and not because you’re afraid to miss us. Will, I won’t let you stay because of that. And I am mad, but not at you. I’m just mad in general and I’m being a terrible friend and taking it out on you right now.”

  Elena didn’t want to be Will’s family, yet the thought of him missing her tugged at her heart.

  “It’s okay,” Will said. “Take it out on me. To be honest, I kind of got mad when you didn’t text me on Friday. It was like a worried mad, and I didn’t want to hang out this weekend until I was over it.”

  Will had never admitted to being mad at her, not for a serious reason. “So we were mad at each other.”

  “I guess so,” Will said, smiling. “And if you let me explain, I was late today because I decided to submit a scholarship essay to Glensford College. I figured it’d be good to have as a backup plan, not that it’s an easy school to get into, and they only have a film studies program, but if I get in, who knows. Besides, there’s no guarantee NYU will even take me.”

  Elena would have loved for Will to stay in Glensford, to see him more than every few months, but it didn’t feel right for him to give up his dream for it.

  “You’ll get in,” Elena said. She shut her locker. “I’m done being mad too.”

  Good,” Will said. “Walk me to class?”

  “Fine.”

  They walked to the end of the hall and split off toward their last classes. Elena heard more whispers through the rest of the day, but she was relaxed then. She’d see Will after school and they would go to Bee’s together. Then they’d work their shift at Melo’s together, even though she’d probably end up in the kitchen to avoid questions from customers.

  Elena got to the front steps of the school first, already feeling her freedom getting closer. She soaked in the smell of pine around her. Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned.

  “Your boyfriend’s here,” a girl said. She pointed to the curb in front of the school. Elena squinted. She’d put her glasses away already. Someone was waving at her from the back of a car.

  Marco wouldn’t go MIA all weekend and then show up at her school. No. He would. Apparently he liked putting on a show.

  “Thanks for telling me,” Elena said to the girl. She hoped her words sounded sincere.

  “You’re so lucky,” the girl said, before walking off. Elena sighed. She couldn’t make out Marco’s face, only the navy blue of his uniform blazer.

  She pulled out her phone to call Will, but stopped when he showed up beside her. How long had he been standing there?

  “I guess you don’t need a ride to Bee’s today,” Will said. She turned, meeting his blue eyes. “I’ll see you at work, then?”

  Elena nodded. She adjusted her backpack strap over her shoulder and made the agonizingly long walk to Marco’s car. His driver got the back door for her, letting her take the empty seat next to Marco.

  “Thank you,” Elena said to Greg.

  “My pleasure,” Greg said, then he shut the door.

  Marco rolled up his window, dimming the inside of the car.

  “We need to talk,” he said. Then he motioned for Greg to get the car moving. “There’s been a change of plans.”

  Chapter 12

  “Three months?” Elena paused and then made the question into a statement. “Three. Months.”

  Marco did his best to give a nonchalant nod. He sat across from her in the back of the car.

  “Look, I know we said a month, but my dad got a PR person involved.”

  “Why is your dad getting a PR person involved? I get that our video went viral, but people forget about stuff like that.”

  Marco kept his hands in his lap. He knew Elena could say no; she could stop this at any second and leave him to deal with the aftermath. After all, he was the one with the reputation preceding him. She wasn’t wrong; eventually people would let this incident fall away from the limelight, leaving him as the guy who asked out a girl and then dumped her a week later. Or as the guy Elena dumped because he was a jerk, or two-timing her. No matter what, Marco knew he would get the blame.

  “They’ll forget,” Marco said. “But not in a month, it’ll be too abrupt. My dad always gets a PR person involved when it comes to anything that might affect our family’s public perception. Usually, stuff we do affects how investors view Melo’s, which can lead to everything getting messier than we want it to.” He probably sounded exactly like Felipe right now.

  Elena’s shoulders relaxed, enough for him to hope that she wouldn’t ask Greg to pull over so she could go back to her normal life.

  “Okay,” Elena said. “Let’s say we stick to this story for three months, what happens after that?”

  “What do you mean? We break up, quietly, make it seem mutual, but don’t make any official announcements until the media starts picking up the on the news for themselves. Look, they’ll care, not much, though. My family can hold a headline, but we’re private and we’re not celebrities. Eventually, another story will catch their attention. Something other than-”

  “Glensford’s own Cinderella story?” Elena finished. She shook her head. “Who even came up with that headline, a Cinderella story?”

  Marco could see how that might be somewhat insulting. He figured Elena didn’t have two evil stepsisters and a stepmother. Actually, he didn’t know if she had siblings or if her parents were still together. He only knew her family owned the bookstore where he bought his vovô’s favorite history books.

  “What is it?” Elena asked, breaking his chain of thoughts.

  “Hm?”

  “You went off somewhere,” Elena said, looking somewhat amused. “Is there more?”

  “No,” Marco said. “Well, actually, yes. My dad wants you to sign non-disclosure agreements, you and your family.”

  The humor left her face. “He thinks we’ll leak information about you?”

  Marco shrugged. “Probably, but don’t take it personally. All our staff signs them.” He knew he’d said the wrong thing as soon as the words had left his mouth.

  “Staff?” Elena said. “You sound like the idiot at lunch.”

  Marco watched her hands, wondering if Elena was going to reach for the door handle.

  “What idiot at lunch?”

  “Just some jerk,” Elena said. “He insinuated we’d had a one night stand. Then he asked if you’d paid me.”

  “Oh,” Marco said. “Well, he’s the one with issues if he’s asking you that. I can let you borrow a family lawyer if you want to threaten him for something, maybe an attempt at slander or-”

  Elena laughed at that. He wasn’t kidding, though. The best way to shut anyone up wa
s to bring up your lawyer. He’d learned that at school after his accident. If anyone made a comment he’d confront them and say he wouldn’t want to bring the issue up with his lawyer. Usually, most kids backed down. There’d been a few who’d given Marco the card for their own lawyers. Eventually, the school gossip had stopped, but he knew it was starting again. He’d avoided it all day today.

  “I don’t think he’ll bother me again,” Elena said. She uncrossed her arms. “Look, if I agree to three months and to sign those nondisclosure agreements I need you to make sure no one, and I mean no one, finds out that this is-”

  She looked to the front of the car.

  “He won’t say anything,” Marco said. Then he leaned in. “Greg, put on some music.” He turned to Elena. “In case.”

  “No one can find out we’re pretending,” Elena said. “My dad’s fine with this, but he won’t be if he figures things out. Will won’t be either. And the payment for the other two months, we’ll need to figure out a way to make it seem less obvious. Also, you’ll have to meet him at some point, not now, but eventually.”

  Marco hadn’t thought of that, any of it. He knew she’d have to meet his family. In fact, his dad’s PR person was already coming up with a list of all the events the two of them could attend together so they put up a front as a united couple. It seemed fair he’d have to meet her family.

  “Do I need to meet your mom too, or siblings or anything?”

  Elena’s eyes fell to the car floor. “No siblings,” she said. “Any my mom passed away, so it’s just my dad.”

  Marco didn’t say anything right away, because he knew if he spoke too quickly he’d really offend Elena this time. After a brief pause he said, “Okay, I’ll talk to your dad. Does today work?”

  “Today?” Elena asked, looking back up. She looked out the window. “Wait, are you driving me to Bee’s?”

  Marco had thought he’d drive her back to the bookstore, but if he could get meeting her dad out of the way too, it wouldn’t be a wasted trip.