Page 74 of Joey

“Some of it,” I say. “Huck was doing his best to shove it in my face all morning.”

“It looks pretty legit, don’t you think? I mean, not all the new fake ones are up yet because that Photoshop guy is still working on those. But there are a few.”

“They look damn good. Very convincing. Makes you wonder how many fake people you’re interacting with online though.”

“Probably all of them.” She laughs. “There are no real people left anymore.”

“Cynical,” I say, clicking my key fob to unlock her door. I hold it open for her and wait for her to slide in, her long legs shapely and beautiful as she crosses them and looks up at me to smile.

I close her door and sigh.

I do like her. I could get used to her being around, that’s for sure. We look good together. She’s not as tall as me, but almost. Especially with heels on. And she’s very pretty.

It’s nice to have a girl who isn’t after my money or my status.

I get in the car, close my door, and then look at her.

“What?” she asks.

“You’re real. You might be the most real person I’ve ever met. Aside from Huck and Wald, that is.”

“You know nothing, Joey Boston. I’m as fake as they come.”

I start the car and point to her. “Even though you lie, you don’t feel like a liar, Brooke. I gotta be honest.”

“It’s a paradox, I guess.”

“What is?”

“I’m a great liar. I can make up stories like nobody’s business. But all I want to do is tell the truth.”

“So tell me more,” I say.

“It benefits no one to tell more of my secrets.”

“I’m gonna get more out of you soon.”

“Don’t be so sure. I think one revealed secret is the perfect number.”

“You feel better now?”

She nods. And this is when I know. This moment is the one I’ll think about whenever anyone mentions her name in the future. This bright summer day. First real day of some new life as of yet, unimagined. Her peach-colored dress, and her flower-scented shampoo lingering on her dark, damp hair. Her long, tan legs, and her sad brown eyes. Because they are sad, but even so, they’re a good kind of sad. The kind of sad that can be fixed with a little bit of pink.

We’re on the precipice of something good. Maybe… even something great. And I have this sudden realization that we are a couple. I don’t know what kind of couple, and that’s probably not even the right word.

She’s on my team and I’m on hers too.

“I do feel better,” Brooke says. I can’t explain it, but—”

“No. I get it. It makes sense. Mutually assured destruction, right?”

“No.” She laughs. “Maybe… I dunno… more like mutually assured success.”

I smile at that as I pull the car out and head up to the street.

“That’s what loyalty really is, you know,” she says. “Mutually assured success.”

And I can’t say I disagree.