Faking Love

Chapter Twelve: girls just wanna have sun

Daisy wondered whether her friends had died.

Then she wondered whether she had died.

Never, in eleven years of friendship, had the three of them been so quiet.

Laia and Belle were still, twin glass statues that might shatter if Daisy loosed too deep a breath. The treehouse was thick with tension. A veritable line pulled taut. Daisy felt like she was walking it like a tightrope, felt like tiny icicles were burrowing under her skin. She was cold and hot and ...

And they were never going to speak to her again. She'd finally done it—ruined the only good thing left in her life—

Laia's mouth twitched. Belle's cheeks puffed up like a blowfish.

The room exploded.

Laughter like golden sunlight ripped through the silence. Mascara-coloured tears streaked Laia's cheeks, and Belle fell backwards off the bed, lying flat on her back, gripping her trembling stomach hard enough to hurt. She tried to get up. Tried to say something, to breathe ...

And collapsed under another wave of loud, gut-clenching laughter.

"Baby?" Laia called out between gasps. Gasps. "You owe me twenty bucks."

"What?" Kenji's face was pitiful when he emerged from the bathroom, tying a complimentary robe over his red pyjama bottoms. He stalked to the bed in three strides. "No fair! You totally coaxed it out of her!"

"Twenty bucks," Laia repeated, flattening one hand in the air and wiping her tear-stained cheeks with the other.

Kenji groaned as he retrieved his wallet from the dresser, pulling out two crisp tens and handing them to his fiancee. He jabbed a finger in Daisy's direction. "That'll teach me for having faith in you. I thought you'd at least last until tomorrow."

Daisy blinked at him, stunned.

Yeah.

She'd died.

Still scared to move, to breathe, she uttered, "What are you talking about?"

"You should have seen your face when I said six inches." Belle rose to her haunches, then fell back down under another stroke of hysteria, her yellow nightgown refracting the sconces so it glimmered like liquid gold. "I thought you were going to throw up."

"Your hair is a mess." Laia pushed herself off the bedhead to untangle Daisy's messed locks. "Jesus, babe, you really are the worst liar."

The world was still spinning, still doing piques and chaînés and pirouettes, but Daisy had gone very, very still. "I ... Hold on." She gawked. "You knew I was lying?"

Belle squealed, "Of course we knew!"

Their laughter became distant. Daisy felt light and airy, like she was floating away. There was no way Hunt was right. There was no way she was that bad ...

"Oh, Dais." Laia kneeled in front of her, curling a lock of Daisy's hair behind her ear. "Do you really think I didn't look Joshua up on Facebook the moment you told us about him?"

Daisy scrunched her nose. "He doesn't have Facebook."

"But he does have LinkedIn. Give me some credit, babe."

Belle cocked her head. "You know people can see when you stalk them on LinkedIn, right?

Laia's fingers stilled in Daisy's hair. "I did not know that."

Belle muffled a laugh with her palm. Kenji outright snorted.

Laia shot him a smug look. "I don't know why you're laughing, darling. I used your account."