Falling into Fiction

03 The Lie That Broke the Camel's Back

It took me three days just to schedule a time to see one of my friends. Grace is in Florida on vacation, and Caleb apparently works nonstop at his parents auto parts store, even on weekends. Kayla was the only one free, but only on Monday. She asked me to meet her in Petersburg at The Smoke Hole Diner, and I had to hang up soon after that so I could squeal into my pillow like the fangirl that I am.

Waiting for her in a booth by the window, I take a look around. It's a pretty okay place, your standard diner really. I acknowledge the rock that sticks out around the table and appreciate it the same way Katy did. It's not my vibe, but diners in general are something I really like.

Ten minutes late, just as I imagined she would be, Kayla walks in the door. She starts talking loudly before she even gets to the table.

"Oh, you're never gonna believe what happened to me on the way over here. I was on the phone with Grandma because she told me she had some really good tea for me." She tosses her purse into the seat across from me and slides in. "And I just couldn't wait until Wednesday when I'm supposed to go to visit her in person, so I called her, right? Well, this woman tells me that the man I'm talking to is basically a liar."

I just stare at her, raising my eyebrows slightly, and without any hesitation, she continues.

"So I asked her what she meant by that because he just seems so nice, you know? He's been so sweet each time I've visited him." Kayla picks up a menu as she's talking and skims over it while she talks. How she manages to understand the menu and rant about this at the same time, I have no idea.

"But get this. He told me he rides bulls, right? You remember that?" She's not really asking me, but I nod in response anyway despite not knowing what's going on.

"Somehow Dusty got brought up, and he was so excited that I knew Dusty because that's a rodeo buddy that he knows. You know, a mutual friend for us."

She finally looks up at me from the menu. "Here's the 'get this' part, though. Grandma said that she heard from Grandpa who heard from Dusty that Dusty doesn't actually know him. He hasn't actually been riding bulls for three years or whatever, and he definitely didn't keep it a secret from his parents for two years when he broke fifty or so bones while doing it."

Kayla plops the menu back onto the table with a smack and throws her hands up slightly. "It was all for nothing. Dude led me on and lied."

When she pauses for more than a second, I start to speak. "Well-"

"And did you know that he told me he had a camel? Turns out he doesn't. He sent me a picture of the camel, and when I showed Russ just for fun, he told me that this exact camel picture went viral on Facebook earlier this summer.

"That picture didn't go viral because of him. Silly old me doesn't have a Facebook, so I just didn't know that this picture was already a thing before he sent it to me. Gah! The nerve of some people, you know?"

I nod slowly, seeing if she has anything more to add. Before I can get a word in, the waitress comes to take our order. All I ask for is a milkshake, and Kayla gets the reuben with a side of curly fries.

"That is actually a lot more tea than I thought you were going to have," I say.

"I know, right? And I tried telling Grand-"

"Kayla, I kind of have something really important to talk about." I have to cut her off before she gets caught up in another tirade.

"Oh, yeah. Of course. I forgot, sorry."

"We can binge Is It Cake? on Net..." I trail off when I realize that Netflix isn't a thing. Or at least, it's not a thing to stream with. Have they started with the DVDs yet? Shoot, I don't even know how old Netflix actually is.