I Had A Little Help

4. And So It Begins

I felt uneasy that night. That was to be expected though, I had gotten caught up in my emotions and agreed to trust Reed. It was too quick and brash for me to make that decision, but it was too late now. If I told him the following day that I wanted to back out of the deal, he'd just find another way to drag me back in. My short amount of time with Reed had taught me just how conniving and persuasive he was. I was doomed from the moment he even approached me at my locker that day, sealing my fate.

I lied on my bed, looking up at the ceiling, my mind consumed with the dilemma I just got myself into. I knew I had made a mistake, that there was no way this could amount to anything good. I was in a slight panic, realizing how trapped I was.

While it was a tad alarming, something within me was also oddly exhilarated. This was probably the biggest risk I had taken, putting myself out there so openly, allowing for myself to be hurt and laughed at, free to ridicule. It wasn't a very encouraging prospect, but it was something new. A change from what I was used to, and it was that which kept me from being too terribly pessimistic. My usual days of uneventfulness would be ending here, because something unexpected now awaited for me. The real problem was that I was switching between the two emotions as if I were a seesaw, being incredibly indecisive.

"Diana!" My Mom called out, freeing me from my mental prison. I shot up out of bed immediately, following her voice to the kitchen. She was sitting at the island, frantically typing away on the keyboard of her laptop. She appeared to be extremely stressed out, as if she were under a time constraint.

"What is it?" I asked her cautiously, not wanting to disrupt her from her work. She looked up at me, sighing gravely.

"I'm sorry, Di, but can you cook supper tonight? I'm swamped, something got messed up with my client, and now I have to fix it." She asked, sounding desperate. Obviously, I felt sympathetic and nodded my head easily.

"Of course, don't even worry about it." I replied, reaching towards the cupboards to see what we had in stock. Noticing the canned tuna and soft bread rolls on the counter, I quickly decided on tuna melts, knowing we had shredded cheese and mayo in the fridge as well.

"Thanks, Di! You're a life saver!" She told me gratefully, not looking up from the screen, understandably. I smiled, not feeling the slightest bit imposed.

As I began to preheat the oven in silence, my mind wandered again. While it concerned Reed, it wasn't about the same thing as before. Glancing over at my mother, a new concern popped into my brain. I was suppose to pose as Reed's girlfriend, and my parents were not a fan of his mother, so how would I even go about telling them the details of my current position? Obviously, I would keep quiet for now, but they'd find out eventually most likely. It perturbed me to think about how they'd react, since it was basically unwritten rules in my family to never speak of the Paxtons. However, the gravity of the scenario should have been much more overbearing, but I was still having trouble believing that everything that was said in Reed's car was real. It felt much more like an intrusive dream rather than reality, and I just couldn't imagine that it actually happened. But, I would have to come to terms with it. It definitely happened.

I gave it more thought as I mixed the tuna with the mayo, trying to invent ways to avoid my parents ever finding out. Looking back on it, I remembered Reed mentioning that the relationship didn't have to last long, just enough time for it to have been considered decent. Also, with it being all for show, there would never even have to be a time where the relationship was displayed outside of school. Actually, it seemed a lot more plausible than I initially thought it'd be to keep it all hidden.

"Diana, are you alright? The oven has been beeping at you for awhile now." My Mom questioned, bringing me back to life. I looked around at the oven, realizing it was now at the proper temperature.