Best Served Fake

thirty-five // foundation

"Fuck, I'm exhausted," Jameson complained, throwing himself on one of the threadbare couches in Kai's living room between Will and Seb, resting his feet on the former and his head on the latter.

Izzy was perched on the arm of the couch next to Will, and Kai and I were curled together—great for, like, the ruse, or whatever—on the other couch, with Cora sitting cross-legged on the floor between the two couches. The seven of us gathered together made the room seem vibrant; alive, happy, lit from within despite the haphazardly cleaned windows that only allowed a sliver of silver light. We all smelled of chlorine and sunshine and fresh air, eyes ringed with the faint red of goggles and the crests of cheekbones tinged red with sunshine, and my hair was crusted and frizzy with water, but our smiles were brighter for a day spent laughing. I felt pleasantly sleepy and happy and relaxed and a little bit in love with all of them.

The room wasn't big; just enough space for the two couches, a boxy TV that played free-to-air channels and a small coffee table stained with mug rings. It would've seemed sad if it wasn't for the collection of photos pasted to the wall; a mess of polaroids (donated by Jamie, Kai explained, the only one of them rich enough to have an endless supply) and printed images. Izzy, Kai and a good-looking older boy that must've been Kai's brother Zac were squished together in many of them, with Isabelle usually wearing something lavish and posing dramatically while the two boys laughed. Kai and Will were together in the half, sometimes joined by Jamie and Seb. Izzy and Zara in tiny dresses with their arms wrapped around each other, Kai and Zac throwing water balloons at a disgruntled Seb, Isabelle perched on Will's shoulders at a concert with her arms thrown into the air. In the bottom corner, Jamie had pasted a collection of photos from today; me, Cora and Kai with our faces pressed together, Seb sunbathing, Will frowning at the camera in his sparkly outfit while Izzy tried to yank his cheeks into some semblance of a smile, and a single photo of Kai and I in the water during dodgeball, laughing at each other.

I liked that I had a place in the house; that my face—wide-eyed and strawberry blonde and smiling—was in the space that Kai grew up. Even more than that, I liked that I had some sort of place with these people. That they welcomed me, considered me a friend. That despite the fact that I had lost two of the most important people in the world to me, I had gained five more. That when Jamie said ridiculous things, like fuck I'm exhausted, it felt wholly natural to respond, "You didn't participate in a single event, you lazy shit."

"Cheering you all on was very taxing," Jamie said, nestling the back of his head into Seb's lap, causing the other boy to roll his eyes. "I need a nap."

"You didn't cheer anyone on. You slept all afternoon," said Seb. "I asked you to come watch dodgeball, and you said 'why would I stop sleeping so that I can watch Kai and Valerie flirt? I can do that again anytime'."

"Oi!" I protested, throwing a pillow at Jamie's head.

Jamie threw the pillow back without looking; it bounced off the wall, dislodging an ugly picture of Will, who didn't seem to realise he was basically pointing the camera up one of his nostrils.

"Aw," said Izzy. "That one was my fave."

"I'm right about this, though, I don't need to watch Kai look for ridiculous reasons to put his hands on Valerie's ass," said Jameson, waving a dismissive hand toward us. "I have better things to do with my time than watch you two get all handsy."

Seb snorted. "Like what?"

Jamie blinked up at him. "Like getting handsy myself, obviously." Then he grinned and reached up to squeeze Seb's non-existent chest with a false leer, crumpling the fabric of Seb's shirt with a crab-like hand.

Seb batted his hands away, laughing. "You're such a dick."

"Stop feeling up Seb," Will admonished, slapping Jamie's leg—still thrown over him—with a sharp tap that made Jamie recoil with a disgruntled yelp. "No being pervy with your friends."