at him like a fish.
But to her credit, she recovered quickly. I could see the muscles in her arm flex as she tightened her hold on him and turned to my father. “That’s right. Married forever.” She nodded like a bobblehead who’d been shaken too hard. Then she regained her composure, pasted a cool look on her face, and walked over to my father. “It’s great to meet you, Dad.”
Then the Meryl Streep of my generation leaned down and kissed my dad on the cheek.
D R E W
All I’d wanted was a college education. That was it. Just a simple guy with a simple goal.
Instead, I’d become a formerly gay doppelgänger who’d fallen in love with his “sister” before almost dying and then nearly getting said sister expelled from school due to a stupid idea with an even stupider name. Though that wasn’t fair. The idea had been a good one. But getting involved with these people clearly hadn’t been.
What the hell did it say about me that, despite that knowledge, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else?
It took a while for Mr. Mason to leave. In his defense, he had a right to be wary, since it was all a big lie just like pretty much everything else his children had told him over the past six months. But in the end, he’d seemed to buy that Veronica and Brody were actually married, which was mostly due to Veronica, who’d sold their relationship like a professional con artist.
I watched Sophia close the door behind her dad as he left, and then we all whirled on Brody. But Veronica was the first to get actual words out.
“What in the actual fuck, Brody?”
Brody glared back at her. “I could say the same to you. Why the hell would you think it’d be a good idea to introduce yourself to my dad as my wife?”
Veronica faltered on that one, her shoulder slumping. “I thought it’d be funny. Your friends’ reactions were priceless. I thought I could recreate the magic.” She offered a small, hopeful smile, but when Brody didn’t return it, it slid from her lips. “I don’t know when to quit, okay? I take things too far. Happy now?”
“No. I’m actually pretty miserable,” Brody said as he slumped onto the couch, resting his elbows on his thighs so he could drop his head into his hands.
“I think we can all agree,” Sophia said placidly, “that Veronica created a bit of a shitstorm.”
Veronica looked like she wanted to argue, but really, what could she say? So she crossed her arms over her chest in what seemed to be more of a soothing gesture than a defensive one.
“But Brody, why the hell did you keep the lie going?” Sophia sat down beside her brother, so close that their thighs touched.
“I don’t know,” he groaned, his head still facing the floor as he gripped his hair with his fingers. “I just… He was being such a dick, but he also…wasn’t wrong. I know how irresponsible I am.” He lifted his head and looked at me. “But I also know that Drew and I can make a business work. It’s the closest to wanting to be an adult I’ve ever been, and I felt it slipping away. Even though he was wrong about what was going on this time, it was still like he was reminding himself of all the reasons I was a bad bet. And I didn’t want to lose his support, because that doesn’t just affect me.”
I couldn’t help but be touched. Brody had endured all that shit from his dad because he didn’t want me to lose out on the opportunity the man was offering. But I still didn’t understand why he went about it the way he did. “But why not tell him the truth?” I asked. “If you’d said it was all a joke, we could’ve avoided all of this.”
Brody shrugged. “I panicked, okay? Sometimes the simplest solution isn’t what pops into my brain. Besides, maybe if he thinks I’m settling down with a woman, he’ll think I can settle down enough to run a business. And Vee’s smart and responsible, and if my dad thinks she took a chance on me, maybe he will too.”
“So you’re using me as a pawn in your Peter Pan is Finally a Grown-Up crusade against your dad?” Veronica asked.
“You put yourself in that position. I just ran with it.”
Veronica took a step toward the couch, and I became a little concerned she