Truth in Cliche

Lara picked me up as we had planned. She drove a Mustang. I decided it was just easier to face the fact that I was never going to have a nice enough car to impress some of the girls that went to my school that had enough money to have nice cars. Things were different in South Dakota. In South Dakota just having a car was enough to impress someone. It didn’t even have to be nice.

I thought her car was nice. Her house was even nicer. She basically lived in a castle on a lake. There were tennis courts and an indoor swimming pool. My jaw basically remained slack for the entire tour of the house.

I was a bit nervous to meet her parents honestly, but they seemed really chill. Actually, I didn’t know what to think of them. Her mom only looked about two years older than Lara, so I only assumed that it wasn’t her real mom. Her dad however, looked about as old as my grandpa. I said nothing about the apparent absurdness of this arrangement, but love is love, or money is money, I guess.

We ended up just hanging out in Lara’s room. I sort of stereotyped her as a shallow, dumb bitch when I’d first met her, but the more we talked the more real she became.

She told me all about how in love with Buckley she was. Of course she was in love with Buckley. Everyone was in love with Buckley. Benji had a thing for him (I think. That or she was just supplying him with something(s?) small enough to put into his pocket), Kendra had a thing for him, and now Lara (who I thought I may have had a small chance with) had a thing for him.

As much as I resented both of them for that, Lara was still nice. Her siblings and their friends were cute too. Her brother, who was turning eight, kind of made me wish I had a little sibling. Lara offered to let me keep him, but her parents were a bit reluctant.

“Thanks so much for coming!” Lara said. “It really saved my life. My siblings and their friends are cute and all, but I don’t think I could have handled it.”

“No problem Lara, really.”

“God, why couldn’t Buckley be more like you? You’re so sweet.”

The real question was “Why didn’t you like me more than Buckley?”

“Do you want to come in for a little bit?”

I was nervous when I asked, but I figured if we were just friends it wasn’t really a big deal. I was mostly a little anxious about how my parents were going to react, my mom especially. My dad would probably be at work or something. I didn’t want my mom to scare Lara with talk about children or anything.

“That’s a great idea. Then I won’t have to help my parents clean up.”

She laughed and parked the car in front of my house. I opened up my front door. My mom was sitting in the kitchen.

“Evan honey,” she said. “Your dad left for work, but there’s food in the fridge if you’re still hungry.”

She looked up and saw Lara. She stood up and rushed over to us. “Hi, my name is Eileen,” she said, pulling Lara into a hug.

“Mom.”

She let go. “I’m so sorry hon, Evan doesn’t bring friends home that often.”

At least she didn’t ask if this was the wonderful, beautiful Lara that I had talked about earlier. Or mentioned anything about the fact that I may have hinted at wanting to date her.

“No it’s fine really.” Lara was doing an amazing job at trying to stay polite, or maybe she was just nice to people in general.

“I can leave you two alone.”

“It’s fine mom. Just keep on keepin’ on.”

We went upstairs to my room. It was relatively unpacked, but thee were still a few boxes lying around. Lara sat on my desk chair. “Your mom is so sweet.”

“Thanks, I guess. She can be a bit overbearing, sorry.”

“No really. She’s great. My mom has like no personality whatsoever. She’s just there for dad’s money. She’s not even my real mom.”

I had figured as much, but I didn’t say anything about it. “I’m sorry.”

Lara shrugged.

“Do you think Buckley likes me? I’m sorry to keep bringing him up, but I just can’t go any time without thinking about him. Like he’s basically perfect.”

I didn’t want to make her feel bad, but I also didn’t want to not tell her the truth. “I think he’s really into Kendra. Sorry.”

“I know. I had a feeling.”

She sat on my chair and spun a little bit from side to side. “I should probably go. My parents probably want me home.” She bit her lip and looked to the floor.

“Thanks for staying and hanging out.”

“Thanks for listening to me piss and moan.”

“It’s what friends are for, right?” Friends. There’s that horrible word again rearing its ugly head.

I walked her downstairs. My mom had gone to her room long ago so she wasn’t there to scare Lana again.

“Thanks again Evan.”

“No problem.” She kissed me on the cheek and I felt my face flush all the way down to my neck. All I could think of was how thankful I was for the dim lighting in the new house’s entryway.

“See ya!” she said and walked away.

I shut the door behind her after watching her leave for a while. I just wanted to look at her butt make sure she got to the car safely.

My mom appeared from out of nowhere, startling me just a bit. “She’s so pretty honey. Since when do you date girls like that? No offense, but the last lady was a little bit homely, even for South Dakota standards.”

“Mom. Erika was really pretty and nice.”

“Okay Evan, but I’m just saying that Lara is most definitely an upgrade.”

“Too bad I’m not dating her.”

“What?”

“She likes my friend.”

“I’m sorry baby. I just assumed.”

My mom hugged me quickly. “She’ll get over him once she figures out what a gentleman you are.”

“Sure mom.”

“She will.” My mom flitted away to go to whatever she did.