I Hate Everything About You

“What about these,” I held up another pair of earrings to my ear and showed Dani. “They go with the dress, don’t they?”

“They’re also different,” she smirked at me from my bed. “You’re holding two different earrings. I’d go with the ones on the right.”

“Ugh,” I groaned, throwing down the unwanted ones and fishing out the matching ones of the ones Dani picked. I put them into my ears. I faced her. “How do I look?” I put on the new purple dress Liz had gone out to buy me today.

Dani smirked. “You’re excited for this date, aren’t you?”

“It’s not a date,” I rolled my eyes, blushing slightly. Yes, I was excited. I didn’t know why. But I was.

“But you’re excited,” she grinned.

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s there to be excited about? It’s just dinner to make sure everyone knows we’re together.”

She rolled her eyes now, smirking again. “Fine, whatever, but what’s the plan again?”

I sighed. The master plan. It had been five months. Five freaking months of this game. And I wasn’t tired of it. It hadn’t been fun, exactly. Joe irked the hell out of me. Sometimes, I wanted to kill him. Okay, most of the time I wanted to kill him. But despite everything, despite the situation, I couldn’t help but like it. He pissed me off, but he made me laugh. He was annoying, but he was sweet. “We’re going to have dinner, and right before dessert, we’re going to have an argument that makes it obvious we’re fighting, and we’re having problems in the relationship. We need a month to be together, to make it seem like we’re ‘trying’.” The air quotes were evident in my tone. “And then in a month, they papers will say we realized we rushed into it, and even though we still love each other, we just can’t make it work to stay married.”

“Even though you want to?” she asked, a grin on her face.

I glared at her. “I do not.”

“Right,” she chuckled. “Anyways, if you love him, why don’t you just tell him that?”

“Hmm maybe because I don’t love him,” I suggested, opening my eye shadow. I was never good at make-up. That was why I had make-up people when I actually wore it, which evidently was rare. I groaned as I looked at it.

“Fine, keep denying it,” Dani sighed, and got up. She grabbed the eye shadow. “Sit.”

I sat down and she started putting my make-up on. “Thanks,” I mumbled, looking up at her.

She smiled slightly. “I’m here to help. I am your best friend.”

I sighed. Maybe I wasn’t always grateful enough for having a best friend like Dani. She was somehow always here for me, even when I didn’t deserve it. She was like my Wilson. I sighed. What had Joe done to me?

---

“You really like her, don’t you?” Nick asked, tossing a ball up and down as he sat on my bed. I had come home to get ready for the date. I figured it was more traditional. I mean, this was technically out first date. I smiled slightly. We’d been married for five months, and this was our first date. I also needed some time to think. What was I going to do? How was this going to work?

“Yeah,” I admitted. Nothing got past Nick. He was too insightful.

“Do you love her?” he asked, catching the ball now as he looked at me.

“Yeah, I think I do.” I straightened my shirt, and ruffled my hand through my hair. “What do you think, too much?”

“No, you look good,” he said. “Wait, you do? How’d this happen? She’s such a bitch.”

“Thanks,” I said, turning to look at him. I sighed. “I don’t know. I mean, she can be a bitch. But you haven’t seen her.” I didn’t know how to explain it. I didn’t know how to tell him how she was sometimes, how she was when it was just me and her. “You know what we did the first night I stayed there?”

“Well, you’re married,” he smirked. “So I’m guessing you had sex.”

“So close,” I rolled my eyes. “And no. We played Halo. I mean, her mom came and ruined the whole thing. But you should have seen her. Once she let the walls down, you should have seen her. It was like – she was a whole different person. She was so amazing, and cool, and.” I sighed, trying desperately to show him. “You remember at our house? How she was so peaceful, and just – kind?”

“She’s an actress Joe,” he reminded me. “I didn’t exactly think too much about it.”

“But you don’t understand,” I sighed. “She’s good, but she’s not that good. She’s just --.” I groaned. This was so hard. I grabbed my keys. I had to go pick her up soon. “You should see her mother. I mean, the things this girl ahs to put up with. It’s no wonder she is how she is. But you said it yourself. She’s an actress. It’s all an act.”

“But is the act really worth it?” he asked as he got up and we started walking to the door.

I thought about it. Caitlin could be the most obnoxious, annoying, self-centered, know-it-all, bitch ever. But at the same time – she could be sweet and thoughtful, and just so much fun. I thought about it, and realized I didn’t even have to think about it. “Yes, it is.”