Page 216 of Promising You
Scenes with two other girls follow after that. The final scene is with Ava and fake Garret and I start to get nervous. If they waited till the very end, there must be something big planned.
The scene is at Ava’s apartment, in her bedroom of course. The fake Garret has his shirtless back to the camera and they’re sitting on her bed. She’s facing him so the camera can catch her over-the-top, ridiculous expressions.
They flirt with each other, then kiss a little until the actor pushes her away.
“I have to tell you something,” fake Garret says.
Ava sits back, wide-eyed and tilting her head. “What is it?”
“I got drunk last night and slept with another girl.”
Cue Ava acting shocked and hurt. She covers her face and pretends to cry. She’s such a horrible actress.
“Babe, I’m sorry,” fake Garret says. “But you know I’m messed up. I always have been.”
What’s with the “babe” thing? Garret would never say that.
Ava lowers her hands from her face and looks at him. Her makeup isn’t even running, which it would be if she was really crying as hard as she made it sound.
She pouts her shiny red lips. “You’re messed up because of your mom, aren’t you?”
Did she really just bring up Garret’s mom? No way the show would stoop that low. Would they?
“When my mom died, I died with her. I’ve been this person I don’t even know.” Fake Garret starts fake crying and Ava gasps, then leans over to embrace him.
“It’s okay,” she says, not sounding at all sincere.
“No, it’s not. It’s not me. Getting drunk. Cheating on you. It’s all wrong. I’m so sorry, babe.”
“I forgive you,” Ava says. “And I’ll help you get through this. I’m here for you. I love you.”
The cheesy music begins and they fade out. Then words go across the screen telling people to go online for future updates on Ava and Garret.
Harper turns the TV off and waits for me to respond.
“That was so bad.” I get up to leave. “Thank God that was the last episode. I’m going to bed.”
“Don’t you want to talk about it?”
“No. I don’t even want to think about it anymore.”
I go to my room and despite what I said, all I can do is think about the show. The producer’s took something extremely personal in Garret’s life and used it to get ratings. And I hate them for that. And I hate Ava even more. She grew up with Garret. She knows what he’s been through and yet she somehow thinks it’s okay to talk about his mom’s death on a stupid reality show? How could she be that cold and heartless?
I consider going upstairs to Garret’s room. I need to see him and talk to him and give him a hug, but instead I have to sit down here and hope that he didn’t see the show, and if he did, that he’s okay.
Being apart from Garret all this time is starting to affect me more than I thought it would. I can’t stop thinking about him. I love him so much and he’s my best friend, and not being able to see him or talk to him is pure torture. Every little thing reminds me of him. And now, when I think he might be hurting and I can’t be with him, my heart actually aches. When I used to hear the word heartache I never understood it. But now I totally get it.
The next day, I keep an eye out for Garret, hoping I’ll see him so we can maybe sneak away somewhere private and I can talk to him just for a minute. But the day goes by and I don’t see him anywhere.
After classes, Harper and I head to Sean’s house. It’s Friday night and we drive separately since she’ll be spending the night over there.
Sean thinks Garret and I really broke up, so he’s being even nicer than normal. He makes tacos for dinner, which is one of my favorite meals. Then he insists that I pick out the movie we watch.
Harper gazes at him all night as if his kindness toward me has made her fall even more in love. It’s kind of annoying. I know I shouldn’t say that. I Iike that she’s happy. But now that I don’t have Garret, seeing her with Sean is almost painful.
On Saturday the three of us go to an afternoon movie. Harper and Sean snuggle and hold hands and I sit there, feeling like a third wheel. After that we go back to Sean’s apartment and he makes his famous homemade pizza and for dessert he makes brownie sundaes. If Harper marries this guy, she better work out a lot or she’ll gain 100 pounds.
Later we play a board game where you have to find clues and solve a crime. It’s based on one of those TV crime shows. Sean says he got it for Christmas and this is the first time he’s played it. It’s not very fun so we quit halfway through the game and watch TV.
