by Sarah Pointe
I laughed, and he laced our fingers together. “Can I call you?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent.”
Mom showed up then. “Well, you two are a hit. We’ve heard more compliments during clean-up than ever.” She laughed. “And lots of bets on whether or not you two last.”
“Oh yeah? What’s the prevailing opinion?” Pete laughed.
“That she won’t dump you.” Mom laughed and I gasped.
“Mom.”
“I’m just telling you like it is.”
Pete nodded at Mom. “I appreciate that. I’m not looking to get dumped any time soon here.”
We stood.
“Pete, we have an ice cream tradition after the kitchen. You up for some of the best peanut butter brickle ice cream in the world?”
“Ew. No, Pete. You have to try their caramel crunch. There is nothing like it.”
“Sounds like I’ll get two scoops, one of each.”
“Oh, he’s good. Diplomatic.” Mom nodded.
But I frowned. “That sounded like noncommittal fence sitting.”
“Or diplomacy, depends how you look at it.”
“Very funny.”
The rest of the night was perfect. And I knew perfect never lasted. So even though I should have been enjoying my new time with Pete, I started bracing myself for the hit.
Chapter 10
I kept getting more fake date offers, and I set up a few more actual appointments because they sounded like fun. But tonight, I would be going ice skating with my best friend, her boyfriend and my fake date, only it didn’t feel like I’d be spending much time with Sasha or Nick. What had gone wrong between us? Wasn’t the whole point of my fake dates so that I could hang out with her and Nick?
I dressed in layers and put on a fun pair of leggings. Truth was, I loved ice skating at Christmastime. And this was one of my top items on our list that got taken over by Nick and Sasha. So it was only fair that I get to go.
Maybe I should rewrite a new list to do with Pete.
That was exactly what I would do.
He kept texting me. Sweet, thoughtful texts all during the day. And he’d even texted good morning. I grinned and read the good morning text again. “Good morning. Wish I could see you right now.”
I closed my eyes, imagining him saying it instead. The best. I had no idea how awesome good night and good morning texts could be.
I was hopelessly confused right then. Tad was picking me up in twenty minutes and all I could do was think about Pete. It didn’t help that Pete kept sending me hot pictures of himself. His smile melted me every time. Coming home from a run made me think we should start running together. His messy hair look was making my fingers itch to touch it.
That boy. Wow, I had always been attracted to him, but now. Sasha would die. I thought about my best friend for a minute. She really had liked Pete as much as I had. What would she think about this new transformation? Something Grinch or Scrooge-like started forming in my brain. I wanted her to see us together. To show her that sure, she had Nick, but now I had someone too.
Was that logical? No. But who said I was feeling logical?
By the time Tad got there, met my overly curious mom, and got us on our way, I was kind of a ball of nerves.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re...tense.”
I fake laughed. “I am not.”
“Yes, you are.”
“It’s just. Things are weird with Sasha.”
“Isn’t she your best friend?”
“Yeah. Maybe it will be alright tonight. I don’t know.”
“Well, if it isn’t, we’ll just have our own fun on the ice. Right?” He held out his fist.
“Right.” When I bonked him back, he took my fisted hand, turned it over and brought my knuckles to his lips. “You’re with Tad tonight. Don’t you worry about a thing.”
Wow. Now that was a good line. And I was almost falling for it. For sure I was planning to do what he suggested. We were going to have a blast, Sasha or no Sasha.
“You ready for this?”
“I’m so ready.”
We pulled into the rink and hurried to beat the line we knew would be forming from the people who were slowly walking in from the parking lot. In that way, Tad and I were alike. “Oh yes. You are perfect. You get me.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I get you.”
We got our hands stamped and made our way to the ice skate check-out. The first skates I tried hurt my feet but then I got a half size bigger and they were golden. Tad was already standing at the edge of the ice ready to go by the time I joined him. “You really like skating, don’t you?”
“I do. But I also like having someone with me.” He reached for my hand. “Thank you for this.”
I started congratulating myself on the best idea I’ve ever had and then remembered that actually it was Sasha’s idea.
And why? Why had she done it?
I might never know, at this rate.
“You’re welcome. Come on. Let’s get out there.”
We stepped out onto the ice and glided along the edge. I tested my skates, one foot, then the other. Over and over. And got the hang of it pretty quickly. Tad seemed born to skate.
“Hold on. Do you do this a lot?”
He held up a hand. “Guilty. I’m actually a hockey player.”
I laughed. “But you put these figure skates on?”
“Yah, I’m trying them out. I like hockey skates better.”
“Of course you do. Tell me about your hockey.”
Once he got going about hockey, I realized he might talk forever. Which was just fine with me. Less work for me to listen than to try and think of something entertaining to say. He talked and talked, eventually going over every position and the benefits of playing all the different ones.
I didn’t see Sasha until we’d been skating for almost an hour. Then she stepped out onto the ice with Nick, right as Tad tugged me in the direction of the vendor. “Would you like some hot chocolate? My nose is cold.”
“Totally.” I followed him off the ice and we hobbled over to stand in the short line for hot chocolate.
“This place is awesome.” I tried not to notice Sasha and Nick, but they skated by close to the edge of the arena and her laugh carried over to me. Why weren’t we friends anymore? I was mad at her, but why else? Was she pushing me away?
Tad handed me my hot chocolate and then led us over by one of the fire pits.
I sat as close to him as I could to keep warm. Now that we’d stopped moving, there was a bittery ice to the air I hadn’t noticed before. But the hot cocoa felt great in my hands and the fire warmed our fronts.
He made me laugh. And pretty soon I had forgotten all about Sasha. I had to admit—Tad was a great date. And if Pete wasn’t a thing, I’d be seriously into Tad.
A small voice tried to remind me that none of it had been real. But it was so hard to recognize real from fake at this point.
When he took me home and hugged me close, I almost thought he might kiss me. But I stepped away as soon as the thought crossed my mind. I couldn’t be kissing my fake dates.
Tad and I had a fun enough night, but long after when I should have been asleep, I paced in my room, thinking about Sasha. I’d called her twice with no answer. My Find My Friends said she was still at Nick’s house. Were his parents not home? How could she still be at Nick’s? Finally I put my phone on the pillow next to me, turned out the lights and closed my eyes.
My phone dinged.
Scrambling for it, I looked for a text from Sasha.
But it was Pete. And that made me smile at least.
You still up?
Pete!!
How was your fake date?
Meh.
That’s what I like to hear.
How was your night?
Meh. My homework and I are breaking up.
Lol
When can I see you?
Now?
If you’re serious, I’m coming over.
Tomorrow?
Fine. I’ll pick you up after school.
Can you do that?
We have a half day.
Yes! Take me somewhere fun.
Done.
I miss you.
Music to my ears.
Goodnight.
Bye.
I felt better. Things with Sasha weren’t fixed. But Pete was in my life. And Pete was going to make things better.
I fell asleep to those thoughts.
Chapter 11
When I woke up, everything was all wrong again. Sasha had not called back. And I had to go to school with a best friend who was avoiding me, and Cal who had treated me weird. And a whole bunch of potential fake dates would be there. I hadn’t answered even half of them. On a day when all I wanted to do was blend in, I would be standing out all over the place.
My phone dinged. Sasha. Getting a ride with Nick.
Ok.
That’s it. That’s all she was going to say this morning?
I tossed my phone in my backpack and climbed in my Jeep. I hardly ever drove to school. Did I remember where my parking spot was? Sasha had asked why I never used the Jeep my Mom had given me and I told her I had her, what did I need a Jeep for?
Maybe Sasha just got tired of me.
I tapped the steering wheel to the music while I waited for a traffic light. Sasha had been there for me my whole life. We were close friends, tight, in elementary school. Then in middle school we had a whole bunch of different classes, but I saw her after school at least. And then when my dad died, she’d just sort of become my world. I never knew how this happened, but Sasha had switched into most of my classes, and her mom started taking us both to school. We hung out every day and did homework together and…in my thoughts I saw something I’d never seen before. Sasha had literally put her life on hold to help me through the death of my father. And I had been too oblivious to see any of this.
And now, three years later, maybe it was time for her to have a life, too. My throat kind of did a weird thing at the thought.
A car behind me honked. The light had turned green. I eased off the brake, still completely lost in these new thoughts.
When I thought about our friendship in that way, I was still happy we were friends, but it seemed more of a charity case kind of friendship than an actual one.
I knew that wasn’t being fair to Sasha. Because I knew she loved me. She’d given all these years of her life to me. She cared enough to be there for me without me even knowing how much or how often she’d given up things ‘cause I just wanted to stay home. I’d created a habit of just her and me, and I was happy there—and I had thought she was, too.
But she obviously needed some space. And that made sense. And I was waking up to our situation. Maybe I needed space, too.
I sent her a heart emoji at the next stop sign.
And then I turned right and into the school parking lot.
People on both sides of the lot were checking out my Jeep. It was a cool one, I admit. But I’d never thought about it much. It was the car my dad had wanted to buy me, and usually it just made me sad. But today, it just made me feel closer to him.
I parked.
And Sasha pulled in next to me. With Nick. I had forgotten that our spots were next to each other. I never drove, and I had never driven separately from Sasha. So how would I remember?
She looked at me though, which was new. And she smiled. “You brought the Jeep.”
“It feels nice.”
Her smile grew. “I’m happy for you.”
And I knew she was. And that was a weird conversation, but at least it was one. I wanted to make her wait and tell her all the things I’d recently thought I knew about her, but instead I just let her go off into school with Nick.
Then as I tried to slide out on the driver’s side, Tad stood in front of me. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Tad! Hey.” I had somehow forgotten that this fake date actually went to my school. “You needing a stand-in?”
“Well no, but last night was so fun. I just thought…” He reached for my backpack. “Come on. Let me walk you to class.”
Well, this was nice. Before my fake date post from Sasha, not a single boy had ever shown up at our car and offered to walk me in. What had Pete said? He wouldn’t have known I was available. Was that all it took? Sasha had said to smile at them. Was that what she meant? This was the equivalent of one huge smile of availability?
I would never understand. But I hopped down. “Thank you.”
“So how was your night?”
“I couldn’t sleep for some reason.” I shrugged.
“Me neither. You were on my mind, like heavy amounts.”
That was not exactly why I couldn’t sleep, but I’d go with it. “I’m sorry.”
“No, babe, that’s a good thing.”
“Oh, okay.”
Where was his first class? Hopefully nowhere near mine. He was gearing up to start some define-the-relationship thing.
“So when are we fake dating again?”
Uh, he was not sounding super fake in his walking me to class.
“This is great, by the way. You and I are getting lots of new credibility ’cause we’re walking together.”
“We are?” People were watching us with new interest. Maybe he had something there.
“Totally. Just watch. This little walk right here is gonna earn us some real dates.”
Some guy, I forgot his name, checked me out. “Now I see what you’re talking about.”
“Exactly. So I’ll give you a call for the next ‘dates only’ thing, sound good?”
I nodded, and then he handed me my backpack and headed the opposite direction I needed to go.
When I got to my locker, Sasha was already gone. So I hurried and gathered my things and made my way to English and Cal.
Sasha was deep into Nick when I stepped into the room, but she noticed me. There was that small smile directed at me again and then all her attention went back to Nick. Well, that was an improvement.
But Cal had a new girl sitting in my seat. I stopped halfway up our row, took in the flirting, the leaning, the laughs, and just sat in a chair somewhere in the middle of the classroom.
School went by incredibly slowly because I kept thinking about Pete picking me up. Where were we going to go?
During lunch I didn’t really have anyone to sit by, so caught up on the fake date DMs and wrote a few of them back. Next week would be even more busy than the last. But some of this stuff was cool. Like I really wanted to go drive though all the neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. I thought walking through the mall to do Christmas shopping for someone’s family sounded fun. And I wanted to help decorate a tree.
At the end of the day, while I was packing up my backpack, Sasha showed up without Nick. “Hey.”
“Oh hi. Where’s Nick?”
“He has practice.”
I nodded. “How have you been?”
“Good. Nick’s great. How’s the whole fake dating thing going?”
“It’s insane, but it’s been really great. I have to say, I’m glad you did it.”
“Every time I look, it has more likes.”
“And more DMs. I have like three more this week.”
“Have any of them stuck yet?”
“Stuck?”
“Sure, like it turns from fake to real? Like you don’t need to keep doing all the fake ones ‘cause you found one that stuck?”
I nodded, like I was thinking. “Oooh. Kind of early to tell.” For some reason I didn’t want to tell her about Pete.
She looked a little disappointed but then she closed her locker. “Well, I’ll see you later.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
She just kept on walking. Anyone could tell things were not normal between us. Could she tell? Maybe this was how she wanted things to be now.
Chapter 12
&nb
sp; I texted Pete. I drove to school today. Want to meet at my house?
I’m already here. I’ll just bring you back to the school after, sound okay?
Sure. Where are you?
Look up.
I searched the parking lot. And then a car pulled up behind my Jeep where I was standing. Pete’s smiling face in the driver’s seat sent a rush of happiness through me. That’s the only way to explain the bubbles inside making me grin. “Hey there.”
“Hey yourself.” He hopped out and ran around to the passenger door.
“Thanks.” I hopped in and tossed my backpack in the back.
“That your Jeep?”
“Yeah. It mostly sits in my garage, but I had to drive myself to school today.”
“That is one awesome car. I’m already making plans for it.”
I laughed, surprised and happy that he was counting himself close enough to make plans with my car.
“So where are we going?”
He turned on the music, something country and fun. “You hungry? How about some Friendly’s first.”
“Starved, and that sounds amazing.”
When we were settled in our booth, sipping Coke and shakes alternately while we waited for the best burgers and fries, he surprised me by pulling out a gift bag.
“What is this?”
“I wanted to give you something.”
I opened it up and pulled out a picture. Of me and Pete, in eighth grade, standing in front of a school project.
“Remember when we worked on that together?”
It had been the toughest but most rewarding thing I’d done that year. We had to actually find and document birds.
“Oh my gosh! I totally do. I dreaded that project. I dreaded it for a whole year before it was assigned. In seventh grade I was having full on anxiety about it.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know. I don’t do well with art. I don’t do well with daily task type stuff and I just knew I was going to be partnered with someone awful.”
“And then?” He shifted on his bench. “I’m really hoping for a happy ending here.”
“Well, we rocked that thing. Look at us.”
The teacher had awarded prizes, and Pete and I got first.