“Wes, I’m so sorry,” I stutter. “If I’d known that, I never would’ve—”
“No, don’t be sorry.” He cuts me off. “That’s the thing. When she saw you yesterday, she got jealous.”
My mouth drops open. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Believe me, Anaya. I dated the girl for three years and never saw her act like she did when she met you. Ever.”
I flush. He must be mistaken. There’s no reason for Brooklyn to be jealous, she’s a knockout and I’m a comfortable six.
I jump off the counter and face him. “Why are you telling me this?”
He shoots me a lopsided smile. “Your performance earlier gave me an idea…”
I wait for him to finish, but his words die on his lips. I cross my arms and urge him on. “And that is?”
“Well. You need a boyfriend and I want Brooklyn back. I have a theory that Brooklyn might want to get back together if she thinks she’s in danger of losing me to someone else...”
He trails off, staring at me intently. I frown. I think I know where this is going, but he wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
“So…?” I ask.
Wes gracefully hops to the floor and takes my hands in his. “Anaya Dewan, will you be my fake girlfriend?”
15
Anaya
I stretch out on the floating dock in the middle of Legacy Lake, letting the gentle motion of the water soothe me. Today was my first day of work, and I loved every minute of it. There’s nothing like teaching excited, energetic, wonderful kids how to blow bubbles underwater and kick their legs.
A gentle summer breeze pricks my skin and I open my eyes lazily. Above, the sun begins its descent, bathing the sky in startling shades of pink and orange. The air is humid, warm. It’s so perfect, so serene, so…
“Agghhhh!”
The dock rocks violently as Wes pushes down on the edge to propel himself out of the water. I grasp onto the surface, my knuckles white.
“Hey, girlfriend,” he laughs, the sound twinkling all around us. He climbs to his feet and shakes his wet hair in my direction like a dog.
I put my hands up in an attempt to take cover. “Hey!”
I actively avoid staring at him in his swim shorts. He’s fresh off his lifeguarding shift, and his red whistle still hangs around his neck. Rivulets of water stream down his muscular chest but I focus my eyes on his face.
“‘Girlfriend’ is a little premature.” I raise my eyebrows. “You haven’t heard my answer yet.”
Wes falls to his knees and the dock shakes violently. He clutches his chest. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna break my heart.”
I laugh. “Can’t promise anything, sugarplum.”
His eyes sparkle as he lays down next to me. “Seriously, though, have you had time to think about it?”
My laughter abruptly dies and I stare at the sky with my eyes wide. It’s literally all I’ve been thinking about since he proposed his fake relationship plan yesterday afternoon.
Me. Wes’s girlfriend. Well, fake girlfriend.
He seems to think it’s pretty straightforward — I need to convince Isabella and Chloe that I have a boyfriend, and he wants to make Brooklyn jealous. We would simply act like we’re together until Brooklyn takes him back and Isabella and Chloe lay off of me. Then, it’s just a question of staging a breakup in front of Isabella and we can return to Edendale High in the fall as an ex-couple. Easy as can be.
Or, so it would seem.
It is, in theory, a perfect plan. An answer to my problem, a way out of my lie. But, on the other hand, it means weaving a bigger web of lies. And usually, the bigger the web, the harder it is to manage.
“It’s just...” I hesitate, frowning at the colorful sky. “How would it work?”
I turn on my side to face Wes and prop my arm under my ear, feigning a pose like a top model. In truth, I probably look more like a beached whale, but Wes is so far out of my league, I can’t even pretend to think that he notices me.
Wes turns his head and his turquoise eyes meet mine. All at once, my hectic mind calms down.
He shrugs. “Simple. We make a contract, set some ground rules for what we both want to achieve with this. And then we have fun getting what we want.”
I roll my eyes and laugh. “Ground rules? Like what?”
Wes props himself on one elbow so we’re at the same level. “Well, I need to make Brooklyn jealous right? So, I would want you to make me look good whenever Brooklyn’s around. She visits with her family every weekend, so I’d just want you with me when she’s here. You know, laugh at my jokes, make me look funny...”
“Well that’s not fair,” I say, my face dead-pan. “You can’t give me an impossible task.”
Wes bursts into laughter. “Oh please, everyone knows I’m hilarious.”
“Except Brooklyn, apparently.”
Wes’s eyes glimmer wickedly. “Do I need to throw you off this dock, Anaya?”
Before I can say anything, he pretends to dive towards me.
“That’s my first condition!” I squeal, pulling myself up to a seated position. “No throwing me in the water or trying to save me from drowning. In fact, whenever water is involved, you need to leave me alone.”
Wes shifts, leaning back on his hands. “Deal. What else do you need me to do?”
“Well, unlike with Brooklyn, we need to make it look real for more than just a few weekends,” I say, getting down to business. If we were ever going to do something this insane, Wes needs to know my side. “First up, no more stupid pet names. I thought I was going to puke yesterday.”
“Aw, come on,” Wes teases. “I didn’t even get to pull out my most creative ones.”
“Such as?”
“Strawberry shortcake.”
I mime throwing up. “With nicknames like that, it's amazing you don’t have a line of girls waiting to date you.”
“Oh, but I do,” Wes laughs. “The problem is, I only want to date one. You.”
My heart picks up speed at his words and my cheeks turn bright red.
“Well, fake-date of course.” He grins. “But how about ‘babe?’”
I scramble for an answer. Nobody has ever called me “babe” before.
“That’s fine.” I acquiesce, a little breathless. I force my mind back on track and hold my fingers up to count down my demands. “Aside from the nicknames, we also need to take photos for Instagram. Isabella and Chloe live on social media, so we need to make it official there.”
Wes nods, warming to the plan. “Perfect, we can both put pictures on our accounts so Brooklyn sees us together too.”
My mind races as I think of all of the classic dates I’ve heard Isabella brag about. “And, we need to go to the Edendale Carnival together in July. Everyone from school will be there.”
“Edendale Carnival, hey?” Wes smirks.
I ignore him and plow on. “And when we stage our break up, we need to make sure that Isabella sees it. That’s important. She needs to be there or she’ll never believe me. We can either do it at the Inn while she’s here — whenever that is — or go to Edendale.”
“That’ll be easy, I’m an excellent actor.” Wes pretends to polish his fingernails on his chest. “Almost as good as I am a kisser.”
I roll my eyes so hard my head hurts. “Does anyone ever take you seriously?”
“Life’s too short to be taken seriously.”
I laugh, but the sound is fake. After a beat of silence, I say, “that’s another rule for me.”
“What?” Wes asks lightly. “Taking life seriously?”
I shrug, feeling oddly embarrassed. “No kissing.”
“No kissing where?”
I look at him, my expression serious. “No kissing. At all. Period.”
Wes laughs and then catches my expression. He looks at me in disbelief. “Who’s going to believe we’re dating if we don’t kiss?”
I cross my arms across my chest. The truth is, I’ve never had a boyfriend before
. And if I’m going to be fake dating one of the most attractive guys I’ve ever seen, I need to remember that it's not real. And Wes’s lips on mine yesterday felt very, very real.
“Kissing may not be a big deal to you, but it’s a big deal to me,” I say quietly. “I just… don’t want it to be fake.”
“Who says it's not a big deal to me?” Wes tilts his head. “But, I would never do anything to make you feel uncomfortable. So, no kissing.”
I nod and he smiles. I appreciate that he’s being so considerate, that he isn’t prying for information or making fun of me. I exhale a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Is holding hands okay?” He extends his hand tentatively. I stare at the lines of his palm, the calluses from playing football. He has nice hands.
I gently place mine in his and the gesture feels intimate. It’s both exciting and comforting; new yet familiar. His skin is warm, his grip solid. My heart flutters and I stare at our clasped hands. For some reason, I can’t bring myself to look in his eyes.
“See?” he asks playfully. “We already have the holding hands thing down. We’re naturals.”
Natural is right. That’s exactly how it feels to have my hand in his. I finally meet his eyes and I smile shyly, feeling oddly like we’re about to jump off a cliff together.
He squeezes my hand gently, his eyes dancing. “So, we’re really doing this?”
I take a deep breath in and smile. “We’re really doing it.”
“I’ve never had a fake girlfriend before.”
I laugh to play off the blush. “Well you came to the right place. I’ve got some great references.”
Wes bursts into laughter and drops my hand. “One more thing. If we can’t kiss, we should go on a date in front of Brooklyn. Something just cute enough to remind her how great I am.”
His words are arrogant but his handsome face tells another story. A brief glimmer of insecurity dances across his features. It’s the first I’ve seen Wes look anything less than confident.
“She’d be crazy not to realize how great you are,” I say and find that I mean every word.
“Thanks, Anaya.” Wes returns to his normal, smiling self. “You’re a good friend.”
Friend. The word pricks me, but I force myself to be happy with the label, if nothing else. I don’t have many good friends to speak of. It’s nice to think that I’ve found a friend — and a fake boyfriend — in Wes.
I swallow and force a smile. “Last one back to shore is a loser!”
I scramble to my feet and dive off the dock, propelling myself forward with all my might. I barely give a second’s thought to Wes yelling behind me. I focus all of my attention on my burning limbs, cutting them forcibly, powerfully, through the water.
Friend. It’s a seemingly innocent word, but a reminder that I will never be Wes’s real girlfriend. Just his fake one.
Guys like Wes date girls like Brooklyn and Isabella.
Girls like me date… No one.
I suppose I should consider myself lucky that he’s even agreeing to fake it with me.
16
Wes
“Hey, bro.” Jonathan gives me a fist bump and flops down in the chair opposite me. He sets his camera bag on the table carefully, then starts demolishing his bacon and egg breakfast sandwich.
“What’s up, dude?” I grin. Though we’ve only been at the Inn for a week, I’ve been hanging out with Jonathan a lot. He’s pretty chill. I’m glad to have him as a friend prior to turning up at Edendale High in September.
“Kiara the Queen is getting on my nerves,” Jonathan says with a note of irritation.
Jonathan and Kiara are the Inn’s photographers for the summer, and, according to Jonathan, they do not get along whatsoever.
I glance across the dining room, where Kiara is sitting with Anaya, Stefi and Bree. They’re talking animatedly, laughing together. My eyes linger on Anaya. She looks so happy, so carefree. She throws her head back in laughter and I find myself smiling with her. What is it that she’s laughing about now?
I’m warmed to see her look so happy. In the short amount of time I’ve known Anaya, I trust her judge of character. And if Anaya likes Kiara, I do too.
I drown my french toast in maple syrup. “Ah, come on, she seems cool.”
Jonathan scoffs. “Yeah, if ‘cool’ means uptight, rude and determined to always be the best at everything.”
“You know what?” I smile. “I think you like her.”
Jonathan looks at me like I have six heads. “And I think you’re insane.”
I laugh and take a big bite of french toast. It’s sticky-sweet, fluffy and delicious — the perfect amount of carbs for another day in the water. “Bro, if there’s one thing I know, it’s girls.”
Jonathan smirks. “Oh yeah? I thought it was how to throw a football.”
“Well, yeah, that too.” I wiggle my eyebrows at him. “But mostly girls. And let me tell you, you’ve got it bad for Kiara.”
“You’re one to talk.” Jonathan takes a smug sip of coffee.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Earth to Wes.” Jonathan laughs. “You’ve only been here a week and you’re already in a relationship with Anaya. Talk about having it bad.”
Right. Three days ago, Anaya and I agreed to do the fake relationship thing. I haven’t told anyone and I don’t think she has either, but it appears that gossip travels faster than a wildfire at Legacy Inn.
“Who told you?” I ask.
“More like, why didn’t you tell me?”
I pause mid-bite.
Because it’s not real. Because I didn’t want to lie.
I recover quickly and shrug. “Because it’s early days yet.”
“Anaya Dewan,” Jonathan muses, looking at their table. “You know, my ex-girlfriend hates her.”
I look at him sharply. “Who’s your ex-girlfriend?”
“Her name is Isabella Hall.” Jonathan grimaces. “Let’s just say that dating her wasn’t my best decision.”
Isabella Hall — the same girl who picks on Anaya at school? I can’t picture Jonathan spending time with a girl who goes out of her way to make others miserable. That being said, I’m curious as to what sort of faults Isabella could possibly find with Anaya.
My brow furrowed, I lean forward. “Why does she hate her?”
Jonathan rolls his eyes. “She’s kind of a b— uh, mean. Let’s just say that she’s kind of mean. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking, dating her.”
Curiosity overwhelms me, an itch I need to scratch. “And Anaya? Why does she hate Anaya?”
Jonathan shrugs. “I’m not exactly sure. They used to be friends. They were on the cheerleading team together.”
I almost spit out my coffee. “Anaya — the same Anaya who trips over her own feet every two seconds — was a cheerleader?”
“Surprisingly, yes.” Jonathan laughs. “From what I know, she was the best gymnast on the squad. In all honesty, I think Isabella was jealous of her.”
“Because she was a better cheerleader?”
“That... or a number of other things.” Jonathan traces the rim of his coffee mug. “Anaya was popular with the other girls, her looks easily rivalled Izzy’s, and she outperformed Izzy on every cheer. Izzy was jealous, so she rounded on her. Started making fun of her, cutting her down. Her best friend, Chloe, was bad for it too. But Anaya — she stuck up for herself, quit the squad to protest the bullying.”
I look at Anaya, watching as she tries to pop a grape in her mouth. She misses and the grape rolls sadly onto the floor. She glances around the room and picks it up like nothing happened. I half-smile to myself, my heart warming for her. I can’t imagine Anaya being bullied for being her fun, quirky, hilarious self.
“You’ll see in September.” Jonathan smiles nervously. “Don’t judge me too hard for dating Isabella.”
“Never.” I shake my head. “We all make mistakes.”
Jonathan breathes a sigh of relief.
“Well, I’m amazed that Anaya has actually committed to dating a guy. I’ve never seen her with a boyfriend around school, but I think it’s because she scares most guys off.”
“How?” I frown.
“You must know by now.” Jonathan laughs and gestures towards the table. “Anaya is the full package — smart, sweet, nice. Everyone at school thinks she’s gorgeous. A bunch of the guys on the soccer team were head over heels for her. But, she never flirts with any of them, never shows interest. She’s all business, that girl. But maybe you’ve changed her.”
All business. Of course. I need to remember that this is what our fake relationship is to Anaya — a business transaction, a convenient way to dig herself out of a hole.
Still, that doesn’t stop the shivers I get every time I think about that kiss.
“Maybe I have.” I give Jonathan the most sincere smile I can muster and scramble to my feet. “Anyway, gotta bounce. Time to save some lives.”
He laughs and rolls his eyes. “See ya later, dude.”
“Good luck with Kiara.” I call over my shoulder. “And remember, when you do get together,t I called it first.”
With a laugh, I jog off before Jonathan can protest.
I step into the sticky heat of morning, and make my way to the beach, excited to see Anaya. After talking to Jonathan, I’m not surprised that Anaya kissed me on the beach to get herself off the hook with Chloe. She was acting out of fear, not out of any feelings for me.
I have to remember that and separate what’s real from what’s fake.
Even so, I’m grateful to have met Anaya. She’s become such a good friend already. Every morning, I wake up looking forward to spending time with her. And during the day, perched in my lifeguard chair, my eyes are drawn to her over and over again. She’s so good with the kids, so gentle and patient.
Unlike Brooklyn. She hates kids.
Ah, Brooklyn. It’s Friday, which means that she’ll be back at the Inn later today. I wonder how she’ll react to seeing me with Anaya. Will she be jealous? Will she want to get back together?
The Complete Legacy Inn Collection: Four Sweet YA Romances Page 22