by Amanda Abram
“Then why can’t you tell me? I can keep a secret.”
“Lex.” Jase reached out and placed a hand on each of my shoulders and stared down at me with an intense gaze. “Let it go, okay?”
Let it go? I had every right to know why my ex-boyfriend and my pretend boyfriend hated each other. But I knew Jase was determined to keep that information from me, at least for the moment, so I decided not to press him for it. I would find out someday. Even if I had to conduct an extensive investigation to do so.
“You want me to take you home?”
I blinked up at Jase, who still had his hands on my shoulders, and shook my head. “Trish can drive me.”
“Are you kidding?” He let go of me and stepped back. “It would probably ruin her newly manicured nails. Let me take you. You are, after all, my girlfriend.”
I snorted as I made my way over to the passenger side of Jase’s car. “You know, we don’t need to pretend when there’s no one around to witness it.”
“Maybe I like to stay in character, even when the cameras aren’t rolling,” he said as we climbed into the car.
I didn’t say anything to that, just shook my head. I had no idea what had possessed him to drop out of drama club after only one year. He obviously had acting in his blood.
Like every other car ride with Jase, we didn’t speak until we were parked outside of my house, until I was already reaching for the handle. And, like every other time, Jase spoke first.
“So there’s this party Saturday night at Zach’s house. Everyone’s going to be there. Jeffrey, Kylie. And you and me, of course.”
I balked at the word “party”. I had never been to a real one before, mostly because I’d never been invited to one. Especially one at Zach’s house. “I can’t,” I said, trying to sound as apologetic as possible. “I’m busy that night.”
“Busy doing what?”
I shrugged. “I dunno. Busy doing anything but going to that party.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Lex, you’re a doll. Seriously, you’re the epitome of adorable. And you’re going to that party, case closed.”
“Uh, hello? Since when do you make decisions for me?”
“Since I’m your boyfriend.”
You’re not my boyfriend.”
“I’m not really in the mood for semantics.”
“It’s not semantics!” I cried. “You are simply not my boyfriend, end of story. And even if you were really my boyfriend, you would have no right to force me to go to any party I didn’t want to attend!”
“But you’ll want to attend this party. It will be the perfect opportunity to show off our ‘relationship’ to Jeffrey and Kylie.”
I gulped. What exactly were Jase and I going to do at this party? I was about to voice that question out loud, but as if Jase had read my mind, he spoke first.
“And, I don’t want you to freak out or anything, but I was thinking, at this party, perhaps we should, you know, act like we’re really into each other.”
My heart started pounding in my chest. “H-how do you mean?”
“I think you know, Turner.”
“No. I don’t.” But I did. I was just trying to stall the entire conversation.
“Well,” he said, apparently deciding to humor me, “you and I are an official couple in the eyes of the entire school, so people might think it’s a bit strange at this party if we aren’t seen kissing at least once.”
There. He said it. The unspoken word. And once the word had been spoken, an alarm sounded off inside my head. Kissing. Jase and me, kissing. No...that wasn’t part of the plan. But wasn’t it, though? How could I have expected to pretend to be in a relationship with someone, without involving kissing somehow? Nobody in their right mind would think it was normal for Jase and I to be dating and yet never be seen kissing.
How stupid could I have been?
“Lex? You okay?”
No, I totally wasn’t okay. “Um, yeah, I just, uh…”
He seemed thoroughly amused by my reaction. “It’s not like you’ve never kissed a guy before. I saw you kiss Jeffrey all the time at school.”
“Yeah, well, I was in love with Jeffrey,” I snapped. I hadn’t meant to sound so harsh when I spoke, and I instantly regretted it. So I softened my voice when I continued. “I’ve just never kissed anyone I didn’t have feelings for. I’m not even sure I can.”
“Of course you can. Actors and actresses do it all the time. Just pretend we're the two main characters of Trish's play, and we're rehearsing.”
“So you want me to pretend I'm Cinderella and you are my prince?”
Jase shrugged. “If that's what it takes.”
I sighed and glanced out the window at the tree growing in my front yard. “Look, it’s not that I have a problem kissing you. It’s just, I don’t know. To me, kissing is special. It would just feel wrong to kiss someone when there are no feelings involved. It’s a girl thing.”
“I understand, believe it or not. But if we really want this plan to work to both of our advantages, we will have to kiss. It will be the fastest, most effective way to get reactions out of both Jeffrey and Kylie. Don’t you agree?”
“Of course I agree,” I mumbled. “Okay. Fine. We’ll kiss. Or whatever.”
“Great,” he said, beaming. “But I was thinking, maybe we should kiss before the party. You know, as a practice run? I don’t want our first public kiss to seem forced and unnatural. People might notice.”
A practice run? As in, not in front of anyone? As in, just me and him, alone? Practicing? “You mean, like right now?”
I mentally slapped myself for saying that.
He stared at me, lost in thought, as if considering my suggestion. “Yeah, I suppose. Now would be the perfect time.”
I began to panic. “Um, actually, maybe now isn’t a good time. I mean, I don’t—I mean, we shouldn’t—I mean, uh—”
Jase began to chuckle. “You don’t need to be nervous. It’s just me.”
Just him? More like, just his lips, pressed up against mine. That would be weird, to say the least. I’d grown up with the guy, and never once in the billion years I'd known him had I ever considered kissing him. Okay, maybe that was a total lie. But in many ways, he was always kinda like the older brother I never wanted, so kissing him would just be wrong, acting or no acting.
“I’m not nervous,” I denied, but as I spoke my voice shook, giving away my lie.
He reached a hand over and placed it gently on the side of my face. “Just keep in mind that this means absolutely nothing to either one of us, and you’ll be fine.”
He was wrong. I wouldn’t be fine. I was about to kiss Jase Holloway—an honor that had been given to many girls before me, and one that would be given to many girls after me, namely Kylie. She would get his real kiss. I was just getting his fake one. That’s right, it would be a fake kiss. No big deal.
Those were the words that kept echoing in my head as he slowly began to lean over to my side of the car. As his face neared mine, and I could feel his breath caressing my skin, I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, preparing myself for impact.
But it never came.
Instead, there was a loud knock on the window behind me, causing me to yelp as my eyes flew open and I pushed Jase away.
Turning back around in my seat, I saw Aaron standing outside the car, peering in through the passenger side window with a disapproving look on his face.
“Aaron!” I squealed. I had never been so happy to see my little brother before in my life. I threw open the car door and stumbled out, and as I did so, I had to refrain from lunging myself at him and giving him the biggest hug ever. He had saved me.
He stared at me with a befuddled expression, like I had just gone mad or something. Perhaps I had.
I poked my head back inside the car. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jase. Thanks for the ride!”
He looked like he was about to say something, but I slammed the door shut before he could. He wasted no time
in speeding off, and that was fine with me.
Aaron crossed his arms over his chest. “You shouldn’t be making out with boys in the driveway.”
“And you should be minding your own business, little brother,” I shot back. But deep down inside, I was thrilled he hadn’t minded his own business. Because if he hadn’t interrupted when he did, I would have had to kiss Jase.
Unfortunately, my little brother wouldn’t always be there to save me. Eventually, I was going to have to kiss Jase. Whether I wanted to or not.
Chapter Twelve
“I desperately need your help.”
Trish flung her fiery red hair over her shoulder and snapped her gum. “I know. You want me to sit with you and the Bonehead Brigade at lunch today.”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, that would be helpful. But that’s not what I was referring to.”
“Then what are you referring to?”
I took a deep breath and held it. I already knew what Trish's reaction was going to be, so I had pretty much already prepared myself for it. I never discussed it with her over the phone the previous night, for fear Jase might answer, or even worse, listen in on our conversation. So I decided to save it for the morning, when it was just me and Trish, alone, in the privacy of her own car.
“Jase and I are going to Zach's party on Saturday.” I let all the air out of my lungs.
Her hand, which was holding the car key, froze halfway to the ignition as she snapped her head in my direction and dropped her jaw.
“Come again?”
“I said—”
“I heard what you said, dork. But please tell me the Zach you are referring to is not Zach O'Connor.”
She took my complete silence as confirmation that I had, indeed, been referring to Zach O'Connor.
“Lexi, you cannot be serious about going to one of his parties!” she exclaimed. “Girls have gotten pregnant at his parties. Swear to God!”
I laughed at her overreaction. “Girls only get pregnant at his parties because they have sex at his parties. I am not going to be having sex. I'm going with your brother for heaven's sake!”
Trish brought her hands up to cover her ears. “Don't ever mention Jase and sex in the same sentence again!”
“They were two separate sentences,” I pointed out.
“Fine. Don't mention those two words in adjacent sentences ever again! Seriously. Have some decency.”
“Sorry,” I said as she finally started up the car. “But we're getting off track here. Remember? I started this conversation by saying I need your help.”
She glanced over at me warily. “What kind of help?”
“I need you to come to the party with me.”
Trish didn't even miss a beat before responding to that. “No way!”
“Come on, Trish, you are my total BFF. I cannot go to this party alone, I need you there. I mean, what if Jase ends up ditching me soon after we get there because some drunk, hot blonde starts coming on to him? I will be all by myself. I will have no ride home. I'll end up drunk, and probably sleeping with some guy I've never spoken to, whose name I will never know. And then I'll wind up pregnant.” I paused for a moment. “You'll be my kid's godmother, right?”
“Okay, fine!” she screeched. “I mean, fine I will go to the party with you, not fine I'll be your kid's godmother. Geez, you're brutal.”
“Oh thank you!” I unbuckled my seat belt and lunged myself over to her side of the car, throwing my arms around her in a grateful embrace. “Have I ever told you I love you?”
Trish sighed and shoved me aside. “Have I ever told you I have no idea why I still want to be your best friend?”
I made a face at her. “I'll interpret that as you love me too.”
Trish snorted and put the car in drive. “Yeah, I do.” She sent a devious grin my way. “But girl, you're going to owe me for this.”
I grinned at her. Trish never believed in doing something good for someone without getting something in return. It was pretty much her only flaw. But if she was to sit with me at lunch and attend the party with me and Jase, then I was willing to be forever in her debt. It seemed to me like a small enough price to pay.
We made it to school super early, but we didn't arrive before Jase did. It always amazed me how prompt that boy was when it came to school, and I wondered if it had anything to do with the fact Kylie and her herd of malnourished bimbettes liked to arrive every morning at the crack of dawn to practice their cheering routines.
I especially wondered that this morning, when one of the first things I saw upon arriving in the parking lot was Jase in the far distance, chatting up Kylie near the football field.
“Looks like someone's moving in on your fake boyfriend,” Trish said with a chuckle. “You should probably go over there and drag him away from her before he's given an opportunity to fake cheat on you.”
I glared over at her. “Oh shut up, Trish. You're just jealous because you don't have a fake boyfriend like I do.”
She rolled her eyes as she slammed her car door shut. “Honestly, I don't see why you chose my idiot brother for this job. He's going to end up royally screwing this up for you. I mean, girls throw themselves at him practically every day. All it takes is the right one, like Kylie, to make him forget all about this little charade he has going with you.”
Even though a small part of me knew she was right, I earnestly shook my head. “No way. Jase is just as committed to this as I am. And sure, we may not exactly be friends, but I honestly don't think he would screw me over. Intentionally or not.”
Trish shrugged. “I'm glad somebody has faith in him. Let's face it, my brother is one of the most sought-after guys in our entire school. He's not going to waste too much time pretending to have a girlfriend when he could have a real one. He doesn't exactly have a shortage of willing participants, you know.”
“Of course I know that,” I snapped. “I'm not an idiot. But I'm not worried about him screwing this up. He wants to piss off Jeffrey just as much as I do, and we're not going to 'break up' until we are both assured we have done just that.”
“Mmhmm.” Trish sounded anything but convinced. Her gaze flickered over to the football field. “If you insist on keeping this fake relationship going, I suggest you go put a stop to his friendly conversation with Kylie, because it looks like it's bordering on flirting.”
Ugh, not again. I knew the boy had the hots for her, but couldn't he refrain from swooning over her at least until our little plan had been played out? Then he would have all the time in the world to devote to worshiping her.
I was in no way looking forward to seeing Jase after our near-kiss the previous afternoon. But if I was really his girlfriend, like we wanted everyone to believe, then I shouldn't have to put up with him talking and having a good time with another girl.
“I'll catch up with you later,” I said to Trish, who was staring at me with a look of disapproval. “Remember, you're sitting with us at lunch.”
“Oh joy,” she muttered under her breath.
As she waved and walked off, I had to fight off the urge to follow her. But then I glanced back over to Jase and Kylie and noticed how close to each other they were standing, and I knew I had more important things to do. Like, for instance, go claim my boyfriend.
They were so engrossed in their conversation that neither one of them were aware of the fact I was fast approaching. I couldn't hear what they were saying, I could only hear the excitement in their voices. It was enough to make me gag.
“Hey, Jase,” I purred as I sauntered over to the two of them.
Kylie stopped talking at my sudden arrival and turned her bright blue eyes onto me. Jase did the same thing, only his eyes weren't as bright as hers. In fact, they were a bit cloudy, as if all of the joy had just been sucked out of them.
“Lex,” he said, sounding surprised to see me. “What do you want?”
Boy, that guy sure knew how to make a girl feel loved. There was a decent amount of annoyance in his voice as he spo
ke, and I could tell right away he regretted it. After all, what kind of boyfriend greeted his girlfriend like that?
I couldn't help but feel offended, but I opted not to let it show. At least not in front of Kylie.
“Duh.” I reached out and laced my arm through his. “I missed you, baby. That's all.”
Jase chuckled nervously. Kylie, who was sending a genuine smile in my direction, said brightly, “Hello, Lexi!”
“Hey, Kylie,” I greeted her with an equal amount of cheer in my voice. “Cute sweater.”
She glanced down at her light blue sweater—which really was cute, and looked incredibly sexy on her, despite the fact it was just a simple sweater—and grinned. “Thank you. My grandmother made it for me.”
That was another thing about Kylie that made it hard to hate her. While all of the other prissy, popular girls tried to out-designer one another, Kylie had absolutely no qualms about wearing something her grandmother had made—and she had no problem admitting it to the entire school, either.
“That's awesome,” I said sincerely.
Jase suddenly cleared his throat next to me and removed his arm from mine. “We should get going. I'll see you later, Ky.”
She nodded and gave us both a brilliant smile. “Okay! Bye!” she said before running off to join her friends eagerly awaiting her return.
Once she was out of earshot, I turned to Jase with a raised eyebrow and said, “Ky?”
“Yeah. It's short for Kylie. Duh.” He was totally mocking me.
“Whatever,” I said with a shrug. “Why were you having a conversation with her?”
“Uh, because she's my friend,” he replied defensively. “That's what friends do, they have conversations with each other. I mean, my God, you and Trish have about twelve hundred conversations a day, yet you don't see me asking you why.”
He sounded quite irritated. I thought for a moment that perhaps he'd just had a bad morning, but realized quickly that he hadn't seemed so grouchy with Kylie just then, which meant I should be taking it personally.
I stopped walking immediately and spun around to face him. “Listen, Jase, I think we need to establish some more rules here.”