by Amanda Abram
Looking completely shocked at that, he said, “Why?”
I sighed. “Trish says that in order for me to fully get over Jeffrey, I need to start dating.”
“But you're already dating. You're dating me.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I'm not. I'm pretending to date you, to get back at Jeffrey, and to make Kylie realize you'd make great boyfriend material. Neither of those things are helping me to get over Jeffrey at all. I think Trish might be right. I think we should end this soon so I can just get on with my life.”
“No.”
I blinked up at him. “No?”
“That's right. No. We can't end this yet.”
“But there is no reason to keep it going. Kylie wants you, and I want to forget about Jeffrey. Breaking up would solve both issues.”
“So let me get this straight. You want to break up with me so you can date other guys?”
“Correct.”
“Who are you planning on dating?”
“I dunno,” I said with a shrug.
“You don't even have one person in particular in mind?”
“No. Why, should I?”
“Yeah, if that's the reason why you want to end this.” He paused for a moment. “I mean, what if we 'break up', and then you can't get a date? Then we would have broken up for no reason.”
I suddenly felt as though I'd been kicked in the stomach. “You don't think I'll be able to get a date?”
He looked confused for a moment, until it dawned on him what he'd said and how it had sounded. “No, that's obviously not what I meant. You could date any guy you want.”
“No I couldn't,” I mumbled. “You're right. It's a bad idea.”
He let out a frustrated sigh and reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder. “No, it's not a bad idea. I think it's a great idea. Obviously we can't keep this fake relationship going on forever, and you deserve to find someone new. It's just, well, remember when I told you I was going to show you what it's like to have a real boyfriend?”
I nodded. How could I forget?
“I haven't done that yet. And we can't end this until I do.”
I thought about it for a moment. “Do you have any idea when you think you might get around to doing it?”
“Give our relationship another two weeks,” he said, taking my hand in his again, intertwining his fingers with mine. “That will make this the longest relationship I've ever had with a girl, and it will seriously impress Kylie. It will also give me a chance to prepare you for the world of dating. It's win-win. What do you say?”
I glanced over at him skeptically. “Two weeks?”
He nodded. “Two weeks, and then we'll have the breakup of a lifetime. We'll do it in a way that will allow me to go cry on Kylie's shoulder, while at the same time make guys want to line up to date you.”
That certainly intrigued me. “How do you figure we'll do that?”
“We've got two weeks to figure that out. Meanwhile, I'm scheduling our first date for Friday night. Just me and you. No parties or other social events. A real date. I mean, a real fake date, of course. You know what I mean.”
“I do,” I said with a chuckle. “Okay. Sounds good to me.”
“Great.” He draped his arm across my shoulder. “We should probably get to homeroom now.”
“Yeah, probably,” I said with a nod. As we began our trek toward the school, I swiveled my head to glance up at him. “We just sorta had our first lover's spat, didn't we?”
“We did.” He smirked down at me and nudged me playfully. “And all because you couldn't contain your intense jealousy over my car ride with Kylie.”
“Oh really? Because I could have sworn it also had something to do with your intense jealousy over what happened in Jeffrey's driveway yesterday.”
Jase gave an uneasy chuckle. “Can you imagine if we were going out with each other for real? We probably wouldn't last a week.”
“Are you kidding? We probably wouldn't even last a day.”
As we walked into the school building, I realized I was going to essentially be seeing it for the first time. Because now, I was on the prowl. On the lookout for my next potential boyfriend. To find the one guy who could change my life and make me forget about Jeffrey Weston, once and for all.
Chapter Twenty
The thought of having a “real” date with Jase scared the heck out of me, and that's all I could think about all week.
Our plan for Friday evening was as follows: he was going to pick me up at seven o'clock. I was to dress in something that wasn't too dressy, but not too casual. After that, it was a complete mystery, because he refused to tell me where he was taking me, which was just another reason why I was scared.
My mother, however, was anything but scared. She was ecstatic. She was elated. She was happiness personified.
“Have I mentioned yet how thrilled I am that you're dating Jase?” she asked from the doorway to my room.
It was a quarter to seven o'clock, and I had tried on at least five different outfits, all of which I'd absolutely hated. Frowning at myself in the mirror, I answered in a droll voice, “You might have mentioned that one or three hundred times.”
My mother beamed as she entered my bedroom. She glanced around at all of the clothes strewn everywhere. “Having a problem deciding what to wear?”
“Not at all,” I said sarcastically, yanking off the button-up sweater I'd just put on and throwing it atop the pile of discarded clothing on my bed.
“What's wrong with any of these things?” She began to paw through the pile. Less than thirty seconds later, her hands emerged, one holding onto a simple black, sleeveless, couple-inches-above-the-knee dress, and the white, half-sleeved sweater I had just tossed aside. “These would look cute together. You could put on the sweater when you get cold.”
I hated to admit it, but they kinda did look cute together. I had to hand it to my mother. She had much more fashion sense than I did.
“Maybe,” I mumbled, grabbing them from her hands. With a heavy sigh, I sat down on the bed. “I don't even know why I'm trying so hard. It's not like it's an actual date or anything.”
Those word were supposed to remain inside my head only, and as soon as they had mistakenly escaped from my mouth, I froze.
My mom narrowed her eyes at me. “What is that supposed to mean?”
My first instinct was to just pick a lie and run with it. But then the reality of the situation hit me, and it hit me hard. My mother had been hoping for me and Jase to fall in love ever since we were still playing together in the sandbox, so to string her along into thinking Jase and I had any sort of romantic future together, well...that was just wrong.
“It means that Jase and I aren't really dating.”
My mother stared at me blankly. After a few blinks, she said, “I don't get it.”
“Our relationship is fake, Mom.” I stood up and began taking all of the discarded clothing off the bed with the intent of hanging it all back up. “We're just pretending to date.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “I'm still not getting it.”
“Look, I wanted to make Jeffrey mad, okay?” I snapped. “And maybe I wanted to make him a little jealous as well. So I asked Jase if he would pretend to date me, because I know Jeffrey hates Jase, so I figured it would really get to him. And Jase agreed to go along with it.”
I wasn't surprised to see a frown beginning to form on my mother's face. I was, however, surprised at what exactly she was frowning about.
“Alexandria Marie Turner,” she said in a stern voice. Her use of my full name was a good indication she was not very happy with me. “I can't even begin to tell you how wrong it is for you to be leading on that poor boy. Jase deserves better than that.”
“Lead him on? Mom, he willingly went along with this plan, knowing full well what the purpose of the plan was.”
“So?”
“So that's not considered 'leading him on'. There is no leading on involved with this plan at all
. Trust me.”
My mother crossed her arms and deepened her frown. “Honey, that boy is crazy about you, and trust me when I tell you that pretending to date him like this is only going to lead to hearts getting broken.”
My jaw dropped at her words. “Whoa, Mom, you have this all totally wrong. Jase is not crazy about me. You want to know why else he is going along with this plan? To make another girl jealous, and to make her see that he is perfect boyfriend material. He is madly in love with this girl. So madly in love with her, in fact, that it is bordering on gross. And believe me when I tell you I have nothing on this girl. She's perfect. She's beautiful and smart and fun and outgoing and popular. And even if this girl had nothing to do with Jase going along with my plan, he would still never be 'crazy' about me, because I'm not his type. He's popular and hot and everyone adores him because he's so amazing. I, on the other hand, am plain and boring and everyone at school just knows me as 'Trish's best friend'. I'm a loser who can't keep a boyfriend, and I will never be good enough for somebody like Jase, so just drop it, okay?
We both stood in a stunned silence when I was finished. My mother's frown had disappeared, but her brow was furrowed as she glanced over at me in concern.
When I finally got over the initial shock of my outburst and blinked, I felt a wet substance between my eyelids. And when I glanced over at my mother, I couldn't help but notice how blurry she suddenly looked.
I was crying.
Quickly, I reached up my arm and wiped the tear away with my sleeve. It was just a fluke. Something must have gotten into my eye and irritated it while I was talking.
But that wasn't my mother's theory, I could tell. “Oh, sweetie. You've fallen for him, haven't you?”
“No, I haven't!” I instantly protested. It wasn't a lie. I hadn't fallen for Jase. He was just my friend. Actually, he wasn't even my friend. He was just my partner in crime. Nothing more.
“I don't suppose I need to tell you this plan of yours is a terrible one?” my mother continued.
“No, you don't.”
“And I probably don't need to also tell you I think you should end it as soon as possible?”
“Don't worry,” I said glumly. “We are.” Turning around to face her, I asked, “Do you have any shoes that will go with this outfit?”
My mother pursed her lips, like she wanted to say more but figured it would do no good. “I believe I do. I'll go get them.”
“Thanks,” I said with a smile. But as soon as she was out of the room, the smile vanished from my face.
Why was I suddenly in such a bad mood?
“You're wrong, you know,” came a deep voice from the doorway to my bedroom.
I jumped slightly and spun around to see Aaron leaning casually against the door frame, his shoulders hunched forward, giving him his trademark slouch, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his ridiculously baggy jeans.
“Wrong about what?” I asked him in a snippy voice.
“Kylie's the one who's got nothing on you.”
My initial reaction was to let out a loud “Awww!” But then I realized how suspicious it was for him to compliment me, so I titled my head and narrowed my eyes at him. “You're obligated to say that because you're my brother.”
“No, my obligation as your brother is to agree with you, just to be a jerk. But I can't in this case, because you're wrong. You are so much better than Kylie.”
Instinctively, I reached up and pinched my left arm with my right hand, in an attempt to wake myself up. Because obviously, I was dreaming. My little brother was being nice to me.
Aaron rolled his eyes. “You aren't asleep, loser. I am capable of being a decent human being, you know.”
“I know. Just usually not to me.”
He sighed. “Look, this is just my opinion, okay? But Kylie is highly overrated. I mean, yeah she's pretty and all. And she has a smokin' bod—”
I groaned inwardly. So far, she didn't sound too overrated to me.
“And yeah, she's uber popular and stuff, but I just don't see what almost every guy in school sees in her. She's so fake. And generic. She's just your stereotypical cheerleader who has absolutely nothing to offer besides her looks. I just don't see why any guy would want to bother dating her when there are super-cool girls like you in the world. I mean, it's not like you're hideous-looking or anything, and—oof!”
He was cut off mid-sentence when I threw myself at him, embracing him in a big hug. This was quite possibly the sweetest moment in the history of our entire siblingship and there was just no way I was going to let it end without a hug.
Aaron cleared his throat. “Uh,” he said uncomfortably. Gently, he reached up and began to pry me off of him.
“Sorry,” I apologized with a grin. But then that grin slowly faded as the realization hit me. “You heard everything I said to Mom, didn't you?”
He shrugged slightly. “That you and Jase are pretending to date? Yeah. I did.”
“Oh.” I took a seat on the edge of my bed. “Please don't tell anyone, okay?”
“Don't worry, sis, your secret is perfectly safe with me. Can I offer you some advice though?”
I nodded a bit warily. “Sure.”
“Be careful. I don't want to see you going through what you just went through with Jeffrey.”
A small amount of panic began to wash over me. I mean, who was this kid, and where had he stashed my actual brother?
“Because you get so annoying when you're moping around over a boy,” he continued.
Ah, there he was!
“I found something,” my mother declared, coming back into the room holding a pair of strappy black shoes with dangerous-looking heels. “Oh,” she said in surprise when she saw Aaron. “You weren't harassing your sister, were you?”
“No, he wasn't,” I assured her.
Aaron glared down at me and said, “Bite me,” before turning and exiting the room.
He had completed the transformation back into his old self.
My mother handed me the shoes. “Now, let's get you dressed and all gussied up so you can give that boy a fake date he will never forget.”
I gulped as the panic returned to the pit of my stomach. I wasn't sure what exactly had transpired between the time she went to get the shoes and when she had returned, but she now seemed eerily okay with my entire situation with Jase. It was weird, and I didn't like it.
However, I got over all the worry as she began to fix me up. She was a master of makeovers, and super speedy with them as well. In less than ten minutes after I'd thrown on the outfit she'd picked out for me, she managed to sculpt my hair into an attractive updo with a few tendrils poking out here and there, and she had transformed my face from plain and average to...well, to almost pretty with just a small amount of mascara, eyeshadow and sheer lipgloss. When I finally got to glance at myself in the full length mirror, taking in the whole ensemble, I had to desperately try and prevent my eyes from popping out of their sockets.
I looked good.
“You look beautiful,” she gushed, just as the doorbell rang downstairs. “Oh, I'll get it!” she exclaimed, rushing out of the room. “That way you can make your grand entrance down the stairs!”
I rolled my eyes as she hurried down the stairs to answer the door. After she was gone, I glanced at myself one more time in the mirror. I tried to look at myself objectively. I tried to see myself not how I did, but how a teenage male might. And while, granted, I didn't look nearly as good as Kylie would have in the exact same outfit, I had to admit I didn't look half-bad. I looked like a girl. No, scratch that. I looked like a young woman. And I instantly found myself wondering what Jase was going to think of my appearance. Would he think I looked pretty? Or would he just be comparing me to Kylie? If it was the latter, I was screwed. There was just no way I could ever compete with Kylie for anything, especially not for Jase's affections.
Not that I wanted to or anything.
“Lexi, you have company!” my mother called up to me.<
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Taking a deep breath, I grabbed my sweater in one hand and cautiously began to make my way towards the stairs. I wasn't used to wearing shoes with heels, so I was a little unsteady as I began to descend the steps. I even stumbled once or twice, but luckily managed to save myself by clinging to the railing the entire way down. Fortunately, Jase wasn't waiting in the doorway, or anywhere in the foyer for that matter, so he wasn't there to witness my clumsiness.
They should really make these shoes with training wheels.
I could hear him talking with my parents in the living room, so I just followed the sound of his voice. He sounded so at ease speaking with them, probably because he'd known them practically his entire life and he knew they adored him. It was such a huge difference from how my parents treated Jeffrey. They always seemed so unsure and disinterested around him. I'd certainly never heard them laughing and joking around with him like they were currently doing with Jase.
“Hey,” I interrupted their merriment from the doorway to the living room. Jase, who'd had his back to me, instantly turned around at the sound of my voice and froze when he saw me.
I studied his reaction closely, in an attempt to determine exactly what he was thinking. But let me tell you, it was hard. He had an expression on his face that indicated he was a bit taken aback by my appearance, but anything beyond that was unreadable and much to my chagrin, I found myself becoming increasingly disappointed.
What, did I expect him to drop his jaw and widen his eyes and stutter something about how beautiful I looked? Of course not. This was Jase, who was in love with someone who could be a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Suddenly, I began to feel more than a bit self-conscious. What was I thinking, dressing up like that? It was nothing more than a futile attempt at making a boy look at me the way he looked at girls like Kylie. I felt stupid for even trying.
“Ready?” I asked him shortly, as I wobbled into the room.
“Uh...yeah,” he replied. He turned to my parents. “I'll have her home by eleven.”
“Oh, make it midnight,” my mother said, waving a dismissive hand in the air. “Have a good time, sweetie.”