Her frown deepened as she looked toward Owen once more. “Uh, yeah?” Her response came out like a question, and she didn’t sound certain at all. At least, she hadn’t denied it though.
I started to grin before she could reconsider or before Owen realized we were both full of shit. “So, of course, I’ll go with you to prom. Though I wish you’d given me a chance to do the asking. I wanted to serenade you with a promposal at my concert next weekend.”
“Well, it’s a shame I’ll miss that,” Hayley said. It seemed she was past her initial surprise and was moving right on into anger’s territory.
“It is,” I agreed, completely ignoring the sarcasm dripping from her voice. Did she really not understand that I was saving her right now? “Anyway, I’ll walk you home.”
I didn’t give Hayley a chance to object as I turned her away from Owen and started guiding her toward her house. My brother looked a little confused by what he’d just witnessed, but there was a spark of interest in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. I couldn’t get Hayley away from him fast enough.
I kept my arm over Hayley’s shoulders as we crossed the lawn and walked up her driveway. Madi was nowhere to be seen, so I guessed she must have gone inside. The moment we were standing on Hayley’s front porch, and out of Owen’s sight, she shrugged off my arm.
She glanced back toward my house to check he couldn’t see us before she exploded. “What is wrong with you?”
I stared at her blankly for several seconds, trying to figure out how to reply. I’d just helped her, but she clearly didn’t see it that way.
“You just ruined everything!” Hayley liked to use her hands a lot when she spoke, and her movements seemed to get larger the more impassioned she was. Judging by the size of her gestures, she was really pissed at me
I’d made such a snap decision earlier that I hadn’t had time to prepare for the aftermath. I needed to explain myself quickly before this got out of control. “Look, I just did you a favor. Owen was going to reject you back there.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “You don’t know that.”
“Actually, I do,” I continued. “He was literally just telling me that he wasn’t deciding on a prom date until the day before the dance. He’s already rejected several other invitations, and it was obvious he was about to do the same with yours. Don’t pretend you didn’t see it too. There was no way he was going to agree to go to prom with you.”
“What?” The blood rushed from her skin as she listened, and her shoulders caved as the fight drained out of her. Even her eyes glossed over like she was fighting tears. Thankfully, she kept them at bay, because I wasn’t sure I could handle seeing her cry. “So, I really didn’t have a chance?”
Hayley’s visible disappointment made me feel guilty. The truth about Owen’s motives must have been a lot for her to take in, and I’d probably been too blunt in my desperation to make her understand. I’d done all of this to stop her from experiencing the pain of rejection, but it seemed like she’d gotten hurt anyway. “I wish I could tell you differently,” I murmured.
She slowly nodded, and her gaze became distant as she considered what I’d said. I stood awkwardly on her porch as I waited for her to process it all. I was still worried she might cry, but it was better this way than in front of my brother. The tears didn’t come though, and when she finally focused back on me, it seemed her initial frustration had returned too. She huffed out a breath and threw her arms up in the air.
“Well, thanks for your help, but now, he thinks we’re dating,” she complained. “The whole school’s going to think the same.” Her disappointment was like a dagger in my heart. Was the idea of dating me so crazy? Probably. I was the crazy one if I believed she would ever consider it.
“If it makes you feel any better, you probably have more of a chance with Owen now than you did before if he thinks we’re dating,” I muttered.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that my brother might not have been planning to accept your prom invitation before, but knowing you’re dating me changes things. Owen has always coveted the girls he thinks I like, and now that he believes we’re dating, he’ll probably be interested in you too.”
Hayley’s brow furrowed as she considered my words. “You really think he’d be interested in me because of that?”
“I can almost guarantee it.” The thought made me sick to my stomach, but it was the truth. I might have saved Hayley from being rejected, but in doing so, I’d made her a shiny new toy Owen would have to have. He was much more likely to want her as a prom date now. I probably shouldn’t have intervened at all.
“So, there might still be a chance we could turn this around?”
My chest tightened at the hope in her voice. “We won’t be doing anything,” I replied.
“You got me into this mess, Ethan,” she said. “You’ve got to help fix this for me.”
I didn’t, actually. I was quite happy with Hayley staying as far away from my brother as possible, but I had no idea how to put that into words without admitting I liked her.
When I didn’t respond, her eyes softened a little. “Look, because you interrupted, neither of us will ever know for sure how Owen would have responded back there. I mean, he’s already rejected some girls, but perhaps, I would have been different.”
“Perhaps,” I begrudgingly agreed. I wasn’t a mind reader, but I supposed there was a slim chance she was right.
“And, if he’s truly not deciding on a prom date until the day before, then maybe I still have time,” she continued. “Maybe I still have a chance.”
She was in with more than a chance. Hayley was the most gorgeous girl I had ever met, both inside and out, and Owen would have to be an idiot not to see that. It was lucky for me that my brother was, in fact, an idiot.
“I can’t help you.”
She reached out and lightly touched my hand, clearly not dissuaded. “Haven’t you ever liked someone before who didn’t like you back?”
I tried to ignore the tingling of my skin where her fingers brushed against mine, and my voice was rough as I responded. “Sure.”
“And if you had a chance at being with them, what would you do?”
“Everything I could…”
“Then, can’t you understand where I’m coming from?” she pleaded. “Ethan, I need you. Please, will you help me?”
The dagger plunged deeper into my heart. Hearing how desperately she wanted my brother was torture. Her eyes were so big and innocent as she stared up at me though. I knew there was no way I could deny Hayley something she wanted even if it was helping her take my brother to prom. Man, I was a total sucker for this girl, and she had absolutely no idea.
I groaned. “What exactly are you thinking?”
Her face brightened, and hope lit her eyes. “So, you’re going to help me?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You know you want to,” she replied.
“I really don’t.”
“You don’t need to worry. It’s going to be so simple,” she continued, as if I hadn’t said anything at all. “Owen thinks we’re dating, and soon, it’ll be all over the school. If what you’ve said is true, all you’re going to need to do is keep pretending to date me. Owen will finally notice me and want to take me to prom.”
“That easy, huh?”
“That easy. Look, I’ll come over tomorrow, and we can talk about our plan in more detail. But this is going to work. I just know it is.”
I shook my head, at a loss for words. What was I getting myself into?
She couldn’t have looked more excited. “So, I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?”
“Uh, sure.”
“Perfect.” Her whole demeanor had changed as she spun round and entered her house. There was a lightness in her step that had been missing before, and a large smile lit her face, making her eyes sparkle. My demeanor had probably changed too, but I doubted it was for the better. This
was a terrible idea, but I only had myself to blame.
I stared at her front door, trying to figure out how all of that had just happened. I should have been elated after finally speaking more than a handful of sentences with Hayley. I hadn’t garbled my words once, and by the end of our conversation, I’d barely been nervous at all. I guess practically fighting with a girl made you less worried about impressing her. But, still, it was progress. I’d even had my arm over her shoulder at one point, and on any other day, I would have been on cloud nine. Instead, I was left wondering how I’d landed myself in such an awkward position.
I walked back to my house in a total daze. All I could think was that I was a fool for agreeing to this plan. Only someone whose brain was fogged with unrequited love could think this was a good idea. The more I thought about it though, the more I began to wonder if I could work this plan to my advantage. Hayley wanted to get Owen’s attention by pretending to date me, but what if I could finally get Hayley to see me as more than just her dorky neighbor?
This might be my one chance at being with Hayley, so perhaps, instead of worrying about Owen, I should try showing her just what a great boyfriend I could be. Hayley might have her vision for the plan, but I too had one forming in my head. Maybe, I wasn’t so foolish, after all.
6
Hayley
“How did it go?” Madi asked the moment I walked into my bedroom. She was sitting on my bed, nibbling on her lower lip as she watched me with concerned eyes.
“Well, you’d know how it went if you’d been watching from the bushes like a good best friend would be. It’s like the second cardinal rule of best friends.”
“And what’s the first rule?”
“That best friends should never post a bad picture of each other on Instagram.”
Madi laughed. “This is the first I’m hearing of these so-called best friend rules, and even if they existed, only you would think that spying would be one of them. I wasn’t going to hide in your bushes.”
“Well, they do exist, and it’s not spying; it’s more like covert moral support. I really could have used your opinion on how it went down.”
Madi’s face started to fall. “So, I take it asking Owen to prom didn’t go well…”
“Not really. It’s more of a work in progress…”
“How so?”
“Ethan was there, and he interrupted Owen before I could get an answer out of him. He thought Owen was going to reject me, so he stepped in.”
“Do you think he was right?” Madi’s voice was soft as she spoke, and I knew she was trying to be gentle with me.
I wanted to say that Ethan was completely wrong, but deep down, I felt like he was telling the truth. Owen hadn’t spoken to me like a guy about to accept a promposal, and even though I didn’t really know Ethan, for some reason, I trusted what he’d said.
“I guess I don’t know for sure.” I replied. “But, I’ve come up with a plan to fix it.”
The concern in Madi’s eyes only grew stronger. “Hayley, is that really a good idea? Your plans don’t always end well.”
“Sure, they do.”
“Are you already forgetting the plan you made last summer?”
“Well, no…”
“Because I don’t think anyone would agree that taking a giant inflatable unicorn out into the surf is a good way of impressing a hot lifeguard.”
“It was a great idea, and it worked. I got his attention.”
“Because you got swept out to sea…”
“Okay, so maybe that wasn’t the best plan, but this one is going to work. I just know it.”
Madi looked doubtful, but she hadn’t heard the details of what I was thinking yet. “Don’t look at me like that; you don’t even know what the plan is.”
Madi let out a long sigh. “Fine, hit me with your brilliant plan.”
I grinned. “Okay, if you insist, but we’re going to have to start at the beginning…” I went on to tell her everything that had happened since I stepped onto the Becks’ front lawn. I told her how my failed promposal never would have worked in the first place because Owen wasn’t picking a date until the day before prom. I described how Ethan had rescued me from rejection by pretending to be my boyfriend. And, I ended with the most important part: how Ethan and I were going to keep pretending we were together so Owen would finally notice me and I would become the girl he picked as his date.
I clasped my hands together as I finished. “So, what do you think?”
Madi had frowned the whole way through my detailed explanation, and it seemed she still wasn’t convinced my plan was quite as brilliant as I thought it was. “So, you’re telling me that you want to date Ethan so his brother will get jealous and want to steal you from him?”
“Um, sure.” When she put it that way, it sounded a little weird. “But it’s not like Ethan and I will actually be dating. It’s just pretend.”
Madi was silent for several long seconds. “Why would Ethan go along with this?”
“Well, because he messed up my promposal and he wants to help me fix it.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Of course.” A small part of me wasn’t convinced it was true though. Ethan believed he had saved me for the embarrassment of rejection, so why would he feel obligated to fix something he didn’t think was a problem? I didn’t want Madi doubting his motives though—not when she was already skeptical enough about my plan—so I kept that to myself.
“I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Madi said.
“You also thought the True Love contest was a bad idea, and look how that turned out.”
Madi’s eyes narrowed slightly. She really hated when I brought up the The Bachelor style charity contest our school had thrown, and today was no different. I wasn’t sure why she got so embarrassed over it. Everyone had loved watching her, and she was now in a perfect relationship with Cole.
“This isn’t the same,” Madi said. “It seems wrong to pretend to date someone.”
“Well, it’s not like Ethan doesn’t know it’s pretend, and neither one of us have feelings for each other, so I don’t see the problem.”
Madi blew out a long breath. “I still don’t see it ending well.”
“You’ve gotta have faith, Mads. Everything will be fine.”
She slowly shook her head at me. “You said the same thing about the swan.”
* * *
I walked over to Ethan’s house first thing on Sunday morning. His mom answered the door and smiled brightly when she saw me standing there. There was a hint of surprise in her eyes, but that was to be expected. I was hardly a regular visitor to the Beck household. Mrs. Beck knew me fairly well though. She’d been friends with my mom ever since we’d moved in next door.
“Hayley,” she said in greeting.
“Hi, Mrs. Beck, is Ethan home?”
She frowned a little at the question. “You want to see Ethan?”
“Yes, we have, uh, a project we’re working on together.”
“Oh, is it that one for social science he’s been talking about?”
“That’s the one,” I quickly replied. A fake relationship kind of counted as social science, right?
“Well, come on in.” She waved me inside. “I’m not sure he’ll be ready for you though. He never gets out of bed until after ten on the weekend.”
“Wow, I wish I could sleep in like that. I always wake up at the same time as the sun and can’t get back to sleep. It’s like a curse.”
Mrs. Beck chuckled. “Or a blessing.”
I followed her through the house, and she told me to wait in the kitchen while she went to get Ethan.
“He’ll be down in a minute,” she said when she returned. “Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water?”
“A water would be great, thanks. Caffeine and me don’t mix so well.”
She smiled and poured me a glass. She’d just passed it to me when Ethan appeared in the doorway. His hair was all messy, and
there was a sleep line streaking down the side of his face. He was wearing sweats and a loose T-shirt, and it appeared as though he’d just woken up.
What really surprised me though was the fact Ethan wasn’t wearing his glasses. He always wore them at school, and I couldn’t remember ever noticing him without them. But now that the frames didn’t border his eyes, I could see them so much clearer. Had they always had such a dark ring of blue around them? The contrast was quite striking, and I felt like I was looking at a shard of light that had cut through a darker blue ocean.
It took me a moment to realize Ethan was frowning at me and that I must have been staring. I jumped from the stool I was sitting on and walked over to him, giving him a large smile. “Morning, sunshine.”
He didn’t return my smile. Instead, he looked slightly pained. “Hayley, when you said you were coming over today, I thought you meant at a polite visiting hour.”
“It is a polite visiting hour.”
“Humans shouldn’t even be awake at this hour.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Ethan’s mom. “Is he always this grumpy in the mornings?”
“Usually worse,” she replied.
“And on that note, we’ll be going to my room now.” Ethan gestured for me to follow him from the kitchen, and I trailed after him.
“Keep the door open,” his mom called after us.
“Yeah, yeah,” he replied as he slowly started to trudge up the stairs.
I laughed as I bounded up the steps behind him. “Man, you are grumpy in the mornings.” He was more relaxed too, but I didn’t say that part out loud. He was always so shy whenever I was around, but it seemed he was still too sleepy to act like his normal reserved self.
“No, I just haven’t woken up yet,” he insisted.
“Still grumpy.”
He turned to me as we reached his doorway. “And has telling someone they are grumpy ever made them less grumpy?”
“I mean, probably not. But, I’m kind of enjoying the grumpiness, not trying to fix it.”
The Wrong Prom Date Page 6