Dating: For the Block

by Stephanie Street

  “That is just so exciting,” I sighed once it seemed she’d calmed down a little. Not that I blamed her. This was a big deal. “I’m so happy for you.” And I was.

  “Thanks. I don’t even care that I won’t be at school for my last year. It’s not like you’re going to be there, anyway.”

  “Like that would have held you back. You’re meant to do this.”

  “I am, aren’t I?” Brooke laughed. I knew she wasn’t being arrogant. Brooke wasn’t like that. She was smart, confident, and knew exactly what she wanted. She’d worked hard to get this far. “I still miss you, though. I hate that we don’t get to see each other everyday.”

  “Me, too.” Not having Brooke around made me glad I’d been getting to know Piper and Dannika. My new friends I’d soon be lying to about this whole deal with Grayson. Argh.

  Suddenly, I wanted to spill my guts to Brooke. What would it hurt? She was far enough away that she couldn’t rat us out, not that she would, but maybe I needed someone on my team, someone I could talk to that would help me keep my head on straight.

  “So, I kind of have something I need to tell you.” No sense beating around the bush.

  “Ooh, tell me. Is it juicy? You know I love me some juicy.” I pictured Brooke settling in on her day bed in her room in California. We’d spent countless hours over the years in that very spot sharing ‘juicy’ information about ourselves and our friends. Homesickness speared my heart. I was still mostly avoiding talking to my mom. I responded to her texts…a day later. And when she called I let it go to voicemail and then texted back just before bed or during school hours when she couldn’t or wouldn’t call. Talking to Brooke was my only tie to my old life and right that second, I’d give about anything to be sitting on her fluffy comforter by her side.

  But that wasn’t going to happen. Thank goodness for cell phones and unlimited minutes.

  “It’s juicy alright. So, you remember I told you about that one guy? Grayson?” I’d mentioned him once or twice. I knew I’d told her about the first day of school when Grayson was kissing some junior. I didn’t know her name and I’d never seen him with her since.

  “Yeah, the player.”

  “Right. Well, you are never going to believe what happened.” And then I told her everything. From the moment I woke up on Saturday from a three hour long nap on the couch in Dad’s living room to find Grayson and his beautiful mother standing on our front porch to the awkward dinner and finally Grayson’s outburst that I was his girlfriend.

  Brooke gasped. “He didn’t!”

  “Oh, he absolutely did. I thought I was going to die. I can’t stand the guy. It was bad enough having him in my house and eating dinner with us, but then he goes and says he’s my boyfriend? I wanted to kill him.” I still wanted to kill him.

  “Why would he do that?”

  I guess I hadn’t made his motivation clear. “Because it looked like my dad was about to make some big announcement about himself and Grayson’s mom!” I tried to keep my voice down, but Dad was downstairs parked in front of the television. There was no way he could hear me all the way up in my room, but still.

  “What makes you say that?” Brooke was totally invested and I was relieved to have told her, to have told someone.

  “Well, they weren’t too obvious about it but there were vibes, definite vibes the whole time they were at our house. Little touches. Looks. Flirting.” It was horrible just saying it. I’d just gone through this with my mom and Mark. I recognized the signs of a parent falling in love.

  Wait. Falling in love? Was my dad honestly falling in love with Grayson’s mom?

  My head hurt.

  “So, that still doesn’t explain why Grayson would announce that you guys were, you know, a thing.”

  “I didn’t get it either, at first, but Dad reached across the table to hold Michelle’s hand and he’s about to tell us something and the next thing I know I have a boyfriend! It was like he’d dumped a bucket of cold water on them. Dad dropped her hand so fast my head spun and they barely looked at each other after that. Or at least, I not that I saw since Grayson dragged me outside.”

  “Oh, re-ally?” she asked.

  I rolled my eyes even though she couldn’t see me and told her everything Grayson and I talked about on the porch before our respective parents joined us. And then I told her about my argument with my dad about my relationship with Grayson, or the relationship he thought I had with Grayson. It was all so confusing.

  “He’s never yelled at me like that. At least, not that I can remember.” It still stung. I hated that we’d let something come between us. Especially when that something was Grayson Levitt.

  “He must be pretty bad if your dad knows about it,” Brooke commented.

  “Right? Well, Grayson is on the basketball team. I’m sure Dad hears all kinds of stuff if he’s paying attention. Anyway, when I got to school this morning, I was freaking out.” I told her about how Grayson talked me down off the ledge and well, everything else.

  “Wait just a darn minute. He kissed you?” Brooke squealed.

  “Yes, but Brooke, it’s just fake. Remember? Fake until we can figure out how to keep our parents apart permanently.”

  “Oh, my gosh, Mia. What if your parents got married and he became your step-brother?” She squee-ed again.

  I held my phone away from my ear, cringing at her volume as much as her words. “Exactly,” I said once she quieted down.

  “How awkward would that be? What if it doesn’t work and they got together, anyway? Then you will have kissed your brother. Oh. My. Goodness.”

  I squeezed my eyes shut. “You are not helping! Besides, the whole point of this fake relationship is to keep that from happening.”

  On the other end of the phone, Brooke sighed. “That’s kind of sad, Mia. What if it’s true love and you and Grayson mess it all up for them?”

  Did she think I hadn’t already thought of that?

  “I mean, your dad hasn’t dated anyone seriously since the divorce, has he?” Brooke continued.

  “No,” I whispered. And Grayson said his mom hadn’t, either. At least, as far as he knew. And really, I only saw my dad for about eight weeks total out of the year. That left forty-four unaccounted for weeks that Dad could be going out every night for all I knew. But I doubted it. And even if he was doing that, obviously nothing had come of it.

  “I don’t know, Mia. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  No. I wasn’t sure at all. But one thing I knew for certain, if Dad and Michelle were really meant to be then a couple of teenagers couldn’t keep them apart. So, what would it hurt to throw a couple of obstacles in their way and maybe save everyone the heartache of a relationship that should never have happened in the first place? At least, that’s what I was telling myself.

  “I think I just want to see what happens, how this will all play out and then re-evaluate.”

  Brooke sighed again. “Okay. It’s your life. I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing.”

  “That’s why I told you in the first place. I know you’ll be my voice of reason.”

  My best friend laughed. “It’s not a good sign when I’m the voice of reason in your life, Mia. Now, tell me more about this kiss. Was it good?”

  Was it good? Everything about Grayson was delicious and his kiss was no exception. My pulse spiked just thinking about it, thinking about him! But I wasn’t telling Brooke that.

  “It was fine.”

  “Fine? Fine! Send me a picture of this boy. I don’t believe you.”

  “I don’t have one.” That wasn’t true. I snapped a picture of him at practice one day with my phone. No one noticed. He was red-faced and sweaty from working hard and he’d never looked better. Basically, he was begging me to take his picture. On pain of death I would never admit it, but if it weren’t for his player status, and I wasn’t talking about the basketball team, I’d be crushing on Grayson big time.

  Brooke growled. “Your assignment fo
r tomorrow is to get a picture of this guy. I have to see who my best friend is fake dating. He needs my approval.”

  That made me laugh. I promised to take a picture, she didn’t need to know it would be the second one on my phone, and send it to her tomorrow. We talked for a few more minutes and then said goodbye. I felt a lot better after talking to Brooke. She hadn’t offered much advice, but it was nice to know someone else besides Grayson and I knew what was going on. I wondered if he told anyone?

  I sat up in my bed.

  Oh, my goodness! What if he told somebody?

  My mind raced. Who would he tell? Noah was his best friend. Had Grayson told Noah about our deal? How embarrassing.

  “Ugh,” I groaned, flopping back onto my pillows. This whole thing was out of control and it was only day one!

  I was going to have to talk to my ‘boyfriend’. If we were actually going to do this thing then we had some serious crap to figure out.

  11

  Grayson

  “You’re never going to believe the rumor I heard about you today.” Noah didn’t even set his food down on the table before laying into me. I had a feeling I knew exactly what he was talking about but there was no way I was going to make this easy on him.

  “Hmm. Could be anything. I’m a hot topic around here.” I took a bite of barbecue chicken sandwich and pretended not to care what he said. I didn’t really care what he’d heard, but it worked in my favor if people were already talking about Mia and I being a couple.

  “And so humble,” Noah stated, dryly.

  I shrugged. He couldn’t be more right.

  Noah sat back with a frown. “Don’t be an ass. What’s with you, anyway?”

  “Where’s Tierney?” It wasn’t often she wasn’t attached to Noah’s hip. Or lips.

  “She had a fundraiser for cheer.” Noah hadn’t been distracted by my question, however. “What about Mia?”

  “What about her?” I wasn’t just going to hand it to him. And while I’d talked to Mia about eating in the cafeteria, she’d avoided it again today.

  Noah sat forward, bracing one elbow on the edge of the table as he watched me. “Dude. Why are you being like this?”

  “Like what?” I knew what he meant and I didn’t care. Noah frustrated me. I was being such a girl about this, but seriously? You get a girlfriend so you can’t be around for anyone else? That wasn’t right. I would never do that to him.

  “Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, whatever.” Noah sat back again and threw his hands in the air. He pointed his finger at me. “But, I know something’s going on with you and this whole Mia thing doesn’t add up.”

  “Oh, now you care?” Not only was I being a girl, I was acting like a twelve year old girl. This is what happened when you were raised by a single mother. Not much tough love in my house. We were more about emotional sabotage and passive aggressiveness.

  I took another bite of my sandwich while pretending to ignore the satisfied gleam in my best friend’s eye.

  “Ahh, so that’s what this is about. You’re jealous.” Noah pointed his finger at me again. One more time and I was going to break it. I didn’t need a male role model to teach me that.

  “Right. And what exactly am I jealous of, Obi-wan?”

  “Tierney. You’re mad that I’ve been hanging out with her so much.”

  “You’re nuts. I don’t even like you.” I wasn’t making this any better if Noah’s laughter was any indication.

  “Dude, man up. I have a girlfriend. Get over it. That doesn’t mean we aren’t still friends.” Noah relaxed enough to start on his own lunch. I was really glad the other guys were flirting with the girls at the next table and not paying any attention to us. It was bad enough Noah was calling me out without having witnesses.

  I was being a tool, but couldn’t a guy count on his best friend these days? I finished my sandwich with one bite, still refusing to say anything.

  “You’re pouting and I don’t have time for that bull crap. So either knock it off and spill or just knock it off.” Noah knew me well. He sat quietly and let me stew. He knew I needed to talk. I knew he was a good friend. I was just being a jerk. Which seemed to be normal for me lately.

  I debated telling Noah everything. I didn’t want him to know that my first girlfriend since middle school was a fake, a ploy to keep my mom from dating her dad, but I also needed to tell someone so I didn’t go crazy. This wasn’t a normal situation for me. It wasn’t normal for anyone and I was going to need a sounding board. As much as I hated to admit it, Noah was the best candidate.

  Once I started talking, in hushed tones of course, Noah dropped his sandwich on his plate and hung on my every word. I told him about Mia hating me for no reason. I told him about going to Coach’s house for dinner which led to me explaining about the other times I’d been Coach’s house. His eyes bulged at that revelation. I described the whole thing from the moment we pulled into the drive until we drove away and then I purged some more by telling him about my conversations with Mia and kissing her. I left nothing out.

  “You kissed her!” Noah blurted.

  “Shh! Dude!” Glancing around, I made sure no one was paying attention to us before turning my glare on him. “And to top it off my dad wants to see me.”

  Noah’s expression went from stunned amusement to solemn concern. He knew exactly how I felt about my deadbeat dad.

  “Wow. When did that happen?” Noah came from a perfectly stable family that consisted of himself and two parents that were just as devoted to each other as they were to him. Sometimes having a friend who was perfect was a real pain.

  The old feelings of resentment reared their ugly head. “The day we got back from break.” I hadn’t told him because he’d been too wrapped up in Tierney.

  He’d told me a little about what happened to her at her old school and it hit really close to home after everything last semester with Piper Hines and that jerk Jack Fawcett. Apparently, Tierney was still healing from her own ordeal and Piper’s troubles, along with an incident with Noah’s ex-girlfriend at the Homecoming Dance a few weeks ago, had served as triggers setting her back some. I knew Noah had a lot on his plate, providing emotional support for Tierney. And on top of that, his dad had cancer. Noah thought he was doing better, but…

  Hell, I really was a tool. My problems suddenly seemed juvenile. I was being selfish.

  “I’m sorry, man. I’m being a huge baby. It’s just-” I stopped myself. It was just nothing. I regretted dumping my problems on Noah. He didn’t need to deal with me.

  Noah slapped a hand down on my shoulder. “Are you kidding? It’s a relief to hear someone else’s problems for a change. I’m sick to death of my own. At least, your issues are halfway entertaining. I’d have given anything for a front row seat to that dinner at Coach’s house.” Noah chuckled under his breath but it quickly turned into a full blown belly laugh. “I wish I could have seen Mia’s face. That had to have been priceless.” He laughed again.

  Shoving his hand off my shoulder with a mock glare, I said, “I thought she was going to murder me.”

  That made Noah laugh even harder. “Prince Charming is losing his mojo. I didn’t know there was a girl on this planet you couldn’t charm.”

  I didn’t either, but I wasn’t going to admit that to Noah. I waited until he was finished laughing which took a few minutes and even then he burst into chuckles periodically.

  “I just don’t know what to do next, though. Do we fake date indefinitely?” I asked after he calmed down. “What a mess.” I shook my head.

  “Dude, this is perfect. So, you fake date Mia for a while and show her who you really are. She doesn’t really know you, just like you said. But here’s your opportunity to change her mind.”

  “Who said I want to change her mind?” Damn Noah.

  Noah slanted a glare at me. “I’ve seen how you look at her, man.”

  I scoffed. “I look at girls all the time.” I’m a guy.

  He didn’t even j
ustify that comment with a reply. “So, what are you going to do about your dad?”

  “I don’t have a freaking clue.”

  What I did know was that Mia and I still had some work to establish ourselves as a couple at EH. I’d gone so far as to change my relationship status on social media and profess my love for Mia in order to get some my friends, my female friends, off my trail. I never realized just how many girls I talked to until I had to shut it all down.

  It was passing period between first and second. I caught Mia outside her first period class since I’d gone to weight lifting before classes started and missed seeing her. She gave me the stink eye when I reached for her hand, but that didn’t mean I didn’t notice the way her pulse picked up in her throat.

  “Nothing on my end.” We’d begun reporting any suspicious behavior at our respective houses. Mom was still getting texts that seemed to make her happy and sad at the same time which led me to believe they were from Coach Tillman, however, they seemed to be coming less and less. Mom asked me everyday how things were going with Mia. She seemed genuinely happy for me to have a girlfriend and had even gone so far as to tell me she was proud that I’d finally made the choice to take a chance.

  I felt like a jerk. I was a jerk.

  “Dad had another phone call last night. It was late. I stayed up reading a book on my phone. I’m sure he thought I was asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom and heard him talking.” Mia’s fingers were limp in my hand and I wanted to shake her. Fine, she didn’t like me but we were in this together.

  I pulled her around the corner, tempted to give her a piece of my mind when Noah and Tierney approached us.

  “Hey, guys,” I greeted, turning my body slightly toward Mia. “Smile,” I murmured out of the corner of my mouth so only she could hear.

  Her nails dug into my hand. This girl was vicious.

  Noah greeted us with a knowing smile. “Grayson.” He lifted his fist. I thumped his knuckles with mine. He shifted his gaze to Mia. “How’s it going, Mia?”