“So you ready for our first outing, Fake Boyfriend?”
“I am, are you?” Oh, isn’t that the question? He turns around and his eyes automatically go to my boobs and then back up to my face, as if he has to force them.
“I’m ready. And I’m not going to punch you for staring at my boobs. I’m not one of those girls how throws them out there and then gets pissed when people stare at them. I mean, isn’t that what you want?” I put my hands on my h*ps and he clears his throat and looks away.
“Well, it’s good to know that I’m not going to get punched for staring at my Fake Girlfriend’s chest. Now if someone else does, I’m going to have a problem with that.” There’s that smile I adore. “Don’t worry, I know the Vulcan nerve pinch.”
“What is the Vulcan nerve pinch?” I’ve never really seen a lot of Star Trek. I’m more of a Star Wars girl.
“Here.” He comes to stand behind me so my back is right up against his chest. Oh. Hello there.
“So you’re supposed to go unconscious when I do this.” One of his hands pinches right at the base of my neck where it meets my shoulders.
“Are you sure you’re doing it right? All I feel is pinching.” It feels kind of nice, actually. A bit like a massage.
“I guess we’ll just have to practice,” he says in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. He removes his hand from my neck, but doesn’t step away from me. He’s really warm. I lean back a little bit and he sighs.
And then the front door opens and voices invade my apartment.
Jett jumps away from me as if I’m on fire.
“Hello?” Jordyn’s sweet southern voice says and I turn around to face Jett.
“You ready, Fake Boyfriend?” I hold up my hand for a high five.
“I’m ready, Fake Girlfriend.” We slap hands and walk out into the kitchen.
“Hey, I’m Jordyn.” Raised with Southern Values, she always acts like she’s working a garden party. She also likes to shove things under the rug and pretend they never happened, which is why she makes no mention of what happened the night I went home with Jett.
Jett shakes Jordyn’s hand and then she introduces Tanner. He’s got a Harley Davidson shirt on and looks kind of stoned. Or maybe that’s just how his face is all the time. He’s cute otherwise.
Daisy comes in behind them, looking a little bitter that she doesn’t have a guy, but then Jett mentions Javier and her eyes light up. Lovely.
“Hey, will you help me with something?” Cass says, grabbing my arm and dragging me toward the bathroom as Daisy and Jordyn follow.
“What do you need ‘help’ with, Cassandra?” I say as they shut the door and all round on me.
“Okay, so we all feel like shit about what we did, but we wanted to make sure that you’re being careful with this guy,” she says. The other two nod.
I’m pissed. I’m about ready to blow, but then that would cause drama and the guys are waiting. My parents constantly fought when I was growing up, and I think that has affected my ability to have normal relationships. Or maybe I’m just screwed up. At any rate, I’m not doing this. I will not engage.
“This conversation never happened,” I say, and push past them and go back to the kitchen.
A few minutes later, we all pile into Jett’s hunk-of-metal-that-tries-to-pass-as-a-car.
“Are you sure this thing is a car?” Daisy says, trying to put her seatbelt on without much success.
“You never insult a man’s ride,” Tanner says, slinging his arm around Jordyn. I love the girl to pieces, but she’s got a fetish for men who treat her like crap. Ironic, considering the speech I just got in the bathroom. At least Hazel had stayed out of it this time, but maybe only because she’s at work.
“She’s a good girl,” Jett says, patting the dashboard. What is it with guys and their vehicles? Not that I can talk. I’m crazy attached to my collection of used books. I have them on a special shelf in my bedroom and I sometimes talk to them. That’s not weird, right?
I’m in the front seat with Jett and everyone else is squished in the back. Javier is already at the party.
“He’s probably wasted enough for two people already,” Jett mutters to me.
“Oh, that should be fun.”
“We’ll see.”
Finding a parking spot anywhere near the frat house is nearly impossible. Yes, it’s a weeknight, but that’s not going to stop anyone from getting their drink on.
We finally find a spot on the side of the road and pile out of Jett’s car. I make sure my cardigan is pulled tight in front of my boobs.
The two guys have their hands full of us trying to walk in our wobbly heels on the shoulder of the road. Talk about dangerous.
“Who knew walking was a full contact sport?” Jett says, practically carrying me as the heels of Hazel’s boots sink into the gravel and I keep stumbling.
“We girls just like to make things complicated,” I say with a laugh as his arm comes around me and hauls me out of a hole. We finally make it to the house without any major incident.
The party is in full swing when we walk in. The beer is flowing, the music is loud and I’m pretty sure they’d bought out an entire Sam’s Club’s worth of red plastic cups. There’s even a pyramid of them along one wall. They must be glued together, because that’s the only way those things are staying up with all the bodies banging around in front of it.
Jett spots Javier on the other side of the room. He’s at one of the kegs, filling up people’s cups.
“Is he even a member of this frat?” I yell over the music.
“Uh, no. He’s sort of an honorary member of, like, every frat. His minor is in keg tapping.” I don’t doubt it.
Javier waves us over and shoves cups at us as he keeps filling. Jordyn goes off with Tanner when he spots some of his friends, and Daisy flirts with Javier a little bit before another guy comes over and steals her away.
“Be safe,” I yell as she gives me a little wave over her shoulder.
“You can dress them up, but you can’t take them out,” I say to Jett as we find a corner where we can stand without being in the midst of the insanity. Jett reaches for my hand and I twist our fingers together. Then he pulls them up to his mouth and kisses the back of my hand.
It makes butterflies start banging together in my stomach like the dancers that are grinding together near the speakers.
“You look great, you know that?” He swings our joined hands back and forth and I have an almost irrepressible urge to giggle like a little girl.
“Compliments aren’t part of the Rules, but they should be,” I say, squeezing his hand.
“Why are you losers over here?” Javier says, finally leaving his post at the keg.
“Just admiring this lovely lady,” Jett says with a wink.
“Stop it,” I say, turning away.
“So, you two together now?” Jett just holds up our hands and I try to giggle like a girl in love. It comes off sounding a little bit crazy, but no one seems to notice.
Javier just shakes his head.
“Keep drinking.” And he walks away.
“That’s his usual advice,” Jett says, taking a sip of his beer. I take a sip too. At least it’s cold. That’s about all I can say in its favor. A few people come over to say hello to Jett. He’s not Javier, but he’s still popular. I kind of feel like I’m hanging with someone famous. He makes the point to introduce me as “his girl” every time someone stops by, and the butterflies in my stomach start moshing every single time. This relationship might be Fake, but the butterflies feel pretty real.
I shake hands and am brought more drinks and try to memorize names and faces until my head is spinning from that and the amount of alcohol in my veins.
“Do you want to get some air?” Jett says a little while later. It’s definitely stuffy in the room with all the bodies bumping into each other.
“Sure,” I say. We walk out behind the house and back to where there are a few trees that separate this house from the one next door. The sound of the party dims, but we can still hear shouts of revelry in the night. It’s dark, but I walk with purpose until I stop and turn to face him. He almost crashes into me.
“Sorry,” he says.
“It’s okay.” He leans up against a tree and I lean next to him. It’s chilly, and the air hurts a little bit to breathe, but it’s better than being inside.
“It’s times like these when I wish I had a cigarette.” What? I didn’t know he smoked.
“I wouldn’t care if you did.” My family all did and I grew up with my house smelling like an ashtray.
“No, no. If I start again, I won’t want to stop. You cold?” I’m shivering and any minute now my teeth will start chattering.
“A little. But we can stay out here if you want.”
He shakes his head. “Let’s go back in. Hey, it’s probably good we came out here. They’ll probably think I dragged you off for a quickie against a tree.” I wonder if that was his master plan.
“Well if we’re going to play it that way, then we should make it believable.” I motion for him to lean down and I shake my hands through his hair, making it a little messy. Then I do the same with my hair. I make him take his jacket off, and I muss both of our clothes so it looks like we put them on in haste. As one last little touch, I reapply my lip gloss and then smear a little on Jett’s mouth. My fingers brush across his lips and he stays still as I do my work, but I want him to kiss my fingers. For a guy, his lips are surprisingly soft, but still firm. Sculpted.
“What do you think?” I say, putting my arms out to show my dishevelment.
“Perfect.” He brushes my hair back from my face and his hand lingers for a second on the side of my face. Then he slides his hand into mine and I lean against his shoulder as we walk back toward the mayhem.
Chapter 8
Pretending we’d had a little nature nookie is the best thing we could have done. Jett gets pats on the back and knowing looks and I hear a few guys whispering about me being easy. Whatever. I don’t give a shit what a bunch of drunken frat boys think of me. They aren’t going to remember tomorrow, anyway.
Javier, on the other hand acts like I’ve done something that’s worth celebrating. He “buys me a drink” (meaning he gets me a new cup and fills it from the keg) and says that if I ever want to ditch Jett and “come over to the dark side” he’d be more than happy to “show me the ropes.” I feel like he should put air quotes around everything he says.
Jett just keeps his hand in mine and I lean against him. It’s getting late and the beer is getting to me and all I want was to curl up under some blankets and sleep.
“You ready to go?” Jett says as I finish the drink Javier had “bought” me.
I nod and we round up the rest of our group. As I assumed, Daisy is nowhere to be found and when I text her, she sends back a terse response that tells me she’s going to be staying here. Tanner is absolutely trashed. Like, can’t-even-focus-his-eyes-or-lift-his-head-or-remember-his-name. Somehow, between me, Jett and a not-quite-so-trashed Jordyn, we get him back to the car.