Page 18 of First Base

That one made me pause. The thought of kissing him sent those stupid butterflies fluttering around inside me like someone had trapped them in a jar and they were buzzing with an intense energy to find a way out. I couldn’t deny that part of me wouldn’t mind being kissed by Tommy Mikals. Maybe that could be a perk to this whole thing. I knew that in a normal situation, Tommy would probably never want to kiss me.

“Potentially on the table. Cheek and head are acceptable right now.”

Tommy nodded seriously at my requests, like discussing the parameters of fake dating were normal conversations to be had on any given day.

“Do we need to write this down?” he asked me. I instantly laughed at the thought, but stopped when I realized that Tommy wasn’t laughing with me.

“Wait, are you being serious?”

“I just want you to be comfortable. You’re only doing this because of my mess.” I didn’t want to remind him again of the significant amount of money I was getting to do this. He was acting like I was a saint doing this out of the kindness of my heart.

“I think we’re okay to not write it down right now,” I told him as I grabbed another piece of pizza. This time I folded the piece longwise and went to bite off the end.

“You’re a folder?” Tommy asked.

“Are you judging me?”

“Absolutely,” he told me as he grabbed the remote off the coffee table.

Tommy flipped through different movies before he extended the remote to me. “Why don’t you pick something?”

“Why? So you can make fun of my movie selection too?” I asked him, my eyes narrowing playfully.

“I’m a gentleman,” Tommy told me, holding up three fingers like a Scout.

“That’s a Scout’s Honor.” I pointed at his hand. Tommy blushed before dropping his hand back down. That rosy color made my insides squeeze. I flipped through a couple of movies before I found one of my favorite romantic comedies.

“A romantic comedy?”

I flashed Tommy a warning look, daring him to make fun of my favorite movie genre. He held his hands up in mock surrender. “I love watching love,” I mumbled, busying myself with grabbing another slice of pizza to avoid seeing any judgment in Tommy’s eyes. I wasn’t sure I could handle it if I saw a look of pity for the poor girl that had fucked up with love so badly in her life that she had to resort to watching it on a television screen.

“I like that there’s always a happy ending,” Tommy added, settling into the couch next to me. He grabbed a blanket that was draped over the back and slung it over both of our legs. My cheeks warmed at such an intimate act. I was sure Tommy had shared a blanket with plenty of girls and that it meant nothing to him. But for me, I had only ever done it with the person that had meant the world to me.

“Sometimes it’s nice to live in a world where that happens,” Tommy whispered, the reflection of the opening scene in his eyes. I watched him for a moment longer, wondering what demons plagued his mind. It was starting to seem like we had more in common than I had originally thought.

I secretly studied Tommy, admiring his jawline and how long his eyelashes were. If this sincere side of Tommy was how he really was, God save me, I was going to have to pray that I made it out the other side of this without falling in love with him.

Maggie

“So now you casually get pizza with Tommy Mikals?” I switched the phone to my other ear as Olivia yelled through the receiver. “While holding hands?”

“I was going to tell you . . . ,” I started, grimacing as Olivia went off again about how we told each other everything and how she hated finding out about me dating one of the hottest guys we’d ever seen on social media.

She stopped suddenly, a thought occurring to her. “Are you getting fired?”

I had to think fast on my feet and cursed my inability to lie. Olivia knew me well enough that if I blatantly lied to her even over the phone, she would know. I was going to have to settle for something close to the truth. “HR cleared it.”

“You already brought it up to HR?” I was crossing my fingers, hoping that Olivia would believe it. If she pressed any more, I was sure to crack and spill my guts to her. I was not made for this stupid plan. The last thing I wanted was to put her job in jeopardy.

“Olivia, I’m sorry,” I told her again for the hundredth time. Olivia sighed on the other end of the line. It was the telltale sign that she was giving in to me. I was thankful for the fact that neither of us had ever stayed mad at the other for very long.

“You can make it up to me by telling me if Tommy is as good of a kisser as he looks.” I could practically picture Olivia waiting eagerly on the other end to hear all of the dirty details.

“We haven’t kissed yet, but I’ll keep you updated. I promise.” Part of me felt horrible lying to Olivia like this, but what was I supposed to do? I was sure that if she knew the whole story, she would understand.

“Is he nice?” she asked. “He has to be nice if you’re willing to go out with him. He can’t be some massive dick, right? You’re not into that, are you?”

In the almost three years that I had known Olivia, I had not gone on a single date. She knew the reason why, which was probably why she found this such a big deal that I had gone out with Tommy Mikals. If this whole charade were real, I would know how big of a deal this was. Which was exactly why I couldn’t even bring myself to tell her that I was attracted to him in the first place. I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, thinking I was healed or that I was finally moving on. That would never happen.

---