Page 99 of Pretend Girlfriend

Then he got out of bed. I made a show of stirring in bed, then stretching. “What time is it?”

“Time to get breakfast,” he replied. “I’m starving.”

“Well, yeah,” I teased. “You only had one meal last night instead of four.”

He jokingly smacked his forehead. “Of course. I won’t make that mistake again tonight.”

My ankle was still tender, but felt surprisingly good this morning. Especially once I unwrapped it and applied some of the anti-inflammatory cream. It was an ugly shade of purple, but I could limp around without the need for my crutches.

While waiting in line at the omelet station, Marisa came up to me and gave me a hug. “Good morning! How are you feeling? No crutches, I see?”

I held out my foot. “It looks like an elephant’s ankle, but I can move around! As long as I can limp down to the beach, I’m happy.”

“We missed you at dinner last night,” she said. “The food was so good. But I heard you and Landon had a good time alone.”

Something about the way she said it was strange. “He was so sweet to bring me food. We hung out on the couch until I fell asleep.”

“Oh I know. You two are such a cute couple.”

I frowned at her. “What do you mean, you know?”

“Landon texted a photo to Bradyn this morning. You were asleep with your head resting on his shoulder. It was so cute. I don’t know why I thought you two were giving off a weird vibe. Obviously you’re both so happy!”

When I returned to the table with my omelet, I carefully asked, “Did I fall asleep on your shoulder last night?”

Landon paused with a forkful of sausage halfway to his mouth. “Uh… no?”

“That’s funny. Because Marisa just told me you sent Bradyn a photo of exactly that.”

“Oh.” He put down the fork. “Um, yeah. You fell asleep on my shoulder while watching TV.”

He showed me the photo on his phone. I was leaning hard on his shoulder, my eyes closed and my mouth wide open in an unflattering way.

“Why did you lie when I just asked you?” I demanded.

“I didn’t want you to feel embarrassed about it. You were… kind of drunk last night.” He quickly held out a hand. “Which is fine! Totally fine! But I didn’t want you getting all self-conscious about it.”

“You cared enough not to tell me, but not enough to stop yourself from taking a photo?”

He looked around, then leaned forward to whisper. “I was thinking about what you said. About Marisa’s suspicions. It was a cute moment, so I snapped a photo. And when Bradyn texted me to ask if you were okay, I sent him the photo.”

“You could have asked me first. I look stupid in that photo.”

“Sorry.” He cringed. “I was a little drunk too. I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s all right,” I said, conveying only part of my annoyance to him. “Next time, warn me first.”

“I honestly forgot I took the photo until you brought it up. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s fine,” I muttered. “I’m just grumpy because I’m sick of being the center of everyone’s pity. First the roofie guy, then my sprained ankle… I wish everyone would leave me alone. Hopefully today I can—”

“There she is!” Danicka said, making a beeline for our table. “How’s the ankle, dear? I felt so bad for you last night!”

I put on the best fake smile I could muster. “I’m fine. It’s sweet of you to ask.”

“Are you sure? It looked so bad yesterday…”

I stuck my leg out from under the table. “The swelling has gone down a lot! I don’t even need the crutches. It’s not going to stop me from walking down to the beach today, I promise.”

---