Page 114 of The Fake Out Flex

"This is me," she says once we get to room 1409.

"There's actually something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay," she says, opening the door and gesturing for me to follow her inside.

I turn to face her and take a deep breath. "As you know, you and I have…kissed."

"I'm aware."

"And I just wanted to check in with you to make sure you're cool with it."

Her eyes narrow. "Are you asking me to rate you on a kiss scale of one to ten where one is accidentally kissing your grandma on the lips and ten is sipping hot chocolate by the fireplace on a cold winter night?"

I chuckle. "That couldn't be any farther from what I'm asking. And since you're not taking this seriously, I'm calling in a backup."

I pull out my backup from my pants pocket and hold it up in front of her.

"Ew. What is that?" Evie asks.

"A fry. From the hospital. I snuck it into my pants when you weren't looking. Yes, it got smooshed, but its outward appearance doesn't lessen the impact of its presence. I'm summoning the universal fry laws for this conversation."

"You're summoning universal fry laws because you want to have a serious conversation? Do you hear the contradiction in that sentence?" she teases lightly.

"Don't mock the fry laws, or you will pay a severe price."

"Okay, serious talk. I'm activating serious-mode now."

I drag a hand through my hair and glance down at the sorry excuse for a fry I'm holding. "Okay. So. I'm not super great at this, but I wanted to make sure you're okay with the kissing since I'm pretty sure it was never part of the rules."

"Actually, I've scoured the How to Fake Date Your Best Friend's Sister rulebook, and there's no mention of real kissing."

"But did you check the Guide to Fake Dating Your Brother's Best Friend companion guide?"

"I did. Nothing in there, either. The only reference I could find that vaguely relates to our situation was something about both parties being willing participants in anything else that may occur while in said fake relationship."

"Uh-huh." My eyes lock on hers. "And are you? A willing participant?"

"I am. Are you?"

"Very much so."

She reaches out and runs her hand down my chest. "I do have a question for you."

"Go ahead."

She looks down. "And I will remind you that you are holding a truth fry, so I expect nothing but complete honesty from you."

"Always."

Her hazel eyes darken. "Before we kissed at my apartment, you said something about waiting so long for this moment. What did you mean by that? Have you been wanting to kiss me for a while?"

"I have."

"How long?"

"Years."

Her eyes widen. "Years?"

---