Page 106 of Going All In

“Yes. You have to wear that. It’s good luck,” Amanda said, decked out in her Cheesy jersey. Darcy was surprised the woman didn’t have Ben’s number painted on her face.

“Thanks,” Darcy said to Ally as she grabbed the jersey. She stripped out of her sweater and pulled the jersey on over her t-shirt. “Okay, I’m ready to cheer them on.”

“Of course you are, Pookie,” Ally said with a grin.

“You didn’t.” Darcy pulled on the jersey to try to read the back.

“My Pookie? That’s adorable. Did you order it or did Jake?” Amanda asked.

“Jake gave it to me as a joke. We were testing out nicknames. I told him he wasn’t a pookie.” Heat flooded Darcy’s cheeks. Damn Ally.

“I love it. The three of us should take a picture in our personalized jerseys and send it to the guys,” Penny said. “The guys will totally call Jake Pookie from now on. He never had a good nickname, anyway.”

“Yes, and he’ll never live it down,” Amanda said, grabbing Darcy’s arm. “Ally, take a picture.” Ally snapped a few shots before Darcy could object.

“You know this means he’s totally gone, right?” Amanda said.

Darcy didn’t say a word. What could she say? No? That he gave her this jersey when they were fake dating, but now they’re really dating? It was better to smile for the picture and not say anything.

Especially when she wanted it to mean something more than anything else right now, which was completely against why they’d started this charade in the first place.

So she swallowed down her feelings and buried them with nachos.

“You okay?” Ally asked as she took a seat on the couch next to Darcy and the plate of cheesy chips. Everything had a cheese element, most likely due to Ben’s nickname. Amanda really was taking the superstition thing to a new level.

“Yeah, just plotting your death for bringing this,” she muttered between bites.

“Oh stop. It was the first one I found, and it’s fun,” Ally said, popping a chip into her mouth.

“It’s fake.”

“Nope. That’s an authentic jersey.”

“No, I mean the sentiment is fake. At least it was when he bought it. Now we agreed to really date, but it’s just casual.”

“You sure about that?”

“Not at all. And it’s driving me crazy,” Darcy finally admitted to her friend.

“Because you’re in love with him and that wasn’t in the plan, right?”

“Of course it wasn’t in the plan. The entire plan was not to fall in love with anyone.”

“It sucks when plans don’t work out like we…” Ally paused.

“Planned,” Darcy finished, then groaned. “You’re really funny, you know that?”

“Why thank you. I try.”

“I’m still plotting your demise,” Darcy muttered.

“No, you’re not. Now, I totally think Jake is in love with you too. It’s not a fake relationship anymore.”

“Shh. I know it’s not fake anymore, but don’t say that out loud. You’re still the only one who knows the truth.”

“Anyway. You should talk to him.”

“Yeah. It’s not that easy.”

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