Page 42 of Once Upon a Fake Date

“Parker,” Audrey said my name again, and it finally broke me out of my trance.

“What?”

She giggled. “You’re staring.”

I hummed, pushing a hair back behind her ear. “So I can’t stare at mygirlfriend?”

A pretty blush dotted her cheeks. “No. I mean… You can. It’s just…” She ran her tongue over her lower lip, and it drew my attention to those plush, pink lips. So kissable. They were just begging for my attention.

I rubbed my thumb over her bottom lip before pulling away. “It’s just what?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head before resting it on my shoulder. I adjusted her legs so they draped over my free knee so she didn’t have to straddle me, and she cuddled in closer. Damn, but I liked this.

I glanced over at the couch next to us, seeing my teammate also cuddled up with his girl. Everyone might have been celebrating around us, but we were just in our own bubbles.

Sam’s girlfriend, Danielle, was a cheerleader, her high ponytail still in her hair as she laid her head in his lap. Though the cheer team didn’t officially participate in our games, she’d still been there anyway.

I liked that. She seemed nice enough from seeing her around the house. I wondered if Audrey and I would ever be like that. Look that comfortable with each other.

Danielle was wearing Samuel’s lacrosse t-shirt with his last name on the back and his number. No girl had ever worn my jersey before. But maybe it was time to change that.

A few days later,I stepped foot in the theater building for the second time, joining the entire cast and crew of the spring musical. It was my first time here in my new role.

“You ready for this?” Audrey whispered to me as we took seats in the front row.

I squeezed her hand, not letting go as we sat down.

Looking around, I noticed her ex was in the row behind us at the end, glaring daggers at me. So I leaned over, kissing Audrey’s forehead.

“What was that for?” she whispered.

“Because I wanted to.” I smirked at her. “Plus, your ex is staring at us. Don’t look.”

“What?” She turned her head, and I clicked my tongue against the roof of my mouth.

“Don’t pay attention to him. Let him know exactly how little you think about him.” Audrey let out a breath, and I squeezed her knee. “I’ve got you, sunshine. Okay?”

He needed to back the fuck off because I wasn’t going to play. If he came after her again, he was going to have me to deal with.

Everyone settled down as Professor Woods took the stage. It was clear she had stage presence and poise, and I was sure she’d graced the stage herself numerous times. “Welcome, welcome, everyone, to our first rehearsal of the season!”

Everyone around me cheered, and I looked over at Audrey. This was her wheelhouse.

I was incredibly out of my depth here. And I realized how overwhelmed she’d probably been at my game this weekend. It was how I felt now. Damn, I should have prepared her better.

Though I’d had the script for a few weeks now, this was our first official meeting. I was surprised these hadn’t started the second the semester had, but maybe losing their lead had delayed some things. Fuck if I knew.

“We’re going to start things off with a little bonding exercise for everyone to get to know each other.” Mary, the student director of the musical, announced to all of us.

To a chorus of groans.

I was pretty sure there was nothing college students hated more than icebreakers and bonding activities.

“I know, I know,” Mary said, rolling her eyes at us. “But it’s going to be fun. I promise.” She grinned. “And then we’re going to do our first read through of the script.”

For the icebreaker, she brought all of us up onto the stage, sat us in a circle, and we played a silly name game. We all introduced ourselves with our first name and an animal that started with the same letter and then had to repeat everyone’s names who had already gone. I chose Parker the panther, wanting a strong, masculine animal.

Audrey, the axolotl. I chuckled—even that was pink, which felt fitting.

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