Page 56 of Once Upon a Fake Date

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I’d love to come as your date, Rosie.”

For some reason, I had a feeling he didn’t mean it in a fake way. A shudder ran down my spine. “Cool.”

Parker smiled. “You know, I have games the next few weekends.”

I fumbled with my fingers, trying to find something to do other than look at him. “Yeah,” I responded, hoping my voice didn’t betray the emotion I was feeling.

It was funny that he acted like I hadn’t written his entire game schedule down in my planner before the semester had even started. Once he’d sent it to me, I’d made sure I knew when they all were. This weekend, he had an away game.

Now that everyone thought we were dating, I tried not to miss any of the home games. Just to keep up appearances, of course. Not for any other reason.

“Are you going to miss me, Rosie Girl?”

I didn’t think I needed to answer that. But the worst part was that, ofcourse,I would. I’d miss him way too much. But I needed some distance. Needed to remind myself that this wasn’t real.

So I didn’t answer. Because I didn’t trust myself to tell him the truth.

Ella was crouched underneath me,making a few more alterations to my final act costume as I stared in the mirror. She’d been involved with this project from the beginning, down to designing all of the costumes for the musical, and then the costume design majors had all been working on them.

“This is amazing, Ells.” Of course, it fit me like a glove, but I’d just been lucky enough that the seamstress and I had identical body measurements.

She waved a hand at me. “Don’t move, or I’ll accidentally stick you with a pin.” My twin had decided after getting the dress on me that it needed more detailing.

“Sorry.” I ran my hands over the pink flowers and rhinestones on the bodice, which also flowed down into the poofy skirt. “It’s just so pretty.”

It was my first time seeing this one since it was finished.

“You ready for dress rehearsals to start?”

“More excuses to wear this pretty thing?” I said, doing a little twirl. “Duh.”

My twin smiled. I’d long since given up any hope of her being on stage with me. When we were younger, we’d done community theater together, but Ella had quickly realized she preferred being behind the scenes than in the spotlight.

“Alright, take it off now. I’ll finish the last details and get it all ready to go.” She undid the back so I could

I gave her a fake pout. “You mean I can’t wear it for the rest of the day?”

“Off.” My twin poked me in the arm. “Don’t forget I know where you sleep.”

“Used to be right next to me,” I muttered under my breath as I slipped the dress off over my head.

Ella winced. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t want to move but—” My sister looked so guilty. Like it was her fault she’d ended up as the sorority president mid-way through last semester after our last one had dropped out of school. Ilene had recommended she move into the empty suite upstairs, and there had been no way I was letting her turn that down just to share a room with me.

A laugh burst out of me. “I don’t blame you, Ella. Are you kidding? The president’s suite is awesome. I just get lonely sometimes.” Or I did. Before Parker. Now, though, it didn’t feel like I even had time to be lonely. Turns out a fake boyfriend was very helpful in that regard.

Pulling my dress on over my head, I opened my arms, and Ella stepped in. We wrapped each other up in a hug that felt like home. There was something about spending time with my twin that always made the world right itself again. Like any problem we faced was going to be alright if we were together.

Maybe it was some super crazy twin sense, but when we pulled apart, she was studying me intensely before she said, “So, how’s everything going with Parker? You two seem very cozy.” Ella’s smirk practically filled her face.

“I—” Was it hot in here, or was it just me? “It’s good. I think.”

“You think?” She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

“Like you knew with Cam?”

Ella scoffed. “That was different, and you know it.”

“Oh, I do, do I?”

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