Page 57 of Once Upon a Fake Date

“Mhm.” She sat at the table, hand sewing a few sequins on a different garment instead of looking at me. “We had a one night stand and I thought he was just some playboy fraternity guy. I had reasons to be hesitant, Ro.”

“Or maybe you’re just excellent at running away, Ells. And look at you now. You two are like five minutes away from running off and eloping, I swear.”

She rolled her eyes. “Slow your roll there, babe. I’m perfectly happy with where we are right now.”

I hummed in response. “Sure, sure.”

“You and Parker though… it feels a lot like you were meant to be. Why else would the universe have dropped him back into your life?”

My heart sank. Because she didn’t know the truth. That none of this was real. “I thought I was the hopeless romantic?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shrugged, tugging her needle through and tying the thread in a knot. “Guess Cam’s changed me.” A contented sigh slipped from her lips. “I just want you to be happy. After everything last year with Duke, you deserve that.”

“I am happy.” Mostly.

Ella hummed in response, clearing up her workspace. “I’m all done for the day. You ready to head out?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed my bag off the ground. “Should probably go get some work done. I have a paper and presentation next week.”

“Are you going to come to the Delta Sig party tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “Probably. I don’t have anything else going on.” Also known as, I didn’t have a good excuse. Parker had an away game this weekend.Are you going to miss me, Rosie Girl?I’d changed the subject instead of answering, even though I should have said yes.

Of course I was.

“You should really bring your boy to one of them. I’m sure Cam would enjoy getting to know him.”

“He’s not—”mine.Not really. I bit my lip. I couldn’t say that. “He’s pretty shy,” I said instead. That was true. I’d seen him around other people. He was quiet and reserved most of the time. Until he was with me, and then he seemed to come out of his shell.

Was it just because he was comfortable with me? Sure, we’d grown up together, but there was more to it than that.

“Still.” Ella smiled. “Bring him sometime. It’d be fun.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “I will.”

Because even if it was fake, I wanted him to be by my side—always.

It was almoststrange to be in the fraternity house now after going to multiple parties at Parker’s house. But my twin sister was here, and so was most of my sorority.

Still, I felt Parker’s absence, and I couldn’t even explain how strange it was to be without him now. I’d gone from not seeing him for nine years to rekindling our friendship to being attached with him at the freaking hip, and I missed his presence. We’d been texting ever since he got on the bus, heading to New York for their away game. I’d tried to keep up with it today as best as I could, but it was harder not being able to watch the game.

I still had no idea what was going on in the games, but it was cute how he kept trying to teach me. Still, I followed along better than I had before, and at least I knew when to cheer for my guy.

Right now, all I wanted was to go slip Parker’s jersey on, bury my nose into it, and pretend like it still smelled like him. It didn’t—of course—and I resisted asking him if he’d wear it again just to pick up his woodsy, spicy scent. There was something majorly wrong with me. I was blaming my hormones. Otherwise, being this needy for my fake boyfriend slash best friend would have been certifiably insane.

Sutton came back from the kitchen, handing me a fresh drink. “Thank you,” I murmured, taking a sip.

It wasn’t a strawberry lemonade—not like the ones I suspected Parker kept stocked in his fridge just for me—but it wasn’t beer, either, so I couldn’t complain. It might have made me a basic girl, but I’d much rather have a sweet white wine than beer. I scrunched up my nose just at the thought.

“You’re welcome,” Sutton said, giving me a soft smile with her glossy red lips.

“Where’s your boy?” I asked, surprised they weren’t glued together.

She looked over to the other side of the room. Cam and Ella had just come downstairs, and her hair looked a little rumpled. I definitely didn’t want to know what they’d been up to in his room.

Forest was with James in the corner. They were both the athletes in their friend group. The baseball season had just started, while the football team was done for the year. They’d been on fire this season, making it to the playoffs, though they hadn’t won the championship.

We chatted for a while about how our semesters had been going when a noise interrupted us.

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