Page 25 of From Fake Dates to Forever Goals

“It is a small world, isn’t it?” We laugh.

In high school, David and I were pretty close but never dated. The chemistry was there, but we never saw each other as anything more than friends.

“You look great, Ava. You really do,” he tells me, placing his hand on my shoulder as he’s done many times before.

I don’t think much of it since we’d been close growing up. But as I’m talking to David, I can feel Sebastian’s stare burning a hole in my cheek.

I lock eyes with Sebastian as I see him marching my way. His eyebrows are furrowed, and his smile from earlier in the evening is gone.

“Are you lost?” Sebastian grabs David’s arm and stares him down. David panics, realizing Sebastian is raging inside.

What is he doing?

I try to cut the tension that is quickly rising. “Sebastian, this is David, an old friend from high school,” I say. I throw David a look, hoping he chimes in as well.

“Hey, um, nice to meet you.” David swallows hard and extends his hand toward Sebastian.

Sebastian says nothing, refusing to shake David’s hand, and I feel defeated.

“It was nice seeing you, Ava,” David tells me before heading back to his table.

I feel utterly embarrassed and cannot understand why Sebastian would behave this way.

Annie passes by us as she makes her way to greet guests.

I pull away from Sebastian, hugging Annie and thanking her for everything.

“I’d like to go home,” I say firmly to Sebastian. He says nothing, and we make our way out to the car.

We are both upset with each other, but I can’t help but feel that Sebastian is being childish.

The drive back home is silent.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” Sebastian closes the door behind him.

I know he’s upset, so I decide to ignore him.

“Who is that guy?”Sebastian fumes.

I turn to face him.

“He’s a friend from high school, Sebastian,” I say, unbothered if he believes me or not. “Why? Are you jealous?”

“Maybe,” Sebastian replies.

“Maybe?” I question.

I can see how uncomfortable Sebastian is.

“So what if I am?” he asks.

“This is allfake, Sebastian,” I remind him.

It’s all fake, and it was his idea to begin with.

Sebastian comes closer and stares into my eyes.

“We’re just playing pretend to get what we want,” I say, this time my voice straining despite my effort not to break.

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