Page 87 of Between Hate and Desire

She doesn’t respond, only smiles as she walks out the door, and then she’s gone for the night.

The wordfriendlingers around my head and brings me back to reality. I have to remind myself that we’re just friends, regardless of how close we’ve grown. If it’s the only way we can ever be, then I will selfishly take it, even if it shatters me in the end.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

LENNON

“Take a selfie with me,”I say, plopping on the couch next to him, so close that our shoulders touch.

“Another one?” he asks with a laugh, side-glancing at the way my body presses to his.

I hold out my phone until our faces are in the frame. “Can you at least look like you’re happily married?” I tease, scooting even closer. “Put your arm around me or something. We’re supposed to convince them we’re newlyweds and all.”

Hunter clears his throat, rubs his hands over his jeans, then wraps his arm around me. It falls to my hip so I can lean into him, my shoulder resting against his chest as my forehead presses against his cheek. “Say cheese!”

I hold my phone up again, and we look into the camera. Hunter’s forced smile makes me laugh. “Can you at least pretend you don’t hate pictures? I need to load my Instagram with a variety of photos of us. My parents and their nosy friends will no doubt ask to see some.”

Considering my parents always wanted me to get married in the church, they’ll definitely be suspicious. So I made a fake Instagram account, started loading pictures with overly sappy posts, and followed all kinds of random accounts so they’d follow me back. I have to make it as believable as possible.

“Let’s try a few more,” I say, scanning through our other pictures. It’s been over a week since Hunter suggested this plan, and we still have a lot to do before we leave in two days.

When I tuck my legs under my butt and wrap my arm over his shoulder, he tenses. “What? Is this not okay?” I ask, feeling self-conscious.

“Oh no, it’s fine.” He clears his throat again as if he needs a second. “I just don’t like taking pictures.”

I furrow my brows. “Really?” Brandon and I took hundreds. “Too much of a manly man?” I tease, and he cracks the tiniest of smiles.

“Nah, it’s fine. We’ll take all the ones you need,” he says, leaning in close to me when I put my phone up again.

I snap three in a row, resting our cheeks together like the super cheesy couple we’re pretending to be. Part of me wants to laugh at the irony, the fact that I haven’t ever seen Hunter with anyone serious and now here he is taking selfies with me.

“Do you mind if I kiss your cheek?” I ask, looking over the photos.

“What?”

I snap my eyes up to his when the word comes out hoarse.

“For a picture,” I confirm, noticing his nervousness. “This was your idea, remember?” I snicker, and his shoulders relax.

“Yes, I know…foryou,” he reiterates with a grin.

“Hunter,” I say softly. “I know you want to help me out, but if this is going to be too uncomfortable and awkward, I won’t be upset if you want to back out. I know you probably don’t have a lot of experience with relationships and maybe didn’t realize everything we’d have to do to make this look real, so?—”

“Lennon, stop,” he growls, turning to face me. “I’m not backing out. I said I’d do whatever you needed, so don’t be afraid to ask, okay? I can handle it.” His words come out confidently, and though a tinge of guilt surfaces at what we’re doing, I know it’s the only way. Once I confirmed my visit with my mother, she was so excited. I told her I had a surprise guest coming as well but never said who. She’ll be getting a son-in-law and a grandchild all at once.

The corner of my lips tilts up, and I nod. “Okay. Thank you, Hunter.”

I reposition myself on the couch until I’m practically on his lap. We’ve been quizzing each other all week long, sharing as many details about our childhood and pasts as possible. It’s definitely made us closer, knowing more about him and what his family life entailed. So even if all of this goes wrong and my parents don’t buy it, at least one good thing came out of it, and that’d be the growth and strength of our friendship.

I raise my phone once again, then bring my lips to his cheek and click the button. As I pull back, Hunter laughs. “I think I blinked.”

That makes me chuckle. “It shouldn’t be this hard to get a picture.” I press my photos app and look. “Oh my God, Hunter!” I nudge him with my shoulder.

He’s full-on sticking out his tongue and crossing his eyes, sabotaging the shot on purpose. I can’t stop laughing, though, because it’s Hunter in true fashion. Always messing with me.

“That’ll have to do for now. Actually, I kinda like it.” I shrug, putting a filter on it, then uploading it to my fake account. But first I need a super cheesy caption.

Speaking out loud as I type, I say, “Every day is filled with love and laughs with this guy! Two red hearts. Hashtag newlyweds, hashtag love of my life, hashtag married life.” Then I click post.

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