Page 71 of The Romance Rivalry

I read the screen on my right.

@bodiceripper96: Fake dating? Ha, someone’s gonna need to tell Aiden it’s not real. He’s whooped.

Yummy carrot.

To my left.Regression... analyzing which of two variables is of interest...

To my right.

@givemeallthechilipeppers: I am LIVING for this dating-by-trope contest. My money’s on Irene. She’s got this. No one knows tropes better than she does.

I love carrots.

Left.Confidence intervals... range around a measurement that conveys how precise that measurement is...

Right.

@maddylovesbooksandbeer: OMG, I wonder if Aiden is using all of this stuff with Irene as research for the book he told us he was writing in his Live last month. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes. I know it’s gonna be so good.

Wait. What?

I go back and read the comment again. Aiden is writing a book? I knew he wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t know he was actually working on something now. How does he find the time with school and dating and... me?

I don’t look back to my left at my statistics book, but stay right where I am, eyes moving on down the list of comments.

I go to the next one.

@omegaverselover999: Art imitating life or the other way around? Either way, sounds like he’s getting all the inspiration he needs. I hope he finishes his book soon. I’m so freaking excited.

I move on to the next one after that.

@giareadsalldayallnight: Enemies-to-lovers is his favorite trope. It’s actually perfect he’s fake dating Irene for research.

And the next one.

@tamlinisabitch463: Yeah, it’s obvious it’s not real. They don’t even like each other. Aiden’s just doing this for the writing. But it’s hilarious to watch anyways.

I freeze. A blackness starts to creep into my thoughts and emotions, covering everything until I’m narrowed down to one tiny point—it’s not real.

What is his book about?I wonder. Is it a romance? Is it enemies to lovers? Does it feature a rivalry, a challenge, a pathetic girl who’s never known love and a guy who swoops in to rescue her?

Has Aiden been using me, us, this contest, our relationship this whole time to get content for the book he’s writing?

He wouldn’t do that.

Would he?

I think back to the moment we first met in person. How he came tometo introduce himself and partner up.

When I told him about my plan, he was the one to suggest we make it into a challenge, a competition.

He was the one to suggest fake dating.

He kissed me first.

He was in control of every single step of our relationship. So it would be easy for him to direct exactly what he wantedto explore, toresearchfor his novel.

It never made sense to me why someone like Aiden would fall for someone like me. I never felt completely certain that he actually felt the same way I did. There was always something making me wonder.

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