Page 160 of The Fake Date Agreement

I don’t think Tobie is appreciating or noticing the cleanliness of my room. She doesn’t just look sad. She’s looking for something.

“Tobie?”

She jumps, her eyes flying to me. “Yeah?”

“What’s wrong?”

She puts her bag on the floor beside the door but shakes her head when I pull out the desk chair for her to sit. “I, uh… wanted to talk about the fake-date agreement.”

My muscles tense up. “Your ex said something.”

“Like what?” She scrunches her nose.

“He wants you back.” I regret not saying something sooner, and now it’s too late.

We all agreed to go slow with Tobie and let her figure out what she wants rather than have her think we’re railroading her into a relationship she might not want.

She seems to like all of us, which is a good thing—the best thing any of us could have hoped for. But she’s not saying that she wants this relationship to continue.

Now the ex has cornered her again, the way Caleb said he’d cornered her before, and convinced Tobie to take him back.That’swhy she’s not sitting down. She’s here to tell me it’s over.

“Oh no.” She looks around my room. “Nothing like that.”

My shoulders relax, but the same rage flares up when I remember her telling me that her ex made her feel like an old slipper.

Her tone is dismissive as if he couldn’t possibly want her.

I’m not sure why it pisses me off that she doesn’t see how incredible she is.

“Tobie,” I snap.

She gulps. “Yeah?”

“Sit down for a second.”

Slowly, she retreats and perches on the edge of my bed.

I drop into a crouch in front of her and wait until she’s met my gaze.

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

Her eyes widen. “What?”

“One day soon, he’s going to realize that he made a big mistake. He will want you back. Do you love him?”

“Um…” She stares at me for a beat. “I was so mad at him when I asked him if he loved me, and he said he didn’t know. How can you not know something that has such a big feeling? But…”

He told her he didn’t know if he loved her?

“You look really pissed,” she says, studying me.

“Sorry,” I apologize. “It’s not at you.”

Her eyes soften, and once again, that same sadness returns. “No one has ever fought my corner the way you, Reid, and Caleb do. You get angrier about the things that hurt me than I do.”

I cradle the back of her head. “Because you’re ours.”

“But not really,” she whispers.

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