Page 60 of Fake It Till You Break It
“Okay.”
Aly already went in, but I stopped right by the front door and watched Jake walk home by himself. His hands shoved into his pockets and his head downturned. I wanted to call him back. But I didn’t. I didn’t deserve to be happy right now.
By the time I got into the house and into my room, Aly had already washed her face and changed into her teal pajamas. Her bangs were a bit damp even though she had her hair held off her face with a headband. With a raised eyebrow, she sat there right in the center of the room on my squishy purple chair, waiting for me.
“Well?”
“Well… I’m feeling kind of hungry. Do you want some ramen?” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder. “I could whip some up.”
“Nice try. I already checked, and you’re out of ramen. I did bring up a glass of water for you.” She nodded toward the cupon my nightstand. “Figured you’d be thirsty after all the smooching and lying to yourself.”
“Ouch. Were you thinking of that burn all night?”
A smile played at the corner of her lips. “I thought of it during the car ride.”
With a reluctant laugh, I slid to the floor and stretched out on the carpet, arms and legs straight out like a starfish. “I’m exhausted.”
“I don’t blame you. Tonight was… intense. But I’m still annoyed that you didn’t tell me how you really felt about Jake.” She paused. “I mean, we are best friends. And it’s not like I didn’t ask you a bunch of times.”
My eyes focused on a dark paint smudge right by the ceiling fan. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’tknowhow I felt about him. At least not until recently. Like really recently.” Finally, I lifted my head to look at her—giving her my best shot at puppy-dog eyes.
Shaking her head, Aly crossed her long legs beneath her. “You know, it’s pretty obvious that Jake likes you. And if it wasn’t before, it should be pretty clear to you after tonight. I seriously don’t see what the problem is. You like him. I know you do. At least I hope you do after that show you guys pulled tonight.”
My cheeks burst with heat. I climbed to my feet and folded my blanket just to have something to do with my hands, even though I hadn’t folded my blanket in months. What was thepoint when it was just going to get messed up again in less than an hour? “Liking him isn’t the problem. The problem is I don’t knowhowto be in a relationship with Jake.”
Aly’s brows wrinkled. “Okay, I’m confused. Haven’t you two already been in one for the past couple of weeks?”
With a sigh, I flopped back onto my bed with my hand slung over my eyes. “You know we just faked this whole dating thing to get our moms off of our backs. But underneath all of this, we’re still the same people we’ve always been. He’s Jake and I’m me. We’ve hated and annoyed each other practically our whole lives. In fact, we only did this because we wanted to get out of each other’s lives. And now… what? We just forget about our whole plan just because of these last two weeks?”
“Yeah, your timing isn’t the best. Look, there can be a million reasons for you guys not to date, but the bottom line is that you two like each other now. You. Like. Each. Other. That’s all that really matters, so stop complaining.” She flicked my forehead with two fingers, making me yelp. “Now, tomorrow you go straighten things out with Ben andthentalk to Jake. Problem solved, and you can live happily ever after. Or at least until prom.”
Rubbing my forehead with a wince, I groaned. She made everything sound so simple sometimes. “Since you seem to have all the answers, can you go talk to everyone for me? Especially Ben? Please?”
“Nope. Your relationships. You deal with them.” Aly pulled open one of my facial masks and applied it to her face with a sigh, dismissing me and my problems. “That’s what you get for being in love.”
If that was true, it’s starting to feel like more trouble than it’s worth. But she was right. If I wanted to be with Jake—and deep down, I knew that I did—then I had to do whatever it took to fix this mess. To make a fresh start.
Tomorrow.
MIA
WITH MY PHONE IN ONE HANDto check the time, I jogged toward the old Milton Elementary schoolyard. The back of my flip-flops slapped against the pavement and the heels of my feet.
Jake was already sitting on the end of the slide at the playground. His feet kicked at the sand until billows of dust swirled around. I could already see his white sneakers turning gray and brown.
Something had to be wrong if he didn’t care about his shoes getting dirty. He was the only person I knew who kept wet wipes in his car to clean his shoes.
Still, his face brightened as soon as he spotted me. He leaned forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands. That adorable half smile was already on his face. In return, I immediately got butterflies in my stomach. Especially the longer hisgaze was on me, sweeping from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet and back again.
Even though there was a bit of a breeze, I could feel myself getting all warm and tingly.
It wasn’t my fault, though. This was the first time we had seen each other since the festival. Okay, so that was only yesterday, but still, I couldn’t stop the wave of nerves that washed over me.
Bracing one hand against the edge of the slide, I tried to play it cool. “So, you wanted to see me?”
His left brow rose. “You mean you didn’twantto see me?”
“I don’t know. Do youwantme towantto see you?” I cringed inside. Gah, I wasnotused to flirting. Especially with Jake. Insulting him, yes. An occasional witty comeback to get the last word in, yes. But flirting? No way.
