Page 10 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
There was no way the break-up would stay off the radar of the kids in school. They would definitely think I got dumped — or cheated on again. And even if Alexander was more popular than me, he wasn't immune to their gossip.
“Not if we break up amicably without any drama. Everyone’s looking for hot gossip, like someone being cheated on, not ‘Oh, we broke up because we never have time to see each other’.” He shrugged. “It’s too boring.”
I wasn't entirely sure if that was true, but considering how infrequently people gossiped about him, I figured he probably knew what he was talking about. After all, Alexander wasalways in the good graces of everyone in school. He had a great reputation, so he definitely was an expert at winning their hearts.
“But why do you want to do this?” I asked. “I mean, what do you get from it?”
Alexander blushed and looked away. “To be honest, my whole family has been pressuring me to get a girlfriend for a while, and it’s getting a little annoying. Not to mention the guys on the team. I’m hoping this will get them off my back.”
I could sympathize with that. I loved Alexander’s parents, but they could definitely be pretty pushy sometimes. And I knew from experience that a break-up was a good way of getting people to stop asking you about your love life. I just hoped that this time, it wouldn’t make people start talking about my lack of love life.
“All right,” I said. “Let's do it.”
Alexander nodded and looked around. “So... I guess we should come up with ground rules for the relationship.”
“Right,” I said. I got up from my bed and grabbed my backpack. I pulled out the same notebook I'd been writing in earlier and opened up to a fresh page. In bold letters, I wrote Rules for Penny and Alexander.
I immediately wrote the first rule: We will end when we get back from Christmas break. I turned the notebook towards Alexander so he could read it.
“Good?” I asked.
“Good,” he said.
“How do we feel about kissing?” I asked. “Or any physical contact?”
Alexander thought for a minute.
“It might be necessary sometimes,” he said, “So it shouldn't be off-limits completely. But we'll only do it when we're around people and need to convince them that we're together.”
I nodded and wrote it down. I wouldn’t want something as precious as a kiss to be fake; I wanted something real when it came down to the physical, not something to please the school. Not to mention, I wasn't used to physical contact with a guy anymore. He was right that it would be needed sometimes to convince people, but I was happy for it to only be occasional.
“We should also eat lunch every day,” Alexander said. “All couples do that.”
I wasn't about to say no to that — I was getting a little tired of my solitary lunches, especially when I had to look at Nikki and Joseph.
“Perfect,” I said, adding that to the list. “And obviously, we're going to the formal together.”
I loved imagining the shocked faces of everyone seeing me with Alexander. The way Joseph would be forced to realize that I'd moved on and found someone almost just as quickly as him. Maybe then, I could finally get the smug smirk off his face.
“Don't forget social media posts,” Alexander said with a grin. “We can post on Instagram with those cheesy captions like 'I was yours from the moment I met you.”
“Ugh,” I muttered, but I wrote it down all the same. Even when I had a boyfriend, I wasn’t a fan of sharing a couple of posts with cheesy captions. I found it utterly cringey. “Tell me you don't actually like those posts, Alexander.”
“Of course not,” he said. “But I do always laugh when I see them.”
“My little love bug, you are my everything, my ride or die,” I said in a false high voice.
Alexander laughed. “Gosh, tell me that's not one that you've actually seen.”
“I wish I could tell you no,” I sighed. Unfortunately, Nikki was one of those people that actually liked making posts like that, and she had done it all the time with her old boyfriend.She was probably doing it with Joseph too, but I had long since blocked her.
As we were laughing, my doorknob twisted, and my mom walked in, a plate of brownies in her hand.
“Hey, Penny, I was—” She paused in surprise. “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you had a guest! How are you, Alexander?”
“Hi, Mrs. Owen,” Alexander said politely.
“Oh please, call me Janet,” she said. “I’ve known you since you were a baby. Anyhow, I was just bringing some brownies up for Penny. I'll just leave them here.”
