Page 20 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“Mh-hm,” I said with a nod. “There's Elliot, Charlie, me, Carter, Florence, and Benjamin.”
“Oh my gosh,” she said, staring at me wide-eyed. She looked to Alexander. “How are you not equally horrified by this?”
Alexander looked amused. “I've known her my whole life. I'm used to it.”
The warning bell rang, cutting off any response Liv could come up with.
“Guess I have to get going,” Liv sighed. She grabbed her backpack and tray of uneaten food. “I'll see you guys later.”
“Good luck with the quiz,” I said. She smiled thankfully and headed off. “I guess we should go too.”
Alexander and I collected our books and jackets. Holding hands, we started walking toward the back of the school, where the parking lot was. Within no time, the delivery guy called Alexander to say that he had arrived.
“Here you go,” Alexander said, handing him cash.
“Thank you for ordering from McDonald’s,” the delivery guy said. He handed us the bags of food.
We made our way to the equipment shed, which was surprisingly warm and wasn't as gross as I thought it would be, though the scent of old paint and weather-beaten wood reminded you that this building had seen better days. It was lit well by daylight streaming in from the small windows high on the walls. The lofted ceiling looked hand-crafted, with wood that was dark and smooth, though there were signs of age and wear where the joints were. The silence was jarring when we first went in, but it didn't take long for it to become a comfortable, soothing sound.
“See, I was right. It's pretty warm in here,” Alexander said as he pulled his coat off and hung it on the hook by the door. “And I think we can find someplace to sit.”
He gestured towards a row of metal shelves that ran along one wall of the room.
I followed him over and gingerly sat down on a shelf, careful not to touch anything. It was comfortable, and I was getting a little sleepy from the warmth and lack of food.
Alexander joined me, taking the other side of the shelf. We stretched our legs out in front of us and started eating. I had never had such a good burger.
“This is so good,” I said after swallowing a bite. “Thank you for ordering food for us.”
You know when they say the way to a man’s heart is through food- well, the way to my heart is through food as well, and I really needed this food. He was so quick thinking to come up with this plan. He was always doing something sweet.
“It's no problem,” Alexander said with a smile. We continued eating, gobbling down our burgers in just a few minutes. “So, are you looking forward to Christmas Break?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I said unenthusiastically. I dipped a French fry in my milkshake and took a bite.
“You sure about that?” Alexander asked. “Cause you don't sound like you are.”
I sighed and shrugged. “It will be nice to have a break from school...” I needed that break this year more than ever. Although everything had been getting a lot better since Alexander and I started this crazy arrangement, I desperately wanted to be able to go some time without having to see Nikki or Joseph. “But I'm not really looking forward to Christmas.”
“Why not?”
“I'm just not in the spirit this year,” I said. It was hard to enjoy the holiday when I didn't have my favourite people by my side. Previously, favourite people, I reminded myself. Sometimes, I caught myself thinking about them as if nothing had ever gone wrong between us, but I couldn't let myself get caught up in that. That was what they wanted — for me to forgive and forget and go back to being their friend as if nothing ever happened at all.
“That's too bad,” Alexander said. His arm brushed against mine, sending tingles up my body. “Christmas is the best time of year. It's a shame to miss out on the fun for no good reason.”
No good reason. Did he know why I didn't want to celebrate this year? Was that his way of telling me to get over Joseph?
“Yeah,” I said. I stared out the window at the snow falling from the sky, unable to stop myself from remembering onceagain the hurt I felt when I found Nikki and Joseph. What was Christmas without them? “A shame.”
eight
The next day,there was no teacher in my math class. Our teacher left sick partway through the day, so we had an hour free. One of the other teachers passed by the room every fifteen minutes or so to make sure we hadn’t burned the room down or anything, but other than that, we were left to our own devices. Technically, we were supposed to be doing the silent reading, but almost nobody was listening to that instruction. Personally, I was just scrolling through my phone, but other people were talking with their friends or listening to music.
This was the class Alexander, and I sat next to each of during, but he’d gone off early in the period to talk about something. Just as I was getting bored of Instagram, Alexander came back to sit with me.
“What are you doing after school on Friday?” He asked. He sounded oddly chipper.
“Nothing.”
