Page 30 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
Everyone started ripping open their boxes.
“Where do we start?” Alexander asked.
“Start with anything,” Liv said. She was already putting frosting along the edges of two walls and sticking them together. Alexander and I glanced at each other. Liv was clearly much more into this — and better at it — than us.
“I guess I'll start with the roof,” I said. I started frosting the top of the roof while Alexander put frosting on the sides Liv wasn't already done with. It only took a few minutes for us to finish assembling the house, and then we were ready to decorate.
I looked around at my friend and 'boyfriend.' They both seemed so excited. Liv was sticking the gummy candies to the house while Alexander was trying to make a gingerbread man stand in front of the house. They both had big smiles on their faces, and it looked like we were having the time of our lives.
“I love decorating gingerbread houses,” Alexander said. He nudged me with his elbow. “Remember how we used to have the competitions when we were kids?”
“Me and you versus Elliot and Charlie,” I said.
“Wow, so you two have been friends for a long time, huh?” One of the girls on the other team said. I was pretty sure her name was Sophie, but I wasn't positive. While I'd seen her around school, we had never actually talked to each other.
“Our moms have been best friends since college,” Alexander explained to her. “We basically grew up together.”
“And now you're in love!” Sophie squealed. My hand involuntarily squeezed tightly around the icing bag I was holding, squirting icing all over the tablecloth. I knew everyone thought Alexander, and I were dating, but who said anything about love? I refused to say I was in love with anyone after Joseph, even if it was fake. Saying I was in love meant opening my heart up to be broken like Joseph had done to me.
“We sure are,” Alexander said. He smiled at me. “Trust me, our parents are thrilled.”
“Of course, they are!” Sophie said giddily. “You two must have so many fun Christmas traditions!”
“A few,” Alexander said. He started telling Sophie about the things we did every year — the Christmas Eve party, the wishes on the tree, playing White Elephant, and everything else. I smiled as I listened to him. I hadn’t noticed how much of my Christmas season was based on spending time with Alexander. No wonder Sophie thought it was the cutest thing ever that we were ‘dating’ now. Mine clenched with guilt yet again. Everyone was rooting so much for this relationship, and it wasn’t even real. It never could be real, even if I wanted it to be. I wouldn’t let somebody hurt me the way Joseph had.
As I watched Alexander, though, I started to question that feeling. Alexander would never hurt me the way Joseph had. I was sure of that. I dropped the icing bag, completely entranced by Alexander’s words.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hasty in swearing off boys after all.
eleven
I parkedmy car in Alexander's driveway early Saturday afternoon, but didn't get out immediately. I sighed and leaned my head back against the headrest, taking a moment to think to myself. The Christmas party last night had been so great, and I'd stayed out as close as possible to my curfew. But it had also caused me a bit of an issue — I was pretty sure I was falling for Alexander. But I couldn't act on it. Not yet, at least. I probably just thought I was interested in him because we were pretending to be a couple. That was it: I was just getting confused because he was pretending to be romantic around me. Once this fake relationship was done, I would go back to the regular I-know-nothing-will-ever-happen crush. Besides, thinking that Alexander would never hurt me the way Joseph did was probably wrong, anyway. Too good to be true.
As I turned off the engine, my phone dinged. It was the special text tone I had selected for Liv. I quickly checked it.
Hey, want to go out for coffee?
I hated to say no to Liv, both because I genuinely did love spending time with her and because I was a little worried that if I said no too many times, then she would just stop askingaltogether. But I obviously wasn’t going to cancel on Alexander just to go out with her.
Sorry, I’m hanging out with Alexander all weekend! After school Monday?
For sure! :)
With that problem solved, I finally got out of my car and made my way up the driveway. It felt like such a long walk to go knock on Alexander's door, but I was excited to see him. When I got there, I took a deep breath and knocked.
After a few moments, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and then the door opened.
“Hey!” Alexander said with a big smile. “Come in.”
He stepped aside so I could come into the house. I stomped my boots to get the snow off of them before coming in and taking them off.
His house looked the same as it always did at Christmas. The walls were covered in holiday decorations, and every available surface was piled high with brightly coloured wrapping paper. Garland was wrapped around the banister of the stairs and over every archway.
“Are you baking something?” I asked. “It smells good.”
Alexander's cheeks turned red, and he avoided my gaze.
“Uh, yeah... when my mom found out I had you over, she insisted that I bake you cookies,” he said. He ran a hand through his hair. “Said I have to work hard to impress my girlfriend.”
