Page 33 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“I like your style,” Alexander grinned. He cleared his throat and answered the phone on speaker-phone. “Hello?”
“Who is this?” Joseph demanded.
“It’s Alexander,” he replied calmly. “What can I do for you, Joseph?”
“Alexander? Where’s Penny?”
“She’s busy right now. What’s up?”
“What are you doing with her phone?” He sounded angrier than I’d heard in a while. “She hates people touching her phone, you know.”
Alexander chuckled. “Well, maybe she didn’t like you are touching her phone, but she seemed perfectly fine with me touching it.”
He was having way too much fun annoying Joseph, but I couldn’t blame him. I loved it too.
“Wow, you’re so confident, huh?” Joseph said condescendingly. “Don’t be — you’re just a rebound, so she is obviously just with you to make me jealous.”
Joseph really was full of himself. Granted, this fake relationship did come to fruition to make him jealous, but I would never have started actually dating someone just to do that. Even if I had, it was a jerk move for Joseph to say it to the guy. Not to mention how weird it was for him to be so obvious about being obsessed with me and our relationship when he had a new girlfriend.
“I hate to break it to you, but you’re not important enough for us to do that,” Alexander said. “I’m with Penny now, and you’re not, so you need to stop with your calls. You’re coming off as a creep.”
“Whatever, just tell her I called,” Joseph growled.
“I will, but don’t bet on her calling you back.”
Joseph hung up before Alexander could even get his sentence all the way out, but I was sure he got the gist. Not that I thought it would work as a deterrent, but I could hope.
“Penny, don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to get better taste in men,” Alexander said. He threw my phone back tome, and I just barely managed to catch it. “I mean, where does he get off, calling his ex-girlfriend constantly while he’s flaunting around the girl he cheated on you with?”
“He seemed nicer before,” I murmured. “He was actually really sweet when we first started dating, you know.”
Alexander's eyes softened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”
“You didn’t?—”
“No, I did.” He shook his head. “I just meant… You deserve better than him. A million times better. You deserve someone who loves and cherishes you for you.”
My face flushed red. Alexander needed to stop saying stuff like that if he didn’t want me to actually fall for him.
“Right,” I said. I twisted my ring around my finger. “I’m trying to forget about him, but it’s a little easier said than done.”
I was probably just hearing things, but for a second after he started the movie again, I thought I heard Alexander whisper, “I could help you forget him.”
thirteen
I stumbleddownstairs on Monday morning, rubbing at my eyes tiredly. Unlike the upstairs, which was dark and silent since I was the only one up there, the main floor was bright and cheery. It was a little funny, actually, since all my younger siblings were already on their way to school with either Charlie or my mom driving them, and my dad was at work.
The sweet scent of cinnamon and fresh pancakes wafted through the air. White and blue lights were wrapped around the Christmas tree and reflecting off the silver tinsel. Soft music was playing from the kitchen, which was unusual since my mom never played music while she cooked.
I walked into the kitchen and found Charlie at the stove.
“Hey,” he said when he saw me. He jerked a chin at the table. “Sit down. I'll make you a plate.”
“Thanks,” I said quietly. Things were still weird between Charlie and me. Since I'd been at Alexander's for most of the weekend, we hadn't gotten the chance to talk since our fight. I wasn't sure whether I was still angry with him or not. I guess he had reason to believe that I wasn't over Joseph, and I appreciated that he was concerned enough about Alexander'sfeelings to say something — but I didn't like the way he went about it, and I wanted to make sure he knew that.
The thing about older brothers was that they felt like they always knew best and that if we got into an argument, they didn’t have to apologize. My oldest brother, Elliot, seemed to be under the impression that it was best never to mention the argument and move on as if nothing had happened. If it was something small, then I was fine with that, but there had been many big blow-ups between us that warranted an apology that never came.
“So,” Charlie said, flipping the pancakes with a flourish. “What's been going on?”
