Page 9 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“Penny!” Mom called from the open window. I looked over my shoulder. “Dinner’s ready!”
“Coming!” I called back.
“I guess I should be going,” Alexander said. He grabbed the ball from the ground. As he bent over, his shirt rode up, and I couldn't help but notice how muscular his torso was. He was like a Greek statue. I shouldn't have been surprised, considering how athletic he was, but it never occurred to me until I saw it. I quickly looked away as he stood up again. “I'll see you later, okay?”
“Yeah,” I said. “See you later.”
He flashed me one last smile before he started to walk away. A good idea hit me then, one so good that I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. It was perfect.
“Hey, Alexander!” I yelled. He stopped in his tracks and turned around with a confused look. I smiled mischievously. Could my idea really work? Would he say yes? Alexander had always been nice, but this was a bit of a big ask. “I need a favour.”
This was going to be fun.
three
“So let me get this straight...”Alexander said slowly. “You want me to be your date to the formal?”
He didn’t sound convinced, and I couldn't blame him. The whole plan sounded insane when it was said out loud. But Alexander was probably the only guy I knew who would agree to this — and it wasn't like I had many other options. Besides the fact that there wasn't exactly a lineup of guys waiting to take me to the formal, Alexander would be the perfect date. Everybody would be envious. He was kind, funny, and, most importantly, a showman. Most girls in school were crushing on him, but he was single and didn't date much. He'd only ever had one girlfriend, and he hadn't dated anyone since she broke his heart a few months ago.
“Relax, it’s not a real date—everyone else just needs to think it is. It’s totally fake,” I replied in reassurance.
Alexander sank onto my bed. I'd thought ahead and decided to tell him to come over to my house for me to ask the favour so nobody at school would hear. I didn't need this getting around school. I was even a little worried asking him, on the off chance he told anybody else, but I'd shaken that feeling off quickly. Evenif we had never been very close, I'd known Alexander for years, and I knew he wouldn't sell me out.
“Well, I guess it's not a terrible idea...” He said slowly.
“Please, please do this for me,” I begged. I clasped my hands together in front of my chest. “I already told everyone that I have a date to the formal. And you know how terrible it's been at school for me — everything Nikki and Joseph did. I just need everyone to stop talking about me.”
“Penny…”
I could hear it in his voice that he was going to say no. That he thought this was a stupid idea that would never work. He was probably right, but if we didn’t try, I was definitely screwed. So, I tried a new tactic.
“It's fine,” I said melodramatically. “I’ll just go alone after I already said I had a date. I would be made fun of by all the kids, not to mention my ex and ex-best friend. Then I would definitely have to transfer schools because I wouldn’t be able to show my face again and?—”
“Okay, okay, fine,” he interrupted. He sighed deeply. “I’ll do it.”
Alexander was a lot of things, but he had a conscience. He definitely felt bad if I became ostracized in school. More ostracized than I already was, that is.
“But Penny, you need to think about how this might look,” he added.
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
It would look like I had a date to the formal, and that was all that mattered to me.
“If we just go to the formal together and then don’t do anything outside that, people won’t believe that it was really a date,” he said. “Or worse yet, they’ll think you can’t hold on to a boyfriend.”
I guess I hadn’t thought the plan through as much as I should have. He was right that people would get suspicious, especially if we went back to near radio silence after the formal. People would be focused on how things had ended and think our relationship was a failure before it even started, which would be much worse than the alternative.
“So, what do you think we should do then?” I asked. “It’s not like we can pretend to date.”
He stared at me, unblinking. “Why not?”
I recoiled. “What?”
“Think about it, Penny.” He leaned forward with a grin on his face. “The formal isn’t until the second last day of school, so we’ll just pretend to date until then. It’ll make us going to the dance together seem more normal. Plus, then everyone will be gossiping about your new relationship instead of everything with Joseph.”
That sounded like a plan. Everyone would be jealous; they would think I had bagged a handsome boyfriend, and then, after a couple of weeks, we would amicably split, with my dignity resorted to.
“But when we break up, everyone will be focused on that, and we’ll be back right where we started.”
