Page 5 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend
“No thanks.” I laughed. “I think I'm all right.”
“Whatever you say,” he said. “But keep my services in mind. I'm in high demand as a hitman. I’ll even give you the friend special.”
“Do you have a card or something?” I pulled my eyebrows together and tried to make my expression serious.
“Well, what kind of hitman would I be if I didn’t have a card to leave at every crime scene?” He opened the notebook he had been carrying with him, ripped out the corner of the page, and then scribbled something on it. He slid it over to me. On it, he had written his name and number.
Alexander Rigby had given me — ME — his phone number. Somehow, in all our years of knowing each other, Alexander and I had never exchanged numbers. Usually, we just talked in person or occasionally over our house phones. We never had a reason to talk outside of that.
“Call me anytime,” he said, flashing me a mischievous grin. I stared at the piece of paper for a moment before I finally looked up at him. He was watching me with an amused expression, as if he knew what I was thinking.
“Why...” I didn't quite get the whole question out. I swallowed and tried again. “Your phone number?”
The corner of his mouth quirked up. “In case you need my services, of course.”
“Of course.” I slid the paper into my pocket, not sure what to do with it but knowing that I would keep it — just in case.
There was just something about him that was so charming, funny, and cute about Alexander. Plus, he had saved me from having to watch Nikki and Joseph make out for the rest of lunch, so that was a plus.
“So, why aren’t you eating lunch with all your football buddies?” I asked. I took a sip of my drink.
“Well, you looked like you could use the company,” he said. He pushed his notebook toward me. “And I believe I promised you my French homework.”
“Oh. Right.” I cleared my throat and stared at the page as if I was looking over his answers. In reality, I had forgotten aboutthe notes. I thought that maybe, just maybe, Alexander had actually sought me out and wanted to sit with me. But no, he just pitied me like everyone else in this school, albeit for different reasons.
“That’s not to say I didn’t want to sit with you,” Alexander quickly added.
“Oh, no, I get it,” I said. I pulled out my notebook and started copying down his answers. Anytime I thought his answer might not be right, I wrote something different so our responses wouldn’t be exactly the same. It wasn’t suspicious if we had the same correct answer, but it was very suspicious to have all the same wrong answers.
Alexander and I continued to talk as I copied it down, thankfully discussing anything other than the school gossip. It was nice to have someone to talk to during lunch, even if it was just so I could copy his homework. I pushed the notebook back over to him and capped my pen again.
“Thanks, Alexander,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”
“Happy to help,” he said. His phone lit up with a notification. His face dropped as he read it.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Hm? Oh yeah, everything's okay. I've just got to go, sorry.” He slipped the phone into his pocket. “Will you be okay alone?”
“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” I said, waving a hand through the air. “It’s not exactly my first experience eating lunch alone.”
He studied me for a moment, a cute crinkle appearing between his eyes.
“Hey, why don’t you come to the football meeting with me?” He smirked. “You can ogle all the hot guys.”
“Believe it or not, sitting in a room full of gross and sweaty guys isn’t on my bucket list,” I said.
He looked bewildered. “Who said anything about sweaty?”
“Well, people usually sweat after they play football.”
Alexander laughed. “It’s just a meeting, Penny, not a practice.”
“Oh.” I blushed. “Right. Um… well, either way, go without me. I don’t need to crash a football meeting.”
“Are you sure?” He asked. He stood up, resting his palms on the table's surface. “I’m sure everyone would love to have you there.”
“I’m really okay,” I laughed. “I have some other homework I should get a head start on. Have fun, though.”
