Page 22 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
“Elevator,” Madison said immediately. She fanned herself with her hands. “It’s too hot to take the stairs.”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s like twenty degrees out. I’m pretty sure it was warmer at home than here.”
“Still, my point stands,” Madison said. She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder then pressed the button for the elevator. “So, I ran into Mr. Smith on my way to your room and he told me that we can do whatever we want for the rest of the day. We just have to be back at the hotel for five o’clock so we can go to dinner as a class.”
“Okay,” I said. I glanced at my watch. That gave us a little under five hours of free time. “What do you want to start with?”
“Lunch?” she suggested. “I’m sure there’s some good restaurants around here.”
“Yeah, sounds good,” I said. The elevator doors finally opened and we stepped on.
“Hold the elevator!” somebody called a moment later. Madison’s hand shot out to press the open door button and Eli, Sabrina, and Jaxon came running on, all of them laughing happily.
“Hey guys,” Sabrina giggled.
“Thanks for holding the door,” Eli said.
“No problem,” Madison replied. She pulled her hand away from the button, letting the doors close.
Jaxon slipped between Eli and Sabrina to stand next to me and slipped his arm around me. His hand was barely even touching my back, but I was sure nobody else could tell that.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Pretty good,” I said. “You?”
“Same,” he said. “Sorry I didn’t stick around in the room with you. I was trying to catch Eli and Sabrina.”
“No worries,” I said. My eyes shifted around the elevator. Would a real girlfriend care more about that? I didn’t know how to fake that sort of jealousy.
“Hey, do you guys want to get lunch with us?” Eli asked. “We were thinking of going to a ramen place down the street.”
Before I could even consider the offer, Madison said, “Yeah, that sounds great!”
It was just as well that she said yes. It wasn’t like I was really against going out with them. I was hoping to have a small break from hanging around Jaxon since I had already spent more time with him this week than I had in the past year, but it would also be nice to spend some time with all of them.
The elevator doors re-opened and we walked out into the spacious lobby. To the left, six armchairs were filled with some of our classmates who were joking around. The air conditioning was blasting so much that goosebumps raised on my arms as we walked through. On the bright side, it meant that the outside air felt even warmer when we headed out. Madison frequently complained about the humidity in our city, but I was happy to have the heat of any sort. The only thing that got me was the sun — being a redhead in any place with even mild sun was hell for me.
The sidewalk was only big enough for three people to walk in a row. Jaxon, Eli and Sabrina immediately moved into a line in front, while Madison and I fell behind them. Madison linked her arm through mine and matched my steps exactly.
“So…” she said, dragging out the word.
“So…” I echoed back, unsure of what she was trying to say.
“I saw you and Jaxon cuddling on the bus,” Madison said with a wink. My face flushed red.
“We weren’tcuddling,” I argued, even though that was exactly what it was.
“Yeah, sure you weren’t.” Madison smirked. She tilted her head and studied me in an oddly disarming way. “It seems like you really like him.”
To be honest, I was surprised that we managed to convince Madison that our relationship was real so quickly. I had expected her to be more dubious about the relationship or think that it was a bad idea, but she seemed really happy about it. In fact, she acted as if she had expected it — which shocked me more than anything.
The more she seemed happy about the relationship, the guiltier I felt. I hated lying to her and I hated that she was probably going to be heartbroken when Jaxon and I ‘broke up’. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fake those feelings. I tried to stay in the moment, though, and focus on why I was doing this.
I smiled widely at Madison. “I really do.”
“Here we are,” Eli said. We stopped in front of a narrow, dark building. Eli held the door open for all of us to go inside. I followed Madison and Sabrina in, with the boys bringing up the rear. Just as we entered the building and stopped by the hostess stand, all the staff yelled something in unison. Although I should have expected it since that was common practice in restaurants like this, I just about jumped out of my skin.
Jaxon laughed. “Take you by surprise, Evers?”
