Page 25 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy
“Don’t dish it if you can’t take it,” I said with a wink. Jaxon shook his head and looked away, but I saw a big smile on his face.
“Hey folks!” A waiter appeared between me and Madison. “Hope it’s going well. Do you guys know what you want to order today?”
“Yeah, I think we’re ready,” I said. We quickly went around the table with our orders.
“Okay great. Anything to drink?”
“Could I get the sake?” Sabrina asked.
“Oh, me too,” Madison said.
The waiter nodded and jotted it down on his notepad. “Okay, that will be out soon.”
“You’re not drinking?” Jaxon asked me once the waiter walked away.
I shrugged. “No, I’ll just try some of Madison’s.”
“That’s presumptuous,” Madison said. She took a long sip of her drink and looked at me over the glass, one eyebrow raised.
“You know you would have offered,” I said. We shared almost everything. I turned back to Jaxon. “What about you? You’re not drinking?”
“I shouldn’t,” he said. “Not during the track season.”
The track season was all year round to him, but okay.
“Can’t do anything to risk that important career,” Sabrina said. “One drink and boom! It’s all over.”
Jaxon glared at Sabrina, but the softness in his eyes made it obvious that he wasn’t being serious. I wasn’t sure if the two of them ever had disagreements, honestly. I could imagine that if they did, it would get pretty heated in the same way things go between siblings, but I couldn’t imagine them being angry at each other for long.
“Guess you two didn’t even need to pull out your IDs in the first place,” Madison said.
“No,” I said. I grabbed Jaxon’s license and waved it around in the air. “But I am so glad that we did!”
“Just wait until you meet his mother,” Sabrina told me. “She’ll show you all the childhood photos of Jaxon that you could possibly want.”
“There is no way I’m letting that happen,” Jaxon said. “Violet, I’m telling you now, no chance.”
I glanced between him and Sabrina. While I wasn’t sure there would be a scenario in which I’d end up meeting Jaxon’s mother, if I ever did, I bet I could convince her to show me the photos. The question was how worth it they were.
“How embarrassing are we talking?” I asked Sabrina.
“Two words,” Sabrina said. She leaned forward. “Frosted tips.”
I burst out laughing.
Jaxon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. As if you don’t have any embarrassing childhood photos.”
“None that you’ll see,” I chortled. I took a long sip of my drink. “Trust me. I keep those under lock and key.”
Jaxon smiled at me, a glint of mischief in his eye. I was suddenly reminded that I was sitting with a boy who snuck into staff meetings for fun. “We’ll see.”
nine
The realityof the room-sharing situation didn’t hit me until we got back to the hotel that evening. Jaxon and I bid goodbye to our friends and headed to our room. Jaxon walked in first and flipped on the lights. When I walked in a second behind him and saw him standing next to the bed, I froze in my tracks.
I’d gone in the room briefly earlier but I hadn’t thought about the fact that there was only a lone queen-sized bed. I was really going to have to share a bed with Jaxon Andrews of all people. I hadn’t thought this plan through. I mean, what if he snored? Or kicked me in his sleep? Or rolled in his sleep until he was on my side of the bed? I was fine with shoving Madison away from me whenever we shared a bed at sleepovers but I didn’t know Jaxon that well and I really wasn’t looking to do that.
“You okay, Evers?”
