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“I thought it couldn’t get any worse.”
“I guess that’s true.” He laughed before lifting the tall glass and putting the rainbow-colored straw to his lips. He looked pleasantly surprised as he took a sip.
"Well, it might look like a unicorn threw up in my glass, but it tastes pretty good,” he said as he went back for more. “I do love strawberries, and you can’t go wrong with sprinkles.”
I laughed at his description. When I’d come up with the concoction, I’d been going for something a five-year-old girl might serve up to her imaginary pet unicorn, so unicorn vomit wasn’t exactly far off. I was surprised he’d even given it a go, let alone liked it.
“Not too sweet?” I asked.
“Nope.” He flashed me a smile even though the straw was still firmly stuck between his lips. “This is exactly what I wanted.”
My cheeks flushed because for a moment I wasn’t all that certain he was talking about his coffee. At least, a part of me seemed to hope he wasn’t talking about the coffee. I quickly pushed the thought away as I remembered Nicole and Mia were watching us closely. I didn’t look their way to check, but I schooled my expression to become more serious and focused on the task at hand.
“So…we’re really doing this?” I asked. “Pretending to be in a relationship?”
“Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
I was slightly terrified by the whole thing, but after the way Jeremy had treated me last night, I wasn’t sure I could back out. No, I needed to go through with this, so I shook my head. “I haven’t changed my mind.”
“Good.”
“But we need rules,” I quickly added.
His expression dimmed. “Okay, what kind of rules?” He really didn’t seem to like the sound of that. I guessed it wasn’t surprising when it seemed there were very few rules he actually followed in life.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Rules about things we are and aren’t comfortable with. Rules to make sure this doesn’t get out of hand.”
“Didn’t you already break your most sacred rule by being in this relationship? No hockey players, remember.”
“Yes,” I reluctantly admitted. “And look what a mess we’re in because I broke that rule. We’re making rules and sticking to them from here on.”
“Fine.” He let out a long sigh. “Give me an example.”
“Okay.” I said, with a firm nod. “Rule number one: no flirting.”
“What?” His face almost scrunched in disgust.
“No flirting.”
“But how are we supposed to convince people we’re in a relationship if we can’t flirt?”
He had a point. “Okay, then, no flirting unless there are other people around and we need to keep up the act.”
Reed still didn’t look certain and already seemed worried about how this was going to work. I could understand why it might be hard for him. A guy like Reed would probably chat up a streetlight if it had long hair.
“Okay, what else,” he asked.
“Uh, no kissing.”
“It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?” he said with a hint of a smile. “You already well and truly broke that rule.”
“I wasn’t thinking clearly when that happened.” I shot back. And if we repeated that mistake, I wasn’t sure I would ever think clearly again. Reed’s lips were far too skilled, and I’d enjoyed it far too much. Kissing was what had gotten me into this in the first place; it would only make things messier, and it was exactly why we needed to put these rules in place.
“No kissing,” I repeated.
“Again, how are we supposed to convince people we’re dating?” he replied.
“I’m sure holding hands is more than enough.”
