I will block you
don't even joke
she already tried to "improve" my lesson plans
MULTIPLE TIMES
sounds like true love to me
that's it. You're disowned.
gotta go, she's approaching with a clipboard
what a loser
If you don't hear from me, assume I'm in prison for justifiable homicide
she sounds cool - give her my number so we can chat. I think we’d be friends!
I set my phone down,trying to ignore the guilt. It's just temporary, this lying to Troy. Just until this whole fake dating thing isover.
My phone buzzes.A text fromAlfie.
Space Boy
Meet at 10 for com service tomorrow? I have something to show you.
I’m early to community service for the first time ever the next morning.
We haven’t spoken about hooking up. I haven’t brought it up. I don’t want to come off as clingy or weird. So what – we’re two people fake dating who might have accidently fell into each other? Well, he fell into me. Hard. And very freakin’ deep.
I cough to hide my face.
The blank wall stretches before me, freshly primed and waiting. We’ve spent days scrubbing and painting over the old graffiti with a coat of pink, and now finally I get to see what Alfie’s been designing.
He’s been so protective of it, hunched over that sketchbook he guards like it contains freakin’ state secrets, snapping it shut whenever I get too close.
“You’re early.”
His voice behind me sends a shiver down my spine that has nothing to do with the morning chill. When I turn, he’s carrying a stack of paint cans, sleeves already rolled up. The tendons in his forearms flex as he sets them down, and I force myself to look away.
“Couldn’t sleep,” I admit, then immediately regret it. Because now he might ask why, and I can’t exactly say I spent hours replaying the way his voice got rough when he talked about escaping to the stars. How he trusted me with that piece of himself.
But he just nods, something soft in his expression. “Ready to see what we’re working with?”
“You mean Ifinallyget to see this mysterious design you’ve been hiding?” I bounce on my toes, probably too excited but unable to help myself. “The one you wouldn’t even let me peek at?”
“If you promise not to laugh.”
“When do I ever laugh at you?”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Okay,fair enough. But I promise to only laugh if it’s really terrible.”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “Your support is overwhelming.”
He pulls out his sketchbook,thesketchbook, and hesitates.
