Page 27 of Can’t Say No

The whole thing.

A wave of regret washes over me. An elaborate farce is not how I imagined dating Delaney.

And trust me, I’ve imagined it a lot.

I deleted my rideshare driver app and everything. Bye-bye side hustle, hello getting paid off by my childhood best friend turned mega pop star to fake-date her while secretly being in love with her the entire time.

Yeah... I’m so screwed.

“Mr. Majors! What was my time?” a sweaty, out-of-breath Simon calls from the finish line.

Shit.

“Uh, sorry, man.” I scratch at my chin.“I, uh, got distracted. I’ll just write down one second slower than the fastest time I’ve seen today. You’re making the team anyway.”

Simon’s gaze flicks from Delaney to me, then back again, a sly smile creeping across his face.

“No worries, Mr. Majors,” he says, slowly backing away, with a little laugh. “But maybe don’t mess up their times.” He hitches a thumb towards a group of freshmen girls, fear of failure written all over their faces. “I don’t think they’ll deal with it as well as me.”

“Noted, Simon. Appreciate you.”

He gives a final, unbothered nod before jogging back towards the school.

“How was that for a soft launch?” I lean towards Delaney, but her face is already buried in her phone again.

She pats my leg, still not looking up from her screen. “Great work, boyfriend. Just doing a little editing… and done!”

I swipe through the perfectly edited carousel of photos, with the simple caption “u + me.” And damn it, my heart skips a beat. My head knows it's fake but apparently the rest of me never got the memo.

“Soft launch on socials, check. High school gossip, check.” Delaney nods towards the group of girls waiting to log their times.

They’re laser-focused on us.

She presses the quickest kiss to my temple as she stands, and the girls immediately erupt in high-pitched chatter.

My stomach flips.

“This just might work,” She says, her voice so excited it almost matches the pitch of the girls beside us.

“God…” her tone drops, some of that excitement slipping away just as quickly as it appeared, and a faraway look settles over her face. “I really hope this works. The media will paint me as America’s sweetheart again, I can leave Ridgecrest, and get back to my life. I really owe you one Connor.”

My stomach flips again, this time with dread.

She’s going to leave. Again.

I need to get that drilled in my head so maybe my heart will finally get the memo before the time comes. Maybe I can keep my heart from shattering this time.

This means nothing. It’s going to end. You’ll be okay.

I clear my throat. “Anything for you, Lanie Lou.”

But she’s already halfway back to the parking lot before I can get the words out.

11

DELANEY

Faculty lounge coffee sucks ass. I know I’ve got expensive taste, but there’s no way I’m the only one who realizes how bad this is. But desperate times, desperate measures, and all that, and I’m somehow on my second cup before Mrs. Rutledge calls the morning faculty meeting to order.