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“Aren’t they the cutest?” Georgia said.

Whatever, George. I couldn’t believe that just a few minutes ago I thought that Axel was my kiss thief. Sophie was right. He was not into me at all.

“Definitely,” Gemma agreed.

“You know who’d be a cuter couple?” RJ said.

“Who?” Gemma asked.

“Us, baby.”

Gemma laughed instead of shoving him off his seat.

Axel was dating Gigi. And RJ was flirting with Gemma. I’d never been more grateful that my brother already had a girlfriend.

Liam gave me a sympathetic smile.

“You okay?” Jacob whispered in my ear.

His breath on the side of my face reminded me to breathe.

And it was actually easier than I thought it would be. It was always easier to breathe around Jacob.

I turned to look up at him. Axel was dating my nemesis. And the triple G’s would apparently be sitting at our table for the foreseeable future.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said. Normally, I would have been tempted to flip the lunchroom table. But I felt kind of okay. Not great. But...oddly okay.

After all, Jacob’s arm was around me. And if I screamed in my head I could almost drown out the sound of Gigi moaning into Axel’s mouth.

This was some kind of new hell.

But for the first time ever, I had a boyfriend while Axel had a girlfriend. And that made everything more bearable.

I really didn’t know if it would bother me if he was dating someone other than Gigi. But the what-ifs didn’t matter. He was dating Gigi. And apparently it was serious. I’d told him I wanted him to be happy. And if that’s what happiness looked like to him, so be it.

“Do you want some ice cream?” Jacob asked.

The fact that he knew I needed ice cream when I was upset was next level boyfriend material. But I wasn’t upset. At least, I didn’t want to be. “No, I’m okay, really. Besides, I have this amazing sandwich to eat.”

Jacob smiled.

I wanted to be as good of a girlfriend as he was a boyfriend. I chewed my bite really slowly as I kept my body turned toward Jacob. No one needed to see whatever was going on behind me.

“I’m excited about the party on Saturday,” I said.

“Me too.” He kept his arm around me as he started eating again with one hand.

I’d come clean about everything at the party. My kiss thief would be unmasked by then. And I’d have no reason to lie about anything ever again. I just really hoped Jacob would forgive me.

Chapter 9 – The Big Reveal

Friday

My stomach was filled with knots as I pulled on the low cut dress I was borrowing from Natalivanka’s mom. It was gold and kind of looked like a short wrap dress. But the bow on the side wasn’t holding the whole thing together. The zipper in the back was. I’d hoped the long sleeves would make it more classy than slutty. But I was pretty sure it was the opposite.

Normally when I dressed up, I’d think about if Axel would like my outfit. More recently, I’d been thinking of Jacob when I got ready. And today I was just thinking about how guilty I felt.

“So hot,” Sophie said. “Here.” She handed me the pair of heels she was holding in her hand.