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Elliot nods, then grins. “What are boyfriends for?”
He drops my hand and heads for land, unaware of the way my heart has set off on a wild staccato.
I wish I could be as oblivious.
Elliot
I’m on my last set when they show up at the weight room. My eyes flick to the clock. It’s not even ten yet. Josh rarely rises before noon in the summers, telling me this is a matter deemed highly important. I don’t need three guesses to put together what that is. Oliver settles on the bench beside me and starts doing some reps. Luke and Josh hover on either side of me like sentries.
“Hey, guys.” I keep lifting and lowering the bar.
“That’s how you’re going to play this, Reid?” Josh asks.
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yep, he is,” Luke contributes.
I roll my eyes.
“We won the championship yesterday,” Josh informs me.
“I know, I was there. Scored a hat trick, remember?”
“Well, do you remember leaving my place last night after less than an hour with a girl you swore up and down you weren’t dating, after she called you her boyfriend in front of half our year?”
“I changed my mind about her, okay?”
“Youchanged your mind?”
“Yep. Sorry if you felt left out, but I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend.” I barely choke the sentence out.
Josh blinks. Twice. “I don’t believe you.”
“Believe whatever you want. I saw her yesterday and realized you were right. I’m in love with her. So I asked her out, and now we’re dating.”
I saw her yesterday…and realized Auden Harmon isstunning. It was easy to separate her looks from her as a friend when we texted. Not so easy conversing in person. I had a third, far less noble reason for asking Auden to pretend to be my girlfriend: I don’t want to watch her hook up with someone else while she’s here. Maybe I should feel guilty about that, but she didn’t have to agree. Auden has no issue telling me no. She could have said no to this.
“Well…I told you so.”
I keep doing reps. “Yeah. Fine. You did.”
“You going to blame her if you don’t get a D1 ride?” Oliver enters the conversation for the first time since they all showed up.
“That’s not going to happen.” My voice is even and calm, but there’s an underlying ripple of warning that he’d be wise to heed.
“We’ll see.” Oliver’s tone is annoyingly superior.
“I’m still pissed you skipped out before the cake I custom-ordered, but I’m happy for you, man. It’s obvious you’re crazy about her.”
I ignore the second half of his statement. I didn’t expect to feel guilty about lying to my friends, but here we are. “You custom-ordered a cake?”
“Well, technically I had my dad’s assistant do it, but I picked it up from the bakery.”
“Is there any left?”
“Yeah…but I wouldn’t eat it.”
I can only imagine. “Enough said.”
