by Sarah Pointe
Pete. I squealed. What are you doing tonight?
Have plans, going to a party.
Need a handsome date at your side for tonight? I can’t guarantee handsome, but I’m really good at attentive…bring you drinks, fend off creeps, that kind of thing. He sent a laughing emoji.
Not tonight, got that taken care of. But – my thumbs hovered over the letters. And then I decided to go for it. Fake dates were so much easier than real dates. But I wanted to see Pete. I could use a stand-in for the soup kitchen.
When?
Tomorrow. My family goes every year.
I’m in. Just tell me where and when.
I sent back a party emoji and then pocketed my phone. Did I need a date for the soup kitchen? No. But it sounded way more exciting now that I had one. Fake date, I reminded myself. Pete had agreed to this as a fake date thing. And a real possibility, he’d said. I couldn’t think about that right now. But I scrolled back through his messages to confirm. Yep. He’d offered something real.
Mom’s breakfast was amazing. Trey snarfed it down like he never ate food ever and then rushed back to his room. Mom sat by me. “How was your date?”
“Oh, no, Mom. Not a date. Just a fill-in, you know? Like he needed someone, and I was free.”
“That, is a date.”
I shrugged. “I guess so. And it was fun. I must have met almost all their closest friends. His mom says to say hello.”
“I know, she already called me this morning.”
I swallowed a bite of eggs too soon. Good thing they were soft. After I’d gulped down half my water, I nodded. “What did she say?”
“She was just so thrilled that you’re dating. You are just such an angel and so perfect for her Jackson. She loves the way you two met and can’t wait to see you at the family tree lighting.” Mom’s eyebrows were almost up to her hairline, but to give her credit, she waited to hear what I had to say about all of this new intel.
The problem was, I had no idea what to say. I couldn’t really be telling her I was going on a bunch of fake dates, could I? And this whole family tree lighting, that was news to me.
“Mom. It really is like I said. I don’t hardly know him. But I guess when you bring a girl to the family dinner, everyone assumes you’re together.”
“Maybe you are in his mind.”
“That’s not possible. We know what we are.”
“Oh? You talked about it? Already?”
I nodded. “I don’t want to tie myself down right now. I kind of have some fun things set up for the holidays and I don’t need a boyfriend. Besides, I just don’t see Jackson like that.”
“He’s such a nice boy.”
“Yes, but maybe not for me.”
“You don’t have to date him. I’m glad I know where you stand though because I can watch what I say on the phone to Mrs. Collins.”
“Even his grandma was talking about us being a couple.”
“Was it awkward?”
I thought back to the whole dinner. And realized that it was perfectly comfortable. “Maybe too comfortable.”
“Nothing wrong with comfortable. Sometimes comfortable grows on you.”
Really wanting to change the subject, I laughed. “Speaking of comfortable…” What? That didn’t even make sense. But I needed to move from Jackson to Cal, and right now.
“Hm? What’s up?”
“I’m going to another party tonight.”
“Oh? Did you and Sasha decide to hit the party scene all of a sudden?”
“I’m not going with Sasha.” I’m not sure what my tone did there, but she looked at me closer.
“Who are you going with?”
“A guy named Cal. He goes to my school. Plays soccer. We have English together.”
“What’s he like?”
Totally hot. I’ve had a crush on him for a year. “I don’t know. But I was happy he asked me to go. He’s picking me up at seven.”
“Whose party?”
“Why do you have so many questions about all this?” I was beginning to wonder if she didn’t trust me or something.
“I’m just curious. You don’t usually go to parties and now you’re going to two in two days. And you usually spend all your time with Sasha, and now you haven’t really been with her for two days. Something’s different.”
If she only knew.
“Sasha is going to be there if that makes you feel better. Her boyfriend Nick is throwing the party.”
“Oh that’s right. She has a new boyfriend.” Then her face got this sympathetic, pitying thing all over it, and that was more than I could stand in the morning. I stood. “Thanks for breakfast. I think I’ll finish up my homework now so we can do the soup kitchen as long as we need to.”
I literally groaned. Did I have to tell her right now that I was bringing Pete tomorrow? No. I didn’t. but that was going to be a surprise, and she might be even more intrigued by the new me when it was yet another boy, and this time, I’d invited him.
The day dragged on and on. I got ready for the party two hours earlier than I needed. I’d never been so careful with my makeup. Every part of me was shaved and my hair perfect.
Then at seven fifteen, Cal texted. “I’m here.”
“Bye, Mom!” I called to the house and rushed out the door.
Before I was halfway down the driveway, her voice behind me called out, “Oh wait. I want to meet Cal!” She hurried closer.
“This really isn’t necessary.” I figured if he was waiting in the car it’s because he didn’t want to do the whole meet the parents thing. It was our first date; a little early for that anyway, right? I had no idea really. This whole dating thing was brand new to me.
And then I saw that there were other people in the car.
A girl rolled down the window in the back. “Is that Ava’s mom?” She was a cheerleader. And she had never really spoken to me in her life. And she was kind of making fun of my mom with her tone and laughing thing she had going. I sort of wanted to find a rock somewhere, pull it over the top of me, and hide.
But there were no rocks.
My mom kept coming. And the back seat was full of girls. At least the front was free.
But Cal stayed in his seat, and my mom had to peek in through my passenger window to say hello.
“Nice to meet you, Cal.” My mom smiled in at him even though no one introduced her. That was probably my job, but I just wanted to get going. I smiled at her and waved then she waved back. “Have fun tonight.”
“We will, thank you.” Cal’s response was polite, and a bit of relief softened the awkwardness.
“Thank you, Mrs. Harkins,” someone, one of the three in the back, called out.
And I kept looking for any available rocks.
As soon as my door was shut and we were driving away, Cal turned to me. “What was that?”
“What?”
“Your mom?”
“I don’t know. She wanted to meet you.”
“Was I supposed to say, I’ll have her back by ten?”
“No. I don’t think you were supposed to say anything. She just wanted to meet you.” Wow, I was going to ruin my chances with Cal before they even began. I looked back over my shoulder. “Hey.”
They all fake smiled at me.
I missed Sasha. But she and I weren’t really speaking. So I’d have to figure this out on my own. Hadn’t I been wanting to go out with Cal for forever? Well, now was my chance. I could fix awkward.
Chapter 7
When we walked in the door, I felt like I was part of a posse or something. He stood next to me, but all three cheerleaders from the back seat tried to crowd in with us, like in the same little walking group. It was weird. But Cal didn’t roll his eyes or anything when I looked at him. He laughed with them and kept right on walking up to the front door like this was perfectly normal.
So, I got the impression this wasn’t really a date, fake or real. And that was a bit deflating, but it was still progress, and I pla
nned to be happy about that. I could still turn it into a date.
Cars were everywhere. Some parked on the lawn. They lined the street, crowded into the driveway and everyone blocked everyone in.
His parents were definitely not home.
And that was my first clue that I might regret coming.
Or I might love it, I countered. People went to parties all the time and loved it. That’s all they talked about.
We walked in the door and the place was packed. Was Nick even here yet? I had no way of knowing. People were everywhere, on every piece of furniture, on tables, standing. And it was loud.
People cheered when they saw us. Ebbie gave me a high five. I didn’t see Nick or Sasha anywhere. Cal waved and smiled, and the cheerleaders laughed and jumped up and down. I had never been anywhere with someone so popular.
But then as they crowded into us, they were high fiving me. Cal didn’t notice, but a lot of these people were talking to me and laughing about the bikini picture. I guess everyone thought it was cool. I glanced at Cal, but he was still greeting half the party himself.
A euphoric feeling bubbled up inside. I caught Sasha’s gaze across the room and waved with a big smile. But she just nodded and then turned back to Nick. Oh boy. What’s going on there? I thought I was supposed to be the one mad at her?
“Fake Date!” A guy named Tad reached across like ten people with his long arms. “I gotta talk to you.” He’d left me a DM and I hadn’t responded yet, ’cause, well, I was taking things slow, and I still had a date every night, including this Cal non-date. He took my hand in his and tugged me through the people between us until I was standing right in front of him. “I need you, bikini girl.”
“Oh yeah? What do you have in mind?” Where were all these words coming from? I was faking this whole thing so hard I really hoped no one would notice.
He pulled me closer and into a corner where it was a tiny bit quieter. Standing so near, his cologne circled in the air around us. “When you put it like that, I have lots of things in mind.” He winked. “But first. This weekend. A group of us are going ice skating. They say dates only. Just ‘cause Nick got himself a girlfriend everyone is pairing off. You in?”
I nodded. “I love ice skating. I’m totally in.”
“Yes!” He pumped the air. “I got myself a date!” Then he put his hand above me on the wall. “You know, you’re not half bad, Ava. Maybe this could turn into something, you feel?”
I nodded, half in a daze that his golden, honeyed eyes were staring into mine so closely. “You never know I guess.”
He tapped my nose. “Friday.”
“I’ll message you my address.”
And then he was gone. Someone had thrown a ball at his head from across the room and he took off after them, ball in hand.
Meanwhile my body was tingling head to toe. This whole fake attention from guys could really get addicting. I’d never felt so on fire. And cool. People who never looked twice were talking to me.
Cal had started talking to me before the fake date thing.
I wondered if maybe they just hadn’t known I was available before?
But then my euphoria crashed down around me as I realized he’d said ice skating was Nick’s group. Sasha’s group. And she hadn’t said a word about it to me.
I turned to find her.
Which was easy because she was looking at me from across the room. I lifted my hand like I was coming and she nodded. Which was so weird between us. Why did I feel like I was about to talk to a stranger? But things needed to be said, and now was the time to say them.
While I was still feeling brave and cool, I prepared to face my best friend.
And then a flash of her and me at the beach last summer entered my mind. Some kid had called out something about my boobs. Sasha had turned on him with dragon fire and he ran off. She’d always taken care of me, especially since Dad died.
By the time I got to her, I was feeling pretty emotional about our friendship and how she’d always stood up for me and how we’d been through a lot together. So when I reached her, I held out my hand for our signature handshake.
She smiled and we did the whole thing, even though it was really too long. Then she tugged at my hand to follow her. We ducked into a bathroom and shut the door.
“Oh that’s better.” The sound was muted. The room was quiet. And it was just me and Sasha. Then I looked at her, really noticed.
She was wearing something totally un-Sasha like, or at least I’d never seen her wear anything like that before. Her skirt was super short. Her half top super half. She almost looked like she was wearing the bikini from my picture.
She wore eyeliner extra thick. It all looked a little too much like a new Sasha or something and that bothered me. Some of my irritation came back. “I just got invited to Nick’s ice skating party on Friday.”
Her eyes widened a minute and then she smiled a kind of fake smile. “Great! So you have a date.”
“Were you ever going to tell me about it?”
She shook her head. “Why are you asking me that? You know we talked about you getting dates so you could come on all the couples stuff on my and Nick’s list.”
I crossed my arms. “Your and my list.”
“Right, but remember it became Nick’s and my list.”
“And this party? Were you gonna tell me about it?”
“Were you gonna tell me about Cal? When did that start happening?”
“Seems like there’s a lot of stuff we aren’t saying right now.” I stared her down, but she didn’t budge.
“Look, Ava, I’m getting back out there.”
“Right, don’t let me keep you from Nick.”
She sighed. Then she looked like she might say something more but shook her head. “Careful, Cal’s a player.” And she was gone.
What was that supposed to mean? Of course Cal was a player. But that didn’t mean someday he might not fall for a girl, like really fall. I could be that someone.
But by the end of the party, I knew he wasn’t thinking about me being that girl any time soon. After not seeing him the whole time, he suddenly showed up at my side. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.” I smiled up into his face, but he wasn’t looking at me anymore. Then just the two of us left together.
“Where’s everyone else?”
“Who?” He looked over his shoulder.
“The other girls we came with?”
“Oh,” he laughed. “Them. They have rides.”
I wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but I was happy we could be alone. “Hey, thanks for inviting me here.”
“Yeah sure. I saw you getting a lot of attention. You had fun?”
“Totally.”
“And Tad?” He studied me for a minute. Had he seen when Tad and I were talking?
“What about him?”
“You guys seemed close.”
“Oh, no, I hardly know him.” But then I had to think up a reason I’d be ice skating with Tad, probably holding his hand on couples’ skate, and I didn’t have a good one. I stammered a minute. “He asked me to go skating.”
“Nice!” He high fived me, and I didn’t like the friend zone nature of this conversation very much. But I didn’t know how to bring it around.
“Yeah. I guess it was a couples only thing.” I shrugged. “I was happy to step in.”
He didn’t say anything more about it. And I didn’t know how to bring the conversation around to us or being with Cal. So we just sort of talked about the party in general, and I got out of the car and said goodnight with no idea if he’d ever talk to me again.
Chapter 8
The DMs kept coming in, especially from people at that party. And I realized that things were getting out of control.
But I didn’t know what to do about it.
And so I decided to ignore the problem for a while. This afternoon, Pete was coming over and we were all going to the soup kitchen. And that was a good enough distraction to
focus on.
Pete.
Sasha and I had both had a crush on Pete our entire eighth grade year. I always thought he would have chosen Sasha. The two of them laughed together more. And he seemed to converse more freely with her. But then nothing happened there. And nothing happened with me. And then summer came and went, and we really didn’t see much of him again. But I’d always thought that eighth grade year was full of things I never got to explore, and Pete’s name was all over that.
And he was coming over tonight. Wow.
And I hadn’t told my mom.
I didn’t want to talk about it, honestly. All day I almost told her time and again, but shut my mouth tight. When the doorbell rang, I jumped up to answer. “Oh, that must be Pete.”
She stood to follow me. “Pete?”
“Yeah, didn’t I tell you? He’s coming with us to the soup kitchen.”
“Who is he?” Before I could open the door, she stopped me. “This is fun. I’m glad you invited someone, but I had no idea.”
“I guess I didn’t mention it. He’s a friend from eighth grade, and I thought it would be fun if he came with.”
“Of course. This is great.” Her expression told me she was more than a little confused, but I was happy she didn’t try to talk about it more.
I opened the door and the guy who stood there was not the same guy I had fallen for in eighth grade.
He towered above me. His shoulders were broad, his arms strong, his jaw…he looked like a man. A really good-looking man, like on the cover of a magazine. I stepped closer, searching his face. “Pete?”
And then he smiled. And I saw it, the Pete I’d known in eighth grade. The way his eyes grinned at the corners along with his mouth.
“Yeah, wow, long time no see.” He held out his hand. “Good to see you again, Ava.” And then he turned to my mom. “This must be Mrs. Harkins?”
“Oh yes. This is my mom. Mom, this is Pete. He’s coming to the soup kitchen with us.” Yeah, I already said that. But I was still trying to fill in the gaps of how this Pete and my Pete were the same guy.
