The Fake: A College Sports Romance (Smart Jocks #4)

by Rebecca Jenshak

  I know she’s referring to my decision to stay at Valley and if I hadn’t been one hundred percent sure before, I am now. Each bump in the road has solidified it. I don’t want to run. I want to prove I can handle everything thrown my way.

  “Yeah, Mom, this is it. This is where I belong. At least for now.”

  The waiter brings our drinks and my dad takes a sip of his red wine. “I know it’s hard for you to understand, but we just want you to have all the opportunities you deserve. We’re sorry we interfered and cost you your spot on the team.”

  “Actually, I think I’m starting to understand just how much people will do for the ones they love, but I appreciate the apology.”

  Conversation is easier after that. I fill them in on classes and all things Valley, and they tell me about a new hotel opening and renovations they’re doing to the house.

  “Do you guys want to come see my dorm before you leave?” They’re heading up to Scottsdale for the rest of the week and then coming back this weekend to watch our last fall scrimmage against New Mexico.

  I can tell my mom doesn’t totally understand why I’d want to live in the dorms when I could have an off-campus apartment, but she keeps her comments mostly positive as I lead them up the stairs and to my room.

  I introduce them to Emily and Sydney, who are sitting on the couch watching TV. A glance around the room, and I can tell they picked up for my parents.

  Bri is closed up in her room so it’s a quick tour of my room and the living area, which only takes a few seconds to really see. I’m just about to usher them back out so we can say our goodbyes when there’s a knock at the door.

  “I’ll get it.” Sydney leaps from the couch to answer it.

  “Thank you for coming,” I say as I hug my mom tightly.

  Sydney calls out from the door, “Chlo, it’s for you.”

  33

  Nathan

  Shaw and I’d been playing video games for the better part of two hours when I couldn’t take it anymore. No texts, no calls. Shit, I’d take communication by pager right now. Morse code. An owl. I just want to know I didn’t screw things up beyond repair. Gabby told me to be patient, but I’m failing pretty miserably with that virtue.

  Which is how I end up standing in Chloe’s dorm with her parents looking me over. Shit.

  “What are you doing here?” Chloe asks. Her eyes widen, but she walks toward me.

  I smile a little too big to cover the panic strumming through my veins. Meeting the parents was very clearly not on the list of to-dos tonight. Mine or hers.

  “I…” I start to make an excuse, but I’ve told enough lies to last a lifetime. “I wanted to see you.”

  She blushes and smiles as she turns to her parents. “Mom and Dad, this is Nathan, my boyfriend.”

  My heart stops beating for a second at the word boyfriend. It’s the second time she’s shocked me by using it. The first time was the morning after our one night together when she was trying to please her roommates. I gotta wonder if right now she’s using it to please her parents. But when she glances back at me, her eyes dance with amusement and I know she means it. I haven’t lost her yet.

  “Meet my parents, Ellie and Jeff Macpherson.”

  I don’t miss the slight quirk of her dad’s eyebrows.

  Her mom, however, isn’t so subtle. “Chloe Marie, you didn’t mention a boyfriend.”

  I step toward them with my heart beating a million times per minute. “Nice to meet you.”

  I extend my hand to her dad, and he shakes it wordlessly with a nod. He’s wearing a polo shirt and jeans like he’s trying to give the appearance of casual, but he’s all upper class and money. Finally, he says, “Pleasure to meet you.”

  Chloe rolls her eyes when her mom gives her a thumbs up like she approves of me.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, just wanted to give you this.” I hand her the note folded up intricately like a heart, courtesy of Wes and his random origami skills.

  “Thanks.” Chloe takes the note and we stand there awkwardly until I back away. “I’ll talk to ya later. It was nice to meet you both.”

  I stop outside her closed door and bring my palm to my forehead. Stupid. Stupid.

  She said she needed time and space, and what do I do? I stop by unannounced like some creeper. I just want her to know how I feel and what’s at stake for me.

  She’s so much more than a girl I’m dating. I call her my princess, but I’m not the white knight. She is. She saved me.

  “Hey.” Chloe slips out of her room and shuts the door behind her.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s fine. You would have met them eventually, right?”

  “I would have?”

  She looks at me with a curious stare. “Yeah, of course. I guess we haven’t talked about it, but they’re my parents. Don’t worry, they aren’t expecting marriage and babies just because I introduced you.”

  She has no idea that those things with her don’t really scare me. With her, nothing does.

  “Honestly, I didn’t know where we stood so I was surprised you introduced me at all, let alone as your boyfriend.”

  Her features soften.

  “You said you needed time and space and here I am crowding you.”

  “I get it. It’s hard to stay away for me too. Look, Nathan, I do need time to process everything, but it doesn’t mean I’ve deleted your number or that I’m going to pretend there’s nothing between us.”

  “I’m so sorry. I know I’ve said it a million times, but I am. I need you to know that I’m sincere. I never wanted to hurt you.”

  “I was thinking about that tonight, about how everyone does dumb shit they wish they could take back. Look at me and the situation with my parents. The thing is, knowing we all do it is comforting in a way. Someday I’m going to do something stupid. I may not even know it at the time I’m doing it. I might think it’s the best thing for me or for someone I love, but I’ll hurt them the most in the process. The point is, I’m going to screw up and I’m hoping when I do, you’re still going to be around. I don’t need time away from you because I’m trying to decide if I want to be with you, I need it because I do. And that means I need to accept what happened and forgive you so we can move on. My feelings for you haven’t changed. That’s not how this works.”

  I have so many things I want to say, but I keep them in for now. I don’t want anything I say to be perceived as my trying to win back her forgiveness or speed up her timeline for forgiving me. I owe her that. I bring my lips to her forehead. “Thank you.”

  She holds up the note. “More truths?”

  “Oh, uh, no. I may or may not have re-written the lyrics to ‘Ice Ice Baby’.” I clear my throat. “All right stop, please forgive me, and listen, Payne is back with a brand new…”

  I stop after the first few humiliating words and give her a sheepish smile, but when she returns it—I’m not the least bit embarrassed about the lengths I’ll go to prove how much she means to me.

  The rest of the week is torture, but I do my best to give Chloe space. We see each other in class and text a little, but I’m basically sitting on my hands and rocking back and forth to keep myself from pushing too hard. I’m losing my mind.

  My phone rings and I dive for it, only deflating a bit when I see it’s Heath and not Chloe.

  “What’s up, little bro?” I answer.

  “You’re never gonna guess who just called me.”

  “Ariana Grande? She finally get all your fan mail?”

  “Fuck off.”

  I hear Mom scold him in the background and I chuckle. “Busted.”

  “Coach Meyers called. The head coach of the Valley U hockey team.”

  I sit up straighter. “Really?”

  “So, you didn’t do this?”

  “No, man, I swear.”

  He repeats that info back to Mom, and I can tell they’re both excited. I didn’t know he was even considering coming here.

  “When ar
e you coming out?”

  “I don’t know.” He talks faster now, no longer able to hide his excitement. “He wanted to set a date on the phone, but Mom said she wanted to talk to you first so we could coordinate my visit with one of your home games.”

  My mom and brother at one of my games? The idea of looking up into the stands and seeing them makes me beyond excited. “I’ll shoot you the link to my schedule.”

  “Cool. Alright, gotta go. Talk to ya later.”

  I walk into the theater room where Joel and Wes are watching some game footage from last season.

  “What did you do?” I ask, standing in the doorway.

  Joel presses pause on the game. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

  “I just got off the phone with my brother. Coach Meyers called and invited him out for a visit.”

  Joel looks to Wes, who gives us both a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, man. I didn’t mean to overstep. I just told him there was a kid in Michigan he might want to take a look at and shot over some videos of him playing last season.” He pauses. “Are you pissed?”

  “Thank you.”

  He relaxes and smiles. “He’s good. Really good.”

  “Still, thank you.”

  He nods. “Any time, man.”

  34

  Chloe

  I’ve officially reached the end of my sanity while making sure I’ve given myself time to process everything. I’ve forgiven Nathan and I want to move forward, but I’m still hesitating.

  I’ve started arriving at our Communications class fifteen minutes early so I can be there and soak up every second together. I think it’s time to call off the time apart. I miss my man.

  “You’re overthinking it. Just call him,” Gabby says as she refills my wine glass. The coffee table in the apartment she shares with Blair and Vanessa is filled with bridal magazines and the four of us flip through them looking for ideas.

  “Have you forgiven him?” Blair asks.

  I nod. “Yeah. It wasn’t as much about forgiving him as coming to terms with the things he’s done. I know he’s still the same guy, but I can’t pretend he didn’t do those things.”

  “The real question is, do you think he’ll do it again?” Vanessa asks.

  “No way,” Gabby and I say in unison and then smile.

  “He learned his lesson,” she adds, and I nod in agreement.

  Blair points to a bridal bouquet.

  “Oooh, I love it.” Gabby’s eyes go wide with excitement. “Mark it.”

  Blair adds a sticky tab to the page. “Have you given any thought on how you’re going to tell him you’re ready to move forward?”

  “Two words,” Vanessa says, holding up two fingers on her right hand. “Trench coat.”

  I laugh at that image. “Can’t I just go over there and tell him?”

  “You could,” Gabby says and rolls her eyes. “But what fun is that?”

  Blair looks up to the ceiling like she’s thinking hard. “What could you do to show him you’re ready to move on? Special places, inside jokes… that jog anything?”

  “You know what? Actually, it does.”

  “Alright, Wes says Coach is in his office and everyone is mostly dressed. You ready?” Blair asks. “Joel’s distracting him, but you gotta get in there soon.”

  I’m definitely rethinking my plan, but Vanessa opens the locker room door and I’m pushed inside. No one bats an eye at my being in the boys’ locker room. I don’t know if Wes told them or if they just don’t care, and I try not to give it too much thought as I avoid looking up or making eye contact with anyone in their varying stages of nakedness.

  “Nathan,” I call out, keeping my head down.

  “Chloe?” His voice comes from my right, so I angle myself in that direction and glance ahead at feet and legs until I find him. As my eyes slowly sweep up his body, taking in his long basketball shorts and bare chest. He chuckles, but his voice is concerned when he asks, “What are you doing here? You know this is the boys’ locker room, right?”

  “I’m adding some truth to our first meet-cute story.”

  He smirks and crosses both arms over his chest. The pose makes him look stronger and hotter than usual, which is a feat of epic hotness proportions. “The one where you walked in on me naked?”

  “Mhmmm, but I thought it through, and I like the real version of how we met so this will have to be the start of a new story. Like, maybe it’s not how we met, but how I came to tell you something important.”

  “Such as?” The muscles in his throat flex.

  The locker room has fallen quiet, and I can feel all eyes on us. I breathe and don’t take my eyes off his. “Nathan Payne, I am in love with you. I miss you, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?”

  He smiles and the locker room erupts in cheers from his teammates. He starts to speak, but it’s so loud I can’t hear a thing.

  “Maybe I didn’t think this through.”

  “What?” he yells and leans forward.

  Coach Daniels yells over the others, “Payne, you and your girlfriend could maybe take this outside?”

  “Yes, sir.” He starts toward the door.

  “After I talk to you and the rest of the team about the schedule for the rest of the week.”

  Nathan groans and looks helpless.

  I take a step back since I’m about five seconds from being asked to leave. “Sorry,” I whisper and take another step backward.

  Conflicted emotions pull his face into a grimace until he says, “Fuck it.”

  He reaches me in two long strides and cups my face in both hands. His soft lips press against mine, and my ears thunder with the hoots and hollers of the locker room. I put everything I have into the kiss. God, I’ve missed him. This is right, and I know exactly who Nathan is. He’s flawed. He’s imperfect. He’s my forever.

  “By all means, keep me waiting,” Coach Daniels sounds as much amused as he does angry, but we pull apart.

  His teammates crowd around him, giving him shit. He stands up on his toes to look over them. “I’ll call ya later.”

  I wait for five minutes outside the locker room, but I can still hear Coach Daniels inside talking about a change in the weightlifting and practice schedule and he doesn’t sound like he’s going to stop any time soon. I text Nathan that I’m going to my dorm, and it’s an hour before he finally texts.

  Nathan: Longest after practice talk EVER. I think he dragged it out just to get back at me. I’m so sorry.

  Me: Maybe wasn’t the best plan, but I have no regrets.

  He sends me the meme of the guy with No Ragrets tattooed on his neck.

  Nathan: Totally worth it. I can’t wait to hang out, but can I raincheck until tomorrow? I have something I need to do tonight.

  Disappointment deflates my excitement and the build-up to tonight, but I try not to let it show. He knows how I feel and that’s all that matters. We’ve got time.

  Me: Of course. See you in class tomorrow. We can go out tomorrow night and celebrate finishing our project. You ready?

  Nathan: I will be.

  I’m more nervous than I thought I’d be when Nathan and I make our way to the front of the classroom to give our communications presentation. I introduce our product, its current selling features and target audience.

  When it’s time to make our pitch and try to sell our pricey pen to our peers, Nathan leans over and whispers, “Roll with it.”

  He turns to the class. “Now I know you may be thinking, any old pen is fine. Why would I want to spend seventy dollars on anything when I could use that for alcohol or new kicks?”

  The class plays right into his hand and murmurs their agreement.

  “Because there are moments in life when any old pen just won’t cut it. You want a pen that writes clearly and most importantly, one that has backup ink in case you run out. Some moments require a guarantee that only a seventy-dollar pen can give you.”

  He holds up the pen and the extra car
tridges and then walks to my backpack and pulls out my notebook. Then he pulls two chairs that I hadn’t noticed pushed off to the side to the front. He motions for me to sit and he takes the other chair. Flipping open the notebook, he crosses one leg over a knee and uses it to write on.

  On a blank page, he writes, Will you go out with me? He hands it to me, and I read it aloud so the class can follow along while I write Yes.

  “Like getting a date,” he says to the class and they laugh.

  He scribbles something else on a new page and hands it to me.

  “Nathan 867-5309,” I read.

  “Exchanging numbers.”

  I look up to the class as he starts writing again. They’re totally hanging on every word. It’s so much better than what we’d planned, and I have no idea how he came up with it or why he didn’t tell me. It’s genius. This time he hands over the whole notebook instead of a single page.

  I start to read and then stop when I realize it’s the notes we exchanged back and forth at the beginning of the semester. I find my voice and read Nathan’s messy scrawl. I’ve looked at it so many times since that day, I practically have it memorized.

  Things I’ve learned about Chloe:

  1. Likes Bran Muffins (yuck)

  2. Likes my mouth on her fingers

  I roll my eyes when I get to number three where he’s added,

  3. Loves Nathan

  “Keep reading,” he urges.

  Things I’ve learned about Nathan:

  1. Likes blueberry muffins

  2. Likes your mouth. Period.

  3. Likes PDA.

  My eyes prick when I see the new addition. I swallow around the lump in my throat and read it.

  4. Loves Chloe.

  When I meet his blue gaze, he smiles and speaks to the class without taking his eyes off me. “Or telling a girl you love her for the first time.”