A good reminder to keep around, even after a fake date that had gone surprisingly well.
“This is actually pretty good,” he said, closing the paper to smile at me. “I think I need to get your autograph. You’re officially famous.”
Despite my nerves bouncing around in my stomach, my heart jumped for joy. I couldn’t be sure if it was because of the article or the way Jimmy’s eyes lit up when he looked at me. It didn’t matter. I was on top of the world.
But part of me was also wary. Jimmy was being nice lately. Too nice, as if he’d forgotten this whole blackmail thing. Had been hit on the head with a baseball? What happened to the guy who dropped stink bombs in my locker and burnt down sheds?
What was his game?
“I’d be happy to sign it for you,” I said, grabbing a book from my locker. “I’ll trade it for an autographed baseball from you.”
“Deal.” He pushed off the locker and moved closer to me, his eyes taking in my skirt and yellow sweater. “You look gorgeous today, by the way.”
My cheeks heated. More niceness that was hard for me to swallow. I looked around to see who was within earshot, but it seemed like most everyone was too busy with their own stuff to hear Jimmy’s compliments. It was kind of unsettling. He was saying all the right things that a real boyfriend should say, but for some reason, my gut was all twisted up.
“Um, thanks.” I shot him the biggest smile I could manage, which wasn’t much. “But you don’t have to say those things when no one’s around.”
His eyebrows slanted down, and he frowned at me. “You said you wanted a boyfriend, and that’s what I’m doing. No shortcuts. And it’s true, you do look gorgeous.”
I pursed my lips and turned away. Ever since our date, I’d been feeling all sorts of conflicted about forcing Jimmy to be my fake boyfriend, and this new, sweet side of him wasn’t helping things. Our date night had started out so well. His friends were way cooler than I’d ever given them credit for, and having Lindsey see us dancing was sure to get her off my back for at least a few days.
Jimmy had been perfect. He’d played the part of the boyfriend so well I found myself forgetting at times that none of it was real. Twice, I’d almost opened up about my dad. Jimmy had a way of looking at me and making me want to lay everything on the table. It was difficult to stay guarded around him.
It had me wondering if I’d made a huge mistake.
“Listen, I’ve got a space saved for you at lunch,” Jimmy said, placing his hand on my elbow. Butterflies burst to life in my stomach at the brief, innocent touch. “So come sit with me, if you don’t already have plans.”
I looked up at him, ready to turn him down. To tell him that Raquel and I usually took our lunch together in the band room with her bandmates, but my voice wouldn’t work. Instead, I stared up into his green eyes, feeling a strange sort of warm sensation run up and down my spine.
“Yeah, I guess that’ll work,” I found myself saying,
The crooked way he grinned back at me nearly made my knees wobble.
“Good.”
He brushed back a curl from my face, his fingertips brushing slightly against my cheek and sending my whole face on fire. With far more gentleness than I ever would’ve expected from a guy who went around burning down sheds in his free time, he tucked it behind my ear.
I closed my eyes against the rain of emotions sweeping over me. Over and over again, I forced myself to picture that little page of notes I’d read to him about being the perfect boyfriend. It was just a script. Jimmy was following the script. Nothing about this was real. He was playing his cards like a poker master. I had to remember that.
He leaned closer, and the warmth of his breath made goosebumps pop up along my neck. “See you later.”
By the time I opened my eyes, he was already halfway down the hall. I watched him go, enjoying the sight of him strutting away just a little too much. What had Raquel called him just the other day? Intense? Yeah, being around Jimmy was way more intense than I’d prepared myself for. It was easy to forget this whole thing was part of my own evil plan and that I was holding him hostage with the power of my pen.
Could Jimmy get under my skin enough to convince me to give up the act? To destroy the article that kept him under my thumb? Was I going to be blinded by those dark eyelashes and temptingly sweet smiles?
But remembering the sight of my article in his hands put all of those worries to bed. I straightened my shoulders and lifted my chin as the warning bell rang for first period. No way was I letting a handsome face get in my way of succeeding in this world. I wasn’t living my life to be a cliché. I could handle myself around Jimmy if that meant getting my words into print.
It would all be worth it in the end.
12
Jimmy
Friday night’s date had left me with two new missions.
#1 Don’t mess this up, or else Mia will publish her article and get me kicked out of school
#2 Don’t let being around Mia mess with my head
I could put on an easy smile and flirt with her a little, but everything had to be kept at a professional level. After all, she was the one blackmailing me, and there was no way I wanted it leaked that I had anything to do with burning down the school shed. I couldn’t forget that.
We weren’t friends. Not even close.
So I didn’t owe her anything.
The plan seemed easy enough until lunch rolled around. It was one of the last decent days in November. My friends and I had taken up our spot outside on the quad where a large flagstone patio spanned between the corners of the buildings, complete with picnic tables and stone planters. From where I sat on a limestone step, if I moved a little to my right, I could see the blackened remains of my crime near the football stadium. It was a sobering reminder of just exactly what was at stake.
And why my two new missions were so important.
I was beginning to wonder if Mia had lost her way when I spotted her coming out the back door with a lunch tray in her hands. Although I’d already seen her this morning during our fake boyfriend/girlfriend locker meetup, the tan skirt and fitted yellow sweater that she wore seriously still made my hands a little shaky. I couldn’t help but stare as she headed my way, a nervous frown on her face. She sat on the step next to me—close, but with enough room for our thighs not to touch—and began shredding her quesadilla into pieces.
She glanced up at me and then looked away, her cheeks reddening. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
It wasn’t much of a conversation, but for some reason, it had my gut warming. I stared down at my own lunch, doing my best to keep my thoughts focused on the beans and rice I’d piled there. Five minutes ago, I’d been starving. Now, I felt like I couldn’t eat another bite.
“Hey, you!” Alicia Hirst, captain of the softball team, pointed at Mia. She sat on the edge of a garden planter, her six-foot, thin frame decked from head to toe in athletic gear. She bit her bottom lip and raised her dark eyebrows. “Are you the one that wrote the article about players? That was seriously the most awesome thing I’ve ever read. It was brill. Sounded like you were speaking from experience. I have to know what guy inspired such a response.”
I could feel Mia stiffen next to me. Her eyes swept over the dozen or so seniors gathered around us, eating their lunches. They’d stopped mid-bite to hear Mia’s response. Her gaze seemed to land on Lindsey Beck, who was practically sitting in Dale’s lap at a nearby picnic table and glaring in Mia’s direction as if she’d just spit in her food.
“Actually,” Lindsey said, a cruel smile on her face. “Believe it or not, Mia is Jimmy’s new girl. Maybe she wrote it about him.”
I couldn’t help but scoff. I’d read the article. It wasn’t even close to describing me.
But then, Mia shot me a nervous smile, making me feel a little deflated. I knew Lindsey was just doing her usual act as a mean girl, but the tip of my ears heated at the prospect that what she’d said could be true. Maybe I wasn�
��t exactly great at commitment, but I wasn’t a player. Not like the guys Mia talked about in her article. If she was writing about me, then she didn’t know a thing about me. Not really.
“Actually, it’s not about Jimmy,” Mia said, her voice far more calm than I would’ve expected. Relief instantly swept over me. She swallowed and lifted her chin. “It’s about the girls who don’t realize they deserve more than some guy who wouldn’t think twice about dropping them for the next best thing. It’s about self-respect. I’m going to write more about it in the Dear Mia blog posts starting this week.”
The girls in the quad cheered, and I couldn’t help but notice the way Lindsey’s cheeks grew redder. For some reason, that girl really had a thing against Mia. It was kind of fun to see her all puffed up. Not many people could challenge her reign around here. Dale tried to pull her into a kiss, but she practically snarled and pushed him away.
“I know I need some self-respect in my life.” Alicia groaned and threw her black braid over her shoulder. “Tell me how to find a guy like that. How did you two get together?”
The question made Mia freeze, and her eyes widen. It was almost kind of cute. I’d never seen Mia speechless yet. I waited for a second, relishing the rare moment when my fake girlfriend didn’t have a snappy comeback, but it seemed like Mia had permanently left the building. Clearing my throat, I reached over and grabbed her hand—time to put some work into mission #1.
“We met when Mia asked if she could do an interview with Sweet Mountain High’s star pitcher for the paper,” I said, gazing over our sudden audience as if I were the luckiest man alive. It was kind of fun spinning my own story. I could embellish however I wanted. “At first, I said no, but she wouldn’t let it go. She kept asking and asking. Eventually, I realized I couldn’t let her go.”
Alicia sighed happily as several of the senior guys from the baseball team groaned and pretended to be sick. Mission accomplished. I felt a little squeeze of my hand and glanced over to see Mia looking up at me with a grateful expression. She squeezed my hand again, running her thumb down mine and leaving a scorching line in its wake.
“You guys are so cute,” Alicia said, sighing again. “I swear, I’m going to snap up every single one of your articles, Mia. I need all the dating advice I can get. Think it’ll help me get a date to the Snow Ball in time?”
Mia smiled at her. “You should submit a question for my column. Maybe I can answer it for you in the next issue.”
“That’s a great idea!” Alicia cupped her own chin and knitted her brow in thought. “How about—Dear Mia, how does a girl find a prince around here when all she can see at Sweet Mountain High are warty and gross frogs?”
“Right?” several of the nearby girls shouted at once.
At that point, pandemonium broke out between the guys and girls gathered around us. A few handfuls of chips were tossed. A couple balled-up napkins. But it was all in good fun. The guys started making ribbit noises, and the girls squealed in disgust. Mia laughed and watched everything with a smile on her face, sipping slowly from her carton of chocolate milk.
Honestly, it was hard for me to concentrate on the battle of the sexes going on due to the fact that Mia was still running her thumb in very gentle circles on the back of my hand. It was almost like she’d forgotten what she was doing. But I couldn’t. Not with the roaring fire burning in my center.
I couldn’t look away from her face, either. Her cheeks were pink, and her skin sort of glowed, just like when she’d let loose at the party this weekend. She probably didn’t even realize how attractive it made her. It was fascinating to see the cracks in the image Mia had crafted around her. I liked this side of her. It gave me the strangest need to see what else I could do to make her smile.
“All right, children, knock it off.” Lindsey stood from Dale’s lap and waved her hands. She managed to end the ruckus, and everyone scampered back to their seats. With her hands on her hips and a victorious smile on her face, Lindsey turned her attention back on me. “That’s a sweet story, Jimmy. Real cute. But as we all know, to find her prince, the princess has to kiss a frog. How do we know for sure you’re not still a frog?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. What game was she playing?
“Kiss him, Mia,” Alicia shouted as she pulled a piece of popcorn from her hair. “Better be sure he’s not a slimy green reptile in disguise.”
My palms immediately began to sweat. There was a lot I could fake. Charming smiles, hand holding, dancing close in a crowded room. But a kiss on the spot, in front of all of my friends, was not something I’d been prepared for. And it was definitely not going to help Mission #2 of not letting Mia mess with my head.
There was no doubt from the worried expression on Mia’s face that she was also panicking. She didn’t want to kiss me. She’d made her disgust for me clear from day one. I wasn’t going to do that to her. Not with Lindsey standing nearby with her hands on her hips, looking like she was ready to devour Mia whole.
“Guys, come on, I don’t do PDA,” I said, waving my free hand.
“Excuses!” Alicia threw a piece of popcorn my way. “That’s what a frog would say. Come on, Mia, show us how to find a prince.”
Mia’s grip tightened on my hand. I looked over to see her glaring at Lindsey, the fight flashing in her eyes. It was the side of Mia I’d come to recognize as stubborn as a bull. She didn’t give in—not even to a bully who was determined to flatten her.
She was determined to win.
Before I knew what was happening, Mia had kneeled on the step next to me. She ran her hands up my shoulders to the back of my neck. She was close. Closer than she’d ever been before. And when her eyes locked on mine, electricity arced between us, leaving me feeling like an antenna in the middle of a lightning storm.
There was just a tiny moment of hesitation as her gaze flicked from my lips, up to my eyes, and back again. The embers that had been quietly burning in my stomach went full raging inferno at that moment, spreading straight to every inch of my body.
Mia was going to kiss me.
“I’m sorry about this,” Mia leaned in and brushed her lips against my ear. A shock went right down my spine. “I have no other choice.”
Even as alarm bells went off in the back of my mind, I took a deep breath and let it out. This was all part of the game. If we really wanted to pull this off—if I really wanted Mia to destroy that article—then I was going to have to give this moment my all.
My hands found her lower back, and I pulled her in closer. Her eyes widened in surprise, her chest rising and falling in quick succession. For what felt like an eternity, her gaze searched my face as if to make sure I wasn’t backing out. I wasn’t. And when she bit gently on her bottom lip, my stomach dipped with need.
It didn’t matter that just a week ago, I’d thought Mia was the most stubborn and irritating of women, or that we were being watched by a dozen of my closest friends. Everything in that moment seemed to fade away. Every problem, every nerve. All I could do was stare at her lips—those tempting red lips with the hint of cherry lip gloss.
And then—she kissed me.
Maybe I’d been wrong about Mia. Maybe she was a better actress than I thought because there was no hint of hatred or disgust in the way she kissed me. Her lips worked gently against mine, incredibly soft and commanding at the same time. A low sigh left my mouth as I dropped my hands and dug my fingers gently into her hips. The fire inside me wanted to be let loose, but I desperately held it back.
Nothing good would happen if I just let go.
She shifted her weight closer, her fingers worked their way through my hair, setting off another round of electricity up and down my back. I could vaguely hear the whoops and hollers of the people in the quad, but the buzz in my head drowned them out. All I could think about were the soft curves of Mia’s body pressed against my chest, the gentle, insistent touch of her lips, and the sweet, innocent taste of milk chocolate.
She was a fantastic kisser. Bett
er than anything I’d experienced before now. I never would’ve guessed that irritating and bossy Mia could kiss like that. She made me forget to breathe. My lungs burned, but it didn’t matter. With her kissing me like that, I didn’t need air. I could’ve stayed like this forever, listening to the pulse of blood rush through my ears.
When Mia finally pulled away, I swallowed down my disappointment. She returned to her seat on the stair next to me, her cheeks bright pink. My heart still hammered against my ribcage. I rubbed my hands over my head, trying to look anywhere except for the people now staring at us.
That had been intense.
“Okay, enough stalling.” Alicia was beaming at Mia so hard I was pretty sure her cheeks were going to crack. “So…tell us. Frog or prince?”
I couldn’t help but hold my breath as all eyes turned to Mia for an answer. Maybe I could blame my lack of experience in fake relationships, but if I knew anything, that had been the hottest fake kiss that ever happened.
Gasoline and fire type heat.
Mia cleared her throat and glanced over at me with what I swear was a hint of shyness. She ducked her head and pulled her blonde hair to one shoulder. “Definitely not a frog.”
Satisfaction rolled through me as a grin worked its way to my lips. There, that hadn’t been so difficult. We’d proven our relationship to the entire school and had managed to not burn up in flames. Mission accomplished.
But as I watched Mia grab her tray and begin to pick through her food again, a thought in the back of my head popped up. It buzzed around like a horsefly, darting through my self-congratulations and optimism.
Mission Don’t-let-being-around-Mia-mess-with-my-head was going to be a lot harder than I’d realized.
Because I was falling for her.
Dang it.
13
Mia
My Fake Boyfriend Page 7
