He stretches to his full height and opens the door revealing his is still wide-open as I suspected.
But not for long.
With an air of sudden coolness surrounding him, he steps into his room and closes the door behind him.
I stand there, stuck a moment, but the clink of a latch has me moving toward mine.
Well, okay then.
I gently close it, but something keeps me from turning the lock, instead moving to the one connecting me to Carley’s room. I secure it, telling myself it’s not to help drive home the ruse I didn’t agree to at first but seem to have fallen in perfect line with.
I grab snacks from my mini cooler and lie down to watch Takers for the dozenth time.
The light tap of a knuckle against wood has me pressing pause on the TV. Seconds later it sounds again, so I crawl from the bed, and over to the door blocking me from my fake boyfriend and pull it open.
Nico is leaning there, a shoulder against the frame on his side, his head also propped on the white wood.
He pins me with a fixed stare, but there’s no anger or irritation in it as his expression might lead one to believe.
They’re heavy, weighted.
Overwhelmed?
“I didn’t hear a click,” he rasps, exhaustion coating his already deep voice.
“I didn’t lock it,” I admit.
“Why not?”
Yeah, why not?
I cross my arms over my chest, giving a small shrug, and Nico’s gaze lowers, boldly raking over my body and pausing at the apex of my bare legs.
The longer I gauge him, the more obvious it is that while here he stands, in nothing but his sleep shorts, his mind is far from present.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
The corner of his lip tips up, but there’s no joy on his face.
Those eyes come back to mine and hold. “I don’t wanna talk, D.”
I frown, and his focus shifts to the wall.
He doesn’t want to talk...
Of course. I keep forgetting.
“Well, I’m tired,” I say and he starts to turn his body away. “So good thing, huh?”
His gaze cuts to mine, and slowly I move aside, welcoming him into my room.
Nico steps through, waiting until I climb back into the bed to walk to the other side, where he lowers himself on top of the comforter beside me.
His phone rings from his room the moment we’re both seated and his head falls against the headboard with a soft thud. He lifts it, gently knocking it once more.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask, but when I meet Nico’s eyes and the closed off expression within them, I face forward and press play.
If sitting in silence, with me, is what he needs, I can give that to him.
We spend the next several hours not talking.
I jolt in bed when persistent loud banging reverberates throughout the room.
The first thing I notice is the space beside me is empty, my TV is still on, and the doors connecting mine and Nico’s rooms are still wide open.
“I know you hear us, slut face!” is yelled, laughter following.
I pull myself up, unlocking the door blocking me off from my friends.
Carley, Krista, and Macy pour in, running right for my bed and plopping on top. Macy jumps off just as quickly as she lands though when she realizes Nico’s door is open. She races right for it.
“No, wait,” I hiss when she runs right inside without warning. “Macy!”
A few seconds later she’s walking back in with a small pout. “Boo, he’s already gone. How could you let us miss the walk of fame?”
I have to force myself not to frown.
Gone as in he left?
“Yeah, Demi. Rude.” Krista laughs, digging into my cooler and pulling out a bag of grapes. “So how was it? Did he take his time or was it hot and quick?”
I open my mouth to tell her to shut the hell up when Trent walks in with sleepy eyes and a glare.
“Busted!” Macy laughs and Krista smacks her, climbing to her knees and holding her hands out to her boyfriend.
I quickly grab some shorts and slip them on. “Thanks for knocking.”
“Shit, sorry,” Trent apologizes but doesn’t walk out.
“What time did Nico leave?” Carley asks and all eyes turn to me.
“I—”
The knock on the room door saves me so I run to open it, my eyes widening when I find Alex on the other side.
“Morning.” He grins.
“Uh, hi, I mean good morning.” I smooth my hair down, running my fingers under my eyes.
“I wanted to see if you...” He trails off, frowning at something over my shoulder.
I look to find Trent standing there, and he only moves closer. I frown and step away, turning to face Alex again.
“Did I interrupt something I shouldn’t have?” he asks slowly, his insinuation loud and clear.
“What?! No!” I shout, pushing the door open farther which forces Trent back.
Alex glances past me to spot the girls inside.
“Ah. Now it makes sense.” He chuckles. “I thought we could walk down to breakfast together.”
“Oh...” I subconsciously look to Nico’s door.
He left without a word, does this mean our fun is over?
We made everyone think we were partying together all weekend; Alex is standing at my door at eight in the morning.
Is that not the endzone?
Either way, it’s a harmless walk that my friends will be on, too.
“Um, I just woke up.” I motion to myself. “Obviously, but...” I look to the girls. “How long until you’re ready to go eat?”
“I’m only changing, and ponytailing it,” Krista says, and the other two nod.
I turn back to Alex. “Ten minutes?”
He smiles. “I’ll wait by the lobby.”
“Awesome.”
I shut the door behind me and all four of them stare with wide eyes.
“What?”
“What’d he want?” It’s Trent who asks.
“To see when we’re going to breakfast, why?”
He shrugs, then turns and walks out while the girls giggle lightly.
“Damn, Demi. Pulling two in one weekend?” Krista grins.
“It’s breakfast.”
“And last night’s dessert was Nico. Or was it you who was dessert?” Macy teases.
“Cute.” I flip her off. “Can we get dressed now?”
They hop up and within a solid twenty all of us are headed to our last breakfast before we go home and back to school tomorrow.
Alex sits by me but spends most of his time talking to the people around us until we’re about done and people begin taking pictures.
He turns to me with a smile. “So are you heading back with Krista?”
“Yeah, the four of us drove in together.”
“Well if you want, you can ride with me. I drove myself.” He grins.
“You sure you can handle me for a whole two hours?”
“I can manage.”
I smile, looking to my drink as I pick it up, something about a ‘yes’ tasting sour on my tongue. “I’ll talk to the girls about it. This is kind of our trip, so I don’t want to upset anyone.”
“Didn’t you ditch them last night to spend it with Sykes?”
My muscles lock and my eyes fly to his.
Well, that was bold and delivered a little gruffly.
“I didn’t ditch them, I ...”
I sort of ditched them, but little does he know the girls would have carried me and dropped me inside with Nico if I tried to turn him down to hang with them, they’re awesome like that.
I don’t say this to Alex.
He gives a tight grin. “I wasn’t trying to give you a hard time.”
“No, you’re fine. I guess, in a way, you can say I did.” Not really.
“So you hung out with Nico last night?” he probes.
I take a deep breath
, looking away a moment.
What is he doing?
He saw us go into my room, so why question me at all?
And why am I hesitating on answering?
The sole purpose was for him to think I was with Nico, right?
Right.
Still, all I give him is a side smile and small shrug.
Alex eyes me, his lip tipping up. “Ah, come on. Let me know if I have a shot here.”
My eyes shoot wide and he chuckles, but then someone at the end shouts his name, gaining his attention the rest of the time.
Once everyone is done, we all exit together, us girls hanging back to wait for Krista as she and her parents thank the restaurant staff for having us.
I walk a few feet out to look over the water, and Trent approaches with his hands in his pockets.
“Nico, huh?”
I cut my eyes his way, but I don’t say anything.
“Weren’t you just telling me he hated you?”
“Weren’t you just telling me he didn’t?”
“Yeah.” A low chuckle leaves him. “I’ve been telling you that for a long time, Dem.”
We’re both quiet a moment before he sighs, and I know what he’s thinking, but neither of us says it out loud.
This is – maybe was is the right word – only temporary, so no need to consider long term issues.
Instead of speaking his mind, Trent asks, “Are you really riding back with Alex?”
I nod, smashing my lips together. “I might.”
“You know, him and Nico have... problems.”
“They play the same positions, so it makes sense they compete with each other.”
Trent scoffs, shaking his head and looks away as if there’s more to it.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he says. “I thought you and Nico were having fun this weekend is all.”
I frown.
Never thought I’d agree to such a statement, but I did have fun. “He’s not as heartless as I’ve known him to be.”
“Why are you leaving with Alex, then?”
I shake my head. “It’s just a ride home, Trent.”
“Right.” He nods, turning when Krista’s voice floats from the doors. “I think you should ride with Krista and the girls.”
“If this is about having your friend’s back, I can promise you Nico wouldn’t care about me going with Alex.”
Trent catches my eyes, a serious look in his I don’t see much, and his words are just as pointed. “I can promise you he would.”
With that, he walks off, picking up Krista when she reaches him and spinning her around.
Trent has no idea how wrong he is.
This was Nico’s plan, not mine. He’d be fine with it, I’m sure.
Alex laughs a few feet out and my eyes pull his way.
He happens to look over at the same time and lifts his hand in a small wave.
Yeah, I’m riding with him.
We make our way to the beach and walk around a bit before heading back to our rooms to pack up.
Twenty minutes later, I’m ready to go, but Alex isn’t at my door yet, so I decide to slip into Nico’s room and peek around since he’s gone.
The bed is unmade, but other than that, there’s no sign of anyone having stayed in here at all. I walk toward the bathroom sink, running my hand across the cool marble, and drop down on the edge.
I pull my phone out, deciding to scroll through Instagram until Alex gets here.
My notifications are insane, dozens of tags and mentions from friends who spent the weekend with us.
I start scrolling, reacting to each post, but my finger freezes when a picture shared by Nico pops up, or should I say pictures?
It’s almost like a moving image, a small collage of four images.
They’re from yesterday on the dock before dinner.
It’s me and him, a few of our friends on the other side of us, Macy right beside me looking up with a grin, but we’re the focus and... holy shit.
You’d think we planned out the pose and each one after, but I had no clue a camera was pointed my way.
In the first shot, Nico has his arms draped around my shoulders while I’m gripping his forearms. His mouth is slightly open, his lips at my ear. This must have been taken when I blinked, because my eyes are closed and that’s the only explanation for it.
In the second picture, I’ve turned my head, our faces are only an inch or two apart and we’re looking into each other’s eyes. The third, I’m licking my lips and his gaze is lasered in on my mouth, and the fourth, his eyes are locked dead with the camera while mine are glued on him.
We look...
Like way more than a weekend fling.
The tagline reads, ‘Bay this weekend’, and he hash tagged it bay with my bae.
His bae?
I look to the timestamp, and something stirs in the pit of my stomach.
Less than an hour ago.
After he left.
I go to his profile, hovering for a moment before I decide to send him a message.
Me: saw the pictures.
I pause to think before adding to it.
Me: thanks for an entertaining weekend.
I wait about a minute, staring at the chat to see if it’ll show if he’s read it or not, but then I stuff my phone in my pocket and move back to my room right as Carley shouts from hers.
“Demi, you still have sodas in your cooler?”
“Yeah!” I tell her. “I have Gatorade, a few waters, and candy left, too.”
I pull my door open, propping it with the little desk chair right as Alex walks up.
“Ready?”
I smile. “Yeah, I—”
My phone beeps, cutting me off, so I pull it from my pocket.
It’s a text from a number I don’t have saved, and a screenshot of the message I sent to Nico, thanks for an entertaining weekend highlighted.
Another text comes through.
Unknown: funny, D.
“Should I grab your bags?” Alex offers.
“I, um...” I trail off, slowly lowering my phone to my side, but it beeps again.
Unknown: we’re not done.
I pull my lips in.
“Demi.”
My head pops up. “I’m... I need to ride with the girls after all. I have all the snacks so...”
Alex frowns at my horrible excuse, and a forced grin follows. “Yeah, cool. See you at school.”
I nod, smiling after him as he turns and walks away.
Once he’s out of sight, I frown.
What did I just do?
My phone dings.
Unknown: good girl.
I can’t help it, a laugh bubbles out of me, but then I pause.
How did he...
Trent steps into the long hallway, coming out of Krista’s room a few doors down and heads right for me, her bags flung over his shoulder and another hanging from his hands.
He tries to fight a smile.
Wow.
“Really, Trent?” I raise a brow as he walks by.
He laughs, glancing over his shoulder with a shrug. “Gotta share those snacks, Dem.”
I laugh back, shaking my head.
Yeah, that was pretty lame.
Of course, Trent had to go and call Nico.
My phone beeps again, but this time when I look down, it’s a notification on Instagram.
Nico posted another picture, tagging me in it this time, even though I’m not in the image.
It’s him in a hoodie, half his face covered with his arm, nothing but those dark eyes, and thick lashes showing. It looks as if he’s lying in bed, but I can’t be sure. The caption though... no mistaking his meaning as it reads get that ass home @DemiTheeDancer. Your man is waiting for you.
I roll my eyes, stuffing my phone in my pocket.
My man, huh?
I guess we are playing our roles a little longer.
“Okay, girls!” Miranda claps her hands. “I hope you enj
oyed your three-day weekend, because we’re pulling doubles the rest of this week. We already know we won’t be performing for the school until Senior Night, but what I haven’t shared yet, is the principal has asked the dance team to lead the varsity players onto the field at the game.”
“Cheer always leads the team,” one of the girls points out.
Miranda shakes her head with a grin. “Not this year. This year we are the show.”
Holy shit.
The dance team is geared more toward hip-hop in style, which is why when they recruited me freshman year, I agreed, but to take over Senior Night that’s not only full of students, but parents and faculty? Kind of crazy being our dances are on the risqué side, a lot of booty popping is involved.
“There’s like forty of them and only seventeen of us,” another says.
“Only the seniors will be escorted, but we’ll still be a little short which is why I’ve asked the JV dance team to help out, but only during the escorting. They won’t be performing our full routine with us,” she announces. “I’m still working on costumes for the performance, but I’m thinking we’ll incorporate the team to help make it fresh in some way.”
“How so?” I ask.
“Well, we can add eye black for fun, and knee-high socks. We can ask Coach Parks if we can borrow the boys’ away jerseys since this is a home game or another option is lettermen jackets. The entire team was awarded one free last year when they won state, so every player should have one that can be worn.”
“It might be hard to dance in.”
“Yes,” she agrees, then smirks. “But it would be a great show starter, and a piece you can easily toss when the chorus hits.”
“Yes!” someone shouts. “A transition piece into our costume reveal!”
“Do we get to pick who we escort?” Ava asks with excitement, making us laugh.
“Hell no, you think I want to deal with the fallout of that when these boys aren’t what you imagined in your heads?” she teases, making us laugh. She’s only twenty-one, so she’s always super cool when it comes to boyfriends and things. “This is about our team performing well. Hear me?”
“Yes, Coach,” is said in unison.
“Okay.” She rolls her wrist. “Three laps around and then fall in.”
After our quick warm-up, we run through our routine twice and then there’s a hard knock on the gym door.
Fake It 'Til You Break It Page 13
