“Hey, man,” Chase says, directing his gaze at Jessie this time. He squeezes my shoulder in what I can only assume he thinks is a reassuring gesture. “Awesome party on Saturday, huh?”
Jessie barely nods his head, his eyes darting between me, Chase behind me, and Chase’s hand on my shoulder. He seems dumbfounded.
“Looks like we both got what we wanted.”
Jessie blushes a deep red and Courtney preens in her seat. There’s no mistaking the dig in Chase’s tone. I can’t handle this. I can’t sit here and have Chase act like he wants me while the girl Jessie wants basks in the glory of his comment.
“I have to go,” I mutter quietly. I grab my bag and stand up quickly, stepping away from Chase in the process. “See you later,” I tell Sophie.
“Wait up,” Chase says, reaching out and stopping me from leaving. “I’ll walk with you.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” I reply, turning to face him, the bite in my voice obvious for all to hear. I shake my head, silently begging him to drop this. I can feel eyes on me and I can’t handle this right now, not with Courtney sitting there with her arm wrapped around Jessie.
“I’ve got a meeting with Coach,” he tells me conversationally, like it’s the most natural thing in the world for us to be having this conversation…in front of the entire damn school. He turns toward his table, which already has its eyes on us. That whole table is heaving with the most popular kids at school, and every single one of them has their gaze trained on us in interest. “Yo! Aaron, Brendon! We gotta go,” he shouts. I flinch at the unexpected volume and sure enough, anyone that wasn’t already looking at us is now. I glare at Chase and the smirk on his face tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing. I just don’t know why he wants everyone looking at this exact moment.
Until he does it.
Without warning, he quickly reaches forward, wraps his arm around my waist, pulls me against him, and plants a firm kiss directly on my mouth.
It’s over before I even have time to react and the shocked gasp that leaves my mouth echoes the gasps of surprise I hear around me. Chase just winks at me like he doesn’t have a care in the world then struts past me out of the cafeteria, leaving me with what feels like a billion eyes on me and wondering exactly when it was that I entered the twilight zone.
“SO YOU KNOW PEOPLE ARE saying we’re not really dating?”
I glance to my right, past my open locker, and find Chase leaning up against the locker next to me. I dump my history textbook inside before closing it and facing him. It’s been close to two weeks since he kissed me in the cafeteria, and I’ve been avoiding him like the plague ever since. “That’s because we’re not really dating.”
“Yes, Chapman, we know that, but nobody else is supposed to.”
“You know I never agreed to this, right?” I give him my hardest look. “It’s just something you decided all by yourself.”
He shrugs. “I knew you’d wimp out.”
My jaw drops. “That’s not your decision to make.”
“Well you running away every time you see me for the last week means no one believes it now anyway.”
“I haven’t been running away,” I mutter, turning back to my locker.
He scoffs. “And I’m a shitty soccer player.”
I roll my eyes but when I turn to him, he’s not smirking in arrogance. His eyes are gleaming mischievously—he’s teasing me.
“I can’t believe you kissed me!” I hiss at him, my eyes scanning around to make sure no one’s listening to us. “What the hell, Chase? Do you know how many people have asked me about you lately?”
He chuckles. “You call that a kiss, Chapman?”
I blink at him. “Yes! I call that a kiss.”
He shakes his head, his eyes still teasing. “If you call that a kiss, you’re in bigger need of help than I originally thought.”
I stare at him for a minute, slightly unnerved by his eye contact. His whole face is lit up, and when he’s totally focused on me like this, I can see why he’s so popular. Charisma oozes out of him. He quirks an eyebrow and a small laugh escapes me as I shake my head. “You’re impossible, you know that?”
He shrugs. “It’s been said.”
“Go away,” I tell him. “Before I get mad at you again.”
“So do you know why people think we’re not together?” he continues, like I haven’t even spoken.
I sigh and turn back to him. He’s clearly not going anywhere, so I shrug. “People are smart. I guess they’ve figured it out.”
“But do you know how they’ve come to this conclusion?”
I shrug. “They have eyes?”
He laughs quickly. “Because they never see us together. In fact, I’d go so far as to say you’ve been avoiding me.”
Well, no shit. “I haven’t,” I lie. “I just haven’t seen you around.”
“That’s a shame, because I’ve been waiting all week for my new fake girlfriend to let me carry her books to class,” he tells me with a smirk on his handsome face.
I chuckle. “Shut up.”
He grins. “You’ve been ignoring me.”
I sigh. “Look, Chase, this was not a good idea to start with.”
“Yes, it is.”
“You know I never actually agreed to it. You just kissed me and kinda assumed—”
“It’s a great idea. We just have to commit to it. Today at lunch, Abigail started creeping around. You need to up your game.”
My jaw falls open again. “Chase—”
“Today, after school, we’re going to Ferguson’s.”
“What? No, no, I can’t.” This guy is impossible.
“Yes, you can. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.” He turns and walks away without bothering to look back.
“What? Wait!” I call after him.
He doesn’t even pause. “Can’t hear you, Chapman.”
I watch him disappear around the corner as I sink back against my locker. His entire group and all their tagalongs will be at Ferguson’s on a Friday afternoon. There’s no way I’m showing my face there.
I glance up at the neon flashing light of Ferguson’s as I step out of Chase’s car. I studied in the library for an hour after school, ignoring texts from Sophie and Aaron, but Chase was still there waiting for me by my car. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, wouldn’t even let me drive my own car in case I bailed, which is how I’ve ended up exactly where I don’t want to be on a Friday afternoon.
It’s not that I don’t like Ferguson’s; I do. Our team has celebrated many a win here, Jessie is addicted to their chili fries, and Sophie spends a lot of time here with the cheerleaders, but I’ve never been here with Chase. The fact that I’m here with the most popular boy at school is ridiculous—we haven’t had a real conversation since we were ten, and the fact that he is insisting I pretend to be his girlfriend is actually insane. Yet, here I am, about to step into the viper pit that is his friend group.
I bite my lip as I hear his door slam on the other side of the car. I turn to face him. “Don’t even think about it, Chapman,” he tells me before I can say anything. “We’re doing this. I’m starving.” He walks around his car and I reluctantly follow him toward the entrance, thinking how surreal this is when he reaches down and grabs my hand. I react as though he’s on fire, snatching it back in surprise and looking at him with wide eyes.
He stops and rolls his eyes. “We want them to think we’re dating, and holding hands is elementary school stuff.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me that we might need to have physical contact. “We don’t need to hold hands,” I snap back. “We don’t need to do this at all.”
“We agreed, Chapman! Stop bailing on what we’ve agreed to.”
Frustration boils over. I’m sick of feeling like I have no control over this, over my feelings for Jessie—over anything. “No, you decided, Chase. That’s what happened here. You decided you wanted to stop Abigail from coming after you and you saw I was just patheti
c enough about Jessie for you to push me into this.”
He opens his mouth to retort but stops himself and instead looks at me for what feels like far too long. Eventually, his face softens. “You’re not pathetic, Livy. I don’t think that—not at all. I think Stephenson’s the pathetic one for picking that psycho over you.” I look back at him, expecting to see a smirk on his face, but he actually looks sincere. “And I’m sorry I’ve pushed you into this. I just thought it could benefit both of us, but if you’re honestly not happy with it, I won’t mention it again. I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable. I’ll drive you back to your car right now.”
I sigh, my gaze drifting behind him to Ferguson’s. I can see his friends through the window, and they’ve definitely noticed us. We probably look like we’re fighting. Aaron raises his hand and waves at me, smiling encouragingly, and I manage a small smile back at him.
I turn back to Chase. “Okay, okay. Just this though, all right? We do this and then we leave it. It’ll buy you a couple of days. Abigail will hopefully get the message and leave you alone, and we can just pretend we fizzled out or something.”
“Sure,” he agrees easily—maybe a little too easily. “And I’m sure this will get back to Jessie.” My stomach tightens at the mere mention of his name. He’d love to be here with these guys, and I’m sure he’ll hear about me being here. Will he be jealous? I hope so. I glance back at Chase and he’s smirking. He knows exactly what he’s doing when he mentions Jessie around me. “Courtney is crazy though.” He steps toward the door and holds it open for me. “When we were freshmen, she wrote me a love note and shoved it in my locker along with a picture of her in her underwear.”
My jaw drops open and I stop dead in the doorway. That skank! It drives me insane that Jessie has picked her over me. Seriously, if he had to be with someone else, couldn’t he pick someone normal? Chase chuckles from behind me and gently pushes me inside. I turn to look at him and he nods toward the back of the diner, at the section his friends are seated in. I take a deep breath before following him toward them.
I finally look up when Chase stops in front of me, and I know I can’t avoid it anymore. They’re all looking at me, every single one of them, and I feel myself audibly swallow. My eyes scan over the group; it’s the usual crowd. Aaron, Brendon, and Jackson smile at me in greeting, eyes darting back and forth between Chase and me like this is a big deal. There are a bunch of other guys I’ve seen around school but never spoken to—Mikey, Seb, and Thom—and then there are the girls. Abigail looks like she wants to kill me, and Sarah Billington, Sasha Pierce, and Jennifer Dawson—all friends of Abigail’s—are all looking at me like I’m some sort of alien, and Sophie—Sophie!
“Hey,” she greets me, grinning widely. “Took you long enough.”
I smile back, instantly feeling more comfortable, and let Chase direct me to an open seat in front of her while he drops in beside me. Sophie’s friends with Sasha and Jennifer from cheerleading, but this is the last place I thought she’d be. She’s friendly enough with them, but she doesn’t usually join these guys on a Friday. She raises an eyebrow and taps her phone on the table. I instantly reach into my pocket and pull out my own phone. Sure enough, I have a text waiting for me.
Sophie: Chase found me after school and told me to come here so you’d feel more comfortable.
I quickly glance up at her in surprise and she nods her head. Then she reaches down, swipes to unlock her phone, and taps out another text, which soon appears on my screen.
Sophie: Your new boy’s thoughtful.
I roll my eyes at this and shake my head slightly. He’s not my new boy, but that is thoughtful, and nice. In fact, Chase Mitchell is turning out to be quite surprising all around.
“Livy?”
I glance toward Chase and see the waitress is at the end of the table. She’s already finished writing down Chase’s order, and I can see the remains of food in front of the rest of the table. We really are pretty late. “Oh, sorry,” I say, sliding my phone back into my pocket. “Can I please have a chocolate milkshake, a cheeseburger with the works, and a side of chili fries?” She nods and walks away.
I turn back to the table and Jennifer Dawson, one of Abigail’s best friends, is staring at me in horror.
“What?” I ask nervously.
“You’re not seriously going to eat all of that?”
Oh. I guess it is a lot, but I’m hungry. “I probably won’t eat dinner later, and I have soccer practice tomorrow so I’ll just burn it off then.”
Sophie snorts. “Like it would stop you from eating if you didn’t have soccer practice.” She glances over at Jennifer. “She eats like a pig and never gains an ounce.”
Jennifer sighs wistfully. “I’m jealous,” she declares. “I look at a burger and gain five pounds.”
Sophie chuckles and sends me a wink. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. I feel Chase’s arm brush against mine and for a minute I think he’s going to try to grab my hand again. Although I definitely stiffen in my seat, I force my expression not to change on my face and manage not to shift away from him as he settles in closer to me. I glance over at Aaron and immediately look away. He’s clamped his hand over his mouth and looks like it’s taking all his self-control not to burst out laughing.
“You know Mitchell doesn’t usually bring his dates here, Livy. You must be special,” Brendon tells me.
“Uh, well…” I mutter back before giving up on a response and trying to muster a smile. Seriously? He doesn’t bring his actual dates here and yet he’s making me live through this?
“Oh, sure,” Aaron agrees, an evil look in his eye. “You’ve got him whipped already—must be the real deal.” I bite my lip to stop my frown. All I’ve focused on with this whole thing is that it might get Jessie to notice me. I forgot to think about Abigail and what her reaction would be, and now Aaron’s saying this. Does he really have to antagonize her? She doesn’t need any more ammunition than she already has.
“Hey, when you know, you know,” Chase chimes in, and it takes everything in me not to elbow him in the chest. I said we’d just do this—only this!—and while I might not be Abigail’s biggest fan, it’s a bit thoughtless to be rubbing a new girl in her face to this extent.
“You don’t actually expect me to buy this, do you?” Abigail suddenly breaks her silence, her voice ice cold.
“Buy what?” Chase asks, lifting his recently arrived drink to his lips and taking a sip of soda.
“You know what,” she hisses at him.
Chase shrugs his shoulder. “Think what you want.”
I don’t dare look at Abigail. Her temper is legendary, and I really should have considered that when I agreed to come here. Luckily, Sasha, someone I’ve always thought was pretty sweet, changes the subject and starts asking the boys about their next soccer match. I manage to relax somewhat, but Abigail doesn’t let the conversation stray for long.
“So this is actually happening?” she demands, not letting the subject drop. She waves a hand in my direction, making my stomach drop through the floor. She’s never liked me, and now she’ll positively despise me. “Because you never talk, not throughout all of high school, and then someone starts a rumor saying you hooked up last week, you kiss her in the cafeteria like you’d kiss your grandma, and then you haven’t looked twice at each other since. Now you expect me to buy that you’re here on a date?”
“It’s not a date, Abbie,” Chase tells her, leaning farther back in his seat and looking bored. “I’ve got more class than to bring her here on our first date.”
“So when is your first date?”
Chase shrugs easily and glances over at me. “I’m taking her out tomorrow night.”
I manage not to spit out my refusal and force myself to remember he’s just saying this for her benefit. He isn’t actually planning on taking me out.
“So you’re dating?”
“Yes, we’re dating.”
“You’re not just hanging out?”
>
Chase sighs. “We’re hanging out and dating.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
He rolls his eyes. “I don’t really care what you believe.”
“She jumps every time you touch her, Chase.”
I bite my lip. She’s talking about me like I’m not even here, and I’m letting her.
“Oh, I’ve seen them getting pretty hot and heavy,” Aaron jumps in from where he sits next to Abigail. “Had to tell them to go get a room last night.” My face turns bright red as Aaron winks at me, and Brendon and Jackson hold their arms out for fist bumps from Chase. Chase makes a face and waves them off.
“I’m not buying it,” Abigail repeats.
“Oh, you should,” Sophie tells her, smiling sweetly. “I thought I was gonna need a cold shower just watching them. It was hot.” She sends me a wicked look, and I sink farther down in my seat as she turns back to Abigail. “Maybe you should ask Liv for some tips—might help you keep a boyfriend.”
My jaw hangs open as Abigail turns red in anger and grabs her bottle of water. I want to kill Sophie for provoking her like that, but then I know why she did it—to distract Abigail from me and switch her focus. “I swear to God, Sophie, I will rip your hair out if you keep this up.”
“Try it,” Sophie responds dryly, dipping a fry in ketchup like she doesn’t have a care in the world.
Abigail’s nose flares and she scrambles to a standing position, reaching out toward Sophie. “You little bi—”
“Enough,” Chase says sharply as Aaron reaches out and pulls Abigail back. “Get your shit together, Abbie.”
The two stare at each other for what feels like a lifetime and my heart starts beating faster in my chest. Nobody else looks particularly surprised at this, not even Sophie. I guess Abigail’s behavior isn’t new. She looks like she’s about to tear the place apart, but whatever is passing between her and Chase seems to work because she sits back in her seat and crosses her arms. She looks like she wants Sophie to suffer a long, painful death, but she doesn’t say anything else.
The Stand-In Boyfriend Page 6
