Foolish Games: A Brothers Best Friend Fake Dating Romance

twelve

#1 at the Box Office:Starship Troopers

Vivienne Delacroix

After hearing about Chaz’s betrayal, Robert begrudgingly gives his approval for the plan with Sebastian. Not that I’m seeking the approval of my little brother, but it just makes everything less complicated if he knows. That way, he won’t try to kick my fake boyfriend’s ass every day or lecture me on what guys are like and how I should pick better ones.

I picked a “better” one and look what happened. Chaz didn’t turn out to be such a gem after all. Every time I see him walking around with Krissy, a knife twists in my heart—the one he planted in my back. How many times did he assure me that he didn’t see her that way? And does he really expect me to believe they spent the night in the same room and nothing happened?

Krissy makes things even worse, constantly rubbing it in my face. I’m relieved that I don’t sit at their table anymore, since joining Sebastian for lunch is part of being his “girlfriend.” I still have almost all my classes with one or both parts of the happy couple, though. We’re all in advanced classes, and of course Sebastian isn’t, so I can’t even flaunt our fake relationship to dull the pain of their very real one.

“Chaz is so romantic,” Krissy gushes during our science lab on Thursday, where I’m in a permanent group with her and two other girls from the periphery of our circle. She turns to me. “I never noticed it when he was with you, but he’s so attentive. He notices when I’m upset without me even having to say a word. He’s, like, the perfect guy.”

Biting back a response as pain burns into me, I jot down my answer and hand the bouncy ball and string to Rae. I pray Krissy will stop making an awkward situation unbearable and just pretend I don’t exist. Hearing her describe him, I can’t remember why I told Chaz we should take a break to begin with. He did always notice things like that, things that other guys never notice.

Sebastian wouldn’t notice anyone else’s feelings unless they clubbed him over the head with them.

“I’m so glad y’all broke up,” Krissy says, letting out a nervous giggle. “I mean, obviously I’m sorry you got dumped, but I’ve been in love with him since, like, first grade. I never told anyone, but it’s true.”

“I didn’t get dumped,” I say, giving her a look. “We got in a fight. If anything, I broke up with him.”

“Okay,” she says, rolling her eyes at the other girls in our group.

I glare at her, refusing to let their pitying looks get to me. “I did.”

“I said okay.”

“Good.”

I hold the meter stick upright while Rae marks the height the ball bounced.

“I just find it hard to believe,” Krissy says after a tense silence. “I mean, why would you break up with someone who’s basically the perfect boyfriend? Yesterday, he took me to Little Rock to watch the tryout for this national Battle of the Bands thing, just because. Just to find something to do with me, and he heard Edmund Finnegan’s band was playing. We danced in the parking lot until, like, midnight. On a school night! He said he couldn’t stand to let the night end because then he’d have to let me go, and he wouldn’t get to see me until today.”

The other girls cover their hearts and say, “Awww,” their faces all moony at the thought of a guy saying something like that to them, especially one who’s basically the whole package.

Meanwhile, I’m seething. How many times did Chaz say those exact words to me?

“Let me guess,” I say. “He took you for frozen custard while you were down there because there’s nowhere to get ice cream in Faulkner. He got vanilla. And after his first bite, he asked how yours was, and then he said his was good, but it could be sweeter—like you.”

“No,” she says sourly, glaring at me.

It’s obvious she’s lying.

The other two girls glance uneasily back and forth between us, holding their breath.

I just shake my head and don’t answer, leaving her to wonder. I know I’m being petty, but sometimes the situation calls for it. If Krissy wants to talk about Chaz, I can talk about Chaz. I know all his lines. I just never knew they were lines. Stupid ole me thought I was special, that he meant them, that they were just for me.

But I dumped him, and he took his lines with him when he left.

I’ve never felt like such a fool.

Chaz may not be a gorgeous athlete with muscles that make me stupid, but he’s attractive enough. He may not be a foot taller than me and able to snatch me up while I’m walking and carry me in his arms like a princess, but he’s a couple inches taller than me, and I’m sure he could pick me up if he tried. Looks aside, he’s not just passable, he’s perfect. He’s brilliant, ambitious, has a good family who support him, which means he’s sure to be wealthy on his own one day and not just rely on family money. He’s caring and kind and romantic.

And I threw him away over some petty jealousy, trying to get him to prove his love.

Except it’s not petty jealousy, is it? Because my fears turned out to be entirely warranted. He didn’t prove I meant more to him than Krissy. In fact, he proved quite the opposite.

“Anyway,” Krissy says, breaking the silence and turning to Sasha as she takes the string and bouncy ball. “We danced, like, all night. My feet were killing me by the time we left, but it was so totally worth it. He said he didn’t want to stop dancing because then he couldn’t be as close to me.”

Rae and Sasha glance at me like they’re afraid to show it, but they give Krissy the same moony gazes as before, their “aww” a little tentative this time.

I don’t like curbing their enthusiasm, don’t like being the one making this awkward. And I’m the one who should leave, just like I left their lunch table. Rae is new, but Krissy and Sasha and Chaz have known each other their whole lives, while I went to a small Montessori school when they were forming friendships. I’ve known them since starting Faulkner High freshman year, but I never hung out with them until I started dating Chaz last year. Krissy has been friends with Sasha forever.

Another reason I’m second-guessing my decision to break up with Chaz. I didn’t think about the fact that I’d be losing my entire friend group as well as my boyfriend.

I look up from my paper and see them all staring at me, Krissy with a particularly confrontational look on her face.

“What?” I ask.

“Did he do that with you, too?” she asks, her tone resentful and a little challenging, like she doesn’t believe he actually did that other stuff with me.

“No,” I admit. “He always said he didn’t like dancing.”

“Well, he likes dancing with me,” she says smugly.

Suddenly, I remember how they danced the night away at the Founders Ball while I was stuck dancing with the half dozen Darling boys. And how I was glad Chaz had someone to dance with this year, so he wouldn’t have to sit at the table feeling awkward and alone while I did my duty as a founding daughter.

“Good,” I say. “I’m glad he found someone who enjoys his dorky dance moves. I’m more compatible with Sebastian’s kind of dancing, anyway.”

The other girls’ eyes widen like they think we’re about to get in a fight, and Sasha snickers before glancing nervously at Krissy.

The bell rings, the harsh jangling sound accompanied by notebooks slamming and chairs scooting back. Krissy stares at me, her nostrils flared.

“And what kind is that?” she asks. “The horizontal tango? Because I’m sure Sebastian doesn’t know anything else.”

“And I’m sure it must suck to know you’ll always be Chaz’s second choice,” I reply, slipping off my stool. “If he liked you, don’t you think he would have asked you out in the last ten years?”

“He didn’t want to ruin our friendship,” she says weakly.

“Or maybe he sees you like a sister, like he always told me.”

She flinches, her face going red.

“Face it, Krissy. You’re just my rebound, and the only reason he’s dating you at all is because he wanted to save face when he got dumped, and you took no effort.”

“Yeah, well, at least he actually likes me,” she snaps, jumping up so fast that her tall stool crashes to the floor. She snatches it up and shoves her glasses up her nose. “Sebastian Swift only wants one thing from girls, and everyone knows it. I can’t believe you actually think y’all are dating. I wasn’t going to tell you this, but he was at the show last night too. With another girl.”

She delivers the news with such obvious relish I have to resist the urge to snatch her glasses off her face and hurl them across the room. I hate that I don’t have a comeback. I hate that Sebastian’s only doing what I told him to—dating other girls and being discreet about it. He even took her out in another town, probably not realizing someone from school would see him there. But most of all, I hate that he’s dating other girls at all.

Which is ridiculous. He’s not my boyfriend. Why should I care?

I’m too eaten up by jealousy to even answer Krissy, though.

Seeing she has the upper hand, she goes for the killing blow. “He’s just sleeping with you because you’re easy, Vivienne. I would have thought a girl going to Stanford would be smart enough to figure out when she’s being used.”

I straighten and give her a cool look. “I would have thought a girl going to Columbia would.”

We stare at each other across the lab station for a second, and I realize it’s just us left. The other two girls have gone. A few stragglers remain in the room, and a few people from the next class are already filtering in.

“As soon as he gets bored, he’ll dump you like every other girl he’s played,” Krissy says, her gaze flickering to the door behind me. “And you’ll be just another pathetic slut who let him.”

A strong, warm arm snakes around me from behind, and Sebastian nuzzles his chin into my neck. His warm breath sends shivers racing through my body, and I have to fight the urge to close my eyes and melt back into him. That would only make Krissy think I was more pathetic.

“You’re tense,” Sebastian says, straightening and turning me in his arms. He lifts a handful of my beachy waves back over my shoulder before massaging his fingers into the knotted muscles. He gazes into my eyes, his brow furrowing with concern so sincere I almost forget he’s faking it.

After a second, he turns his attention to the girl standing behind me. “Are you giving my girlfriend shit?”

“Since when do you have girlfriends?” she asks.

“Since I found one worth having,” Sebastian says, his arm circling my waist as he pulls me flush against his chest. “Now beat it, nerd girl. Those beaver teeth aren’t going to file themselves down, and if you’re late to your dam building class, the others might get all the good logs.”

Krissy snatches up her books and rushes out, her head ducked.

“You’re terrible,” I say, trying not to smile.

Sebastian tips my chin up, his other hand sliding to my lower back and pressing my body against his. “You love it,” he murmurs, his nose skimming mine.

My heart somersaults wildly, and tension crackles around us as his thumb strokes my cheek and his laughing green eyes go serious for once, burning with an intensity I haven’t seen before. My breath catches, my heart stops, and all that exists is this obnoxious, wonderful boy and the electric heat shimmering between us.

“Mr. Swift,” the teacher interrupts. “Ms. Delacroix. Please save your public displays of affection for after school. This is a classroom, not a brothel.”

I’m snapped back to reality, and the moment is gone, as much an illusion as the shimmering heat of a mirage.

Sebastian’s mouth twitches into a smile. “You better go,” he whispers. “This isn’t a brothel, Ms. Delacroix.”

I fight back laughter as I grab my books and hurry out, ignoring the snickers from the class and the outright laughter from Sebastian’s friends as he takes his seat. Even though they’re laughing at me, for once, there’s nothing mean-spirited about it. I know it’s all in good fun and not at my expense, because they’re giving him shit too. It’s different than when he and his friends picked on me and the other nerds. This laughter includes me somehow. As his girlfriend, I’m in on the joke.

The fact that they’re not makes a knot of guilt tighten in my stomach. These are Sebastian’s friends, and he’s lying to them—for me.

*

“Hey, girl,” calls a voice behind me as I head through the student lot toward my sleek red Corvette. I keep walking, since school’s out and everyone’s milling around, hopping in cars with their friends who drive together every day or finding rides so they don’t have to take the bus. I drive alone.

Lexi catches up to me, out of breath and weighed down by a backpack that looks like it holds every textbook she owns. “Hey,” she says again. “Wait up.”

“Um, hi,” I say, not sure why she’s chasing me down. We don’t have any classes together.

“So, you and Bash, huh?” she asks.

“Guess the word’s out,” I say, avoiding her gaze. I hate lying to her face, so I tell myself that if I don’t say it outright, maybe it’s not as bad.

As if lying to both of us is somehow better.

“Cool beans,” she says. “I’ve known the guy since freshman year when they moved here, so if you need the scoop, I got you, girl.”

“Uh, okay.”

“Also, little tip,” she says, looking me up and down. “You’re going to need to dress a little sexier if you want to keep him interested.”

“Excuse me?” I ask, drawing myself up. I’m only 5’6, but she doesn’t even clear five feet, so I feel tall.

“Whoops, that came out wrong,” she says. “You dress fly as fuck. I’d kill for a pair of Tommy jeans. I just mean, maybe it’s time for a change, y’know? It’s just, Bash dates girls who look a little more… Available.”

“I need to dress slutty to keep him?” I ask, unlocking my car.

“Hey, I’m a founding member of the Slut Club,” she says, grinning. “I love all things slutty, and I use that word in the most complimentary way.”

“Okay…”

Lexi looks at me like I’m missing something. “Seriously, girl. Didn’t you just get dumped?”

“Yeah, so?”

She rolls her eyes. “So, haven’t you ever gotten dumped before? It’s time to change things up. Get a new look.”

“A slutty look?”

“Whatever you want,” she says, hopping into the Corvette like I invited her. She runs her hands over the seats, the dash, the controls.

I slide behind the wheel. “Uh, where are we going?”

“The mall, obviously.”

“Right,” I say. “Shopping.”

I start the car and shift into gear. When we pull out onto the road, I glance over at Lexi, who has a huge grin plastered across her face. “Fuck me, I think I just creamed my jeans,” she says. “There are no words for how nice this car is. I can’t believe you drive this thing around like it’s, I don’t know… A normal car.”

“It is a normal car,” I say, then offer her a smile back. “A nice one.”

I don’t really have female friends. Or any friends outside school. My friends were Chaz’s friends, and when we did things with them, I was always part of a couple. I’m usually more comfortable behind the wheel of my card than anywhere, but the familiar sensation of being out of place creeps in now. I don’t know how to hang out with Sebastian’s friends when he’s not around.

“You’re, like, mega rich, huh?” she says.

“We’re comfortable,” I admit, not sure how to answer that question but not sure what to talk about instead.

“Do you have your parents’ credit card?” she asks.

I shift in my seat. “Yeah. Why?”

“Can you buy anything you want?”

I shrug. “Sure.”

She turns toward me, her eyes shining with excitement. “You know what we should do?”

Suddenly, I’m sure she’s going to ask me to buy her a car or suggest something illegal.

“We should give you a makeover,” Lexi says when I don’t answer soon enough. She’s practically vibrating with excitement. “Like in the movies.”

“You like makeover movies?”

“Hell yeah, I do,” she says. “What, sluts can’t like teen movies?”

“I didn’t call you that.”

She just laughs. “I’ve always wanted to do a makeover, but c’mon, like when am I going to have the money for that? But you do.”

“What’s wrong with the way I look?” I ask. I’m not usually self-conscious, but she’s so dead set on changing me that I’m starting to wonder.

“Nothing,” she says. “You’re hot as hell. But it’ll be fun. Plus, imagine the look on Chaz’s face when you walk in with a hot new guy, and a hot new look… He’ll eat his heart out.”

“Sold,” I say, picturing his face and the judgmental things he’d say if he thought I was changing for someone else, when I never changed for him.

I can’t wait. Plus, now that I realize I’ve had the same style since I started high school, I’m getting excited about the change. Lexi’s enthusiasm is contagious, and it wouldn’t hurt me to switch things up once in a while. It’ll be nice to wear something that Chaz has never seen, never complimented.

Never taken off.

I might even get a haircut and embrace a whole new look from head to toe.

It’ll be a fresh start. Not for Sebastian or Chaz, but for me.