Foolish Games: A Brothers Best Friend Fake Dating Romance

twenty-seven

Vivienne Delacroix

The Dolce boys jump in, and even though they’re all rougher than the Darlings, they’re outnumbered—especially when Howie Beckett joins, followed by a couple other founding sons who came back from college for the holidays. Pretty soon, I’ve lost sight of everyone I care about as the scuffle turns to an all-out brawl.

Theo wraps an arm around me, pulling me in and letting me hide my face in his shoulder. He’s the only one of Sebastian’s crew wearing a tux, and I cling to him, my tears disappearing into the black fabric of his jacket. “Ready for that drink?” he asks into my hair.

I shake my head. “What should we do?”

“Come on,” Lexi says, appearing at our side and grabbing my hand. “They’re kicking us out.”

I lift my head and see the Darlings shoving several of Tony’s brothers back toward the door. They’re hollering and cursing, and they continue making a commotion as they’re wrestled down the stairs.

“Anyone else here without an invite?” JT Darling shouts, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Either you leave now, or we make you leave later. And that won’t be pretty.”

“Let’s bounce,” Lexi whispers. “Before they catch us.”

When I don’t move, she looks at me again, like she’s just realized I’m the reason Sebastian’s here. “Oh, right. You’re one of them.”

“No,” I say. “I’m coming.”

“Get off me,” Sebastian bellows, yanking himself free of the Darlings and standing there glowering at them. Blood drips down his chin, and he sways on his feet drunkenly. “I have an invitation.”

“Bullshit,” Justin snaps, grabbing him roughly and getting ready to hustle him out.

“I do,” Sebastian snaps. “She’s right there!”

Dread knocks a fist through my belly as his finger points in my direction.

“Who?” Justin asks.

“Vivienne,” Sebastian says, a bloody grin creeping onto his face. “What, you didn’t think your perfect little princess would invite the rabble into your castle? You gonna kick her out too? Or does she get a pass when she fucks up because she’s got a trust fund?”

The crowd turns to me, and I feel myself shrinking under their gazes. It was bad enough that Rob outed my fake dating scheme in front of the whole party, but now they think I’m responsible for the brawl.

“Viv?” Justin asks. “You know this guy?”

“Oh, she knows me,” Sebastian says, smirking with his split lips. “All eight and a half inches of me. Now, whether she’ll admit it or not…”

I swallow hard and pull my hand from Lexi’s, glad the mask is hiding my humiliation. “Yes,” I say, squaring my shoulders and lifting my chin. “He was my date. But I didn’t invite the rest of them. And you can throw him out too. He’s drunk.”

“Oh, did I embarrass you in front of your fancy friends?” Sebastian taunts as a handful of founding sons grab him and wrestle him out the door. “Of course it’s my fault. Little Miss Perfect can do no wrong.”

I start after them, glancing over my shoulder at Theo and Lexi. Lexi follows without a word for once. I expect Theo to stay, since he blends in so well in his tux and mask, and he wasn’t involved in the fight. The Darlings gave out invites to enough people that he could be someone’s guest. But when we’re almost to the door, he catches up, following us out. Whatever Lexi says about the guy, he’s definitely loyal to his friends.

Descending the stairs in heels and a floor length dress is dicey, but at last we reach the foyer. I can hear yelling outside the front door, which stands open, the space behind it crowded with people trying to stay out of the rain but see what’s going on in the yard.

“Coming through,” Lexi yells, raising one hand and reaching back with the other to grip mine so we don’t get separated. “Being kicked out here, people. That’s my crazy cousin hollering. Let us out.”

Shoving through, we make it to the front door, where icy, damp air makes me start shaking even harder than the adrenaline coursing through me. We step out, flattening ourselves against the wall and edging out while staying under the roof above the stoop.

“We go to your school,” Tony yells, tugging up the shoulder of his torn jacket. He holds it in place, standing on the lawn looking up at the big house behind the Darlings. All seven of the Darling boys stand on the front step, facing off with the group they just threw out into the rain.

“You go home with them,” Joseph Darling says, nodding to the crowd of Sebastian’s friends on the lawn. Behind the Darlings, a dozen more founding sons-and-daughters including my brother are still crammed together trying to see.

“We’re Knights, though,” Vinny says. “Just like you.”

“Not like us,” Joseph says. “We live here. Y’all live on Mill.”

There’s a tense silence, and then Jeremiah slings an arm around his twin’s shoulders. “Go to bed with dogs, wake up with fleas.”

“Yep,” Jedediah says. “Go scratch your fleas, losers.”

“You’re going to regret this,” Tony seethes, spitting on the ground at their feet. “Mark my words. One day, you’ll be sorry.”

Jacob laughs. “Chill the fuck out, man. We’d kick out any of the help who showed up tonight. Don’t take it personal. This party isn’t for your kind, that’s all.”

“Let’s roll,” Donny says in his deep, Bronx accent, gesturing for his brothers to back off. “If we aren’t wanted here, we don’t wanna be here. We’ll go to our own party. There’s more beer and easier chicks at our parties anyway.”

“Hey,” Lexi protests, having left my side while I wasn’t paying attention. She now stands in the rain with the group she came with—and Sebastian.

“You’re just our type,” Benny says, throwing an arm around her. “The bitches here are uptight little prudes.”

The public school crowd starts to disperse, but Tony hesitates another moment.

“You’re going to pay for this,” he swears, backing up.

The Darlings laugh, and Sebastian gives me one more look before turning and retreating with his friends.

“Wait,” I call, grabbing the nearest Darling. Despite telling them to kick out my date, I feel terrible now. “Sebastian really does have an invite. He came with me.”

“Then go with him, whoever he is,” Joseph says. “And don’t bring thugs to our party again. They don’t belong here.”

My throat aches, and I stare at Sebastian’s retreating back, wondering if this is really it. I want to go after him, but my brother throws his arm around me. Maybe it’s for the best. How well did I really know Sebastian, anyway?

“Come on,” Robert says. “Let’s get you back inside before you get wet.”

I think about it. How easy it would be to let Sebastian go. We were already fighting anyway. We always knew it wouldn’t last, that it wasn’t real.

But I can’t seem to let it go, can’t let it end like that.

“Sebastian,” I call, ducking out from under Rob’s arm and hurrying down the few steps to the walkway that circles the side of the house. “Wait!”

Sebastian pauses at the corner of the house, turning back and watching me pick my way over the gravel walkway toward him. The others are crossing the long expanse of lawn toward Billy’s truck, which is pulled up along the side of the driveway with some other cars that arrived late. Sebastian doesn’t move to meet me, but he doesn’t walk away, either. He lets me make my way through the rain until I reach him.

“Don’t go,” I say when I reach him.

“Why not?” he asks, still not moving. He stares at me, rain running down his face, blood trickling from the corner of his split lip.

“Because,” I say, trying to find the words I need to make him stay. Some part of me knows that if he walks away, he’s never coming back. It’s over.

“I don’t belong here,” he says quietly. “I shouldn’t have come.”

“You do,” I insist. “You can. Just stay. Show them who you are. They’ll like you if they get to know you.”

I don’t know what I’m saying, and it strikes me how ironic my words are, considering I don’t know him at all.

“Vivienne,” Rob calls from the doorway. “Let him go.”

Sebastian glances at my brother and then back to me. “Look, he’s right. You may go to Faulkner High instead of Willow Heights like everyone else here, but at the end of the day, you’re still founding heirs,” he says. “You and Rob. You belong on this side of town. You belong at these parties. You have the invites to prove it.”

“You have an invite,” I say, seizing his hands. “I’m your invite.”

The corner of his mouth rises in a rueful smile. “Nah, Princess. I belong on my side of town, with my friends. They get it.”

“If you told me, maybe I’d get it.”

“I told you from the start,” he says, reaching up and gently stroking a strand of hair off my cheek. “My friends care more about fun and fucking and fast cars than status and family names and high society. I’m not like you, Viv.”

“I only care about that stuff because I have to,” I insist. “You’ve seen me at school. I’m not trying to capitalize on my name to be popular. None of that matters to me, Sebastian.”

“Then what does?” he asks. “You gonna check my pedigree like I’m a fucking dog?’

“I just want to be with you,” I say, my lip starting to tremble. “Like we said. In the moment. As long as we’re having fun, what does it hurt?”

“Yeah, well, this isn’t what comes to mind when I think of fun.”

Pain spirals down through my heart. “You’re not having fun with me anymore?”

“No. It’s not fun being kicked out of your parties because I’m not good enough for you,” he says, his tone turning bitter.

“You are,” I say, a tear spilling down my cheek. “How can you say that? Everyone at school thinks you’re too good for me. That’s why they can’t believe we’re dating.”

“Viv,” my brother calls. “Come on. I’m not leaving you out here alone.”

“Everyone in town knows it’s the other way around,” Sebastian says quietly, ignoring Rob. “No matter how high my star rises on the football field, they don’t give a fuck about me. I’m disposable.”

“That’s not true,” I say, my insides twisting with pain for him. “Faulkner loves you.”

“They love what I do for them,” he says. “They love that I put another W in the books every week. You think they’d spare a single extra thought for me if I got hurt? If I was off the team? No.”

“They care about you,” I insist, squeezing his hand. “They made sure you had a tutor so you could play, so you could go on to play in college. They’ll watch you next year and be proud that you were a Wampus Cat.”

“They gave me the best tutor in school to make sure I kept performing. I may have clawed my way onto the throne at school, but to this town, to your families, I’m the help, just like the Darlings said.”

“The founding families have it backwards,” I say, tears spilling freely down my cheeks now.

“No, they don’t,” he says, pulling his hand from mine. “I’m never going to be anything to this town but a commodity. I may perform on the field instead of at your fancy shows, but at the end of the day, I’m just another dancing monkey.”

“You’re not,” I say. “And if you want to go somewhere else, we’ll go. Let’s go to your party. I don’t want to be here if you’re not.”

“You’re killing me, Smalls,” he says, a pained expression settling over his handsome face as we wipes the rain off my cheeks.

“Viv!” Rob barks. “Get your ass back here. I’m freezing my balls off.”

I glance over my shoulder and see him standing in the brightly lit doorway of the Darling manor. He’ll be pissed at me for making him miss some of the party, but he won’t leave. He’s my brother.

“Go on,” Sebastian says. “Go back to your party.”

“What about this?” I ask, knowing I sound desperate but not caring. “What we have right here, in this moment. Like we said.”

“There’s nothing here,” he says. “There never was.”

“You’re wrong,” I say, shaking my head. “You may not have taken it seriously, but I did.” I want to tell him it’s real, that it’s always been real, but I can’t quite bring myself to be that pathetic. He told me it wasn’t real from the start.

He drops his head back and rakes a hand through his wet hair. “You’re the one who didn’t take it seriously,” he says after letting out a loud breath. “You never took me seriously, Viv. You still call me an idiot every fucking day. But I’m not an idiot. It means so little to you that you don’t even notice when you do it. But I notice.”

“What are you talking about?”

“One day, you’ll see,” he says. “You’ll see that I’m more than the fuckup you thought you could slum it with to get it out of your system before you go marry some scrawny little nerd with a stick up his ass like Chaz. But I guess that’s what you wanted. If you want him back, go get him. He’s yours.”

“I don’t want him,” I insist. “I want you.”

“No, you don’t. You want an Ivy League boyfriend. I was never going to be good enough for you and your perfect family. I’m not like you. I don’t act like a different person at parties. I don’t know how to read your mind. I don’t know how to make relationships work for a whole year.”

“So we figure it out,” I say. “Together. I can help you.”

He shakes his head. “I should never have pushed you to do all that stuff. I’m a fuck up, Viv. I was always going to hurt you.”

I swallow the agony in my throat. “Then don’t do it,” I say quietly. “Don’t hurt me.”

He shakes his head. “This is who I am. I always have to get my own way, and fuck anything that stands in my way. But I didn’t know that would be you. I’m sorry, Viv.”

I pinch my lips together and don’t speak. I don’t trust what will come out of my mouth.

“But you know what?” Sebastian asks. “I may be a fuckup who never goes to an Ivy League school, but I’m going to do something good with my life. Not just make good money. I’m going to do good. Can any of your precious founding families say the same?”

“What the fuck, Viv?” Robert says, and I hear his footsteps crunch on the gravel behind me as he approaches. He wraps his jacket around my shoulders and glares at Sebastian. “Leave, asshole.”

“On my way,” Sebastian mutters, turning on his heel without so much as a goodbye.

“Don’t walk away,” I warn. “If you walk away…”

A sob chokes my throat, and I can’t finish. Robert wraps an arm around me and forces me to turn and go back inside with him. My teeth are chattering, and I’m soaked through, but I don’t care.

I stop in the foyer, covering my face as the tears flood out. “I can’t go back up there,” I say. “I’m going home.”

Robert sighs. “I hope you know I’m giving up a chance to get laid, not to mention the best party of the year for this.”

“Go back up,” I say. “I brought my car. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re not driving home like this,” he says.

I nod into my hands, trying to get myself under control.

“How’d you know?” I ask at last.

“I’m your brother,” he says. “I figured it out.”

“Aren’t you going to say I told you so?”

“Yeah,” he says, throwing an arm around my shoulders. “But not while you’re crying.”

I laugh through my tears, embarrassed that I’m such a mess. I don’t even want to think about what everyone upstairs is saying, and how I’m going to face Chaz and Krissy at school now that they know what I did. Even more pathetic than faking that I could land a football player, I fell for the biggest player in school in the process.

And in the end, I lost him too.