Chapter 8
Cupcake
ELIAS
I’m in over my head.
I’ve reminded myself that this is fake over a hundred times since Friday night, and I don’t always believe it even though I know I need to. I didn’t go into this looking for a girlfriend, and she didn’t go into this looking for a boyfriend — not a real one, anyway.
To keep my head in the game I limited myself to texting her the rest of the weekend, but that doesn’t mean I stayed away. Especially after I saw the grade I got on my last test.
After the game we lost on Saturday, I found her walking around campus with her friend Josh, her carefree smile prompting me to take far too many pictures of her, and I didn’t stop until she was safely back in her dorm.
I needed to see Riley happy after getting my ass handed to me by Doc, and finding out we were going back to morning practices.
It felt like the only light I saw all day.
Sunday I found her behind the campus all alone, a blanket below her and the most beautiful mountain backdrop I’ve ever seen.
It took my breath away, and had me getting far too close as I secretly took dozens of photos — not just with my digital, but also with my film.
I’m well-fucking-aware I’m officially stalking her at this point, but hopefully no one else stumbles across my new hobby so I never have to actually explain it.
Now that it’s Monday and I’ve officially looked at every picture I’ve taken of her, I tell myself I’m not going to keep following her before I make my way over to the campus.
It’s just too damn bad I won’t even listen to myself though, because although I haven’t come across her yet, I find myself looking for her within the first ten minutes.
I casually walk past the few spots I’ve seen her in, my hand gripping my phone tightly as the urge to text her and ask her where she is creeps up my spine, but I spot her a few moments later just before she enters the library.
Only… I don’t quite make it to her before my younger sister steps in front of me.
“Oh, so you’re alive then?” Juliana asks in an accusatory tone, her arms crossing as her best friend Maci looks me up and down with a blush.
She always acts like this when I try to talk to my sister, and because of her I thought I wasn’t attracted to blushing girls. Riley taught me I was wrong.
“No shit. Why?”
My sister looks at her friend and then back at me, switching to Spanish so our conversation stays between us. “I’ve been texting you, dummy. You’ve never not responded that many days in a row.”
I feel a little bad she sounds so worried, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t show up at my house looking for me so she couldn’t have been that worried. “I’ve been busy. I had a lot of film to develop, and I usually don’t. What’s up?”
“She told me she saw you holding hands with some blonde this weekend.” Her head tilts toward Maci without saying her name. “Is it true? You never hold hands.”
She’s right I don’t, but I still don’t see why this is an emergency. “She stalking me or something?”
Like I’m one to talk.
“That’s what I’m trying to find out, Elias.”
Ah. Got it.
“Nah, she isn’t. I think you’re overthinking whatever kind of crush you think she might have on me. Everyone saw me holding Riley’s hand this weekend, so it’s not a secret.”
“Riley?”
She sounds more curious than worried now, so I look around us and then tell her most of the real story. I wouldn’t if it was anyone else on the planet, but Juliana won’t tell anyone. I trust my sister with my life.
She laughs at my expense of course, and I keep my internal dilemmas to myself, but it only takes a few moments for her to know more than everyone. “So, like I said. I’ve been busy.”
“That tradition has always been stupid, but it only works because you’re all stupid.” Have I mentioned she loves me? “I’m glad you’re not participating, but not glad you’re in this mess instead. Have you read any fake dating romance ever? It either all falls apart or you fall in love.”
That might have been the dumbest question she’s ever asked me. “Yeah, sure. I read those all the time.”
Juliana rolls her eyes and shoves past me, her head shaking like she’s a disappointed mother. “There’s also movies since we all know books go over your head, and I want to meet her if it lasts the week.” Lasts the week. Chick has no faith. “And text me back, dummy.”
“You’ve always been bossy, you know that? Even when you were a baby.”
She flips me off and takes her leave, making me forget what I was doing for a few seconds before it hits me again and I’m rushing inside the library to find Riley.
By now she’s already spread out on a table with her laptop, her furrowed brows bent over the screen like her fingers are being timed.
It’s much harder for me to sneak pictures of her in here, but I can’t deny how much she looks like she’s in her element.
The blonde strands of her hair falling in her face have me fighting the urge to walk over and tuck them behind her ear, but deep down I know that’s just because I want to touch her.
She looks so focused I can’t help but to sneak a few more photos with my camera before I put it in my bag, and then I pull my phone out of my pocket and take a couple more.
I swear models can’t even compare to her and they get paid to try. They all seem fake next to her beauty, and I really need to stop thinking like this.
After a few moments of me staring at her she decides to take an early break. She stretches out her back with her arms above her head, then pulls out a small box with a relaxed smile, making me almost break the “quiet” rule of the library when I see she pulls a fucking cupcake.
That’s my girl.
Wait, not my girl.
Fuck it.
I somehow manage to get a really good photo of her first bite. Her eyes are closed in pleasure as the sweetness touches her tongue, and I immediately make it my phone lockscreen before walking over to annoy her.
“Hey, cupcake. What you doing?”
I kiss the top of her head as I startle her hard enough to make her fumble her dessert, but I don’t feel bad at all when icing gets everywhere and she has to lick it off.
“I was trying to eat,” she mumbles. “What are you doing? I didn’t even know you knew where the library was.”
“There are signs all over campus.” I plop down next to her and then finger some of her frosting off to lick it. “Or maybe I just followed you.”
She’s been sitting here for over twenty minutes. There’s no way she believes I actually stalked her here, even though I absolutely did.
“Mmhm. I’m trying to work, so…”
God, she’s cute when she’s annoyed with me.
“So you just cheated on me, and I have photo proof of it,” I joke, my tone turning serious as I fish out my phone and show her the screen. “Look at your face as the flavor hits your tongue. That was me Friday night when I licked your —”
She smacks her hand over my mouth so fast and hard it stings as she looks around frantically. “Elias!” she hisses. “Shh.”
I can’t fight the laugh that bubbles out of me. “Okay, okay,” I mumble. “What were you doing in here?”
She huffs, glancing down at her laptop. “I told you I want to get into investigative journalism, right? I was trying to find a story to chase down.”
All I see on her screen is a bunch of letters so I turn my attention back on her. “You can write about how many girls here can have multiple orgasms and how the guys are incompetent.”
“You’re not wrong,” she agrees solemnly. “Very incompetent. But I don’t think my professor would enjoy that very much, so I’ll keep looking.”
“Probably not. So, you miss me?”
Her eyebrow quirks up. “Not as much as you missed me, apparently.”
“I think you missed me exactly as much as I missed you.”
I point at the cupcake and grin, sending a blush across her cheeks that proves my point. “Fine. I was thinking about you earlier, and I got a cupcake because I haven’t had one since I was a kid. Happy?”
“Yup.” Sitting back, I kick my foot out on the chair across from me and bush her leg. “I told my sister about you.”
Her eyes widen. “What? Why?”
“Because people saw us holding hands and she’s nosy as fuck,” I reply honestly. “I told her the truth though.”
“Oh? And what’s the truth?”
“That you’re madly in love with me and want to have my babies… naturally.”
I reach under the table and touch her inner thigh, fighting a grin when her cheeks redden.
“Mmhm, that’s why I made you wear a condom and wouldn’t let you come inside me even with one on. Definitely angling to have your babies.”
“Mmhm… luring me into a false sense of security,” I joke, then nearly kiss her when she nervously licks her lips. “How was your weekend?”
Y’know… outside of the moments I stalked you that you don’t know about.
“Are you allergic to answering questions?”
“Probably.” Fuck, what did she ask me? Just thinking about coming inside of her has my brain short-circuiting. “What was the question again? You want to go raw next time?”
Next time. After we already agreed that was a one night only thing.
Her head tilts as she screws up her nose. “What did you tell your sister?”
Okay too soon. I need to stop thinking about it. “Oh, that.” I sit up straighter and look around to be sure we won’t be overheard. “That I couldn’t pull someone like you if I tried, so we had to come to an agreement to get out of the hazing. I might have left some bits out.”
Like the fact that I used blackmail and was actively stalking you when she ran into me.
She visibly relaxes, and it occurs to me that she was worried I told her — or worse, showed her — the video. “Oh. And how long does the whole hazing thing last? I meant to ask you.”
Read: how long do we have to keep this up?
“Usually the season, but it tapers off before the end of the year. It probably gets old fast. You looking for an out already?”
“No,” she says with a slight frown. “I just wondered how long we have to keep this up before they figure out it isn’t real. Probably after the season, huh? If we stop right when the hazing does, it’ll look suspicious.”
“Probably, but by then what can they do I guess? I’ll take whatever it is if you want out before Christmas, but fall will be over before you know it.
I’ll keep them off your back.” Even if I have to say she never knew it was fake and put the whole thing on me being lazy, I will.
“You were never supposed to be a target, Riley. If anything they’d want to prank Oakley, but I can talk those dicks down. ”
She shrugs a little, refusing to look at me. “I feel like a New Year’s breakup could be believable.”
Tentatively, I reach over and slot our pinkies together. “You should break my heart publicly,” I joke. “No-holds-barred.”
“Oh, I plan on it. The whole nine. Drunken tears, throwing things at you, airing all our dirty laundry. It’ll be a spectacle like Northgate has never seen.” She squeezes my pinky. “Okay, then. New Year’s.”
“New Year’s,” I agree, both of us going quiet for a beat before I force myself to break it. “So I should probably let you get back to kicking names and taking ass, but I wanted to ask if you’ll go to my game tomorrow.”
She grins. “Can I bring Josh? He’ll be devastated if I go without him, and I need someone to explain to me what’s happening.”
“Yeah, Josh is cool. You can sit with my sister if you want, but no pressure.”
I stand up to take my leave, but before I do I tug her chair out to spin it toward me, then brace my hands on the armrests. “You should probably give me a little peck to seal our deal.”
“Oh, should I?” She reaches up, cupping my chin and pulling me down, stopping just shy of my lips. She’s so close to me, I can feel her lips move as she whispers, “Think this is close enough?”
“Nope.” I press my lips to hers once, twice, three times, and then hold a second longer to edge us both. “There we go. Enjoy the cupcake.”
I tap her nose and then take my leave, glancing back over my shoulder once to make sure she’s watching me go, and when I meet her eyes I toss her a wink.
We may not be actually dating, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun until New Year’s. We just have to make sure we don’t get lost in our roles, because every time I’m with her, I see how easy it could be to get caught up in the moment. I need to keep my head in the game.