Chapter 12
lilah
“This was supposed to be a girls’ night,” I said as we crossed the theater parking lot, clutching the bag of candy like it was evidence. “Like, no boys, no testosterone, no one who lives in a different dorm hall than us.”
Normally, I wouldn’t have been angry about the boys tagging along.
Ever since Poppy and Saylor had gotten into relationships, a lot of our outings had naturally started to include the boys.
I even encouraged it, especially in the early days of Poppy and Bear hanging out when I was trying to get them to start dating.
But now, with Tino being my fake boyfriend, having them along was starting to feel more like work than fun.
Tino fell into step beside me, the corners of his mouth twitching. “You’re just mad because you know we’re the better company.”
“Better company?” I gave him a look. “Bear and Poppy literally can’t go ten minutes without making heart eyes at each other. Crossy and Saylor are in their own little bubble of sarcastic romantic tension. And Mako—”
“Mako’s Mako,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“Exactly.”
Tino held the door open for me, his breath visible in the cold. “So really it’s just me. You can’t admit that you’re thrilled to have me here.”
I scoffed. “Thrilled isn’t the word I’d use.”
“Honored, then?”
“Try ‘majorly inconvenienced.’”
I passed him to step inside the lobby of the movie, my boots hitting the carpeted floor softly.
Since it was Friday night, it was unsurprisingly packed—couples on dates, families hanging around in the small arcade after the earlier shows, and far too many students from school for my taste.
My stomach did an anxious little flip as I spotted a few familiar faces near the ticket line.
Poppy, who was walking ahead with Bear, spun around to look at us with wide eyes. For a moment, I was worried she was going to say something loudly about how we were dating in the hopes of helping the situation but instead make it ten times worse but she seemed to think the better of it.
“We’ll get the tickets,” she said instead.
I just smiled gratefully back. Still, her comment made some girls by the ticket counter glance in our direction, probably recognizing her voice.
They looked at her and Bear for a moment—even though they’d been dating for over a month and a half, people still weren’t used to seeing Bear out with a girl—but then their eyes drifted over to us.
One nudged the other and whispered something in her ear, eyes trained on us the whole time.
A group of girls from school was by the ticket counter, already staring. One nudged the other and whispered something, eyes flicking between Tino and me.
Before I could react, Tino leaned down and murmured, “You might want to look like you actually enjoy my company.”
I turned to glare at him, but he just smiled innocently, then slid his hand into mine.
“Tino—”
“Relax,” he said. “You’re supposed to be my girlfriend, remember? You should at least act like you don’t hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” I hissed. “You just have… a very punchable face sometimes.”
His grin widened. “And yet, here you are holding my hand.”
I would’ve dropped it immediately, but we were already walking toward the ticket counter, and the whispering girls were definitely watching. So I plastered on my best fake smile and squeezed his hand tighter out of sheer spite.
“See?” he said quietly. “You’re a natural.”
“I hope you trip on your shoelaces.”
He leaned closer. “You’d catch me.”
“Unlikely.”
We headed for the concession stand once Poppy and Bear brought the tickets over.
I let Tino order the snacks, mostly because I was busy thinking about all the people who were staring at us and how much I hated it.
I knew it wasn’t going to die down in a day—everyone needed some time to be excited about the relationship confirmation before it could become a normal part of life—but I wished they could at least be a little more subtle about it.
We got looks. Smiles. A few whispered comments from the people we passed. And suddenly I was hyper-aware of everything—of how tall he was beside me, how easily he fit against me, how warm his hand felt in mine.
“This is all your fault,” I told Tino as he grabbed the two drinks.
I didn’t ask him how he knew my favorite drink to get at the movies was Fruitopia because I never drank it at any other time.
Some stones were better left unturned. I picked up the popcorn—extra layered butter just as I liked it—and let him wrap an arm around my shoulders as we followed our friends to the theaters.
He leaned down just enough that his breath brushed my ear. “You mean for being so convincing that it only took you five minutes to agree to a fake relationship?”
“It did not only take five minutes!” I hissed. “And besides, I had no choice.”
He laughed, and the sound drew even more attention. One of the girls from school waved, and Tino’s response was to tuck me a little closer to his side, his arm curving around my shoulders like it had always belonged there.
The worst part was—it didn’t feel wrong.
We found seats a couple rows down from the top and while I was mildly tempted to suggest the girls sit together on one side and the boys on the other, one glance around the theatre told me there were plenty of other Hartwell students here who would no doubt read into that.
I ended up sitting between Mako and Tino, pulling my elbows so close into my body to avoid touching either of them that I could barely eat my popcorn.
I sat back, balancing the popcorn on my knees, trying not to notice that Tino’s arm was resting casually on the back of my seat. Too close. Always too close.
Halfway through the first trailer, his hand crept toward the popcorn.
“Don’t even think about it,” I said without looking over.
“What?”
“I heard your hand move.”
“My hand can move if it wants.”
“Not toward my popcorn it can’t.”
He sighed dramatically. “I paid for the popcorn and I’m not even allowed any?”
I took a large handful and ate it just to spite him, then said, “You should have bought two if you wanted some. You know I don’t share food.”
There was a pause. Then—his hand darted out and grabbed a handful of popcorn.
“Tino!” I hissed. “You stole my popcorn!”
“I borrowed it.”
“That’s not how snacks work!”
He popped it in his mouth, chewed thoughtfully, and then smiled. “Worth it.” Then he stole another piece. I smacked his hand but it wasn’t enough to make him drop it. He shoved it into his mouth, smirking. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I will dump this whole bucket on your head.”
He leaned back in his chair, unfazed. “Then neither of us will get any popcorn at all.”
I tried to glare, but it didn’t quite stick. Not when he was looking at me like that, like teasing me was the most fun he had in his day.
When the actual movie started, we came to a silent agreement—him stealing snacks when he thought I wasn’t looking, me catching him every time. He’d grin, lean back, feign innocence. I’d whisper threats I had no intention of following through on.
At one point, he reached over, hand brushing mine in the bucket. We both froze. My heart stuttered. Then he slowly picked up a single piece, smirked, and popped it into his mouth without breaking eye contact.
I threw a Sour Patch Kid at him.
He caught it in his mouth. Show-off.
I tried to ignore the way my face heated when he laughed quietly after, the sound muffled under the movie’s dialogue.
By the time the credits rolled, the bucket was almost empty and my stomach hurt from trying not to laugh. The lights came up slowly, the world feeling softer in that post-movie haze.
Tino turned toward me. “You’ve got butter on your fingers.”
“So do you.”
“Less than you—since you kept hitting my hand.”
“You already knew I was possessive of my food.”
He tilted his head, pretending to think. “So if I wanted some, I’d have to—what—bribe you?”
“Bribe, beg, sell your soul. Your choice.”
He leaned closer, voice low. “What about this?”
Before I could ask what this meant, he stole one last piece of popcorn—then kissed me. Quick, warm, almost teasing. The buttery taste hit me first, salty and soft and completely unexpected.
He pulled back before I could react, his grin lazy. “Guess that’s my bribe.”
I blinked. “You—you just—”
“Relax,” he whispered. “We’re dating, remember?”
I glanced around the theater. There were still plenty of Hartwell students here, all getting up and pulling on their coats, chatting about what they thought of the movie. I was sure I wasn’t imagining that some of them were looking our way, which meant the kiss wasn’t totally unnecessary.
I shoved the popcorn bucket into his chest, hoping he couldn’t see my flaming cheeks. “Fine. You can have the rest. I just lost my appetite.”
“Sure you did.”
I ignored him as I got up and pulled my scarf and coat back on.
As soon as we walked out of the theatre, I fell in step with Poppy and Saylor, leaving the boys to walk together behind us.
Tino and I had done enough pretending to love each other for one night.
Anyone who had seen us would go home and tell their friends that we totally were dating and the news would spread across school over the weekend.
If I was lucky, nobody would care anymore by the middle of next week.
The night air hit me the second we stepped outside, sharp and cold, carrying that faint scent of snow.
The parking lot was mostly empty except for a few lingering groups of moviegoers laughing and brushing past us.
I looked longingly at the cars everyone else was getting into, knowing that we either had to wait for the bus at the end of the block or hoof it all the way back to campus.
In the warmer months, we sometimes went to earlier movies so we could do that, but tonight, by unspoken agreement, we all stopped at the end of the block to wait.