31. Nick
Chapter thirty-one
Nick
Sleep eludes me. My heart was in my throat, watching Maddie face off with Ward. My pulse is still racing. I slip out of Maddie’s bed and disappear into the bathroom. Maybe our fake-dating contract won’t be published. I click on The Squirrel . It’s there. The contract is public.
And the troll comments are horrible:
Fan5001: I knew the girl next door couldn’t keep him.
I can’t engage, but I wish I could write back that the girl next door has me for life—if she will keep me.
Fan2245: I told you it was fake.
It’s never been more real.
Fan3345: There’s no way he’d be dating her. She dresses like she lives at the gym.
She dresses like she has things to do. I am dating her. And I like the way she dresses.
Fan2022: Why are they trying to say it’s real?
Because it is.
Fan450: No wonder they didn’t kiss at the concert.
Fan43045: Wow. He even put in a no kissing clause – that’s how much he’s not attracted to her.
Cybergirl: Maybe she put in the no kissing clause.
Exactly. I’m willing to spend the rest of my life kissing her.
Cybergirl is on our side, though, and keeps writing that everyone knows that fake dating leads to love.
Cybergirl: Why would he fake date her if he didn’t like her? It’s not like he would have trouble finding people to date.
Fan3345: He could date me for real anytime. And now he’s free!
Cybergirl: He’s not free. They’re dating. For real.
It’s also in The Intelligencer , her own paper.
I come out of the bathroom and watch Maddie sleeping, and I worry.
Why should she put up with this? It’s hurting her career.
Her story breaking the details of the corruption at the Infrastructure Department is on page one, and then on page six, there’s our fake-dating contract. Why does it have to be the same paper?
I email our PR contact at MusEn to put out a statement that we are dating and that we only entered into the dating contract because neither of us wanted to admit we had real feelings for the other.
Once we spent all that time in close proximity faking a relationship, we admitted that we liked each other, and we are now dating for real.
People love a happily ever after, right?