Chapter Twenty-Eight
The secret was not, in fact, safe with Avery.
We didn’t even need Tyrell to run a story on us.
Word that Zarmenus and I are dating spread with a truly astonishing speed around campus.
By the time I woke up my phone was filled with notifications.
So far, at least, it seems contained to campus gossip, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until the wider world finds out.
Tyrell even messaged me, asking if we still want him to write a story. He also questioned if Leeke put me up to this. It was enough to tell me he is at least a little suspicious.
It’s now almost nine in the morning, and I’m in line for a coffee. Given how many double takes I’ve gotten so far, I’m starting to feel almost famous. I am trying my best to ignore them, but I can tell almost everyone here is either staring at or gossiping about me.
I keep reminding myself this is a good thing. It’s the plan.
But now it’s not just Zarmenus that’s getting attention: it’s a clear shift. Before, I was just an accessory. All of a sudden I’m the one who is apparently worthy of attention, as the guy dating the boy from Hell. Now people are staring at me even without him.
It’s my turn to order, so I approach the counter.
I try to get out of my head and live in the moment.
The smell of coffee and freshly baked pastries is incredible, and the hanging pots of purple flowers behind the coffee machine are so pretty.
The chalk display is of a soaring owl holding a book in its talons.
The same guy as last time is working, the one with the good hair and countless tattoos. He lifts his gaze, and he stops in place for a second at the sight of me.
“What can I get for you?” he asks.
“One matcha latte and a black coffee, please.”
“Getting one for your boyfriend?” asks the barista. “Cute.”
I’m worried any response will give us away, so I go quiet.
As I wait, I try to distract myself with my phone.
First I try reading the news, but nothing catches my attention, so I decide to google Zarmenus to see if the news about us dating has left the Point campus yet.
A part of me is afraid that if I go looking I’ll find we’ve been exposed as liars.
It doesn’t seem to have made it to any news sites yet, but the day is still young.
The most recent news article that comes up after I search Zarmenus’s name is one by the leader of the Order of the Golden Sun.
He says they have plans to deal with Zarmenus and his family in order to restore humanity to its rightful place.
I’d be worried if I hadn’t been there when Zarmenus made a total clown of the last person who tried.
My phone vibrates. It’s an Instagram message from Avery. My phone’s been going off all morning with random people, mostly Point students, following me. I figure it’s because they’ve heard the gossip.
Dude I swear it wasn’t me who told!! I don’t even know who it was but anyway I’m so sorry please don’t hate me.
Don’t worry about it, it’s fine!
It seriously is fine. This is part of the plan, anyway. I just wasn’t expecting for people to care this much about us being together. I thought, maybe naively, that it would barely register for most.
“Owen,” calls the barista.
He’s included two cookies that I didn’t order.
“On the house,” he says.
Free cookies? If I knew I’d get this kind of treatment I would’ve fake dated my demon roommate sooner.
I keep my focus forward as I leave the coffee shop.
When I get back to our room, Zarmenus is sitting at his desk, reading one of the mangas from my shelf.
He chose a horror by Junji Ito that is maybe the most disturbing thing I own.
The room is clean, and Bell is nowhere to be found.
The cursed doll, however, is now sitting on my bed.
“Everyone knows,” I say as I kick the door shut. I go straight to the doll and put it back on Zarmenus’s desk with a little more force than I need to.
He unhooks his headphones. “That was fast. How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I say. “I think? People were staring at me. I got you these, by the way.”
I hand him the coffee and one of the cookies.
“Actually,” I say, “the cookie is from the barista.”
“I have the best fake boyfriend a guy could ask for.” He takes a sip of his coffee, then watches me as I pace around the room. “It’ll die down. Today’s the worst part, I promise.”
“You sound like you’ve got experience.”
“I haven’t been in this exact situation before, but I’m starting to understand humans.
For such an intelligent species, you have short attention spans.
All we need is for some other piece of campus drama to happen and everyone will move on.
As long as when people think of me they think of an upstanding citizen, my parents will be happy. ”
A wave of disappointment washes over me. I’m only just realizing all this will slow down once we’ve convinced everyone we’re a real couple.
“By the way,” he says. “I was reading online, and I had another idea.”
“About what?”
“Things boyfriends do.”
I go still. If I had to come up with a list of things that boyfriends do, the list wouldn’t exactly be PG. But maybe that’s just me, so I decide to play it safe. Only now that’s in my head, the two of us crossing that line. Wanting it gone only makes the image of the two of us making out clearer.
“Apparently boyfriends share clothes,” he says.
Oh, so he’s not talking about making out. As guilty, weird, and bad as I feel about it, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the moment he picked me up and we came close to kissing. It’s burned into my memory. The truth is I liked it, even if I don’t like that I liked it.
“They do,” I say.
I remember one couple during high school that would constantly swap outfits.
I always thought it was cute, and I’m not going to lie, it did make me a little jealous.
Ashley sometimes wore Jackson’s hoodies, and she always looked fantastic in them, but I was never jealous of those two. I liked them too much for that.
“We should do it, then,” he says. “Word’s out, but if we don’t act like boyfriends people will be suspicious, and I can’t tell you how much my parents hate being tricked. Our work’s not over yet.”
A chill creeps across my entire body, icy and unpleasant. I do not want to be on the bad side of the king and queen of Hell.
“I’m in,” I say.
A part of me is a little upset that this is the first time I’m sharing clothes with a partner.
What I have with Zarmenus is completely fake, because if it were real, this moment could be a memory I’d cherish.
But still, if we want to truly believe we’re together, then we should do this.
I can part with a piece of clothing and shove aside my feelings if it gets me closer to my internship.
I get up and start to browse my closet. I tend to wear more earthy colors than he does. More patterns, too. He tends to dress simply, mostly in black, and he never wears stripes or anything too loud. What I need is a piece of clothing that will make people think of me.
I look back over my shoulder at Zarmenus, and even though this was his idea, he doesn’t seem to have much interest in going through his clothes to find something to swap with me.
I reach the back of my closet and find the perfect trade.
Zarmenus doesn’t wear anything like it, so it will be extremely obvious it’s from me if he wears it anywhere.
I do love it, but it’s so perfect for this particular task that I’m willing to give it away.
I’m starting to find I’d do pretty much anything to get that internship.
I grab it and spin, showing him my choice.
“Nice,” he says.
It’s an olive-green button-down shirt.
“But you look so cute in that,” he says.
“Them’s the breaks.”
“I have no idea what that means.”
“I don’t either, actually.”
He sits forward and peels off his black hoodie. Underneath, he’s wearing a black tank top that pulls up to show his bare torso. He balls up the hoodie and tosses it to me. I only just come to my senses, too distracted by the stretch of skin I just saw in time to catch it.
The material has been heated by his body, so it feels like it’s fresh out of the dryer. And it smells like his cologne: cinnamon, leather, and campfire smoke.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Completely,” he says, his smile lighting up his face. “Go on, try it on.”
I pull on the hoodie. As I’m pulling it down, Bell appears by the window. She licks her paws, but her eyes are locked onto me, as if she’s assessing how I look. I can’t tell what she thinks from her expression; she is still mostly a cat, after all. I tuck my hands into the pockets.
“Well? What do you think?”
“Adorable,” says Zarmenus as he leans back in his desk chair. “Absurdly adorable.”
“I bet you say that to all your fake boyfriends.”
“Only you. Speaking of, can I take you out tonight?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“What do humans normally do on dates?” he asks.
“We could go to the movies?”
“Your plan to sell to the world that we’re dating is for us to go and sit in a dark room?”
He’s right, that won’t work.
“Actually, wait, I’ve got it,” he says. “I saw this on a few episodes when I was researching. Do you like bowling?”
“I love bowling.”
“It’s a date.”
It’s a fake date, I remind myself.
It’s nothing to get excited about.