19. Blaine
Chapter nineteen
Blaine
M y eyes scan the dance floor. There are some beautiful girls in insanely tight shorts at Howdy’s, but my eyes keep drifting back to Libby. It has nothing to do with her radiant smile or the short skirt she has on. I really need to talk to her about what happened at the beach.
“This was a great idea,” Syd giggles. She and Libby re-join us at the table.
“I agree,” Lucas smirks. He disappeared for a while, and I assumed he went home.
“Where’s Laur?” Libby picks up her drink that’s probably now lukewarm.
“Bathroom.” Lucas’ eyes dart around the bar. “But I think we’re going to head out soon.”
“No!” Libby shrieks with a pout, “Syd and I want to dance more.”
“I can take you home later,” I suggest, “Most of the guys have already left, and I just had one beer tonight.”
“Thanks!” Sydney grabs Libby’s hand and drags her back on the dance floor before she can decline my polite offer. This is the perfect opportunity to get her to talk to me. I just need to find a way to distract Sydney and get Libby alone.
Laur and Lucas leave almost the second she comes back from the bathroom, leaving just me and Silas left at the table.
“Think we are going to do well this year?” Silas asks, trying to make casual conversation. Silas is a junior like me. We’ve always been friends, I guess. He never got in the way of my antics, and we’ve hung out here and there.
“I think we’ve got a really good shot at going all the way this year.” I smile from ear to ear.
“Me too, brother.” He takes a sip of his dark mixed drink. “Listen, I met this girl earlier. Is it cool if I leave to go hangout with her?”
“Yeah, man, do your thing,” I chuckle.
He says goodbye and goes off to find the mystery girl he met earlier. It’s just me, myself, and this room temperature beer I’ve barely touched left at the high-top table.
A new country song about liking brunettes comes on. It’s so catchy that I can’t stop tapping my foot.
“You like Trae West?” Libby asks, walking up with Sydney snagging their drinks off the table.
“It’s a good ass song.” I take a pull of my disgustingly warm beer.
“It’s one of my favorites!” Sydney twirls around, her melted down drink now in hand.
“Mind if we stay a little while longer?” Libby’s eyes plead as they meet mine.
“On one condition,” I counter, “you slow dance one song with me.”
“Don’t leave me by myself,” Sydney huffs.
A blond man taps her shoulder and says he will gladly dance with her. She makes a sound I’m not quite sure is human but it’s definitely some type of excitement before taking his hand and going to the dance floor.
Libby slams her now empty drink down. “Fine, you have a deal, Blaine Mitchell.”
We make our way onto the dance floor. She wraps her arms around my neck and we start moving to the music.
“So about what happened at the beach,” I start but Libby cuts me off.
“Please don’t tell me you’re into me now.” She rolls her eyes, which is no surprise .
“Hell no.” The words fly out of my mouth. “You’re like the sister I never wanted.”
“And that you pretended to sleep with?” Her lip curls in disgust.
“Shut up,” I chuckle. “I want to know why you had me cover for you.”
Her shoulders rise and fall in a subtle shrug. “I didn’t want anyone to know the truth, and you must have sensed it. I didn’t really ask you to do it.”
She’s right. She didn’t flat out ask me with her words but her pleading eyes begged me to save her with a lie.
“I didn’t mind covering for you. I was just wondering.”
Silence falls between us, and pretty soon, the song ends.
“I want you to be my fake girlfriend,” I blurt out.
Libby blinks rapidly and her eyes widen.
“Let me explain,” I say. “One more dance.”
To my surprise, her arms stay wrapped around me. She’s willing to listen.
“You know I have a . . . certain reputation,” my pulse quickens with each word, “but I want to change that and I think having a fake girlfriend will help.”
“How?” Libby narrows her eyes.
“I think it’ll show that I can be serious. That I’m maturing.” I’m making this up as I go along. I do think it’ll help, but the how hasn’t been thoroughly thought out. “Not being a fuck boy who gets into fights and who doesn’t put his team first. Maybe make alternate captain.”
“You really think having a fake relationship is going to do that for you?” she huffs.
My heart grows heavy knowing that it feels like an impossible feat, and I know there is a slim shot I would make alternate captain. But a slim shot is better than a fully blocked net.
“I’ve got to try.” I look down at my feet, wanting to avoid her eyes.
“Look, I know I owe you for being a good friend,” Libby says. “Can I think about it?”
Her response is better than I could hope for .
“Absolutely.” A grin spreads from ear to ear. “One more question though. Am I supposed to act like we are together?”
“Why? What do you mean?” Her eyes lock with mine.
A heavy sigh leaves me. “It seems like since the beach everyone expects that we are kind of together. I’m not sure how to act honestly.”
I feel lighter finally getting the words off my chest. I’ve been tiptoeing around unsure of how to respond to people or how to act around Libby.
“Can I think about that too?” There’s a gleam of something I can’t quite put my finger on in Libby’s eyes.
I nod my head. “Whatever works, I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing.”
The slow song ends again. Over the speaker, it’s announced that line dancing is going to start again. I have no interest in line dancing tonight, so I start to walk off the dance floor but Libby grabs my hand.
“Thank you again, Blaine. For covering for me,” her voice is filled with gratitude. “I really do appreciate it.”
Sydney comes running up behind Libby, grabbing her shoulders and bouncing with glee as the new fast past song starts.
“Can we please dance to two more songs before we leave?” Sydney pleads with eyes as big as the moon.
“Sure, I’ll wait over there.” I point to our table.
The conversation with Libby went better than I thought it would, but it left me asking myself if I’ve really put enough thought into what having a fake girlfriend would be like. Would it really help me redeem myself? I guess there’s one way to find out.