Chapter 4
REMI
Remi’s fingers tap along her keyboard, but her thoughts keep drifting to Paige. They’ve been fake girlfriends for over a week now, and it’s going well. Maybe a little too well.
Tyler’s kept his distance—but never misses an opportunity to send Remi dirty looks—and the tone of the whispers from the regulars has changed. It evolved from what Paige deemed as “judgey” and “curious” over why golden boy and she broke up to understanding and indifference.
Their climbing gym has a diverse community and many queer climbers, so Remi’s glad the vibe has been overwhelmingly positive, even if she thinks it’s strange that they seem to think Paige’s sexuality is behind the breakup, instead of Paige no longer wanting to be around that insufferable douche nozzle.
Remi, herself, is only assuming that’s the reason behind the breakup. Paige has never shared the dirty details and Remi didn’t want to pry by asking.
All that to say, fake dating is going exceptionally well. There’s only one problem.
The more Remi touches Paige, the less she wants to stop.
Remi’s phone dances across her desk as it vibrates from an incoming call. She groans at the sight of her mom’s name on her screen.
While Paige offered this arrangement so she’d have a date to Dakota’s wedding and so she could get her mom off her back, Remi has been putting it off because she doesn’t like the idea of lying to her mom.
She’d rather do the more reasonable thing and pretend she’s too busy to talk until her mom gets the hint and drops bringing up her love life.
It could work.
The call goes to voicemail. Remi shuts her laptop and packs up to head out for the day. It’s Wednesday, and there must be a full moon because her students were on one all day long. She’s ready to pop open a bottle of wine and enjoy a quiet evening alone with her Kindle.
Remi’s phone lights up again with another call from her mom, and she sighs. When she calls back-to-back like this, Remi knows she’s not going to give up until she answers. It’s fine. Remi will blow her off. She’s still technically at work, so she has a good excuse.
“Hey, Mom, I’m at school—”
“Oh, I’m so glad I caught you, honey,” she barrels on past Remi. “I just got off the phone with Carol, and did you know her daughter is a pansexual and recently single?”
Remi rolls her eyes. “Nope, but—”
“Well, I told her about how you’re single and—”
“Mom, seriously?” Remi rubs her forehead. “We’ve talked about this. Boundaries. I don’t need you to set me up with every available queer woman you stumble across.”
She’s quiet for so long, Remi checks to see if she’s hung up—she hasn’t. Then her next words make Remi wish she did. “I just worry about you, Remi. And with the summer around the corner, maybe you should set up an appointment with Janine.”
Janine is Remi’s therapist. She’s seen her off and on, but she hasn’t made an appointment with her in over a year. She hasn’t needed to. She’s fine. Things are fine. She doesn’t need to make an appointment.
Softly, her mom says, “You know Anna wouldn’t—”
“Don’t,” Remi says in a tone so icy, the temperature in her classroom drops three degrees. “Just … don’t.”
It takes her a moment to get her breathing under control and calm down enough for her fingers to loosen from the white-knuckled fist they were in. She wrings out the tension in her hand.
“I love you, Remi,” her mom says in a voice so quiet and broken, it fills Remi with guilt for snapping at her. “I just want you to be okay.”
“I am okay.” Remi rubs the bridge of her nose as she imagines her mom sitting in her well-worn recliner. The way she’s probably picking at the skin on the inside of her thumb and going to abuse her favorite stress-relieving coping mechanism tonight: sudoku.
“I’m actually …” Remi hesitates but screw it. “I’m actually seeing someone.”
“You are?” The hope in her mother’s voice kills her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s new. Only a couple of weeks.”
“Oh, honey. What’s her name? How’d you meet her? Tell me everything.”
Remi moves her phone away from her ear so her mom doesn’t hear her sigh. “Her name’s Paige. I’ll tell you all about her later, but I have to go. I really need to finish this lesson plan, I have to prep an activity, and …”
“Okay, okay. You go. We’ll talk later?”
“Yeah, Mom.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Remi tosses her phone on her desk and collapses into her chair, rubbing her eyes with both hands. Remi’s head pops up at the sound of a creak from the doorway. Dakota freezes, her eyes wide and mouth open, looking like a damn cartoon character.
“Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“No, it’s fine.”
Dakota’s classroom is in the building on the opposite side of the faculty parking lot from Remi’s, so Dakota often cuts through her hallway. They usually talk for a bit—commiserating about their days—before heading out together.
“Okay, well in that case.” Dakota’s barely containing a shit-eating grin. “Did I just hear you have a girlfriend?”
Dakota wiggles her eyebrows and bounces further into the room. She hops onto her usual spot on top of Ben’s desk, which is positioned parallel to Remi’s. Dakota’s brown hair is up in a tight bun, and she’s dressed in her usual attire of a polo and khakis.
“You heard that?” Remi cringes.
“Yeah. What’d you say her name was?”
“Paige.”
“Cute! Are you bringing her to my wedding?”
“Would … that be okay?” Remi tenses, nervous to hear Dakota’s answer.
Remi and Paige have started planning and coordinating the details for their little getaway—since the wedding is being held in a town two hours away—and she’s surprised by how deeply she’s looking forward to this time away together.
“Of course,” Dakota says.
Remi sags with relief.
“You do have a plus one,” Dakota reminds her with a wry smile.
“Yes, but that was when you knew the woman I was seeing. You haven’t met Paige. Would Casey be cool with a stranger crashing your big day?”
“Of course she will, and if she’s not”—Dakota smirks—“I’ll remind her of how rude she was to you when she crashed our date.”
Remi full-on belly laughs. She first met Dakota on a dating app over two years ago. They enjoyed talking to each other and went on a couple dates. It was on their third and final date that Dakota’s best friend, Casey, showed up at the bar and made a slew of passive-aggressive comments to Remi.
It was obvious how into Dakota Casey was, but it wasn’t until the end of the date that Remi realized the feelings were reciprocated. She never thought she’d see Dakota again, until she reached out about the job opening.
Now that they’ve become friends, Casey has apologized to Remi multiple times. She’s long been over it though. She doesn’t blame Casey for going a little wild with jealousy, but she does appreciate Casey acknowledging it to her.
“Hey, as long as you both publicly thank me for being the reason you two are a couple at your reception, all is forgiven,” Remi teases.
Dakota snorts. “You really did play a huge part in getting me to stop being so scared and admitting my feelings.”
Remi bows theatrically. “You’re welcome.”
She chuckles lightly. “Look, I’m being serious. I can double-check with Case if you want, but you should definitely bring her, unless … things are too new?”
Remi opens and shuts her mouth a couple of times before settling on. “I’ll think about it.”
“Fair enough.” Dakota jumps down from the desk. “Regardless, I’d really love to meet your new girlfriend.”
“Yeah.” Remi scratches the back of her neck. “We’ll have to plan something.”
Dakota smiles and tosses her thumb in the direction of the door. “You ready to get out of here?”
Finally, a question she can answer honestly. “Hell yes.”
* * *
There’s a knock on Remi’s front door. She mumbles a curse and scrambles for her cologne.
Tonight she’s taking Paige out on their first practice date.
Remi insisted she could pick Paige up like the chivalrous woman she is, but Paige was a little weird in insisting Remi didn’t need to do that.
Paige offered to meet Remi at her apartment, and she’ll drive them to the restaurant from here.
Paige is early though.
Remi nearly trips as she darts from her bathroom to her bedroom and just barely catches herself on the corner of her desk. All she needs is to grab her faux leather jacket, and she’s ready to go. Now, where the hell is it? Butterflies flutter around her abdomen as she wrings out her hands.
She could’ve sworn she left it on her bed, but there’s nothing but a discarded flannel she decided at the last minute wasn’t cute enough to wear tonight.
Michigan weather in April is all over the place, fluctuating dramatically between high and low temps.
With tonight on the cooler side, she decided on a pair of dark-wash jeans and a short-sleeved brown turtleneck.
The jacket is the final piece to bring her outfit together. Remi’s gaze darts across the mess of discarded clothes that litter the floor outside her closet back to her desk that’s overflowing with student work she was grading.
Remi’s not nervous. She knows this isn’t a real date and that Paige isn’t interested in her like that. But this is Paige’s first sapphic date, and Remi wants it to be perfect. Paige deserves that. If only she could find …
Finally!
Out of the corner of her eye, she spots a corner of it peeking out underneath one of her pillows.
How the hell it wound up back there is something she’ll never know, but it doesn’t matter.
She slips it on and rushes to the front door.
She takes a second to compose herself and catch her breath, only to lose it all over again at the sight of Paige.