16. The Deal
The Deal
TALIA
Here we go.
Having breakfast with Macklin was nice. Nicer than I could have imagined. We’ve eaten together countless times before, but always in a social capacity. This was the first time it was just the two of us.
Talking to him was so easy that I almost forgot the elephant in the room. Or I should probably say the elephant in the car.
And now that elephant has come out to haunt me.
If he wants to talk about it, he clearly thinks it was a mistake. This is why I was up all night. I was afraid he would say that he regrets it, and now here we are. I just really can’t take being rejected by him.
I know I look nothing like Gen. I was just hoping we could pretend it never happened and continue being acquaintances, maybe level up to study buddies.
“What about last night?” I ask, trying to act unaffected but bracing myself for what I know he’s about to say.
“Talia, you were upset. After the kiss.”
God, kill me now. “It’s ok. You just took me by surprise, that’s all. It was part of the game.”
We both know that the game required us to kiss if the DJ changed the song, but he didn’t. Hopefully, Macklin will go along with it and help me save what’s left of my dignity.
“I didn’t kiss you because of the game.” His blue eyes are locked with mine, forcing me to look into their depths. I have nowhere to hide.
It hits me how they’re identical to Becks’s eyes in shape.
They have the same slightly elongated shape that suggests an Eastern European heritage.
But while Becks’s eyes are a pure blue, Macklin’s irises have specks of white and gray mixed with the blue.
I had never been close enough to notice that until today.
They remind me of the sea in winter, when it’s stormy.
“I kissed you because I saw how upset you were when Gen and Becks started kissing.”
“You did?” That isn’t what I expected him to say. “You didn’t do it to make Gen jealous?”
Macklin shakes his head. “I couldn’t give a fuck about how Gen feels.
Sorry if that makes me sound like an asshole, but I’ve been telling her that we were done all summer.
And she refuses to get the message. So making her jealous is the last thing I want.
I just saw that you had been looking at my brother all night, and Gen noticed too.
That’s why she put on that little show on the dance floor. ”
“So you think Gen didn’t kiss Becks to make you jealous?”
He shrugs. “That was probably a part of it and why she asked him to the party as her date. But I would bet our chances at being back-to-back champions that she noticed that you liked my brother and she kissed him to stake her claim on him in front of you.”
I take a sip from our soda cup to have something to do while I think about this.
I thought I was being subtle about my interest in Becks. “I’m a little confused. So you kissed me because…” my head is spinning.
“Because I wanted to.” He bites out. “And because I wanted to send Gen the message that if she messes with you, I’ll have your back.”
Macklin is still looking at me, and that dark blue gaze makes it hard to think. “Hmm,” I muse. “Do you think she’s gonna mess with me? It’s not like there’s anything between me and Becks. I met him at Joe’s and we talked when he walked me home. But we barely know each other.”
“Gen doesn’t need much to come after you. Did you see the shit she kept doing to Taryn all summer when she thought she and I were hooking up?”
A shudder works its way down my spine. Macklin is right. Genevieve saw Taryn as a rival for the top spot at making the Shooting Stars team and as an obstacle to getting back together with him.
Nothing was beneath her. From sabotage to assault, Gen was determined to get rid of her rival.
“Fuck,” I whisper. “Gen is president of Zeta Theta Beta this year, and she could make my life very uncomfortable in the house. Maybe I should speak to her and let her know that Becks doesn’t like me.”
He tilts his head to the side. “What makes you think that he doesn’t like you?”
“He walked me home, and I thought there was a flirty vibe between us. But he didn’t kiss me. He said goodnight and walked away. And when we saw each other in class and at the party, he barely said hello to me. Maybe because he’s into Gen.”
Macklin considers my words, taking the soda cup from me. He drinks noisily, sucking up the last of the soda from the bottom of the cup and chewing on the end of the straw, deep in thought.
He does that on the ice too, with his mouth guard. I’ve noticed him chewing on it between plays or if he has to sit in the penalty box.
“So you’re hot for my brother, huh?”
Heat rises to my face and I can’t look at him. I like Becks, but my crush on him has never been so intense. Especially after I know how it feels to kiss him. “I…” I can’t say that to him. “I don’t know if he likes me back. And if Gen wants him, there’s no chance Becks would even look at me.”
“Why do you say that?” Macklin’s light brown eyebrows hit his hairline. “You’re as pretty as Gen. Prettier, if you ask me.”
I know what he’s doing. He’s hyping me up like he does on the ice with his teammates.
I own a mirror and I know I don’t have Gen’s runway model-type body.
“Thanks, it’s kind of you to say that. But it isn’t just about being pretty.
The truth is that I’m out of my depth with someone like your brother.
He’s hot and popular. He was always surrounded by beautiful women in Bridgeport, too.
” I sigh, embarrassed that I stalked Becks’s social media after I saw him again in class.
“You might not know this, but I’ve never even had a boyfriend.
I’m so inexperienced that Becks would get bored with me and run back to Gen even if I could get his attention. ”
Macklin’s reaction to my admission isn’t what I expected. “He would be a fool to get bored with you, Talia. You need to have more confidence in yourself.”
If this weren’t one of the most embarrassing moments of my life so far, I would laugh. “Thanks. But I mean it. I have zero dating experience.”
Something passes in his eyes as he sets the empty soda cup back into the cup holder. “I have an idea that could be beneficial to both of us. You want to date my brother, right?”
“Yes, but—” I nod.
“Let me finish before you object. You want to date Becks and I want to get Gen off my back once and for all.”
I shrug, not sure what the two things have in common.
“I’ve been trying to get Gen to understand that no matter what she does and how insistent she is, I have no intention of ever getting back together with her.
I thought that seeing me hook up with half the cheerleading team would send that message loud and clear, but it didn’t work.
My mistake was that hookups are casual and Gen must have thought that once I got some things out of my system, I’d go back to her.
What I need is something more important, more permanent.
A girlfriend. If you were my girlfriend, Gen would see that whatever we had is over. Once and for all.”
Is he asking me what I think he’s asking me?
“I saw the way she looked at us last night when we kissed. Be my girlfriend, Talia.”
I blink, unsure I heard him right. “Come again?”
“Be my girlfriend.” He insists. “Not for real. But seeing us together would get Gen to finally realize that she and I are done. And there is no better way to make my brother want you than seeing you with me.”
“I don’t understand.” I whisper.
Macklin’s jaw ticks as he explains. “It’s the fucked up dynamic between me and Becks.
Our whole lives, he has always wanted what I have.
So if you were mine, he wouldn’t stop until he got you.
Why do you think he was at that party with Gen last night?
He can say they went as friends all he wants.
But he developed a crush on Gen the second we started dating in high school. ”
My heart is beating so fast that I’m dizzy. “So you’re proposing to have a fake relationship, so that your ex stops pursuing you and your brother starts pursuing me?”
Macklin
The deal I just proposed to Talia could be either the smartest or the stupidest idea I’ve ever had.
A myriad of emotions surface on her pretty face while she considers it. It’s a long shot, but at least she didn’t immediately say no.
I truly think that Gen would back off if she thought I had a real girlfriend. And that’s my end goal.
This thing between Talia and I might be starting as fake, but if I have my way, it’ll become real before the semester is over.
Becks will really set his sights on Talia if he thinks she’s mine, but I’ll deal with that. It’s a risk I need to take to get what I want.
“I can’t believe I’m even considering this,” Talia says.
But by the look in her eyes, I know I got her. She wants to say yes.
“I’ve only ever read about fake dating in books and seen it on TV. How would a fake relationship even work in real life?”
I hadn’t gone that far, but I’m good at thinking on the fly. I’ve honed that skill on the ice since I was old enough to wear skates.
“We would have to sell it. So we can’t tell anyone that it’s fake.”
Talia begins shaking her head. “I agree, but have you thought about my brother? If Tucker thinks you’re going out with me, he’ll kill you.”
“Ok, maybe we keep it secret from everyone but Tucker. He knows how many problems Gen has been giving me. He experienced it firsthand when he started dating Taryn. Leave Tucker to me. If he thinks that you’re helping me for the sake of helping me keep my head in the game, he’ll be ok.”
“Fine. What else?”
I shoot out all the things that come to my mind. “It has to be as official as possible. So we change our relationship status on social media, you come to every home game in my jersey. We go to parties together and make sure we’re seen together on campus as much as possible.”