Another whistled.
A few of the girls mimed like they were going to pass out. One of them turned from me to Brielle and kept repeating, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.”
There was no turning back now.
I made my way to Brielle’s desk and set the flowers in front of her. There were six pink tulips and six white ones.
Brielle just looked at them with absolutely no expression on her face now.
I was screwed.
This was not good.
She—
“Why?” Brielle looked up at me.
I could see in her eyes that she was insecure. She sincerely didn’t get it.
“I—Call it the ‘next inning’. Valentine’s Day chocolate was the first; this is the second.”
“What’s the third, fourth, and fifth gonna be?” The same guy as before called.
“Be quiet, Tyler,” Mrs. Templeton chided. She held her hands clasped against her chest, as if she were witnessing something monumental.
Brielle looked from the flowers to me, and then she leaned toward me.
What do I do?she mouthed.
Oh man. Shoot. It had never dawned on me she’d take this as part of the game. The charade. The fake dating act. Here I was being authentic, and she thought I was acting!
Brielle widened her eyes even more, and so I did the only thing I could think of doing. I reached down and pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered, “Just be happy. I sucked at Valentine’s Day, and you deserve these.”
I still didn’t think she took me seriously.
I retreated to my desk, and it was only then that I realized at least nine of the girls had their phones aimed at me. They’d been recording. The whole thing. And I was the dumbest idiot on the planet.
Chapter 19
Brielle
“I didn’t know what to do!” I held the phone up to my mouth as I talked as quietly as I could. I was leaving Lia a voice message as I walked to the field. Tryouts were happening, and I wanted to watch. “He brought metulipsin the middle of class! Everyone saw it, and of course, there are probably a million shares of those videos now. I know he’s trying to keep up appearances and all, butoh my gosh. Lia!”
I pressed send. She’d get it. The whole “oh my gosh, Lia” part was essentially me saying, “I’m a mess. I’m wrecked.”
I brought the phone up to my mouth again and pressedrecordwhen I thought of something else.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen. The whole thing started to get my aunts off my back—and Jenessa and Claire. Then Brooks shows up and . . .” I let out a squeaky whimper. “I’m falling for him!”
Send.
There. I’d done it. I’d admitted it to Lia. What was she going to do from Canada, anyway? Nothing, that’s what. Besides, she was my best friend-sister-forever-and-ever, and she deserved to know the truth. Even if I was lying to literally everyone else in my life at the moment.
“Bri! Over here!”
Claire bobbed up and down as she waved her hand over her head. She was here for her boyfriend, Hunter, who was pretty much a shoo-in like Reece. Their tryouts were more a formality than anything.
“Omigoshthatwassocrazyhowareyouevenbreathing?” She grabbed my hands, her eyes wide with absolute awe and wonder. “Tulips! In front of everyone! That’s soooooo much better than Valentine’s Day chocolates.”
