Hand holding and potential feelings
“There’s another thing we can put in the pros. You won’t get humiliated by telling a fat lie in front of more than half the teens in this village.”
“Alls, I almost cared for a second there.”
So, maybe this is partially true. I don’t care about what anyone says to a certain point. Thus, I can take the awkward-anti-social teen label off of me and not intensify it.
“How are those pros?” I point at the things she wrote on the whiteboard, and she starts, pointing with a pen at each.
“He reads, so maybe you can fill your time with conversations about books, and maybe he can recommend new books.” She moves down with a very strong determination. “He knows about music, maybe as much as you, so then again, can recommend and exchange opinions.”
I’m sitting against the wall, trying to get her words into my head.
“He will owe you, and you know you want that.”
I shrug, my eyebrows agreeing.
“He’s adventurous, while you’re the opposite, therefore maybe can show you cool things to do in this small town. And honorable mentions are the parents’ happiness and an enraged Amanda.” She bows as if she gave a very important presentation and gives me room to explain my cons.
I grab the board pen and proudly walk to my points.
“He is irresponsible, and his so-called adventures most of the time aren’t thought through, so I can get hurt.”
Allison nods, not forming an opinion yet.
“He will daily remind me that I chose by my own choice to do this with him, making my precious summer vacation hours a living hell, which brings me to the next point.”
I practically smack the pen against the board.
“He doesn’t care about me or my interests, so our conversations would be meaningless, just to pass the time.”
I sigh, staring at the last.
“And probably the most important one, I would have to probably hold Jake West’s hand and act in love, which honestly I think is outstanding considering it goes against my nature.”
“How is hand-holding worse than kissing?” Allison frowns, and my heart stops for a bit.
“Kissing?” I gasp. “Do you think there will be kissing?” I whisper as if it’s some national security top secret.
“You have to be a little curious.” She continues ignoring my freak-out.
“That is so ridiculous, I’m not even going to answer that.” I cross my arms, and she smirks that I-know-you-want-it smirk.
The voice of reason speaks to me.
If I forget it’s with him, this deal is, I cannot deny I am a little curious about it. Not about the kiss, but I’m a romance reader, and fake-dating is one of my top three tropes.
It could be something worth telling my kids one day. Lately, I’ve been weirdly reminded about that by my dad, since he watches me do the same routines every day just like clockwork. He always says that I’m a teen, and this is when the fun begins. I don’t wanna be those adults who have nothing interesting to tell about their teen years, and if I have an opportunity right now, I should take it.
It’s better to regret something you did than to regret something you never did.
And that sentence pushed my will from denying this deal to jumping into this mess.
15
