Why did I ever agree to this stupid fake relationship?
“So, when did you realise Patrick was the one?” Allison asks eagerly, and everyone around the table laughs.
“It was actually when we were babysitting those creatures.” Linda grins from ear to ear, pointing at Jake and me, and we look at each other half-smiling. “When we told them, Patrick and I were going to go to a college in a different country, little Maddie started to cry, and Patrick hugged her and said,I’m not leaving you, I could never leave my mini meand Maddie asked him if he was going to forget about her and he promised that every Friday he was going to watch their romcoms and call her every weekend. And he kept the promise. That was the moment I knew I deeply loved him, and there was no coming back.”
“It wasn’t a romantic moment?” Paige asks out of the sudden.
“I guess not. I guess it was his dedication and his kindness towards others.”
I’m so happy that I could cry.
“It can’t bethatsimple.” Brandon rolls his eyes. I turn to my dumb cousin who is in front of his brother.
“I hate to say it, B, but when you know you…“ I trail off, feeling helpless, and lift my eyes without wanting to, to find him already looking at me. “Know.”
The rest of the dinner went from talking about kids’ disasters to kids’ names to love. It wasalwaysthese three topics. Honestly, I was getting tired by the end of the dinner. All these stories, all these memories, all these quotes, all thislove. It just makes me think. And those thoughts make me look at Jake. He’s looking at Patrick while he talks about… Something. He looks down and then slowly moves his head in my direction. I don’t even try to pretend I wasn’t looking at him. He represses a smirk and gives methelook. Eyes intense and jaw clenching. You see, what is theneedto look at me that way? I already like him, but with that look, it could quickly make me go fromliketo… No denying,love. He just messes with me in a way no one should be messed with.
I’m so mad at him for putting me through this, even though I agreed. He likes Amanda and sees me as his friend. But then asks for hugs, looks at me with those hazel eyes, and sings with me, dances with me, and does practicallyeverythingwith me. The other day, he even called himself my boyfriend to Dustin, even though we weren’t in town and no one would know. I mean, way to go, West… Just continue to confuse me, it’s okay. It’sfine. Except it’s not okay and it’s not fine. It’s not fair. That’s-
“Mads!” Blake whisper-yells.
“What?” I look around, and everyone is looking at me.
“I was asking how the babysitting was.” Linda asks, curious.
“Oh, it was… Fine.” That’s one word for it. “Weird, really. Definitely some sort of deja vu.” I shrug, playing with the strawberry in front of me with the fork.
“I thought it was more fun thanfine.” Jake speaks, putting himself comfortable in his chair.
“What did you do?” Linda turns to our sisters.
“You know, games and movies. Surprisingly, the babysitting was nice.” Alana says.
“Yeah, the lovebirds handled it well. Well, they could have been lessclingy-”
“What is that supposed to mean?” I let out angrily. Frankly, the anger was just a buildup from seconds ago, and it got super defensive.
“Oh,please. The flour fight, making both of you end up on the kitchen floor, all goofy-smiling at each other.” Blake lets the entire table know, directly looking at me, loving the attention he’s receiving.
“Oh, when we were singing in the kitchen. Jake was always looking at you, Maddie!” Paige reminds.
“When you basically slept through the movie with your head on his shoulder. He couldn’t stop shushing us the whole movie, again, always looking at you.” Brandon lets out, disgusted.
I could be buried right now. I’m scarlet red, shrunk in my chair. I feel so exposed. This can’t get any worse.
“And that’s not even the more disgusting thing we’ve caught them doing.” Blake laughs, but suddenly realizes what he said and covers his mouth with a slap.
Everyone at the table goes silent. I can’t even look up anymore.
“What happened?” Paige asks, curious.
“Oh, right, you weren’t there!” Brandon reminds. “They were just eating their faces off on the couch.” He informs, definitely not reading the room.
My father chokes on a strawberry and starts to cougha lot. My sister kicks Brandon under the table, and he shouts.So it did get worse.
“In front of the children, Madelaine?Shame.” Allison points out, dragging that last word. That girl has no trouble embarrassing me.
“I already knew.” Riden shrugs.
