LenaLux4Lyfe:She’s cute but have you seen HIM?!
The rest of the conversation is a series of drooling and heart eye emojis.
Like clockwork, my phone explodes with messages and calls. Antonia, followed by my mother. I honestly thought it’d take them longer, but with my social media on their minds today, I should have expected this. I should have known they were scouring my grid to see how to change it up with my next phase of life—my fake dating phase. I’m honestly still shocked they let me manage my own accounts. After this though, who knows. I silence my phone, brush my teeth, and try to pretend like my mom isn’t going to murder me later.
Ten minutes later, there’s a knock at my door followed by another phone notification from my doorbell camera. Decker’s here. Flying through the house and down the stairs, I try to check my surroundings. Is there anything embarrassing I forgot to put away? Though I love this place, it’s not where I spend the majority of my time typically. When I’m in town, I’m at the studio or doing a show or whatever other engagement that’s been planned for me. Nothing is out of place in this house. It hardly even looks lived in. The brief moment of relief is soon batted away by a lurch in the pit of my stomach as I throw openthe front door, but I’m not met with Decker’s insanely green eyes. Instead, it’s those gray ones I posted to my feed a few moments ago.
Decker gestures to his phone screen. “What’s this?”
I squint at it as though it isn’t obvious. “Whoa, wait. Are you following me? Stalk much.”
He steps around me, tucking his phone into his pocket and rolling his eyes as I shut the door. “You don’t follow me?”
“I don’t wanna damage your ego, but no. I didn’t know if we were ready for that kind of commitment.”
Decker kicks off his shoes, checking out the space as he crosses to my sofa and plops down. “You don’t follow yourboyfriendon Insta? Shame.”
He looks so out of place splayed across my lilac couch, a testament to his position in my life. I shake my head. “I was waiting. You know my followers would check to see if we follow each other, and if we did, that would pretty much seal the deal on our relationship.”
“And posting Princess doesn’t?”
“That was kind of the point.”
He stares at me for a long moment, pulling a lip into his mouth as he mulls it over. “Okay, so you made your move, now what’s mine?”
Something inside me lifts. “I guess we move forward with these dumb candids, and you can have the honor of posting our first selfie after the game this weekend.”
“The kickoff game?” His brow knits. “Why?”
“I figured Antonia had at least contacted Jason.” Shoving a beaded throw pillow out of the way, I ease onto the other end of the couch and face him. “I’m going to your game. That’s our hard launch. That’s when everyone will know that we’re… serious.”
“Hard launch?”
“It’s a phrase people use to announce new relationships. I didn’t make it up. Don’t ask me.”
He laughs dryly.
My jaw laces tighter than a corseted dress on a red carpet. Why do I let him get under my skin this way? “Look, I know it’s not ideal, but we’re both benefiting from this, in case you forgot.”
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten.” He slides his phone across the couch. “It’s probably time we at least exchange numbers, then.”
The temperature of my cheeks spikes when I meet his eyes. I must be as pigmented as cherry candy now. His lips slip into a cockeyed grin. No wonder he has quite the reputation with women. Just a tilt of his lips can wipe away any irritation he may have caused. A stupid little flutter rolls through me when my fingers brush his as I take his phone and begin to type. As soon as I’m done, I slide it back over like it’s on fire to avoid any more unnecessary touching. As he lifts the phone to his face, he clicks on my name.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“Making sure everyone knows where we stand in case they see our texts.” His eyes lift to mine briefly before falling back to his screen. “I figured we need to have some kind of exchange on here in case someone reads over my shoulder or something.” His fingers fly over his keyboard before he flips it back to face me. “There.”
I stare in horror at the wordsLenny-Piesurrounded by an assortment of hearts and other emojis. “Lenny? That’s a guy’s name.”
“Seems pretty neutral to me.”
“Wait. Isn’t that the guy who likes bunnies from that Steinbeck book?”
“Oh, she’s a reader?”
“Don’t sound so surprised. I think it’s more shocking you know who Steinbeck is.”
He raises his phone and taps his thumb across the screen, ignoring my dig. “You know, for being your boyfriend all of one week, it’s like I hardly know you. Do you like Lenny-Bunny? I can change it.”
