“I’m listening.” Ethan didn’t have any problem eating at all.
“One public date,” Em said, holding up a finger. “You getone. I will hold your hand, but kissing outside of a peck on the cheek is out of the question.”
“Bugger, why is that a letdown?” he asked.
Now it was her turn to blink heavily.
Then he grinned. “I’ve no intention of trying anything, anyhow. Promise.”
“Okay good. It’s settled.” She smacked the table.
“Um… one date and an announcement here is hardly enough to prove you’re my girlfriend,” he said, pointedly staring at her.
Gah, he was right. Still, she held her ground with her own sharp stare as she amended, “You can post all about what we’re not actually doing. I’ll even let you cook for me and then take pictures. I’m nice like that.”
Blah. The way she saidpicturessounded dirty and she didn’t hate that. Which was really bad.
“I’m serious, we’ll do one more public outing to finish this off. After that, we can officially fake break up.” She said this cheerfully, like they’d just picked out dessert. Nothing more.
“What changed?” he asked, genuinely.
“Call it understanding things a little better,” she said. “I’ve been watching, and I…uh… I think I get it now. Why you aren’t enjoying this. It’s just…” She pinched her lips to one side. “Every other famous person I’ve known would love the attention. Love the constant reminder of how special they are.”
He glanced down at that, his jaw ticking.
“But I think I finally see that you’re not like the others. Maybe.” She said it and truly wanted to believe it.
He nodded and ate in silence while she studied the wood grain pattern of the pressed plastic table.
“Hey, you two.” Cress waved as she approached their table.
Em waved back.
Cress slid right onto the bench beside Em. “So, a thing happened—”
“Yeah, I was there.” Em pushed her lips into a thin line.
“Not that thing.” Cress poked at the table as she spoke. “Ethan’s kid overheard the whole of your shenanigans, and I think you both need to have a chat with your girls because…that looked pretty real back there. Is it real?” She said the last part very quickly.
“No,” Em said with a quick headshake.
“I’ll talk to Annie,” Ethan assured, nodding. “Clean up any mess this could cause there.”
Crap, Em needed to tell her parents and her brothers, so they didn’t all get their hopes up.
That gave Em a stomachache and all the reasons she’d held onto for why this was a horrible idea in the first place settled heavily in her gut.
“You know when you came to school and Lauren and Barbie and I were all friends? We took one look at you and knew immediately how awesome you are. I said to Lauren, ‘Her. We need her.’” Cress let out a long breath. “We understood that what was missing in our lives was you. And, uh, I don’t think we’re the only people in the world to have that thought. If you get my drift.” She slid her gaze across the grass over to where Annie helped at the bake sale table.
“I’m on it,” Ethan assured.
“Sooner probably rather than later,” Cress suggested. Then she eyed Em’s hot dog. “You gonna eat that?”
Em shook her head. “All yours.”
For the first time in a long time, she wasn’t even a little bit hungry anymore.
Chapter Ten
