“Don’t you meanwe’re?”
“Nah, Chloe. Pretending to date you isn’t exactly a sacrifice on my end.”
Her feet stumble a step, and I feel her eyes on me, warm and sharp. A stray wisp of her hair blows free, and I resist the urge to reach out and tuck it behind her ear.
“You just tell me how you want to play this, babe,” I say, my voice dropping lower than I intended. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Oh, now it’s whatever I want?” Her tone is light and teasing.
“As my girlfriend, it’s always whatever you want.” I tilt my head with a cocky grin and she bites back a smile.
Keeping in step beside me, Chloe pulls the same blue scrunchie she was wearing the other night from her hair and runs her fingers along her scalp. Her soft lavender scent mixed with something warm like honey is carried in the wind, pulling me further into her orbit.
“Well, I guess we can just pretend we’re dating until theend of the semester. That’ll show Nathan that I gave it the old college try, and it just didn’t work out in the end.”
That won’t shock anyone. When people find out Chloe and I are dating, first they’ll be confused and then they’ll all be waiting around for her to correct her mistake. The breakup will just be the moment they think she finally sees through the version of me they already have in their heads.
“Sounds like you have everything all figured out.”
“That’s me. Chloe Everything All Figured Out Cooper.”
I wait a beat to respond, trying to decide if she’s joking or there's something more to that, but she keeps walking, stretching the space between us.
“I think we should probably go over some rules,” she says.
“Like what?”
“Just basic stuff. No kissing. No touching.”
It’s me who stops in my tracks this time. Chloe turns back to face me, and the now setting sun catches her just right. The sky is no longer that harsh blue overhead, but rather soft and low, washing her heart shaped face in streaks of orange and pink.
I drag my hand over the back of my neck, and lean against the fence, tearing my attention away from how the sunlight is still catching on her hair. “I think convincing people I have a girlfriend will be a battle on its own, but a girlfriend that I don’t touch or kiss? Forget it.”
She worries her bottom lip, irritation flashing across her face. Whether it’s because she knows I’m right or she just hates the thought of being near me, I can’t tell, but she finally rolls her eyes. “Fine. You can put your arm around me or whatever it is you would do as a boyfriend, and kissing…only if it’s mandatory.” She points a finger at me again, and I’ve never wanted to bite someone's finger so bad.
“Got it.” I lean my elbows on the fence behind me. “What else?”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
I watch her step up beside me, fingers curling around the worn wood as she props one foot on the lower rail. “It’s humiliating enough already that you know. I don’t need anyone finding out it’s not real—or that the only way I can get a boyfriend is by tricking someone into pretending.”
“You didn’t trick me,” I say. “ You came up with a solution to a problem that I put us in…” I pause. “Unintentionally.”
She picks at a grain in the wood, eyes not meeting mine. She doesn’t say anything, and for a minute, I think maybe she’s changing her mind about all of it. But then she nods her head once. “Then I think we’re good.”
I can’t tell if I’m relieved or disappointed, and that should be enough to scare the shit out of me. I turn to face her, and she squints up at me. Her face is now fully covered in the golden light, and the pull to press my lips to her is almost unbearable.
“One more rule.” I lower, angling my body until my shadow shields her face from the sun, and I’m close enough to feel the heat between us.
“What’s that?”
“Don’t fall in love with me.”
A smirk tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Don’t hold your breath.”
11
chloe
