“Ryan is still texting you even after I sent Rory and Finn over there?” Adley asks and I recall the way the pussy boy wouldn’t even open his door as we stood on his porch. Ryan never deserved Sophie, the guy is and will always be a cheating prick.
“Yeah,” she huffs, “wait what? Finn went too?” Sophie gasps in surprise and a smile tugs at the corner of my mouth.
“Long story.” Adley waves her off.
“I think you should let me tow his car and drop it into the Hudson Lake,” Kendall adds with an evil grin. “But I will make sure he’s in it when I hook it up.” I’ll admit Kendall has a scary side I don’t ever want to be on the opposite end of.
“Nice.” Jillian fist bumps her.
“Maybe if you start dating someone else he’ll get the hint,” one of the girls tells Sophie and I shift my attention back to her to gauge her response.
“I don’t want to date someone else,” she whines. “Dating means getting all dressed up to go out and fawn all over some guy that isn’t worth it.”
“You fawn over him?” Adley asks with her nose all scrunched up. “Honey I think you’ve been dating all the wrong guys.”
“I agree,” I say without a second thought and every single one of the ladies all spin around to find Marshall Bennett and myself. Not meaning to, but unable to control it, I scowl with my own annoyance. ““Maybe you need to be a little pickier with the guys you give a chance to.”
I don’t mean to come across as an asshole, but the idea of getting wrapped up with another man like her ex pisses me off. Sophie is too nice, assholes pick up on that.
“Or maybe the guys around here need to be less prickish and a lot more manly,” she counters back and squares her shoulders, staring back at me with a newfound determination in her eyes. A little sass I must say looks damn good on her.
“Maybe we should date,” I say, holding her stare. I notice the way her throat bobs as she swallows hard before worrying her lower lip.
“Excuse me?” Sophie’s voice rises a few decibels.
“I said maybe we should date,” I repeat. “I think the problem is you haven’t dated a guy that knows how to treat a lady. So like I said, you need to go out with someone other than thedouchebags you’ve been dating. Learn what it’s like to have a real man at your side.”
A big part of me is questioning what in the hell I’m offering. I barely have time to breathe on most days with the store and helping my parents. I didn’t have time to date.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Sophie adds with a nervous laugh. Immediately my worries of time disappear as I accept the challenge she is presenting me without truly meaning to. I don’t back down easily.
“Why not?” Adley interrupts, not giving Sophie too much time to back her way out of this. “You said you want to get Ryan off your back and what better way than to have someone you trust at your side. The two of you show up together, give off the vibe that you are in a relationship, and he’ll run scared. Seriously the guy wouldn’t even open the door when Rory and Finn showed up at his place. He gets wind of the two of you together and he’ll go into hiding.”
“But we aren’t together,” Sophie says very sternly, but I hear the shaky way her voice trembles from nervous energy.
“No, we aren’t,” I agree, regaining her attention, “but that asshole doesn’t need to know that. No one does.”
“This is a bad idea,” Sophie whispers and I smile, offering her a shrug.
“Most exciting things in life are.” I stare at her refusing to look away. “Who knows Soph, you and I could end up having the best time together.”
CHAPTER TWO
Sophie
My heart is racing.I know all eyes are on me and the silence of the room is deafening. I swear I hear my own blood swooshing in my ears, and my hands are trembling. I hate being on display.
Finn holds my stare and all I want to do is hide. I’ve never understood him, he is always so quiet and mysterious, like a broody grump, lost in his own head. Okay, so he intrigues me. I always find myself wondering what’s going on in his head. He is a puzzle, and I love solving puzzles. But dating? We can’t date, or pretend to date, whatever you want to refer to it as. We can’t do it!
“So we go out a few times, let people see us together, we go to the places that we know he’ll be. It’s harmless.” Finn shrugs nonchalantly and I am still reeling from the bomb that’s been dropped at my feet. “Hell most of the time we are in the same places anyway. A little hand holding, a hug, maybe a kiss or two.”
“No kissing,” I interrupt him and he chuckles.
This can’t be happening. I’m dreaming, or having a nightmare. That’s it, it’s like that horrific dream you have at least once of being naked in a room of people gawking and laughing.
“What’s wrong Soph, are you scared you’ll like it?” The corner of Finn’s mouth tips up in a smile. I think it’s the first actual time I’ve seen Finn smile. He is almost playful and it surprises me.
“No,” I challenge him crossing my arms over my chest, attempting confidence, but even I sense my hesitation. “Kissing is too intimate and shouldn’t be shared by two people that are pretending to date.”
