pretend

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we all knew this was coming in at one point or another. i'm running out of ideas

katie:
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked, my face scrunching up in confusion to what Dylan said.

"Do you want to go out with me?" He repeated, a smile on his face as if I wasn't about to have a panic attack.

"Like...as friends?" I really hoped he meant as friends. I was praying he meant as friends. Or maybe he would see that I did not want to go out with him and he would tell me it was nothing and that he changed his mind. I would rather it be awkward with us as friends than having to tell him no.

Which I would do if he asked me to. Don't get me wrong, he was a really nice guy. He was in Travis and mine's Botany class, and would help me when I wanted to actually finish our lab and not screw around like Travis.

Speaking of, where was he?

I glanced around the area of the woods that our group had been walking around. Our class was having a field trip to help with our lab, and each groups had to go out and bring back a bunch of plants, weeds, moss, etc. Travis, Dylan, and I were already almost done with everything, but Travis had gone off around 2 minutes ago to try and find one specific type of moss.

Normally, this project would have been something I really enjoyed. For one, my mom was Demeter, and two, Travis and I agreed that if we got everything done as fast as possible we could sneak off from the class and go to the snack bar.

Travis, Connor, and I were all at the same mortal high school. Me and Travis were finishing our senior year, while Connor was a junior. The school was in New Jersey, and actually only a few miles from the Stolls mom. They were living with her, and since I was 18, I was renting an apartment. We spent most days together and by now they were probably my best friends.

Which did not help the fact that I had a crush on Travis.

"No, not as friends." Dylan said with a laugh, forcing my attention back to him. "As a date."

Why was he doing this? We were friends, that's it. I didn't flirt with him, and he never flirted with me. Why is he suddenly asking me to go on a date with him?

"Um, well I can't. Go on a date." I stammered, looking down at my hands.

"Why not?" Dylan asked, now looking just as confused as I had been.

My mind went blank. I desperately tried thinking of excuses but all of them ended badly. I also sucked at lying. Like, Travis and Connor regularly made fun of me for it.

"Guys! I think I found it!" I heard Travis yell, followed by footsteps that slowly started getting louder. An idea popped into my head, and I hated myself for even considering it.

I hated myself even more when I decided to go along with it.

"I can't go on a date with you because I'm dating Travis." I stated, looking him dead in the eye. I remembered when Travis tried to teach my how to lie. He told me I couldn't put an emphasis on some words, I had to keep eye contact with the person, and to not fidget like I normally do.

"Hey Katie, is this it?" I heard Travis ask as he walked over to us. Dylan stood with a confused expression and I was completely serious. Travis seemed to notice all of this as he let out a short laugh.

"So, what are we talking about?" He said as he came up to stand next to me.

Do it. Just do it. You already this far into it.

Before I could overthink it, I slid one arm around Travis' waist. I could feel him stiffen underneath me, so I quickly said, "I was just telling Dylan how we're dating."

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