"I recognized that guy from one of my classes. It's like he seems to be everywhere I go." He frowned, "it's kinda creepy." I snickered as I filled my ice cup with Blood Orange tea. "What the hell is that?" He asked while pointing at my cup.
I held it up, "this? This is pure heaven in a cup. The best thing they have at Panera." I held it out for him to take. "Try some." Hesitantly, he took it from my hand and drank from the straw. "You're gonna drink from the same straw I do?" I furrowed my eyebrows.
"You know, we're gonna have to start kissing soon," he joked before taking a drink. He swallowed it as the bridge of his nose crinkled. "I don't like it. It's tart."
He's right about the drink being tart, but he's also right about us having to start kissing him soon. What if his parents ask for us to? We can't make it awkward. We have to get used to it now. "It's really good, I don't know what's wrong with your taste buds." I completely ignored his comment about kissing.
It sounded like he did the same. "Citrus is bitter. I don't like bitter." He filled his own cup with ice and Diet Coke. Better than regular Coke but also disgusting.
"Guys!" Brooklyn yelled from a booth by the door. Ethan and I just looked at each other before heading over to her. Mark came back with their food and placed it down in front of Brooklyn on their side of the booth. Ethan and I squeezed into the one across them, obviously he made me sit on the inside.
After a couple minutes, Ethan got up to get our food. Mark leaned in and smiled. "He's such a beaut, isn't he?" Brooklyn also leaned in to wait for my answer.
"Yeah, he's cool." I leaned back, taking a sip from my tea.
"I think he really likes you," Brooklyn smiled. My cheeks tinted a faint red color. "Oh, not like that! Like I'm just saying he's really getting along with you!" She fumbled over her words for a minute before putting her hands on the table and simply saying, "I'll stop talking."
Ethan sat down next to me with our flatbread. "Alright, here we go." He smiled, looking over at me. I just flashed him a smile back like nothing happened and took a slice. It was big, no wonder he asked to share.
"Ethan's gonna meet my dad soon," I said after taking a bite from my pizza. Mark and Brooklyn looked up from their food and looked at both of us, then at each other, then at me.
"Seriously?" Brooklyn said. Brooklyn knew my dad. She knew how crazy protective he was. When he met Brooklyn for the first time, he went all FBI on her and asked her a ton of questions. "Are you sure you want him to meet Ethan?" She asked.
"Well it's either I meet her dad or she can't come to Canada at all." He looked over at me and smiled, "if she and I are gonna be a fake couple, we have to put the work in like a real one." This caused a smile to form on my face. He looked back at Brooklyn, panic now settling in. "Why? Is her dad crazy?"
"Lil bit," she answered. She looked back at me and rambled, "what did you tell your dad? Did you say he was your boyfriend? Did you go into detail? I should've stayed in the room."
I laughed a bit at her concern. She was terrified of him still, and she's been over plenty of times. "Well, I told him Ethan's my boyfriend and that we've been together for a couple months, but we made it serious about a month or two ago."
"That's too soon for me to bring you home with me," Ethan frowned.
"Not really," Mark added. "I took Brooklyn to my Thanksgiving last year after we'd been together for 3 months."
"Yeah, but you're from here. I'm from Canada. That's pretty far from Michigan." Ethan frowned, he had already downed three slices of flatbread. I was still on my second one.
I took a sip from my tea and sighed, "it's fine. We'll come up with something. We'll have dinner with him on the 19th. That gives us 3 days."
"Do you know where we're eating?" He asked, taking his beanie off and fixing his hair before throwing it back on.
"Yard House maybe? Something fancy." My dad is picky about where we ate when we went out to eat. He typically cooked at home, he loves a home cooked meal. Since Ethan lives in a dorm room and I live in the apartment with Brooklyn, it lost us brownie points for an at home meal. Plus, I can't cook.
"Damn," Ethan muttered under his breath.
"Is it too expensive? I can ask him to meet us somewhere else." I offered, looking up at him with concern.
"No, it's fine. Just really fancy." Ethan shook his head. "We really only wear suits when we're at our hockey games."
Mark nodded his head, "It's true."
"I don't think you'll need to suit up, just a nice polo and khakis," I replied. "I'm probably just gonna wear a casual dress and tights."
Ethan nodded his head, "Okay. I can do that."
We finished our meal shortly after that. We stayed a bit longer and talked with Brooklyn and Mark before we headed our separate ways. Brooklyn and I sat in the car, silently listening to her music on the aux.
Brooklyn reached out and turned the volume down, she had a sly grin on her face. "What?" I asked.
"I think he likes you," she glanced at me before continuing. "Like, he likes you."
I rolled my eyes, "Doubt it. The point is to make it look real."
"But for two people who already know it's fake? That sounds like an excuse to me." She smirked, shrugging her shoulders and pulled into her parking spot. "Just saying." She put the car into park and got out of the car.
I followed after her, but I kept what she said engraved in my head all night. Did he really have a crush on me? He seemed a little too on board to be in a fake relationship with me, but so did I. Plus, we're acting. We're not actually a couple, that's the whole point. To make it look real.
Yeah, I thought. We're just making it look real. We're not actually a couple.
🏒| ALL AN ACT
Start from the beginning
