Secret Rulebook of Cheating

Rule #24: He's no Boyfriend Material

'School.'

'Food.'

Jason and I spoke in unison and shared a look the second we realized our mistake.

'The food in the school cafeterias,' Jason hurried to glaze it over. 'Imagine if they served sushi!'

No one had the time to comment because the waiter appeared, in his way too formal uniform, and gave each of us a menu.

'Excuse me, where's the ladies room?' I asked as he handed me mine.

'Go left at the bar and you'll see it at the end of the hall,' the man instructed.

Perfect. No direct view from our table.

'Thank you. I'll be right back,' I announced to my friends as I pushed my chair back.

'Wait. I'll come with,' Sylvia chimed in and I stopped short. Damn. Why did we girls always have to go to the bathroom in pairs! I gave Jason an apologetic look and took off with Sylvia.

Since I didn't really need to use the toilet, I glued myself to the super-sized mirror above the sinks and started rummaging through my bag in search of some make-up. Sylvia didn't seem to have the need to go either. Hell, why did she come? She mirrored my actions and pulled her lip-gloss out of her purse.

Now, the next thing came as a total shock.

'You know, you and Jason look cute together,' she said casually as she unscrewed the pink cap of the tube in her hands.

What?

'We're not,' I shot back. Crap. That was too fast. Just breathe, Nikki. 'Together, I mean,' I added, aiming for nonchalant, and pulled out the first thing my fingers reached at the bottom of my bag. It was my mascara.

'I know you're not. I'm just saying.' She touched the brush to her lower lip and started spreading a layer of gloss on. I breathed in quietly, to regain myself from her unexpected comment and went on pretend-fixing my look, as if this unforeseen topic of our girl talk wasn't disconcerting at all. 'If you weren't with Brandon...,' Sylvia kept going, 'He's a very good looking guy. Quite the catch.'

Where was she going with that? Had she noticed anything? Why the sudden trip to Hypothetical Land? Anyhow, I had to hit reverse.

'Yeah, and he changes girls like underwear,' I reminded us both. I didn't need her to put even more ideas in my head. I mean, okay, he was super hot and okay, maybe even funny but his 'catch' characteristics ended there. Jason was no boyfriend material.

'Hm. True,' Sylvia agreed. 'Maybe he hasn't found the right one yet.'

Right! Those clichés were only true in the movies. 'Yeah, I don't think so. I can't imagine a world in which Jason Cool would stick to one girl.'

Not even me. Uh, why was I even thinking about it? Sylvia was messing with my head.

'I don't know. Maybe there's more to him than he lets people see.'

I couldn't help but ponder on that. I mean yeah, Jason was a total jerk almost all the time, but there were these glimpses of another side of him. Like when he stood up for me before our swimming lesson or when he didn't give me a hard time when I 'broke up' with him after our first night here and totally respected my decision. And all the other rules I'd set, no matter how ridiculous they may have seen to him. Or how he kept this thing that was going on between us a secret, even when his reputation was at stake. Maybe, Sylvia wasn't completely wrong. Maybe...

Stop it, Nicole! You don't really want to go there.

I shook my head mentally. 'Enough about Jason. You and Dan seem tight.'

Yep, a change of subject always did the trick. Her gaze turned dreamy. For a second there, I thought her pupils had shifted into heart-shapes.

'God, I'm so happy when he's around. I wish we could stay here longer.'

'Have you guys talked about fixing your living situation?' I inquired as I switched the mascara for my own gloss and took my turn to spread some on my lips. The more we talked about her and Dan, the less we talked about me and Jason.

Her features dropped a little. 'No. I don't want to be the one to say anything first. I don't want him to feel pressured into doing something he's not ready for.'

'Maybe he's thinking the same thing about you. Someone needs to make the first step, you know.' Boy, it was so easy to give other couples advice for their relationships. Why was it so confusing when it came to mine?

Sylvia took her time to consider my words. I recognized the hopeful boost in her voice when she responded, 'You're right. Maybe I'll say something.'

'That's the spirit,' I encouraged.

'Thanks, Nikki!'