What If I Lived a Lie? [You Me at Six]

Chapter Five: No Smoke without a Fire.

Lunch was going peacefully, uneventfully, even, besides the awkward not quite affection between Josh and Olivia. Hunter was even managing to avoid looking at Matt or Dan, the entire time. That was, however, until Matt nearly chased her down as she was leaving the restaurant for a moment, she was in desperate need of fresh air, and everyone else was still eating.

He grasped her wrist and yanked her around so that she was facing him, “Hunter.”

“Matthew.”

“What, are you Dan now?”

“At least he wouldn’t have stood me up.”

“And you know this for sure?”

“Fuck you, Matt Barnes,” Hunted seethed, her face red-hot with anger, hands balled into fists at his sides.

“What’s going on here?” Olivia questioned, stepping between Hunter and Matt, the two glowering at each other some several feet away from the entrance, “I just came to check on Hunter, and—”

“Stay out of this, Olivia,” the pair said in unison, then promptly groaned at the occurrence—also in unison.

“Well then.”

The other girl arched an eyebrow before shrugging a shoulder, spinning on her heels and heading back into the restaurant; she could tell when she was unneeded. When she relayed the news to the table, no one said anything. Then again, they hadn’t had the chance to, because Dan was up out of his seat and striding toward the door before she could even punctuate her sentence.

All Dan could think to himself was, how dare he? He remembered the night that Matt stood Hunter up with such poignant clarity, it was like he’d been there himself. The thought enraged him. As he drew closer to the exit to the restaurant, he could hear more shouting.

“Asshole!”

“Oh, please, that’s why you were so quick to go on a date with me, right?”

“That was before I knew what you were really like; but trust me, honey, I won’t ever make the mistake of thinking you actually aren’t a fucking shithead,ever again.”

“Suck my dick.”

Just as Dan finally came into view of the mismatched pair, Hunter had wound back and clocked him squarely in the jaw.  As his band mate began to swear and hold his face, Dan didn’t intervene to see if he was okay; instead, his eyes were on Hunter. He knew she was tough, but he didn’t realize she was tough enough to punch Matt—he’s a rather tall guy, though, admittedly he looks more goofy than intimidating, even including his stature.

“Did you fuckin’ see that?!” Matt exclaimed as he strode up to the drummer, his hands shifting between making wild gestures and clutching at his face, “We were having a row, sure, but then she just flew off the handle and punched me.”

After a moment or two, Dan allowed a grin to tug at his lips then simply responded, “Y’deserved it.”

Matt scoffed and made his way back into the restaurant, ignoring the sideways glances from people on the street, leaving Hunter and Dan alone.

“For the record,” Dan started, “I did warn you about him.”

Hunter playfully shoved at Dan’s chest, her gaze lifting from her feet to his face, laughing—a little, despite the tears on her face, “You told me he was not charming, not that he’s a cunt!”

“Admittedly, I had no idea he was that bad,” Dan couldn’t help but laugh along in unison with her. The way her eyes sparkled, as her tears dried, was damn near… magical; it made him feel warm and alive inside, like being electrocuted.

Dan was—and most likely always will be—the “serious one.” It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to let go, or have fun, but he was oftentimes more reserved than his band mates, and he was okay with that. He’d kept a safe distance from everyone, not far enough that they could really tell, but not close enough that they could hurt him deeply. He liked it that way, it was safe that way. But, Hunter… She made him want to throw all of that out the window. She made him feel like the parts of him that remained private and frozen to the rest of the world would be safe to unthaw and show her. It was almost as if he wanted to open up his chest and show her his heart, it was the only way he could genuinely explain what she did to him—yet all she’d done was smile at him, through her tears. In the short amount of time they’d spent together when they first met and the minimal texting they’d done in between, he was sure he was developing a crush on her. He’d kept it to himself, because he knew how she felt about Matt. But now that he’d seen how well that panned out… He was ready to tell her, right now, he decided.

He looked to her, lips parted to speak, palms sweaty, heart pounding, and all he could manage was, “Hunter.”

“Yeah?” she sniffed, her deep, gorgeous brown eyes now set on him.

“Well,” he started, taking a brief pause to clear his throat. Well, now, he just felt… nervous, lacking in confidence, but he continued, “I just wanted to say,” he chewed at the inside of his cheek for a moment, before finally chickening out, “that it’ll all be okay and Matt’s an arse.”

So much for telling her how I feel, he thought. Unaware of what he originally intended to say, she looped her arms around his frame, pulling him close to her side in a tight embrace, the ‘thank you’ she mumbled muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

He wondered if she could hear his heart pounding.

***

When Dan rose from the table and left, Olivia huffed, retook her seat and folded her arms over her chest; her best friend had never dismissed her that way. She knew that she shouldn’t take it personally but, did, for some reason. The nagging, honest voice in the back of her head said that she was jealous, jealous that Dan was going to come to her defense, without a second thought, while Josh couldn’t be any less interested in her. Less than two hours ago, he was making out with her, pushing her back against the counter, hands roaming her body, and now, he didn’t dare look at her anymore. At least, earlier, he was holding her hand... kind of. Now, he just didn't even bother. The rational part of her told her that she should be happy for her best friend and stop being a brat, but she just couldn’t help it.

She hadn’t noticed she was scowling until Oliver spoke up, “What’s wrong, ‘Livy?”

Immediately, Josh’s crystal blue eyes were on her, awaiting her response—well, that got his attention, didn’t it?

“It’s nothing I really want to talk about, Oli, I’m sorry,” she responded, not allowing any emotion to creep into her voice. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Josh’s lips twitch into a frown.

“Are you su—” Oliver had started, before he was cut off by Josh.

“Olivia, I need to see you. Somewhere that is not here.”

What was he up to and what could it possibly have to do with her? He obviously regretted kissing her, and should only have the decency not to ask anything more of her. The two of them could forget the kiss ever happened and just get on with their lives. However, she reasoned, whatever it was that he wanted was definitely something worth finding out—call it curiosity.

“Outside?”

“No, Hunter and Dan and Matt are there.”

“How about we just end it here, eh?” Oliver suggested, his tone flat.

“Great, see you later, Oli,” Josh said, standing up. He reached into his back pocket and pulled a few bills from his wallet, tossing them onto the table. Nearly seconds later, he was reaching out and grabbing Olivia’s arm, tugging her out of the restaurant with him.

“Josh, what is it that you want?”

“I, um… I need a favor, and it’s gonna sound awful and stuff, but…”

“What is it?” she asked, mentally letting out a long sigh as she shoved her hands into her back pockets.

“It’s… a deal, of sorts.”

“Just spit it out, Josh.”

“I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend.”