B A D
B O Y ' S
G A M E
"Grey, wake up."
No thanks.
I keep my eyes shut and begin to roll myself over as an attempt to escape my alarm, Archer. I open my eyes to see Archer sitting next to me, his eyes are gazing at me but not with adoration. Instead, his eyes stare at me with annoyance.
"It's ten forty, come on. We're supposed to meet up with Zac and Arden in less than twenty minutes," he says to me as if that would convince me to get out of bed.
I groan, covering my face with one of my pillows. I almost forgot that Archer and I had arranged to have lunch with Zac and Arden today. If Archer wasn't here I certainly would have slept through the day, I could never get enough sleep.
Archer had come over to my house at ten to pick me up, however, when he arrived I went straight back to bed after opening the door for him.
"El, come on," he states in a serious tone.
I begin to sit up and I lean my head against his shoulder, he places an arm around me. I close my eyes, ready to drift off once again.
"Hey, El," Archer begins to say, pausing for a moment, "I love-"
I open my eyes, giving him my undivided attention.
He looks at me and chuckles, finishing his sentence, "food so can you please get ready for our lunch with Zac and Arden."
I remove his arm from me and get up, knowing that Archer set me up for disappointment. He wasn't planning to say the three words but he knew that I would immediately become alert if it seemed like he was going to.
"You're the worst," I state, my words followed by a yawn.
He chuckles once more before replying, "El, I'm not going to say the words when I can't kiss you after saying them."
I give him a confused look. "Why can't you kiss me right now?"
"Morning breath isn't my thing," he confesses, causing me to roll my eyes.
I take his right hand and escort him out into the living room. I only have fifteen minutes to get ready and Archer was only acting as a distraction, therefore, he had to go. In addition, I have to shower and get dressed, that's something that has to be done without Archer.
After I tell Archer to wait for me in the living room, I put on the infamous Kidz Bop CD that Archer got me and I get into the shower.
It's absolutely horrid but perfectly horrid.
It's fifteen minutes of listening to auto-tuned teenagers while I get myself ready for the day. I end up wearing a white blouse, high-waisted skinny jeans, and flats.
Casual, cute, and comfy. The three necessary C's in my life.
After I grab my bag I walk out into the living room to see Archer on his phone. I quietly walk towards him, wanting to surprise him. He's sitting on the couch with his back facing me, it seems like an easy task because he's evidently invested in whatever he's looking at on his phone. Before I can startle him he turns around to face me.
"Trying to startle me?" he asks.
I sigh and reply, "do you always have to ruin my fun?"
He nods and gives me a smile.
We leave my house shortly after our small exchange, we take my car but Archer insists on driving. I turn on the radio and text Arden that we're on our way.
"You got a haircut, it looks nice," I state, finally awake enough to notice.
He nods and replies, "I know."
His response only confirmed that his egotistic comments would continue to be present.
"We're meeting Zac and Arden at the burger place across the street from school," I inform him, unsure if Zac had told him.
"I know," he replies once again.
"Zac likes Arden," I say, even though Zac didn't exactly tell me that he does.
Zac does like Arden though. You can tell that Zac likes Arden by the way he looks at her. He looks at her as if she's the most beautiful girl in the world and his eyes gaze at her with adoration.
"I know," Archer replies for the third time.
I roll my eyes at his latest robotic response.
Archer could be such a pain at times, it's as if he enjoys annoying me.
"I like you so much," I say with a hint of sarcasm, expecting for him to reply with his new favorite line.
However, instead of another 'I know,' he says something in its place.
"I like you so much, too."
* * *
"We're dating," I announce to Arden and Zac, the two of them sitting opposite of Archer and me at the burger restaurant.
We had only arrived approximately three minutes ago but Archer and I decided that it would be best to tell our best friends now.
Arden looks at us with a confused look and she raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, you two have been dating for nearly three months."
In contrast to Arden's apparent confusion, Zac's face displays a smirk that fails to fade when he decides to reply to me, "I was right about the whole fake dating thing then?"
"Fake dating?" Arden questions, looking more confused than ever.
I felt bad for Arden and I felt even worse for just now telling her the truth.
"Yeah, Archer and I weren't actually together before this week. We have been fake dating up until now for the sake of bothering Ryder. At the start of it all, we hardly knew each other and we didn't expect anything to happen as a result of us fake dating. However, after feigning romantic feelings for awhile the feelings became real and here we are now," I explain, hoping that Arden won't be too upset at the fact that I hadn't told her.
She exhales a large breath before asking, "so basically it's been three months of meaningless kisses and now you two are for real dating?"
Both Archer and I nod.
"Wow, this officially means that we're those best friends who date guys that are best friends," Arden states matter-of-factly.
My eyes widen a bit, did she just confirm that she's dating Zac?
"Arden and I are dating by the way," Zac chimes in.
I smile at the statement, happy to know that Zac and Arden were official.
Arden and Zac are seemingly perfect for one another, their personalities surely complement each other. I'm glad that Arden has finally found a guy that is worth her time and I'm relieved to know that Zac has someone to hang out with rather than Archer. I don't think that I can handle Zac interrupting anymore of Archer and I's kisses.
Our waitress drops off the drinks we had ordered minutes before.
"How long have you two been dating?" I ask, genuinely curious.
Zac and Arden glance at one another for a moment before one of them decides to answer my question.
"Three weeks," Zac ends up saying.
Three weeks? They've been dating for three whole weeks and I didn't know or notice?
"That long? Damn," Archer replies.
"Hey, I wasn't going to deny the spark between Arden and I. I'm not you and Ellie for the past three months," Zac states, poking fun at Archer and I.
It's then that I remember the guy Arden went to the Sadie Hawkin's dance with. I thought that she hit it off with her date, Carson, that night. They seemed to get along well at the dance and he seemed like the perfect gentleman.
"Whatever happened to Carson?" I ask Arden.
Zac raises an eyebrow at the name. I guess that Zac didn't know about Carson, his expression definitely supports my conclusion.
"Our spark only existed for one night, there was a lack of a connection between us. I realized that chemistry is important for a relationship and it's something that you can't force. Carson and I didn't have longlasting chemistry, it was only temporary," she explains, just to be cut off before she can continue.
"And then she met me and got all the chemistry she could ever need," Zac says.
I laugh at Zac's statement, knowing that the two of them definitely work well together. Zac and Arden evidently balance one another out, they just seem to work well together. I can't imagine that their relationship will ever become dull, they're two of the liveliest people that I know.
They work well together like how Archer and I work well together. Archer and I have much more than just chemistry, I feel much more than just a connection.
Perhaps what I feel is a four-letter word.