"Hey, mom." I walk into the kitchen dropping my backpack next to the kitchen island on the floor and she smiles up at me from preparing dinner.
"Hey, honey. How was school?" She asks as she gets back to working on dinner.
"It was good. Penelope will be coming over." I tell her. Knowing she'd want to make extra food if she's here.
She beams up at me, "I'll make extra." She turns and opens the fridge, pulling out more items.
"Mom, did you have any other boyfriends before, Dad?" I find the courage to ask. I want to know if I'm making a mistake. I really thought my first relationship and hopefully only would be special. Now I know it won't be the only one and there's nothing special about it.
Her eyes widen a little and chuckles, "Where is this coming from?"
I sit up, on the counter, "There's this boy at school. I just... I just want to know that if it doesn't work out, that I'll be okay."
"You have a boyfriend?" She gasps.
Crap! Too soon!
My eyes widen, "No. But, I think it's getting there." She's going to have to also think of him as my boyfriend if he's going to be taking me to school events.
She frowns and then smiles, "My advice. Just follow what you think is right at the moment. Don't let yourself think about fearing the future too much." Great. That doesn't help my situation. "But to answer your question. Yes, I did have a boyfriend in high school and although I thought I was in love with him, nothing compared to the way I felt about your father when I met him in college."
I smile now. I know all about that story. My dad was shy, much like I am and my mom always brought snacks to class and was persistent about him eating with her. Soon they started hanging out and she won over his heart with food.
There's a knock at the door, but soon after Penelope opens the door and lets herself in. She walks into the kitchen with her mini-12-year-old sister at her side and looks at me curiously.
"Hey, sweetheart. Will you guys be staying for dinner?" My mom asks.
Penelope shakes her head, but CiCi nods, "Yes. I'm starving."
My mom meets Penelope's eyes for confirmation and Penelope gives her a small smile. "Sure. Thank you, Mrs. Romano."
"C'mon." I get off the counter and have them follow me to my room. I shut the door and put music on for background noise. I don't want my mom to hear this.
"Spill the tea." Penelope throws her bag on the floor on my bed, CiCi throws herself on my pink bean bag and takes out her phone, swiping away at her screen.
"It's fake." I plop down on my bed and Penelope sits at the end of it. I think I've caught CiCi's attention because she's dropped her phone and now her eyes are on me too.
I tell her all about how he approached me in the library. I'm not sure why he wouldn't tell Austin, but I tell her that's why I didn't tell her then.
She takes a deep breath and frowns, "You're going to get hurt Liv. You're not the type of girl he thinks you are."
CiCi scoffs, "Of course you're going to get hurt. It's a recipe for disaster. You're a big softy and you're going to cry when he finally runs into this girl Zoey's arms. And you're also not a pretty crier."
"CiCi!" Penelope frowns at her, throwing a pillow at her head. "That was mean. You wouldn't know anything about being heartbroken."
CiCi sits up on the bean bag and smiles widely now, "And you do? Ms. Talk-To-Austin-All-Night-Til-They-Fall-Asleep." CiCi sarcastically cups her hands against her chest as if she thinks it's cute and my eyes widen.
"You talk to Austin all night?" I'm very curious now.
Forget about my fake relationship! This is real!
Her cheeks turn a bright crimson, "Well we texted all night the night of the party. The last two nights, he's called me."
I wave my hand in front of me, making her continue. God, I'm going to die from her lack of information.
She sighs heavily, "He said he didn't want to text all night again. He didn't like waiting for me to respond. It's easier to talk and he wanted to hear my voice again. He didn't feel like he got to listen to it properly at the party."
I grin, but frown a little, "Are you guys...?"
She shakes her head, "He's sweet and he says little things here and there that make me think he's into me. But, really we just talk about ourselves. I think once we get to know each other more, he'll stop being so interested in me."
I think Austin is shooting his shot.
CiCi smiles as she raises her eyebrows and says what I was just thinking, "Okayyyy. Go Austin. Shooting his shot with my sister."
I chuckle and shake my head, "What did he want to show you during lunch?"
Her cheeks flush a little and looks at CiCi before meeting my eyes again, "Some of his shoes from his shoe collection. Since I questioned him about it at the party. I teased him that he didn't have proof."
I nod. I think I remember that now.
CiCi smiles, "Penelope's totally in love with Austin if he showed her his shoes. I wish I get to see how hot he is."
We throw the rest of the pillows on my bed at her as we laugh.
*
The next morning Cam sends me a text message saying he's going to be late for school, but I don't reply. I don't know how to respond to that. We're not actually dating so why would I need to know.
Most of my morning is kind of weird, people that I don't know are saying hi to me. Which is weird because even after I became a cheerleader and friends with Natalie, I didn't get this much attention. A guy actually winked at me while I passed him to go to my next class. Others are glaring at me. Others, meaning, girls! I've seen girls fight over their boyfriends before. I don't want to fight over my fake boyfriend.
The bell rings for lunch I get up quickly from my seat. I walk out and try to keep my head down while walking to my locker. I open it right when Natalie comes to stand next to me.
"How'd you get so lucky?" She says as she leans on the locker next to mine.
I frown, "What do you mean?"
She grins, "Cam! The whole school is talking about you guys!"
Why is she so loud? I look around and see she's caught a little attention, but they soon turn away minding their business.
I open my mouth to respond but close it right away. I don't know how to answer that. He forced me into this fake relationship?
Then I feel a pair of arms wrap around me from behind and Cam chuckles in my ear before kissing my cheek. I can swoon right about now.
"Sorry, I was late. I'm here now." He says it so close to my ear and I shiver in his arms. Could I embarrass myself some more?
Natalie sighs contently and smiles as she meets my eyes and I actually feel my heart crack a tiny bit. If only this was real. I slowly break out of his arms and grab the next books I'm going to need after lunch, for my next class.
"Don't worry about it." I shut the locker and he takes the books I'm holding. I frown, "I can carry my own books, Cam."
"Not with me as your boyfriend." He grins showing his perfectly straight teeth. I have to look away. This almost feels real. I'm getting hurt way too soon. I thought I'd get to enjoy this pretending more.
He walks ahead of me towards the cafeteria with my books in his hands. Natalie links her arm with mine and she sighs contently again.
Penelope smiles as she walks up to us and Natalie squeals, making my right ear bleed, "Hey, Penelope did you know who your best friend is dating?"
Penelope gives her a tight-lipped smile, "Yeah. So cute, right?"
"Yes. Oh my! He is to die for." She gushes and Penelope gives her a weird look.
"Why didn't you date him then?" Penelope asks and my eyes widen. I want the ground to swallow me whole.
She pouts, "I'm not a dating type of girl, but if I was. I wouldn't have gotten the chance with Zoey always around. And another thing to note is that if I was to date, it'd be with Zach." She smiles now as her eyes sparkle.
There goes that name again. Who the hell is Zoey? We walk into the cafeteria and thank god Cam is already standing in line. Natalie says she's going to go sit with her friends, who seem to glare at me. We go stand in line with Cam and the line moves quickly, but I can feel all eyes on us. We quickly get our slices of pizza and go outside again. I follow Cam to the same spot we sat in yesterday. Just as we sit outside Austin and Cam's other friend walk over to us.
"Hey, guys. Penny. Looking cute as always." Austin sits down next to her and I look at her attire. It's somewhat similar to what she wore to the party.
Cam's other friend sits next to me and smiles, "I don't believe we've met." His brown eyes sparkle.
Cam wraps his arm around my shoulder, "Vince, this is my girlfriend, Olivia. Livy, this is my idiot friend, Vince."
Livy.
My heart fluttered. Something about the way he says it.
Vince smirks and nods at me, "So you go by Livy?"
I open my mouth to answer, but Cam just pulls me in closer causing me to lean on him. He smells amazing.
"No. It's Olivia to you."
Vince chuckles, "Territorial much? Fine. Olivia. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
He smiles, "Wow he let you talk this time."
I chuckle and nod, but Cam kisses my cheek and my heart flutters again. I push away from him a little and grab my slice of pizza and look up to see Penelope's frown. She knows I can't do this for long.
"Anyway. I'm leaving early I just wanted to see who everyone seems to be talking about." He gets up and I look up at him.
"Maybe next time we can get to talk more." I smile, he seems nice. I want to know Cam's close friends.
He grins, but Cam glares at him as he wraps his arm around my shoulder again. "Yeah. With me there."
Vince laughs shaking his head, "Yup. With you there. Got it, dude." He walks away with his hands in his pockets.
"We're going to go to the library." Austin gets up and picks up Penelope's plate with her slice of pizza.
She frowns, "We are?"
His eyes widen a little and he nods, "Yeah, we are. Remember, I need to... uh... find that book."
Her eyes widen a little too now, spiking my curiosity, "Oh! Right! Yeah." She turns to me with an apologetic smile, "See you after school?"
I nod, "I have practice after school so I'll just go to your house after."
"Cool." She smiles and I watch her leave with Austin and she punches his arm and says something to him and he just laughs.
I look at Cam who's done with his pizza now, "Is there something happening with them?"
He shrugs, "Probably."
Hmm? Probably, is right.
I look at him as he pulls out his phone, "How does everyone know we're together now?"
His head snaps to me and frowns, "Uh... Zoey posted a video on Snapchat last night. She was out drunk with some guys and announced she can fuck whoever she wants because the guy she wants is with Olivia. They all know she wants me... Uh... It's why I was late today. I went over to her house this morning and made sure she was okay."
I frown and despite all my questions, I ask, "Is she okay?"
He sighs, "Yeah."
I look away now. I look down at my pizza. Does everyone in this school know this girl Zoey? And they all know about him and Zoey? Did he go over to her house today? To talk to her? I really should put a stop to this. I'm being stupid letting this go on just because he says nice things to me that make my heart flutter.
He breaks me out of my thoughts when he cups my face. His intense blue eyes search mine and he places his forehead on mine. His lips are so close. I gulp, can I let this happen? His thumb brushes my cheek, making the ache in my heart long for him.
"What are you doing?" I whisper, scared it'll make him realize what he's actually doing.
"Thomas is looking. I'm about to kiss you." He says as his eyes cast down to my lips.
I lean back a little and frown as I meet his eyes. I'm so stupid thinking he actually wanted to kiss me.
"We can't and I also don't want us to be touching so much." My voice comes out so low, I'm scared he'll see right through me. He'll see that I actually find him attractive and like the way he treats me as his girlfriend even though we know nothing of each other.
He frowns and actually looks annoyed now, "How are we suppose to get him to back off then? Holding hands?"
"Uh... yeah." That's not a bad idea. It'll still work.
He backs away completely and groans, "Why?"
I frown, this is a fake relationship. He shouldn't be getting this upset over PDA. Surely, kissing has to be special at a certain point for him too.
"Because I don't just kiss anyone. Kissing should be special. I should feel special when someone kisses me. As for the touching, I just don't want things to get too comfortable."
His face softens, "I'm sorry. Fine, no kissing. But, can I at least touch you or hold you whenever Thomas or Zoey is around?"
Against knowing what I know what's best I find myself nodding. He agreed to take my rule of no kissing after explaining I wanted it to be special. The least I can do is make this easier on him.
I really hope I don't get in too deep with him. He's charming and cute, but my heart is on the line here. This is just a game to him and fake boyfriend or not. He's my first boyfriend.