Page 34 of The Stand-In Boyfriend

I suck in a breath, warmth spreading through my body as my heartbeat kicks up a notch.

Calm down, Jessy. It’s nothing, he’s just playing his part. Like you should play yours.

If only it were that easy. I still remembered our almost kiss from the other night at the drive-in theater. The way we were squeezed together in the small space of his car. How I could feel his warm breath touch mine. His big palms enveloping my much smaller ones.

I’d have let him do it; I’d have let him kiss me if his friend hadn’t stopped our mouths from touching with his sudden barging in.

“You’re not even listening to me!” Evie says, snapping me out of my Noah-induced haze.

“What?” I jump a little in surprise.

“Earth to Jessy, where are you at?!”

I straighten the page that I stopped reading at and offer her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I got lost in thought for a bit.”

Evie tips her chin toward the desk where the boys sit, a Cheshire cat smile curling her lips. “More like lost in Noah,” she sing-songs playfully. “How is that going, anyway?”

“Eh… It’s going?”

I’m seriously not sure what to tell her. We’ve been officially fake dating for about a week now, and nobody has questioned anything just yet, so I guess that means we’re good?

Just then the door to the library bursts open, which makes the frown on our school librarian deepen even more than usual, and Lisa storms in, her perfect curls bouncing off her shoulders as she walks, eyes scanning the space. Until they land on me.

“Jessy! There you are.”

Evie and I exchange a confused look, but don’t get a chance to comment.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“Me?” I point a finger at my chest so there is no confusion.

“Yes you, silly.” She rolls her eyes and laughs. Not sure at what, but she does. “Anyhow, I talked to Miss Lopez and she agreed that since we have a free period we can use it to get a head start on decorating and I figured you’d like to help.”

“Umm…” Lisa taps her foot on the floor impatiently. “Sure?”

In all honesty, I was hoping to spend the free period catching up on some reading and spending time with Evie, but if decorating now gets me home faster later, why the hell not?

“Awesome!”

“Sorry Eves…” I turn to apologize but she’s already packing her things.

“I can help too,” she offers, not leaving room for us to argue with her. Not that I would. I’m not sure who all is helping with this, but I know I’ll always want Evie in my corner.

Lisa doesn’t look happy, but thankfully doesn’t comment. We quickly grab our things and start toward the door. Other students in the library are giving us a mixture of curious and irritated gazes, and I’m so ready to be out of here.

“Hey, is that Noah?”

“Yup.” I don’t turn around to look at him. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Why don’t you ask him to help us?”

I push a strand of hair behind my ear. “Oh, I’m sure he has way better things to do…”

“Who does?”

For the second time in minutes, I’m startled. I turn on my heels only to find Noah and his friend standing right behind me. His brow is quirked in question, that half-smile of his tipping his lips.

“What?”

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