Page 24 of Fake It Till You Break It
“Well, I guess the whole rich guy and poor girl trope won’t work. Neither will the opposing families trope.” Aly chewed on her lower lip. “You guys are like the opposite of that one.”
I racked my brain to think of the other various reasons why couples broke up in the dramas. “No medical conditions, either. No one’s getting cancer or amnesia.”
“And you’re not forced to move away from each other. Either for school or supernatural intergalactic reasons.”
My hand patted my chest, and I pretended to swoon back on Aly’s shoulder. “That reminds me, we should really rewatchMy Love from the Staragain. I need another dose of Kim Soo-hyun to survive.”
She nodded. “We should. I miss his alien hotness.”
Jake shot horrified looks at the both of us. “Seriously, why do you guys watch these things again? They sound ridiculous.”
“It may sound ridiculous, but that doesn’t mean it’s not also amazing.” Crumbling up the empty Cheetos bag, I sat upright and turned to face him. “Well, how do you think we should break up?”
“I don’t know. A huge fight? Basically show why we never should have gotten together in the first place.”
Aly looked pensive as she twirled a strand of hair between her fingers. “The whole opposites don’t always attract. It’s simple, but it could work. Maybe we could work in a past first-love angle, too. Who was your first crush, Jake?”
He shifted back and forth in his seat. “How am I supposed to remember that?”
I didn’t say anything. Nor did I look at Jake or Aly. I just kept looking straight ahead at the sophomore guys tossing a football back and forth and prayed that Aly wouldn’t ask me.
Jake may not remember his first crush, but I definitely did. And it was awkward because he was sitting right next to me.
I didn’t even remember exactly when or how I started liking him. It was before we turned seven because we were still friends. I think maybe even that summer before second grade.I would wait around all morning for Mrs. Adler to bring him over. Not just to have someone to play video games with and eat Cup Noodles for lunch, but because I liked seeing him. Hanging out with him.
It didn’t last too long, though. Not after we realized the reason our moms kept pushing us together. That was like tossing a pail of water on my burning crush. But he was still my first crush.
“I think Jake is right. We could just have a huge blowout over everything that annoys us about each other,” I said, changing the subject before Aly could ask me about my crush. “That would probably be the most realistic plan anyway.”
She looked disappointed. “I guess. It’s the more boring one, though, but it’s up to you guys. Your fake relationship. Your breakup. At least after next week, you’ll be able to date whoever you want, Mia. And Jake…” She hesitated. “Why are you doing this again?”
That was a good question. I never really stopped to think about why Jake was going along with this plan. I mean, we were both sick and tired of getting shoved together by our moms, but honestly, it’s been like this for a while. The wedding was the last straw for me, but I didn’t know what made Jake so desperate.
Jake’s dark eyes flitted back and forth before he shrugged. “I just thought it was time, that’s all.”
“But—”
With a cough, I nudged Aly’s side with my elbow to get her to stop. I may not knowwhyhe was doing this, but I could tell when something was really bothering him. Especially when his left leg would start bouncing up and down like an earthquake.
“So, it should be easy enough to get into a fight next weekend,” I said to cover up the uncomfortable silence. “I mean, we’ve got a thousand things we could fight about.”
“A thousand and one,” Jake joked. His leg immediately stopped bouncing. “So, I guess that’s it?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Now it was Aly’s turn to nudge my side. “What about…” She tapped on the paper on my lap with the single wordkisson it.
Jake and I exchanged looks and immediately jumped to our feet. “We’ll figure that out later. Lunch is almost over anyway.” I pretended to glance at my phone.
“I still have to meet up with Rose about some work stuff.” He was already backing away from us like he was afraid he’d catch our cooties or something. “I’ll see you after class.”
Aly waited until Jake left before she stood up and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “If just talking about kissing gets you two this rattled, I have no idea how you’re going to survive the rest of the week being all lovey-dovey in front of your moms.”
I let out a heavy sigh but didn’t disagree with her. I was still busy watching Jake as he disappeared into the building. There was a nagging feeling in my gut, and I half wanted to follow him to make sure he was okay.
Instead, I brushed it off and turned to Aly. “Let’s just grab something from the cafeteria before lunch period is over.”
MIA
