Page 27 of Fake It Till You Break It
He shrugged. “You were all sad about having to go home early. I figured you’d cry less if I missed the field trip with you.” The tips of his ears were a tad bit pinker than usual. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I did remember.”
I was still confused, but for some reason, this seemed important to Jake, so I nodded. Plus, I was actually a little touched that he remembered something from so long ago. “Thanks.”
He flashed me a smile and hopped into the car. I climbed in after him. Jake immediately flicked on the radio and cranked the volume up before pulling out of the driveway.
We didn’t talk the entire ten-minute drive to the movie theater. I couldn’t help glancing over at him every few seconds. I don’t know why. My eyes kept looking over at him as if they were pulled by a magnet no matter how hard I tried to look away. Studying him. From his dark, slightly curly hair to his jawline. The little mole on the bottom of his right earlobe. The way he drummed against the steering wheel, in tune with every song that came onto the radio.
He seemed different, yet somehow exactly the same. But I just couldn’t figure out what it was.
JAKE
I WAS LATEpicking up Mia. Again. Damn, she was going to kill me. Might as well pick out my tombstone now.
She wasn’t waiting in the front lobby when I got there, so I went through the theater back door. It was so dark that I thought it was empty at first. There was only one spotlight focused on the center of the stage. I was halfway up the steps when suddenly I spotted her.
Her eyes were bright with concentration as she lifted her head and sang a verse. I could barely hear the words because she kept stopping to curse to herself. Her dark hair swirled around her face, and she had to stop twice to brush it away. The spotlight beamed right over her, illuminating her like she was some type of illusion. A vision.
She said something again, a bit louder this time, and twirled, but she stumbled on her own feet. I leaped forward to help her, but someone else caught her instead. Some guy who wasstanding partly in the shadows on the stage. Mia must have known him because she just gripped his arms andgiggled.
Yes, giggled. In the fifteen years that we’ve known each other, the only time I’ve ever heard her giggle was when she had her wisdom teeth taken out and was high on the drugs. That was when she also planned an escape route to live on Mars when the zombies took over the world.
Who the hell was this girl? And why was she still in his arms, leaning on him?
I cleared my throat, and Mia and the guy jumped apart. She squinted her eyes in my direction. “Jake?”
“Hey, I just came to pick you up.” I glanced over at the other guy. “I thought the rehearsal would be done by now.”
“Oh, it’s been over for a while. Ben was just offering to, hmm, help me practice some lines. He’s in the musical.” She coughed and wrung her hands as if she was being punished. “Ben, this is Jake.”
He held out his hand, and I reluctantly shook it so I wouldn’t look like a douche. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep your girlfriend from you.”
“She’s—”
“Oh, no, Jake isn’t my boyfriend,” Mia explained. “He’s just… a neighbor. We’ve known each other for years. I mean, our moms wished we would be together, but that’s definitelynevergoing to happen. We’re just pretending to date for now. But we’re not dating each other for real. Or anyone.”
Ben laughed.
“In other words, we’re not dating,” I said.
“Good to know.” Ben lightly touched Mia’s arm. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you at the next rehearsal?”
“Yeah, of course.” She giggled again, and my stomach clenched for no reason. She continued waving at him until he left before turning to me. The happy look on her face instantly disappeared. “What?”
“Nothing. I was just waiting for you to finish drooling after him. That’s all.”
Her mouth dropped open. “I wasn’t—I didn’t.”
“Whatever. Better call someone to wipe the stage before they slip on your drool.” I hopped off the stage and landed in the center aisle with a loud thump. “Is that Theater Boy?”
“Yes…”
“Why’d you tell him all that stuff about us and our moms anyway? I thought you didn’t want anybody to know.”
She slipped off the edge of the stage and hurried after me. “I don’t know. It just slipped out. I guess Ben is different.”
My eyes narrowed. “What does that mean?”
Instead of answering, Mia just shrugged.
