Page 46 of Fake It Till You Break It
Aly actually mouthed the wordWowand gave me a thumbs-up behind his back. And not very subtly, either. But Ben pretended not to notice.
Then it went downhill when we went inside and got our booth. Jake and I automatically slid in the left side together and grabbed the menus on the table. We didn’t even realize anything was wrong until Aly cleared her throat and nodded at the right side of the booth.
Jake and I kind of froze for a second. Neither of us realized what we had done. It was kind of natural. Guess all thoseyears of being forced to sit together finally paid off. Jake shot me an apologetic glance before climbing out so Ben could sit beside me.
When we were all in our correct seats, my stomach twisted in knots the closer Ben sat by me. My hand tapped on the edge of the table in an erratic pace until Jake nudged my foot under the table. Flushing, I grabbed my glass of water to take a sip just because I didn’t know what to do with my hands. And then another one. And then another one. Before the waitress even read us the specials, I had already polished off my glass. Like I had just come back from a six-month trek in the desert or something. My mouth still felt dry, though.
Ben looked over at me and smiled. “Do you want more water? I could get you some.”
He stood to head toward the drink station, but I grabbed his arm. “No, I’m good. But, hmm, thanks.”
“Okay…” He sat back down, and this weird silence surrounded our table. Like tumbleweeds-rolling-in-the-desert type of silence.
It was so weird. Ben and I talked just fine during rehearsals. I mean, I was still a tiny bit nervous around him sometimes, but we were starting to get more comfortable. I didn’t even plan out our conversations anymore.
I definitely wasn’t a total wreck like I was now.
Maybe it was because we weren’t at school in the theater anymore, but on an actual date now. But it was most likely thefact that whether we continued on as friends or became something more depended on this date.
So no pressure.
After our food came, Jake cleared his throat. “So where are you going to college, Ben?”
“I’m actually planning to take a break from school. Maybe continuing working at the theater. I feel like it’s hard to convey realistic emotions onstage when you don’t know anything about life.” Ben smeared a bit of butter on a breadstick. “I might try out the whole college thing next year though.”
“So basically you’re just going to hang out for a while until you get bored and leave?” Jake coughed. “I mean, the theater.”
“Well, I’ll let Daniel know before I go anywhere.” He glanced over at me and smiled. “Besides, I might decide to go to college here. There are a lot of things I like in this town. The people especially.”
Did that mean what I thought it meant? I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t help grinning at Ben like an idiot while he ate his slice of pizza. Maybe this date wasn’t going as bad as I thought it was. Even though Jake was being pretty rude.
He was acting like my mom interrogating Ben or something. Even worse than Mom. And I’m pretty sure that if she wasn’t so crazy about Jake, she would have jumped ship to Team Ben.
Jake speared a couple of slices of tomatoes from my saladplate, and I slid the pepper over to his side. He shook it over his fries. “I think our parents would kill us if we tried to pull something like that after graduation.”
“My parents are actually great. They want me to follow my dream…” Ben’s eyebrow rose as he looked back and forth between our plates. “Why did you take her tomatoes?”
“Because Mia hates them. Always has.” Jake waved his fork in my direction. “But her mom always made her eat them before she could leave the table so she’d pass them to me. Either that or no internet for a week.”
I rolled my eyes. “You act like it wasn’t a two-way street. Who ate your oatmeal for you every Saturday morning? Plus, whenever we go out, I always get a different dessert so we can share.”
“Yeah, but that’s still more for you than me. You’re the one addicted to sugar.”
“Fine, then how about—”
With a confused half smile, Ben waved a hand between us to get our attention. “Okay, but why are you eating her tomatoesnow? Your parents aren’t here. And why don’t you just order the saladwithoutthe tomatoes if you don’t like them?”
That shut us both up.
Huh. That never occurred to me before. To either of us. Like sitting on the same side. Jake ate my tomatoes. I ate his oatmeal. And we always sat next to each other. That’s the way things always were. It never occurred to us to change it.
Ben looked a little sheepish. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. I just think it’s kind of funny, that’s all.”
I laughed weakly. “Yeah, funny.”
There was still another tomato slice on my plate, and it was like our eyes kept zooming to it like moths to a flame. But neither one of us moved. Finally, I covered my plate with my napkin. Jake turned away as I gulped at my water.
Even though Jake was just across the table, it felt like he was miles away.
