Page 99 of The Fake
1. Likes blueberry muffins
2. Likes your mouth. Period.
3. Likes PDA.
My eyes prick when I see the new addition. I swallow around the lump in my throat and read it.
4. Loves Chloe.
When I meet his blue gaze, he smiles and speaks to the class without taking his eyes off me. “Or telling a girl you love her for the first time.”
He stands, holds up the pen, smirks, and tosses it to a guy in the first row. “Invest in a good pen and get the girl.”
The class applauds. He pulls me to his feet and shields me from the class as he says, “I love you, Chloe. I wanted to tell you yesterday. Hell, I wanted to tell you weeks ago. You’re everything. My princess, my knight, my dragon. Every fairy tale I ever heard rolled up into one and so much better because you’re real.”
“Kiss me already, Nathan Payne.”
He does and the class gets louder. I think Professor Sanchez might try and settle them down, but I just keep kissing my man because he loves me and I love him and right now, it’s all that matters.
35
Nathan
“Girlfriend.”
Chloe walks into the kitchen with Emily and Bri. She rushes to me and throws her arms around me.
“God, you two are obnoxious,” Shaw says from beside me.
We had our exhibition game tonight and a party at The White House after is protocol every year.
“Want something to drink?”
She nods, and I grab her a cup.
“Where’s Sydney?” Shaw asks my girl.
“She’s coming. She had a date with that tennis guy she met last week.”
Shaw mutters under his breath, takes his drink, and storms off. Damn, something went sideways there.
I nod to Emily and Bri. “Can I get you guys something to drink?”
“I got it. I got it.” Datson sweeps in front of me and winks at them. I chuckle but leave him to it.
“Come on, Gabby’s outside. She’s been waiting for you to get here.”
I hold her hand tightly as we join my friends outside. They’ve pulled chairs into a circle off to the side of the party. Blair and Wes, Joel and Katrina, Mario and Vanessa, and Gabby all greet us as we join them.
As I predicted, Gabby tries to steal Chloe, but I hold on tighter. “You’re not stealing her tonight.”
Gabby pouts and I give in. I love that my best friend and my girl are close, but she gets five minutes before I’m taking her back.
Gabby talks a mile a minute about our upcoming trip to watch Zeke play, and I just watch them, completely in awe that this is my life. Great friends, great girl. Even the family situation has improved. Mom’s still struggling more days than not, but she’s showing up more and when I told her I was going to start talking to somebody about the nightmares, she agreed to talk to someone too. Everything is moving forward, and I’m finally looking ahead more than one day at a time.
I take the flask out of my pocket and catch Chloe’s eye. Lifting it, I give it a little shake. Haven’t pulled this thing out in a long time, but I think tonight might be the night to get stupid. Tomorrow, she’s definitely not pulling a fast one on me and kicking me out. Or vice versa. She fakes left; I’ll be waiting right to catch her.
She walks toward me, eyeing the flask with humor and mischief. “Whatcha got in there? Everclear?”
