Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“What are you craving?” I ask as we get closer to the front of the line.
“Huh?” Fee’s eyes go wide and her cheeks flush.
“Snacks,” I clarify.
“Oh, right!”
“What’d you think I meant?”
She shrugs and sucks her bottom lip between her teeth while she peruses the menu. “I’m all about popcorn and Smarties.”
“Do you mix them together?” I ask.
She widens her eyes and grabs my arm. “How did you know?”
“The salty and sweet are where it’s at.” I order a large, buttered popcorn, Smarties, and two sodas, then hand over my bank card.
“I can go halves,” Fee whispers.
I shake my head. “Let me treat you.” It almost feels like a real date.
We have to split up into two rows to accommodate our group. Enid passes out hand wipes for the arms of the chairs, and Tally tosses out mini packs of tissues as we settle in.
“Dude, check it out.” Gage’s head appears between us and he points to the seat in front of me. “Isn’t that from the same artist who posts stuff around campus.”
“Shit. Yeah. I don’t think I have that sticker yet. I wonder if I can peel it off without ruining it.” I pick at the edge with my nail, but it’s trimmed short.
“Do you collect those?” Fee asks softly.
“I started last semester. The artist puts up new stuff every month. I’ve been waiting for the next one to pop up,” I explain.
The lights go down, so I give up on the task and set the popcorn between us, stretching my arm across the back of Fee’s seat. “You cool to snuggle?”
“If I fall asleep, it’s a long way to carry me to bed,” she warns and bites her lip.
“Totally worth it if my pillow smells like your shampoo again.”
“Are you flirting with me?”
“You’re my girlfriend,” I remind her. “I’m supposed to flirt with you, relentlessly, in fact.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s a rule.”
Our gazes lock and neither of us looks away. I can’t stop thinking about what it would feel like to kiss her. But the movie starts, breaking the sudden tension.
Whenever we reach for the popcorn at the same time, our fingers brush. And while my eyes are on the screen, I’m only half paying attention to the movie. The rest of it is focused on Fee. I’m hyperaware of the warmth of her next to me, of the smell of her shampoo and her lotion.
And I keep cycling back to how much I loved seeing her asleep in my bed the other night. But she was gone before I woke up the next morning. I almost wished I’d slept on the floor so I could’ve made her breakfast, but I didn’t want to make things awkward.
She sniffles and fumbles around in her lap, almost tipping the popcorn.
I catch it before it can spill in our laps. “Everything okay?”
“Yup,” she hiccups.
“Fee?” I skim her cheek in the dark and my fingertips come away wet. “Baby, what’s wrong?”
She sucks in a little breath. Her warm palm lands on my chest, then slides up to curve around my neck as she gently pulls me closer. I bend until her soft lips brush my ear. “This movie gets me up in my feels,” she whispers.
“Oh.” It’s an emotional movie, not just about a kid who faces challenges, but also parents who want to protect him. Which Fee doesn’t have. Yes, she has her sisters and Roman, but she doesn’t have an overprotective mom or dad to champion her. “Come here.” I push the arm of the chair between us up and shift her legs so they drape over my left one.
“What are you doing?”
“Being a good boyfriend by providing emotional support snuggles.” I hook her feet behind my right calf and tuck her as close as I can without her being fully in my lap. “How’s that?”
“Better.”
I wrap my arm around her, and she moves in closer, forehead pressed against the side of my neck.
“Anytime you want snuggles, I’m your guy.” And I mean it.
“Thanks, Mac, you’re really killing it at the fake-boyfriend thing,” she whispers.
“You make it easy.”
The line between fake and real is blurring. My goal is to erase it completely.
CHAPTER 10
FEE
The next day, I’m on the way back to my apartment after class, very excited—in an embarrassing way—to finally be able to marinate in Mac’s cologne-scented hoodie while I study, when I spot him rushing toward the athletics facility. His hood is pulled up, and his head is lowered as he approaches the door.
The school team has their own rink, so there’s a big question mark as to why Mac is all the way over here. Curiosity and a light obsession with my fake boyfriend who I would like to be my real boyfriend, has me tailing him. I channel my inner James Bond and hide behind a snow-covered emerald cedar when he glances over his shoulder before entering the athletic building.