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)
My coaches will be there, and possibly scouts, too. It’s happened before. I need a date who appreciates the stakes. And she’s standing right in front of me, looking wildly beautiful. I go with practical, because Fee is a no-nonsense kind of girl, and I’m too scared to admit the truth yet. I need time to get a better sense of her motivations.
“How about as friends you could be my fake girlfriend?” I suggest.
She blinks at me.
I resist the urge to oversell it.
“You want me to be your fake girlfriend?” she hedges.
“You can be my date to the hockey gala. You know the sport, and you don’t get all starry-eyed over the players because they’re just dudes to you,” I explain, sticking with the plan to appeal to her sensible side.
“This is accurate.” Her tongue sweeps out to wet her bottom lip.
I throw in another fact. “And if you’re my girlfriend, I’ll finally get some peace, and the other girls will leave me alone.”
Fee crosses her arms and purses her lips. “You know, Mac, if you didn’t flirt back, they might also leave you alone.”
“I’m being considerate,” I say defensively.
Fee sighs and rolls her eyes to the ceiling. “I can’t explain this to you.” Her eyes return to me. “You should watch KPop Demon Hunters. You’re literally Jinu.”
“Are you comparing me to a K-pop artist?” I can’t carry a tune at all.
“Just the way people respond to you, and your obliviousness to the impact it has.” She sighs. “You aren’t being rude by setting boundaries and saying you’re not looking for a date. You can be respectful and still say you’re not interested.”
I open and close my mouth a few times. I guess I never looked at it that way before. “I don’t like disappointing people.”
“I think it’s more that you hate having to witness hurting someone’s feelings. When you say you’ll keep someone in mind, you’re telling them they have a shot, Mac. All five hundred of the girls who have asked you about the hockey gala are still hoping you’ll pick them, when that’s the opposite of your intention,” she says, gently, kindly, like I’m a bad dog being admonished for chewing on the furniture.
But she’s right. I do this, and it’s not better than just saying I already have someone I want to go with. “Am I a dick?” I think I’m having an existential crisis.
Maybe I’ve already shot myself in the foot with Fee. Maybe this is why she never flirts with me.
“No, God no. You’re not…you aren’t a dick, Mac.” She says it with conviction, and I’m immediately mollified. “You’re the opposite. You’re super friendly and incredibly kind. There’s a reason all the girls keep trying to shoot their shot. You just need to learn how to set boundaries, so you’re not exhausted by all the attention and you don’t have to always worry about disappointing people.”
“You could help me learn how. You could teach me if you were my fake girlfriend, Ophelia.” I want to take her hand, but I worry my brain will short-circuit like it did earlier and then I’ll accidentally admit I have a crush and ruin this half-baked plan. “Please be my date to the hockey gala. I really need to focus on school and hockey this semester.” Especially hockey. I don’t want to be the player who peaks in university. “I need a break from being the guy all the girls want to go out with. Help me set some boundaries.”
She sighs, long and loud and deep. “Your life is so hard.”
“You really have no idea.” The stress of always turning people down is a lot.
“No, I don’t, because unlike you, I have boundaries.” She gives me a slow once-over that does amazing things to my body, and sighs again. “It’ll break the heart of every girl on campus, but fine, I’ll do you a solid, Mac. I’ll be your fake girlfriend.”
CHAPTER 5
FEE
“Idon’t know if I like this shirt. Maybe I should wear a different one.” I prop my hands on my hips and survey my reflection with a critical eye.
“You look great,” Enid assures me.
“Seriously, so cute,” Cammie agrees. “But you can borrow something from my closet if you want to change things up.”
Cammie is four inches shorter than me. She fits into everyone’s back pocket, including her boyfriend, Chase. So borrowing clothes from Cammie means potentially wearing a crop top or capris. In the spring I wouldn’t think twice about it, but it’s the end of January, so not the ideal temperature for midriff baring in Toronto, however...
“Yeah, maybe?”
“Have at it.” Cammie motions to her closet.
I’m irritatingly nervous about this first fake date. I don’t know what I was thinking saying yes to this cockamamie idea. Sure, I get to touch Mac and be close to him and spend time with him, but not because he reciprocates my crush. Being Mac’s not-real girlfriend will probably go down as one of my least well-thought-out decisions of all time. But I’ll still go through with it.