Fake Skating(57)

Logically, I knew it wasn’t a thing, that weweren’t a thing, but when it was just the two of us, I kept fucking forgetting.

None of this is real.

Which was why I appreciated the wake-up call tonight. The gut-wrenching dose of reality that hit me when my dad’s knee buckled was exactly what I needed. Seeing him like that was an instant reminder of one of the worst times of my life, when my friend chose not to be with me but to instead take my fucking nemesis—that twat—to our spot.

His presence helped ground me.

“Yeah, it was good,” I said.

“Are you okay?” she asked, holding her hands in front of the heating vents. “With your dad, I mean. I didn’t know…”

“Just tired,” I said, which absolutely wasn’t a lie, but I also didn’t want to talk about my dad. Not with her. Whenever he sat for too long, pain shot up his leg. It happened often, but that didn’t make it any better.

“So do you have trouble sleeping the night before a game?” she asked, clearly avoiding the subject of my dad. “I’ve never played any sport, but it seems like since you’re decent at hockey, it might be a little stressful.”

“No more than any other night,” I said.

“What does that mean—you don’t sleep well?” she asked.

“You’re not my real girlfriend, Collins—you don’t need to worry about how many hours of sleep I’m getting, okay?”

It came out a little harsher than I’d intended, but I needed to create a little distance.

Her eyebrows went together and I knew she felt that one.

“I was just asking,” she said.

I pulled into her driveway, and when I opened my door to get out, she said, “You don’t have to walk me to the door. No one is around.”

“It’s dark, so I’m walking you to the door,” I said, feeling like an ass. But when I got to her side of the car, I saw that fucking Benji Worthington was out on his porch with a vape pen in his mouth.

Forever a douche.

“Fucking Worthington,” I muttered under my breath.

“Why do you guys hate each other?” she asked quietly as she climbed out of the car, looking in Benji’s direction. “I mean, we never liked him because he was a tool, but obviously things got worse.”

“Yeah, he’s an asshole.”

“Oh, well, that explains everything,” she said sarcastically.

I sighed. “He’s just my enemy and I fucking hate him, okay?”

“Your enemy?” she repeated in a tone that told me she thought I was being dramatic.

“Okay, so maybe not my enemy, but he’s a dick weasel who gossips like an old church lady,” I said, wanting to punch him just for sitting there. “I guarantee you he’s the one who spread the bong picture.”

“Seriously?” She glanced toward Worthington’s house.

“Oh yeah. He plays for St. John’s Academy—”

“The ones who beat you in state last year?” she interrupted with a gasp.

“I can’t believe you know that,” I said.

“I can’t believe you scored twice in that game,” she said, closing the car door. “Apparently that’s impressive for a defender.”

“Look at you, doing all your research,” I said, looking down at her mouth.

She smiled up at me, and it was insane how badly I wanted to kiss her.

Wait.

What? Where is this feeling coming from?

It was insane and plain fucking stupid.

Get it together.

“He’s watching us now,” she said quietly, “so I’m going to laugh like you’re hilarious and charming.”

She let out a little giggle and, yeah—he noticed us.

His attention was all ours, but he had no idea we’d spotted him.

“Holy shit, that’s it,” I said, my mind spinning. “With the way he gossips—we should totally kiss.”

“What?” she said loudly, with a laugh, like she thought I was kidding.

But I glanced over her head and could tell Benji was staring, completely psychotically watching us, and I wasn’t above begging.

Because if I could use him to broadcast this andmake him jealous, that was a huge fucking win.

“Please let me kiss you please let me kiss you please let me kiss you please let me kiss you, Dani,” I muttered, looking into her eyes and groveling. “I just hate that fucker so much and this is going to kill him please fucking let me kiss y—”

“Okay,” she quietly interrupted.

I hadn’t realized how sure I was that she was going to say no until she said okay.

“What?” I couldn’t believe I’d heard her right. I looked down at her upturned face and said, “Really?”

“If you think it’s going to get back to the right people,” she said, her voice a near whisper as she leaned a little closer so Benji couldn’t hear us, “then why not? We did it before just for fun, so why not do it now for public-relations purposes?”

Just for fun, my ass.

“Are you sure?” No matter how I felt about her now, I’d never want to pressure her into doing something she didn’t want to do.

Even though it was suddenly the only thing I’d ever wanted to do.