Faking It

Chapter 14: Emdubs and Tee, Dynamic Duo

Audra left me at the sideline to catch up with her brother, who was already halfway towards the parking lot after practice. I balled up my socks as I watched her go, wondering if I should just come clean to her about the whole thing with Theo. She was just trying to be a friend, and the least I could do would be to return the favor. But she was JJ's sister. Could I trust that she would keep the secret? Or would she tell JJ, who would tell William, and then all of this would've been for nothing? Because if William found out the truth...

My stomach sank. I'd been so caught up in reacting to Emma's taunt that I hadn't stopped to consider what William might do if he ever found out the truth. Since the party, the thought of his reaction to finding out about this ruse had always been the point in my fretting when I'd shoved the thoughts away to focus on something else. The thought of William finding out had always made that queasy knot in my stomach grow about a billion times worse, so it was kind of ridiculous that I thought if I ignored it that it would somehow just work out on its own. Especially because now I was smack in the middle of it and I hadn't even thought it through. If William found out the truth—if anyone did—I'd look like the most desperate, pathetic, manipulative person in the entire universe. I'd lose the few friends I had here, and I'd be ridiculed by Emma and her horrible group of friends. I'd become some sort of new girl pariah, the laughing stock of Kingsbridge before I'd even been here a semester. They'd tell jokes about me while I sat all alone in the dining hall and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it because I'd have brought it upon myself.

That horrible queasy stomach knot returned, in full force this time. I chewed my lip and dug out my flip flops. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Maybe I should just—

A bag whomped down beside me, followed by a very sweaty Theo Ellerby. "Okay, Emdubs. I'm a man of my word. Go ahead and launch into that big, long chat you wanted." He sprawled on the grass and squeezed water from his sports bottle into his mouth. His dark hair was sweaty but in an annoyingly styled way, like he'd swaggered out of a Nike commercial.

But it didn't matter that his hair looked so damn good. What mattered was my huge, impulsive mistake and fixing it as soon as humanly possible.

Before he got too comfortable, I stood and hefted my bag over my shoulder. "I hate to disappoint you, but I've changed my mind. I don't think this is a good idea."

Theo stared up at me for a beat, brows furrowing, then climbed to his feet. "I'm guessing you haven't checked your texts, then."

I folded my arms, hating the way I had to look up to talk to him. "What does—"

He pressed a finger to my lips. "Check them."

I jerked away. "Gross! Sweaty fingers are a hard no." I scrubbed the back of my hand across my lips with a grimace, but dug through my bag for my phone nonetheless.

"Point taken," Theo said. "Does that mean lips are off limits?"

I opened my mouth to tell him that yes, they absolutely were off limits, then stopped. My home screen had 4 new messages. All from William.

Hey, saw you at practice today. Hope my brother wasn't bugging you too much.

If he is, just tell me and I'll make him stop.

He really likes attention.

Anyway, I know you won't see this until after practice, but just let me know 🙂

"I got a few too." Theo unlocked his phone and turned it around to show me.

Leave her alone.

She's new. Stop messing with her.