We Were Strangers| Completed

part 9

The weekend flew by and was mostly uneventful. I called my mother and I texted a few of my hometown friends, but other than that, my weekend was a bore, which consisted of me staying home.

It was Monday morning, and I had slept in after hitting the snooze button a couple of times. I woke up with a few minutes to spare and rushed downstairs, skipping my makeup. I looked at my phone to see what time it was.

When Wendy came downstairs, she looked terrible and was noticeably paler than usual. I reached over to grab an apple. She wasn't the only one who got off to a bad start this morning.

"Your friend," she stressed, "is driving you to school, right?" I nodded and bit into my apple and as expected, I heard honking coming from the driveway outside.

I noticed Dan coming downstairs as I got closer to the door. Instead of waving or greeting him, I hurried out the door. I walked over to the car and opened the door before settling into the leather seats.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" I furrowed my brows.

"Why are you carrying an apple?" He continued. I shrug as I look at my apple.

In a duh tone, I said, "Because I'm hungry."

"Apples are sticky; get it out of my car."

"Are you serious?" "I'm almost done."

"No food in my car."

"This may be your car, but I'm not going to let you boss me around," I say as I look him in the eyes and bite into the apple.

While driving, his knuckles became white. Despite being furious, Nico let silence engulf him. The ride was tense, and once at school, I was counting down the seconds until I could get out of his car.

***

When I sat down, I looked at Enzo and smiled half-heartedly, which he returned. Tory sat next to him. She looked over to her right and pushed his head away.

"Mila, you didn't tell me you and Nico were dating."

"It's new. But, yes, we're together." I felt awkward saying those words. I was lying to people for the sake of paying a debt I owed to Nico.

"So, you two are official?"

I nodded, "Yeah." I watched as her eyes grew wider.

Nico entered the cafeteria on cue, and my gaze was drawn to him as he walked toward our table and took a seat next to me. I kept a blank expression on my face as he smiled at me.

He took my right arm and grabbed my hand, intertwining it with his. I raised my eyebrows at him. He smirked, leaned forward, and whispered in my ear.

"Why are your hands so sweaty and clammy?"

He was getting on my nerves with how he told me not to eat in his car and now his rude remark, so I tightened my grip on his hand.

"Do I make you nervous?" I let out a laugh, feeling myself choke on the water I sipped. I set my drink down, twisting the cap on.

"You're not the brother I want," I mumbled softly into his ear. His jaw ticked, and his smile faded. His gaze moved past me and to the person next to me, who was Enzo. Nico looked at him, and they made brief eye contact before I gave Nico a smug smile.

I happily bit into my pepperoni pizza when a shadow fell in front of us all and my smile faded. Jade stood in front of us, her hands clasped around Arlo's.

They both sat down, and I saw Jade's eyes linger on me, her eyes filled with pain as she looked at Nico and me. It made me feel bad knowing Nico and I were faking dating while she had begged for a bit of commitment throughout their entire situationship, all of which he had refused.

I took another bite and let the awkwardness consume us. Conversations about Friday's game came up, and the boys began to talk about random sh*t. Just before the bell rang, I finished my lunch. When I got up to throw away my paper tray and returned to pick up my backpack, Nico stood there with his hands on the straps of my backpack.

I reached out to take it from him, but he shook his head.

"I'll carry it for you," he said, still within earshot of the group.

I forced a smile instead of furrowing my brows because I knew that if our plan was to work, I would have to be prepared for this kind of boyfriend behavior.

He wrapped his arm around my back and guided me out of the cafeteria. I should have realized his nice-guy act wouldn't last.

He sighed and said, "Here."

We were now out of sight, and Nico yanked his hand off me.

He handed me my backpack, which I slowly retrieved as we walked over to our final class of the day. After beating the bell, I made my way to the back of the classroom to our usual seats, where we sat for the remainder of the school day.

When class ended, I was relieved to know that, after being dropped off later, I no longer had to deal with Nico Valore. I had enough of him for one day. So, when he drove us home, I was thrilled to see the outside of my house. I got out of the car quickly and didn't look back. I hurried inside. I was now free.