Nathan and I had a routine. Every day, we met at my locker and walked to the parking lot together. We got in our respective cars and met back at Nathan’s house, where we would walk in and relieve my mom of her duties. Usually, she and Bennett were doing something that couldn’t be interrupted, and Nate and I joined until they were finished.
Like yesterday, for example. They were in the middle of a thousand piece puzzle and my mom informed me that it was critical they finish before the day was over. So Nathan and I sat on the floor, surrounded by the remaining hundred or so puzzle pieces, and helped put together the larger image. It took an hour and a half to complete, but none of us moved until it was completely finished.
Today was no exception. We crept inside Nathan’s house to hear childish laughter coming from the kitchen and we followed the noise. I found my mom shaking with laughter as Bennett sat on the counter beside her with flour coating his right cheek and his head thrown back in laughter. There were ingredients spread across the counter and I knew we stumbled in on them making cookies.
My own smile threatened to spill on my lips at the sight as the sounds of their laughter mingled together to create an innocent yet lovely symphony. I snuck a glance at Nathan and, instead of seeing his usual amused expression when he get to his house and see a scene like this, his eyes held a somber sheen I wasn’t used to. His smile wasn’t happy or amused, but longing.
“Than!” Bennett cries, and I quickly divert my gaze from Nathan to the little grinning boy. “You’re home!”
Nathan blinks and in an instant manages to cover up the sadness with his usual brotherly smile. He ran a hand through his hair casually, but I knew Nathan well enough to know it was a sign of distress. “I see you’re feeling better, huh?”
Bennett grins toothily. “I feel normal and Marie took my temperature.”
“He doesn’t have a fever,” My mom chirps with a motherly smile as she looks fondly from Bennett to Nathan. “He’s been feeling much better since he woke up.”
Selfishly, I would miss our routine, but I was happy that Bennett wasn’t sick anymore. “That’s great.”
“Yeah,” Nathan agrees and looks at Bennett tauntingly. “Now you’re going to have to go back to school.”
The toothy, childish grin that Bennett was sporting before completely wiped off his face and was replaced by a look of utter horror. “Really?”
Nathan smirks and I find myself chuckling lightly to myself. These Rhodes boys were too amusing, and that was without Ty here, too. My mom seems to be following my train of thought because she grins at Bennett and Nathan.
“Really,” Nate exaggerates, and then softens his tone. “I bet your buddies at school miss you.”
Apparently, this softens the blow for Bennett, because his frown fades and he ends up getting distracted by the bowl of cookie dough in my moms hands. “Marie, are we going to bake these? I’m hungry.”
She nods and shoots me and Nathan a look. “Go, you’re crowding the kitchen. I have to get this batch in the oven. Bennett’s orders.”
Nathan’s smirk is replaced with an amused smile. “The baking sheets are-”
“In the cabinet next to the oven, I know.” My mom supplements with a wave of her hand that was meant to dismiss us.
Although he seemed surprised that my mom knew her way around the kitchen already, Nathan simply nods and we start to leave the kitchen. Before we get into the living room, I turn around and look at Nathan innocently to ask, “Can I play some of your vinyls?”
This amuses him, that much I can tell by the glimmer in his eyes, but he silently nods and pushes me lightly toward his bedroom. When we reach his door, it’s shut tightly, and I hesitate before lifting my hand to twist the knob. But before I can, I feel Nathan’s presence behind me, and he reaches over me to open it himself.
His chest brushed my back and I could feel his hot breath on the side of my neck as he slowly opened his door. My heart was doing flips in my chest and I tried to ignore our proximity. The moment seemed to stretch on for hours, but when the door finally opened, I forced my legs to move into his bedroom and to put distance between us.
The daylight poured into his room through the windows opposite his bed and lit up the room with the afternoon sun. With deliberate movements, I approach the bookshelves and stop at the leftmost one to finger through some vinyls. Some of the covers were aged and tattered while others were bright and new, but I stopped on one that seemed to be in between.
It was an ombré grey cover with The Rolling Stones logo on the front and the word Aftermath written on the bottom right side in thick strokes of yellow. I slide the record out of the sleeve and approach the record player, turn it on, and then place the record under the pin. A soft crackle emits from the speaker before Lady Jane begins playing softly.
“I love this song,” Nathan murmurs from somewhere behind me, and I look over my shoulder to throw him a smile.
“So do I,” I tell him softly.
I turn back around and continue looking through the vinyls, unsure what I was really looking for. As I prod through the shelves, I begin thinking about the very thing that plagued my mind all day: talking to Nathan about the whole fake boyfriend thing.
Stephanie and I were driving to Williamsport tomorrow night to see the States game, so today was my last chance to talk to Nathan about the plan until Sunday. I almost told him twice already during lunch, but every time we were alone, I backed out. I was too nervous.
But I suddenly spin around to face Nathan and, without thinking about what I’m going to say at all, I blurt, “Don’t you want to see Thomas suffer?”
I wanted to hit myself at how lame that just sounded.
Nathan looked confused as he looked at me, but I swear his eyes darkened at the sound of Thomas’ name coming out of my mouth. “In case you haven’t noticed,” He drawls. “I punch that asshole every time I get the chance. I never pass up the opportunity.”
A smirk threatened to tug my lips up but I knew that I had to elaborate to make my point. “But he deserves more than physical damage, don’t you think?” I take a confident step closer to the bed, where he sat. “We could do better.”
His amusement fades into full on confusion and he sighs as he leans his forearms against his thighs and looks at me helplessly. Nathan looked extremely sexy with those big grey blue eyes looking up at me for answers. I had to bite my lip and refocus my thoughts and keep my mind from wandering to forbidden thoughts about him.
“Like what?” He asks, and his gaze flickers to my lips before back up to my eyes, and I couldn’t help but notice they darken a tiny bit.
I pretend not to notice despite the hammering of my heart in my chest. Finally, I decide to say it, but before the words even leave my mouth, a blush is crawling up my neck. “What if we started fake dating?” He looks at me blankly, clearly not expecting that, and I bite my lip. “I mean, he hates seeing us together. Imagine how how pissed he’d be if we were, like, lovey dovey.”
My face was beet red and I held my breath as his eyes wander over me, probably trying to tell if I was serious or not. I tried to keep my expression nonchalant but my insides were going crazy. My heart stammered with every beat and my mind was working fast to tell me what I had just left hanging in the air.
What if I scared him away? Why had I ever even said anything in the first place? Things were going so good with Nathan. We were good friends. He was comfortable around me. And then I opened my mouth to propose some stupid plan and he probably thought I was a total freak and now we weren’t going to hang out-
“That’s a great idea,” Nathan finally hums as something lights up in his eyes. “It’ll definitely fuck with him.” He looks at me with an evil smirk. “It’ll piss him off to no end when he sees my arm around his ex girlfriend.”
A relieved breath escapes my lips and I give him an uneasy smile. “That’s what I’m saying.”
His evil smirk slips falters a little as his gaze turns inquisitive and it’s like a warning bell in my head telling me he was suddenly analyzing me. “Why do you want Thomas to suffer, though?”
Because it’s all part of the plan. “He deserves it.”
Nathan’s grey blue eyes search my gaze for a long moment. His voice was meant to be joking, but I could hear the serious edge to the words. “Who knew you held a grudge? Or that you were an evil genius?”
I smile in an attempt to lighten the mood and tease, “Don’t cross me.”
After a moment of staring, Nathan’s smirk returns back to his face, except this time he looks even more smug. “You know,”
He stands up and takes a step closer to me until we’re a few feet away. “If we need to convince Thomas that we’re dating then we’re going to have to kiss or he’ll never believe it.”
His words sent a shiver straight down my spine because, well, I was very aware of this. I had to swallow as I nod at him and challenge, “We managed to do it on New Years Eve.”
Something in his eyes darken as he drawls lowly, “You remember that?”
The huskiness in his voice sends a jolt of lightning straight through my body. I was hyper aware of the small step I took toward him unconsciously even though I felt like my feet were glued to the floor. I felt like I was unable to move. And yet, I was drawing closer to Nathan.
Despite the unfortunate affect Nathan had on me, I forced a wicked smile and croaked, “Unfortunately.”‘
Nate’s gaze turns mischievous with challenge as he questions in his rough voice, “I think you’re mistaken, kitten. I only give earth shattering kisses.” His eyes dart to my lips as I lick them out of nervous habit. “Do you need me to remind you?”
I was surprised that my heart hadn’t flown clean out of my chest what with how quickly it was beating. His offer was so sexily enticing that I had to bite my lip from screaming yes and look away as to not get lost in his darkening eyes. Emotions passed in those beautiful orbs that I couldn’t quite decipher, but I knew that if I kept trying, I would end up kissing him.
Instead, a force out a laugh that sounds horribly fake even to my own ears. “You wish, Rhodes. Save it for show time.”
“You know,” Nathan muses, his voice less deep, and thankfully his eyes twinkled with mischief. “You don’t have to trick me into fake dating you if you want me to be your boyfriend.”
I was running on fumes at this point. I didn’t even know what to say anymore after all the times he said things that rendered me speechless. So I opened my mouth and the first thing that came out was, “Do you think the cookies will be done soon?”
“The cookies?” Nathan asks incredulously. “That’s what you’re thinking about?”
No, I wanted to shout, I can’t stop thinking of you! But instead I glance at him innocently and shrug. “Maybe.” For safety purposes, I walked back over to the vinyls and began looking through them again to put space between Nathan and I. “Why? What are you thinking about?”
When he doesn’t answer immediately, I turn around to see Nathan studying me curiously, before he admits, “You.”
My heart skips a beat and I turn to face the vinyls instead of him. There was a nervous blush creeping up my neck that I didn’t want him to see. I forced my voice to be neutral as I ask calmly, “Why about me?”
I force myself to run my hand over the spines of the records to busy myself as I wait for Nathan to say casually, “You’re hard to figure out.”
The way he said it, as if we were talking about something as simple as the weather, made my resolve break in half. I turned around to look at him and he was leaning against the post of his bed with his arms crossed and gaze on me. I ignore my pounding heart and give him a dubious look while feigning confidence.
“You’re one to talk,” I counter surely to remind him that he’s one of the most confusing guys I have ever met.
Nathan hesitates after my words, pausing for only a beat, before he smiles widely at me. “I’ll figure you out eventually.”
I just shake my head at him and murmur, “Good luck.”
And then I turn back to the vinyls as the song changes again, this time to Goin’ Home. I look through the compressed shelves of records until I pull out a Kinks vinyl and replace the Rolling Stones. I smile in satisfaction as the instrumental beginning of Lola floats through the speakers and into Nathan’s room.
“Are you free tomorrow night?” Nathan asks so suddenly that I whip around with wide, confused eyes. “I want to take you and your mom out for dinner. As a thank you for all your help.”
Never have I ever been more annoyed that I was going to watch the stupid football game tomorrow night with Stephanie. That was saying a lot, too, considering it was always torture when I went to watch Thomas play. I wanted nothing more than to accept his invitation to dinner but, by the rules of the best friend code, was forced to decline.
“I can’t,” I explain regretfully. “I’m going to the States game in Williamsport with Stephanie tomorrow night. We’re staying over at the Holiday Inn.”
Nathan raises his eyebrows in question as he says, “You don’t seem excited about that.”
I shrug. “I’m only going because Stephanie wants to watch Justin and I want to be a good friend.” I lift my gaze to meet his and there’s something about the look he’s giving me that just makes me want to confide in him, so I continue softly, “I don’t want to see Brett after everything that happened, but I’m sucking it up for Steph.”
“What if I came?” Nate surprises me by asking, and then quickly adds, “I mean, I could help. We could show off our new relationship to Thomas and Brett at once.”
My heart fluttered in my chest as I ask, “You want to come?”
“You want to do this fake boyfriend shit, right?” I nod hesitantly and he smirks a little. “Then I’ll come with you and we can piss Thomas off while letting Brett think you have a boyfriend.”
Because I was too pathetically excited about having Nathan there to entertain me while Stephanie was off with Justin, I didn’t even argue, and instead just grinned. “So, are you driving or am I?”
“The cookies are ready!” My mom hollers from the down the hall.
My gaze darts to the closed door before resting back on Nathan, who already began walking there, as he said with a sense of finality, “I’ll drive. Obviously.”
I follow him out his bedroom door with a stupid smile on my face. I try to squash it before I get into the kitchen so my mom couldn’t see, but it was no use. The second I walked in the kitchen all my attempts had been futile and I ended up grinning at the back of Nathan’s head as he shoved a cookie in his mouth and moaned.
“This is amazing,” He says in between bites, his words barely decipherable.
I giggle behind him and he turns around to look at me with bright eyes. Before I can blink, he shoves a cookie in my mouth, and my eyes fly open as he begins laughing. “Nathan!”
My mom’s laughter mixes in and I turn to her wide eyed and red in the face. She just rolls her eyes and turns to Nathan.
“Everything is clean, there’s dinner in the fridge, and I don’t think you’ll be needing me anymore this week.” She lists carefully before a frown tugs at her lips. “I’m going to miss hanging around here and watching you shove cookies in my daughters face.”
Nathan laughs heartily as I glare at the both of them and finish the cookie in my mouth. “Thank you so much for all your help, Marie. Really. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay you.”
“Just come over for dinner one night,” Mom invites him warmly. “Your older brother, too. I’ve never gotten the chance to meet him.”
“You don’t have to,” Nathan and I say at the same time.
He turns to me and grins as I laugh and I can feel my mom looking at the both of us. “Well, I’m going to head home to start dinner before Luke orders pizza.” I tear my gaze away from Nathan’s to see my mom smirking at me. “Lauren, I’ll see you at home.”
I ignore the look she’s giving me and nod. “Okay, I’m right behind you.”
I grab another cookie for the road as my mom walks to the living room and waits by the front door. Before I leave the kitchen, Nathan stops me, and lowers his voice. “Let’s not tell Asher and Vincent or anyone about the fake boyfriend thing, okay?”
Quietly, I promise, “I won’t.” And then I smile at him, grateful that the proposal worked out alright, and our friendship wasn’t ruined. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Nathan.”
He flashes me his bright smile that he reserves for his friends and looks at me warmly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lauren.”