Miss Fake

Chapter 8: The Slow

“You did what?” Nina screams at me, hysterical. She has a big smile on her face and looks so proud of me.

“I told him I like him,” I answer with a smile.

“Oh my god! And what did he answer?” She keeps screaming, even more, excited than I am.

I sigh, burying my head on the pillow I was holding. “He said that Ethan would be a better match for me… I should have told him before I met Ethan…” Something inside me is telling me that it wouldn’t have changed a thing.

“You know, I was talking for a long time with him, and he can actually be pretty sweet,” Nina starts. “He was asking about you the whole time.”

“What did you tell him?” I ask, wondering how much she said.

“Nothing too personal, don’t worry. He also told me that he and Bryan are best friend and childhood friend. He was here for the week, but he was thinking of staying longer. He also said that he can convince Bryan and his friends to come to our waterfall party.” I facepalm myself and turn to Nina.

“Don’t worry, I covered for you. But next time you make a plan for us, think about telling to us first,” she answers with a smile.

“Thanks,” I say, hugging her. “You are the best.”

“Duh,” she says like it is evident and I chuckle.

We keep talking until the music slows down. I turn back to the dancefloor. There aren’t as many people as it used to be, but it still is packed. It takes me several seconds to find Bryan, who is again chatting with Ethan. Don’t they ever separate?

I turn back to Nina, who looks at me with an encouraging smile. “Go,” she whispers and I kiss her on the cheek.

I go to the boys and smile at Bryan. “Want to dance?”

He turns to Ethan, who looks tense. “I don’t dance very well, but I’m sure Ethan will be happy to dance with you.”

I keep staring at Bryan, hoping he will change his mind. Give him a chance, he mouths at me. I go closer to him, whisper lowly so he is the only one to hear me. “I’ll give him a chance if you give me a chance”.

Bryan thinks about it for a second and nods. I smile happily at him, before turning to Ethan. I take his hand and lead us to the middle of the dancefloor.

He wraps his arms around my body, and I rest my head on his chest, slowly starting to dance.

“He isn’t going to give you a chance,” Ethan starts, surprising me that he heard what I said.

“He will, he said so,” I reply, looking at him in the eye.

“He won’t,” Ethan answers with a smirk. “He only wanted to push you toward me.”

“I’ll make him fall for me,” I answer with sudden confidence I didn’t know I had.

“You can’t, you two aren’t meant to be,” Ethan answers, his body stiffens at my words.

“And we are?” I ask, highly doubting it.

“Yes,” Ethan answers, confidently.

I sigh but don’t answer. He tightens his grip on me, pulling me even more toward him, while we keep dancing. Feeling a bit awkward against his chest in front of Bryan, I push him slightly, getting back to how we use to dance. I look in Bryan’s direction, but he isn’t looking. I feel the breath of his sigh on my head.

“Why are you so obsess with Bryan?”

“I’m not obsessed,” I answer quickly, lifting my head to meet his eyes. I don’t want one of Bryan’s friends to tell him that I am obsessed with him. “I’m in love, it’s different…” I continue, shyly.

He contracts his jaw and pulls me closer again. “Why?” he asks lowly.

“He saved me,” I answer, remembering the day I fell in love with him. “A wolf attacked me, and he protected me.”

“I’m stronger than him, I can protect you better,” he replies, taking me by surprise. He looks so serious that it makes me nervous. I knew he had a crush on me, but, come on, it only has been a few hours that I met him. His eyes stare intensely at me, and there isn’t a slight sign of a joke.

“Why are you so obsess with me?” I ask him, using his own words.

“Because we are meant to be,” he replies with a smirk. I roll my eyes, a smile on my lips that I can’t stop, understanding that we are not going anywhere with this discussion

The music starts changing, the slow finishing. I promised Bryan I would dance with his friend, but it was only for one song. I put my hands on his arm, pushing him so I can get away. I smile at him, telling him I’m going to get a drink. Internally, I am glad that this slow is done, I don’t want to be near him. I have only one person in my mind, and he always gets in the way, saying useless stuff. I don’t want to listen to him, he talks like a player who wants to get a girl, and I won’t be that stupid girl who falls for his pretty words.

I find Nina and Addi chatting on the sofa. I come from behind and put my arms around my best friend.

“What’s wrong?”

I am behind her, and she can still know that I am not well. I love that girl.

“Ethan cockblocked me again,” I answer, burying my head in her hair. She laughs, and I groan.

“Rachelle came back while you were dancing with Ethan,” Nina explains to me. I turn around to sit next to her, my attention fully on her. “Don’t worry, I accidentally spilled my drink on her, again, how clumsy I am?” she tells me with an innocent smile, but she can’t hide the mischievous hint on her eyes. I laugh, knowing that on Monday, Rachelle will act as nothing happened, and so will we. Can’t have a more fake relationship with her.

“Poor Rachelle, she left after that, she couldn’t enjoy the party at all,” Addison adds innocently, with genuine innocence.

“Poor Rachelle,” I start with a fake sad face, “we should send her photos of the party to cheer her up, it will be like she was with us.” Nina grin, while Addi takes out her phone, happy. She loves taking photos, and we start a photo session on the sofa. We laugh at the face we make, taking good pictures and funny ones, sticking out our tongs, or winking at the camera. Nina asks a guy to take photos of us, so we don’t have to be squished to each other to fit in, even though it was funny to push one another to be in the center.

We look at the photos, making fun of each other, and deciding which one to post. Addison sends them all on our group chat, and we know that Rachelle will see them. We are still laughing when Nina suddenly stands up. “I love that song!”

She takes our hands, to bring us to the dancefloor, but I am starting to get a bit tired and tell her I’ll wait on the sofa. I see them getting away on the dancefloor. On the side of the dancefloor, Cristal, a new girl who transferred recently, is dancing with Bryan. She puts her hands on his shoulder, sliding on his chest, while she pretends to dance. My jaw contracts automatically. I squirt my eyes at them, in jealousy, as if it was going to separate them.

“Hey,” a voice makes me jump, taking me by surprise. “Skyler, right?”

I nod, looking at the guy. I’ve never seen him before, maybe one of Bryan’s friends. “Hi,” I answer politely.

“Your boyfriend isn’t with you?” I look at him confuse, tilting my head on the side.

“My boyfriend?”

“Yeah, I saw you dancing a slow with a guy, so I supposed he is your boyfriend…” Ethan? Ew, no!

“Oh no, I don’t have a boyfriend,” I say, smiling politely to not show disgusted by the mention of that guy.

“Really?” he says, his face lighting up. “You are really cute, so I thought you had someone.” I smile at him, liking the feeling that someone says that I am cute. “I’m Charles, by the way,” he continues with a seductive smile. He hands me a cup, and I realize that he has two drinks with him, so he prepared that one for me. I smile at the attention, and take it, thankfully.

I was about to drink from it when I feel an arm around me, and the weight of someone sitting on the sofa next to me. I refrain a sigh, recognizing this cologne that I could smelt during our slow.

“Baby, you can drink from mine if you are thirsty,” Ethan says handing me his cup with one hand while the other one takes my cup away. I try really hard to stay calm, already pissed by his possessive behavior.

“I’m good, thank you,” I answer with a fake smile, pushing away his cup. I turn to look at him, with an annoyed look, but Ethan doesn’t look at me, staring angrily at the guy, his jaw clenched.

“Are you sure? There isn’t anything weird in my cup,” he continues, still staring at the guy. “I can prove it,” he adds, looking at me this time, bringing his cup to his lips to drink from it. He raises his eyebrows at me, with a look that means see?

He hands the cup from Charles back to him, and with a movement of the chin, daring him to drink from his own cup. He takes it and smiles at me. “I see that you are already taken, and I feel like I'm unwanted so I am going to take my leave,” he says politely, still smiling at me. He stands up and goes away as he said, not looking back.

My eyes widened in realization, “he didn’t drink it,” I murmured more for myself.