A Cupid's Guide To Fake Dating

Chapter 12

'A COVER,' Martins replied dully, still clutching on his sides.

'Well, that was a bad cover!'

'Then why did you say it?'

I froze, my mouth opened but no retorting words came out. Martins smirked triumphantly, standing straight. He let out a low groan, rubbing his sides again.

'Because I didn't know what else to say.' I mumbled.

Martins placed a hand on his ear and leaned forward. 'I'm sorry, mind repeating that.'

I ignored him and turned to Austin. He hadn’t said a word and I was at least expecting him to. Maybe a snide remark or even a denial. His eyes were vacant and hard to read, but it also had relief. How could they? Was he actually agreeing to this? Did he even understand what it meant? ‘Why aren’t you reacting?’

He shrugged nonchalantly and dug his hands into his pocket. ‘Cause I don’t care. You could just call your mom and tell her you were lying.’

My mouth hung open. The nerves of this guy.

‘Hey, it’s not that bad.’ Ethan grinned, coming over to me. Under the setting sun, his hair was almost tan-like; like it had been sunbathing. ‘You could lay off for a few days and tell her you guys broke up.’

These guys really didn’t know my mom. Mom wasn’t the kind of person you told you were dating someone only to break up with that person a few days later. She would literally call that person to her feet. And then her brain would start working up scenarios and assumptions as to why we had broken up. ‘It’s not that simple,’

‘It’s a good idea,’ Andre spoke up all of a sudden. Sometimes I forgot this guy was still with us. He was like a shadow that silently followed you until you saw the familiar dark silhouette and then realised what it was. He was sitting casually on a bench by the wall, his laptop on his lap with a small smile on his lips. He tipped the edge of his glasses, somehow reminding me of Maria, and typed down a few words on his laptop.

‘What is?’ I blanked out. Why did they all think it was a good idea?

Andre glanced up at me with those blue eyes of his. Yes, he really reminded me of Maria. ‘I heard your birthday party was coming up.’

‘Did Lay tell you that?’

Andre shook his head. ‘You forgot that my family has quite the reputation in this place. Connections are what we are good at. I heard my parents discussing about it. Something about a birthday s***h suitor s***h party.’ Shut up, Andre. Shut up.

‘Wait,’ Lay cut in, picking up the word suitor, much to my thanks. ‘Did Mom really say that?’

‘Well, she did say it was a good opportunity for me to find a boyfriend.’ And she was hell-bent on it too. Okay, now that I thought about it, this whole thing sounded really crazy. I dug my hand into my pocket and brought out my phone. I was going to call her right now and tell her there was no way I would-

My phone was swiped off my hand. Realising the tiny machine was out of my hand, I tried to reach for it for he proved too tall for me. He hadn’t reacted since this whole thing started. So why was he reacting now? ‘Give it!’

‘Hold up,’ he said with a sudden mischievous smirk. I didn’t like it. I never liked anything that had to do with Austin. ‘Andre is right about something. This could work to our advantage.’

‘What do you mean - to our advantage?’

He placed a finger under his chin, my phone still in his other hand. I could practically see the wheels in his head starting to turn. No, they were already turning. Was he honestly thinking this was a good idea?

'What if we started fake dating?'

‘I’d rather make out with my shoe than date you.’ The words were out before I could stop them.

‘Martin’s dog doesn’t look like a bad idea for me either.’ He retorted.

I frowned and he narrowed his eyes. Austin and I were like oil and water. Water and oil. The dog and cat that fought against each other in your backyard. There was nothing that could ever make it mix between us.

‘Come on guys,’ Ethan came to stand between us, putting off the building tension between us. ‘The i***t is right.’ He was talking to Austin. ‘You said it yourself that you needed a girl who was smarter than Kana. Elena is that girl. She’s smart and she skateboards.’ Austin and I exchanged looks.

Ethan seemed to be making a point I wasn’t getting. No, rather I didn't want to get it and I was angered by it. ‘You want to use me as a replacement?’ I folded my arms, frowning at Ethan this time around.

Ethan shrugged. ‘Weird, right?’ No, it was plain stupid. I stifled a smile. ‘And as for you, Austin could be your one way ticket to not getting yourself a suitor or whatever it is your mom wants for you, because I'm sure as hell wouldn’t want that for me.’ His face turned disgusted at the thought. I know, right? What kind of seventeen year old would let their mother plan a suitor for them? Much less a birthday party? I was finally getting Ethan’s point, sadly.

If I kept up with the farce of being in a relationship, the main reason for mom doing all this would cease. And then after a while, I could break up with Austin, and return back to my normal life. Easy come, easy go.

But then again, I still thought it was a terrible and bad idea. I glanced at Austin with obvious distaste. Yep, a very bad idea.

‘You all making a decision without even involving me,’ Lay said, sitting up from his reclining chair. Finally, I thought. Someone who would disagree. But then he pulled out a quarter from his pocket. ‘Heads, you date. Tails, you don’t.’

I gawked at him.

That was it! Lay wasn’t my brother. It was so obvious now. He had sold me out not once but twice. ‘Lay, are you really agreeing to this?’

He rolled his eyes.

Then tossed the coin up with little enthusiasm to catch it. We all watched in anticipation as the coin rolled in the air before it hit the ground. It was heads up.

‘As long as you guys don’t fall in love, I’m cool with it.’ He shrugged but his tone had a warning underneath it. Austin seemed to have noticed it.

Ethan and Martins glanced up from their knelt-down position around the quarter. ‘Does this mean you guys are a couple now?’

No. I wasn’t going to let some coin decide my fate but as I thought about what the guys had said, I knew I didn’t really have a choice and at this point I didn’t have much of it. I rubbed my palm against my face in defeat. Since I met these guys, I'd been admitting to defeat. ‘Fine,’

‘You do understand what this means, right?’ Austin asked in a warning tone.

‘Can’t be worse than how I’m feeling.’

‘Then it’s settled.’ Martins got up. ‘You guys are a couple now!’ He clapped his hands together, cheering us on gleefully. He looked way too excited. I couldn’t say the same for the rest of us. Austin slapped a palm over his mouth, shutting up his cheers.

‘This goes on until I find myself a new girlfriend,’ he said.

'And until my mom stops bothering me.'

We nodded. It was agreed.

And that my dear friends, is how you get yourself a fake boyfriend. Really, it was that simple. All you had to do was find a skate park, bump into a rider, and get bribed into joining their team and then boom! You suddenly have a partner.

Sad or what?

And as I laid on my closet-bed later that night, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep. Today’s earlier events replaying in my head like a broken T.V on repeat, and when I closed my eyes the darkness showed the scenes clearly. I was unofficially Austin Garcia’s fake girlfriend. I, cupid, had gotten into a fake relationship.

The irony of it all.

With an agony that matched the pain on my shoulder, I pulled my bed cover over my head and groaned. What had I gotten into?