Hoodwinked | Calum Hood AU

8.

When Luke said he'd prepared some guidelines, he wasn't kidding. "Rule number one," he's reading from the Notes section of his phone now that we are in my bedroom and safely away from Alfie's prying ears. "No sex."

"Obviously," I roll my eyes. I'm sitting on my bed, picking at a stray white cotton that's come undone from the rest of the sheet.

"I know it's probably going to be hard for you to keep your hands off of me," I look up to see Luke licking his lips, drawing the corners of his mouth up into a smile, "But we have to keep this strictly business, Ruby."

"Rule number two, as suggested by you in the kitchen before, we keep family members out of this. As far as they're concerned, we're just friends as usual. Right?"

"Right," I nod. I'm still skeptical this is even going to work but Alfie already adores Luke and I don't want him to become confused by watching us date and then, inevitably, break up.

"Rule number three and again, this might be hard for you because I'm pretty charming but no falling in love with one another."

I laugh, "You're the boy next door, Luke. If we were going to fall in love, it would have happened by now."

It's funny now but when I first met Luke, I thought he was insanely hot. I was only fourteen at the time and in the middle of a phase where I was attracted to anyone with blue eyes and blonde hair. I also had posters of Jesse McCartney on my walls, please don't judge me.

Anyway, that didn't last long though, and once I set my sights on Calum there was no going back.

"Rule number four, if one of us decides it's time to fake break up, the other has to agree without questions. And number five, we can't tell anyone about this arrangement."

"I'm going to tell Joss."

"No, you're not."

"She's my best friend." And there's no way she'll believe that Luke and I suddenly started dating. No way.

"She'll tell Michael five seconds after you tell her," Luke argues, locking his phone and putting it back into his jeans pocket. Unfortunately, he's annoyingly right. "And Michael can't keep his mouth shut about anything. If we want this to work, we tell no one."

I simply nod, because as much as I don't want to hide this from Joss, I agree with what Luke is saying. And then I ask something that's been gnawing away at me since Luke arrived here earlier "Why are you doing this?"

"Let's just say that this arrangement is going to be mutually beneficial," he winks.

"How so?"

"I've had my eye on someone for a while. I want to show her that I'm capable of being in a relationship," he shrugs, sparking my curiosity. He's never usually this vague, especially when it comes to details about girls.

"Who is it?"

"No one that you know," he says quickly and I leave it at that.

It's Sunday night, and Dad, Alfie and I are sitting at table, eating macaroni and cheese. I'm pretty sure it's the only thing my dad knows how to cook, and luckily it's Alfie's favourite.

"What's everyone been up to?" Dad asks. There are dark circles underneath his eyes, a sign of all the hours he's been working lately. I'd tell him to go to bed but he wouldn't listen. He feels guilty that he isn't home much.

"Ruby went to a party with Luke on Friday night," Alfie says quickly.

"Why'd you have to dob me in?" I ask, gently kicking his foot under the table. "I made you pancakes this morning!"

Alfie shrugs and Dad puts his fork down, "I thought we'd spoken about no parties on nights that I'm working," he says patiently.

"It's not like Alfie was here by himself. Finn babysat him."

"And he didn't even tell me to brush my teeth!" My nine year old brother says. Sometimes, because of how smart he is, I forget how young he is. He's capable of being such a brat sometimes.

"I was home by midnight, too," I add, trying to build my case. I don't know why he cared so much if I went out when he was working. I'd never leave Alfie here by himself or put him in danger.

"It's still the rule," he says, the frown lines heavy in his forehead. They've been there since Mum left. "I need to be able to trust you to run things when I'm not here."

I can see Alfie shrinking back in his seat, his big hazel eyes filled with guilt that he's ruined the one family dinner we've had all week.

"I'm sorry I broke the rule," I say quietly. "But I'm a seventeen year old, not a parent."

Luke meets me at my house the next morning so that we can ride to school together. Apparently this is a thing that couples do, Luke tells me, and I bite my tongue to stop myself from asking how he would know anything about relationships, given he's never been in one.

I find a vacant carpark and turn off the ignition. Luke hands me my bag and gives me a smile, "Ready?"

"No," I laugh. I'm not prepared enough for this at all. I've never been a great liar.

We walk towards the two tables where most of our friends are already sitting. Calum's there, talking to another boy named Heath, and Joss and Michael are there, holding hands and whispering things into each others ears.

Luke catches me off guard, lacing his fingers through mine and holding of my hand as we walk over to everyone. Even though I know it's fake, tiny nerves flood my stomach, growing as we get closer to our friends.

It's Michael who sees us first, and he nudges Joss who can barely tear her eyes away from his. When she does, her brown eyes double in size and she stands up, staring at Luke and I. "What the hell?" she shrieks.

i feel like some of you think you have this story figured out already but everything isn't as it seems ;)