Just Fake It

CH9 : Comeback Kid

I hate crying.

In fact, I can't remember the last time I cried about something. There's always a shitty empty feeling, but it never sends me over the edge like this. I've been so pissed that I've broken things, but never with tears in my eyes. I must be close to getting my period, because there's no other explanation as to why I'm crying in Chase's garage.

It takes Chase a few seconds to take in the fact that I'm sobbing like a loser in front of him before the closed off look in his face leaves. The look is replaced by one of utter horror.

I don't do much except cry and stand in the same spot, and neither does Chase for the first few seconds, until he springs into action and ends up beside me. I figure he's going to say some comforting thing to try to make me feel better, so I hear him out.

"I didn't know you could cry." He says, instead. He's looking at me with a mixture of horror and astonishment, peering close to my face examining me as if I were a science project. I take all of two seconds before I'm slapping him in the arm.

"I'm not a robot!" I defend, but my tears stop coming because I'm feeling kind of offended.

"No, it's just—" Chase cuts himself off with a swing of his head, like he's trying to clear it.

"Are you alright?" He tries again. I can feel the tips of his fingers reaching up to grab my free hand, but I freak out and pull away. He does the same and sends me a look of apology for trying to hold my hand, which only makes me angry towards myself for not letting him touch me.

"I promised myself I would ignore you for the day, but I kind of want to know what's in the bag." He says, looking towards the paper bag I still have clutched with my other hand with a small smile. He's trying, even though he did seem angry at me when I walked into the room. I finally feel like I've pulled myself together enough, so I roll my eyes and hand him the bag. I watch him unroll the top and pick a lemon bar out of the top.

"It's hard to be mad at you for long, Robo Jace." Chase says, popping the whole bar into his mouth and heading back towards the worktable.

"What did I do? And don't call me that!" I also want to ask how he managed to fit the whole lemon bar in his mouth, but that seems small compared to my other comments. Chase smiles at the last thing I say, but then it falls.

Then he acts totally interested in whatever he was measuring before. I'm about to bitch at him for ignoring me, but then he sighs, runs a hand through his hair, and hands me his cell. Then he goes back to measuring, but I read the long text message and focus on that. By the time I finish reading I'm ready to smash Chase's phone with a conveniently accessible hammer that's lying on the worktable.

Caroline, that bitch! I reread the text one more time because I can't believe that she went and texted Chase about seeing me with Mike. She went as far as telling him how bad she felt knowing that I was cheating on him. My mind raced back to the letter she wrote him and there were hints on the parallels of the situation. She even asked if the guy was someone close to him, as if she really cared if that would hurt him when she was the one that got with his friend behind his back for real. It was too much. If I thought I hated Caroline before, it was nothing compared to what I was willing to do to the backstabbing bitch now.

Then I started thinking of how Chase saw things and felt like an asshole, myself. I'd made him look bad again in front of his friends. Not only had his last girlfriend left him for someone else, now his new one was supposedly cheating on him. It looked like it sucked to be him.

"I told her Mike was my cousin! Does the bitch think I'm into incest?" I shriek. Chase flinches when the pitch of my voice practically breaks his eardrums. I can't help it, I'm feeling heated about the whole thing. How dare she fuck up my fake relationship? The nerve. I can't.

"You told her the guy you were on a date with was your cousin?" Chase asks, looking kind of disturbed.

"I was with Mike! We were just hanging out." I don't know why I try to defend myself. Of course Mike and I were just hanging out, he's banging Chase's brother. I don't need to clear up the relationship between Mike and I, but I do anyway which kind of bothers me.

"So you weren't on an actual date?" Chase starts looking a little less bothered, which I find interesting.

"No. I can't believe she went and told you." I say, still reeling from her text.

"She's a good friend. She was just looking out for me." Chase says, reaching into the bag of brownies and lemon bars again. He doesn't want to look me in the eye. I slap his hand before he's able to grab anything.

"Good friend my ass! She obviously gets off on seeing you suffer." I'm feeling angry at him and for him. It's a weird combination.

"You don't know Caroline like I do." Chase defends, baked goods forgotten. I want to yell at him to open his eyes about the dick that Caroline is, but I'm not going to waste my breath. I have bigger things to take care of, like getting back at Caroline and her scheming ass.

"Chase." I say his name sweetly, my mind going through different plans of attack. Chase looks at me with a nervous expression. He knows I'm plotting something. I shimmy my way over to his side of the table and get close, but not too close because that would be too much.

"Are your friends planning another get together?" I ask with the same sweet tone of voice. I'm laying it on thick, so Chase isn't buying it.

"Oh, no. My friends think I got cheated on again, so our fake relationship is over." He looks at me like it's final, which causes a weird tilting feeling, like the floor is moving. I try not to let it show.

"But you didn't get cheated on. I was there with my cousin, right?" I try to clarify. He doesn't look like he's budging so I try again.

"Your friends won't think that what Caroline said was true if we show a united front. Trust me. I can do this." This time I reach for his hand the same way he did for mine earlier. He doesn't pull away like I did, which is a relief.

"There is this party..." He trails off, looking unsure as hell. It's good enough for me.

"Perfect! When is it?" I ask, still holding his hand.

"Tomorrow night, but—" I don't let him finish.

"Good. You'll pick me up at eight tomorrow and we'll go." I don't bother to see his response because I don't want to give him a chance to say no. I live in a gated community, so I debate telling him to pick me up outside of the gates, but then figure that I've had guys over before and it would be a dick move. I could pick him up, but that would be weird. With that, I let go of his hand and grab the paper bag with sweets. I'm halfway out of the room before I realize he's not following.

"You coming? I'm not going to play Fifa by myself." I don't wait for his response again, this time because I'm too busy walking and planning the killer outfit I'll be wearing tomorrow night.

Not even Chase knows what's coming for him.

I've been Mike's fake girlfriend for years and if there's something I'm good at being it's someone's girlfriend. 

EEEEP. HOPE YOU GUYS LIKED THE CHAPTER. FUNNY STORY, I ACCIDENTALLY POSTED THIS CHAPTER ON A DIFFERENT STORY LMAO. #WhyDoIBetrayMyselfLikeDis