The Dating Game

ELEVEN

Chase's legs are sprawled out long in front of him as he buries his face in his hands. His whole body is flat on the floor like a child and I am yet again left to wonder how I got myself into this mess in the first place. With him, of all people.

"How are you gonna fail?" Holly asks as Chase peels himself off of the floor and sits upright once again.

"Michelle plays hard to get," Chase falsely explains to her. Half-falsely. I don't play hard to get with everyone—I would let Miles have me any time he wants. I just so happen to love playing the hard for Chase Matthews to get game.

Yet, he whines again. "She's not gonna let me touch her."

And I shouldn't have to! My body belongs to me and I can choose who gets to touch it and who doesn't—including some fake boyfriend I'll only be seeing for a month.

"Well," Holly shifts her gaze to me, staring me down with swords for eyes, "She better."

Who does she think she is? She can't just-

"Unless she wants to lose the game."

God, damn it. I hate this stupid overwhelming need to win at everything I do. Even with no prize, no promise for any actual reward beyond a month of kissing experience, my mind still finds a way to prioritize winning a stupid game over anything else.

So, I guess if I want to win, I have to play by the stupid rules.

"Fine, whatever," I reluctantly agree, haphazardly throwing my arms up in defense with a roll of my eyes.

Knowing Chase, I can tell what direction he's likely planning on going this week. I can practically smell the putrid aroma of fresh douchebag on him already.

"Anyway, the mission for the second week is simple touching," Holly continues with her ridiculous meeting, completely ignoring my blatant disinterest.

"The mission for the third week, though? Not so simple."

"What is it?" Chase asks when she neglects to elaborate any further.

"Meeting the parents." Holly just about shivers as her face drops six shades at the mere mention of our parents. I can almost hear the dramatic DUN DUN DUN of a piano as soon as the words leave her lips.

"How is that so bad?"

"Have you met Michelle's parents already?" Her voice sharpens as she raises it for a deeper intimidation effect.

"Yeah, actually." Chase does the same, crossing his arms. "And they seemed fine."

"Well, maybe it wasn't so bad for you, but Michelle's gonna have a hard time with your parents."

"You don't know that."

Holly's eyes narrow deeper at Chase, the ice of her petrifying stare freezing him in place. Just the mere expression on her face is enough to shut him up and the rest of the group join me in sitting silently and uncomfortably confused.

"Maybe your dad is okay, but your step-mom..."

Chase finally budges from his seat. "Don't talk about her like that, Holly. She's more of a mother than your mom ever was." Wait, what?

The way the words fall so calmly out of Chase's mouth makes it sound almost like he knows Holly's mom. And almost like he knows her a little bit too well.

Are Chase and Holly related?

"Oh, you little-" Holly's face burns bright red as she rolls up her sleeves.

"So!" Dylan interrupts their overly baffling bickering, "What about the last week?"

Holly finally shifts her death stare from Chase to a calmer gaze in Dylan's direction. She takes a sharp breath through her nose with her eyes squeezed shut before she lets it out with a relaxed grin. She looks much more peaceful, but I would be way too scared to push her buttons right now.

"That one's the hardest of all, but it's a simple rule," she continues with less grimacing and more teeth in her smile, "Just try not to fall in love."

"Wait, how is that a harder one?" Chase asks. I don't get it either. It'll be so easy not to fall in love with that guy. Other than his insanely good looks, he's really got nothing going for him.

"Well, the 'not falling in love' stage includes a lot more things," Holly explains without sparing him a single glance. I kind of feel like she'll try to kill him if she even looks his way right now.

"Like what?" he pushes. God, what an idiot.

Holly stares at him again, but before she can do anything, Dylan grabs her shoulders and holds her back as he cuts in for her.

"I think I know what she might be talking about," he starts to explain in a much cooler tone than the one Holly would be using. The rest of us fix our attention on him before he continues.

"I'm assuming she means something like looking at each other more intently, kissing with more passion, spending more time with each other; you know, all that stuff that makes couples fall in love."

I finally start to understand whatever is happening, though it's still shocking when I hear myself actually engage by asking a question.

"So, we basically have to act like we love each other to make it harder not to love each other?"

Holly finds a new zen and responds cheerfully, "Exactly."

Everyone nods and Holly gets back to the meeting with her usual chirpy attitude as if the last few minutes never even happened. "But let's not get too ahead of ourselves. First, we need to cover some important aspects of the game."

She picks at the turf on the ground and begins talking while fumbling with it, "For one, even though this is a game in general, your separate relationships are all real. The main goal is to be a couple for a month, not act like a couple for a month."

Oh. So we're technically actually dating, not just pretending that we are. With that knowledge, it makes so much more sense as to why we're required to go on dates and kiss and all of those disgusting couple activities. I thought we only had to act like we were dating in public, but I guess not.

"That means visiting each other out of school, texting and calling often, eating lunch together, things like that," Holly says, "Anyway, since we have all that covered, you guys can leave now. Please remember to touch and shit since it's the only mission for the second week."

Everyone takes the hint and starts to get up, dusting the leftover turf off of their clothes. I follow suit, quickly falling into step with Chase as he walks toward the double doors of the gym. It's a newly formed habit to walk beside him, even though I can't stop myself from being slightly intimidated by the new mission for this week. I still can't believe I'm going through all of this just for some stupid game with no real prize. But now it's too late to quit.

"So, Michelle, baby," I hear Chase say next to me, sliding his arm around my waist.

"Touching already? The week only just started," I inform him without even sparing him a glance.

"Exactly," he smiles. "Gotta get all the little touches in so we have time for the more important ones."

"You better not get any ideas, Matthews," I threaten. "I'm not gonna let you take control again like always."

"Oh? Someone sounds confident."

"That someone sure is confident. Confident that you won't be the only one having fun in this relationship." I walk off, not allowing myself to make any more empty promises I know I can't keep.

Up until this point, I haven't been too worried about the rules of the game. It's been simple and to the point, which are two of the best characteristics to have. Kissing is fine. Holding hands is fine. But I swear to God, if Chase tries to touch me without my permission, I'll be out of this game quicker than I can punch him. I won't care a single second longer about being known as a quitter, and I sure as hell won't care when he shows up to school with a broken nose.