Be Rude but Love Me | ✔

CHAPTER 9

The next day, Ellie and I drive to the outskirts of town, where the preparations for the fair have started. Once we get out of the car, we are greeted by Will who's been waiting for us at the entrance.

"How are my favorite girls in the world?" He asks with a bright smile.

Ellie doesn't feel so chirpy so early in the morning however and rolls her eyes at him. "Don't try to sweet-talk your way out of it Will," she warns with a glare before stomping off ahead of us.

Staying back with Will and nudging him quietly, I chuckle. "Sweet-talk your way out of what?" I ask.

Will groans next to me before stuffing his hands in his front pocket. "We had a challenge and I lost. Now I have to play Bob the builder around the fairground instead of coordinating things like I usually do."

"What was the challenge about?"

Will ducks his head sheepishly, "Achockleteetincontess."

I creep in closer to him and say, "Repeat that." I haven't heard what he said but I can already tell it is hilarious. I am smiling in spite of myself at his embarrassed face.

Will sighs loudly and repeats more audibly this time, "A chocolate eating contest."

I stop dead in my tracks, horrified. My eyes bulge out of their sockets and I stare at Will in disbelief. "Are you out of your mind?" I exclaim and he turns even more embarrassed. "Ellie is the biggest chocolate-eater on this planet, you had no chance whatsoever!"

"I know," he says with an apologetic shrug. "Can't say I didn't try."

"Aww," I coo and walk up to him. I take his face into my hands and pinch his cheeks, "Come on, it can't be that bad."

We follow Ellie under a tent as she takes a clipboard and looks at us. She turns serious and all sleepiness is gone from her face. "Tracy, you're staying with me throughout the day. I wouldn't mind a PA, honestly, now that my PA has turned into a handyman." She gives a pointed look in Will's direction, a smirk on her face.

Will scoffs at her with a roll of his eyes, "I was never your PA. We were equals out there."

Her smirk turns even meaner and I can't help but smile at the way these two are always at it. "Well, not today, cowboy." She looks down at her clipboard and lifts her head back at him, "You're needed near the rides. I heard they're short of a man."

Will glares at her for a few seconds before walking away. When he's finally gone, I turn to her. "When are you going to admit you like the guy, huh?"

I rest my hip against the edge of a desk and watch as she busies herself around, searching through various stacks of papers. She pauses briefly and turns to face me, a scowl on her face.

"What are you talking about? I don't like Will."

"Yeah, right," I roll my eyes. "You don't like Will as much as I don't like Sam Claflin."

I have an unhealthy obsession with Sam Claflin. I have watched all the movies he's starred in – whether it was lead or secondary roles. I don't care. If he is in a movie, I need to watch it. He could be the janitor in a high school movie that appears from 48:37 to 48:38 – literally for just one second in a movie – and I would still watch it. Yeah, I'm obsessed, you got that right.

Ellie sighs as she stops rifling through her papers and leans against a desk herself, looking at me. "Well if anything, I'd say the two of you are quite comfortable with each other."

I laugh at her ridiculous insinuation but she only quirks an eyebrow at me. "That's because we find it easier to get along with people we're not interested in." I say, recalling how Will had told me a few days earlier that we were getting along in person even better than he had expected. When I had asked the reason why, he'd said, "It's easier for me to forge a bond with girls I'm not interested in. Less complicated."