Best Served Fake

eighteen // wink, wink, hint, hint

"You told Jamie?" Madeleine said, leaning her hip against the bar. "Fuck. You have balls, sweetheart. So, everyone knows now, huh?"

I flung a dish cloth over my shoulder as I hoisted a tray of glasses into the dishwasher with a small grunt of effort. I had to at least attempt to work while I caught up with Madi. She was not putting in the same effort; legs crossed as she sipped on an iced latte that she had forced Cole to purchase from around the corner.

I sighed. "That boy has the gift of the gab. Honestly, I think he could announce news faster than a social media blast."

Madi nodded in agreement, sucking daintily on the paper straw. "I know. One time, we were, you know, doing it." She looked at me with raised eyebrows to confirm that, yes, I knew what she meant by doing it, before continuing, "And I think he talked the whole time. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome. That boy knows exactly what he's doing. But like, the whole time. He cannot keep his mouth shut."

I snorted a laugh. I could definitely see it. Between Jameson and Isabelle, Australia could win a gold medal for talking at the Olympics.

The restaurant was empty, save for Cole, giving Madeleine the adequate grilling time she'd been waiting for. It was a rainy Wednesday night, two days after the whole school had discovered the events of the weekend, and I hadn't seen Madi since I'd convinced Kai Delaney to engage in our epic charade. And epic it was.

School was a strange blend of nerve-wracking and satisfying. Tommy had been popular, but in an attainable way that anyone decent looking and likeable could be. Kai and his friends were revered. The attention was bizarre—I was unaccustomed to the unflinching focus of so many eyes—but I couldn't deny that I liked the way everyone looked at me when I was walking with Kai, or laughing with Sebastian and Will, or flirting mockingly with Jamie.

"You didn't tell him about the fake dating thing, though, did you?" Cole asked.

He was sitting on the bar stool with his patented glass of water and fixed smile, flipping a phone between his fingers lazily. He wasn't a big phone user to my knowledge; in all the times he'd visited the restaurant over the past few months, I hadn't seen him so much as pull one out to check the time. This phone, though; this phone seemed to demand his attention. He held it with a certain gentleness, as if it could fall apart. It was strange. But then, Cole was strange today. He didn't look as dishevelled as he had the other night. The clothes were clearly picked out by a blind person—he was wearing a shirt that said Wine Mum—but his hair was combed, and he'd clearly showered. His smile seemed a whole lot less faded, too.

He looked almost like the boy we'd gone to school with.

But he wasn't offering any explanations, and had never liked it when we pushed. Instead, I just rolled my eyes. "Tell Jameson about the fake dating? How stupid do you think I am?" I asked.

"You mean, like, on a scale from one to ten?" Cole asked. He looked upward, counting on his fingers. "Definitely higher than a three—"

I glowered at him. "Not on a scale, you dick. No, I didn't tell him. Kai and I aren't even in a fake relationship yet, technically. We're trying to let it progress naturally, make it believable to the general public. I mean, who is going to believe that I dumped Tommy and started fooling around with Kai Delaney in the space of one weekend?"

Madi and Cole raised their hands in unison.

I gaped at them. "You'd believe that of me?"

They looked at each other, a perfect match set, shrugged, and nodded.

"What?"

Madeleine placed a reassuring hand on my arm. "Not in a mean way! Tommy betrayed you, and that can make people move on with a little more expediency. Besides—" she added, when I opened my mouth to protest. "Kai is ridiculously hot. And isn't known for pursuing women, ever. It's just not all that hard to imagine that if a girl really caught his notoriously fickle eye, she would be all over that."