The Stand-In Boyfriend (Grove Valley High #1)(19)
It’s not that I don’t like Ferguson’s; I do. Our team has celebrated many a win here, Jessie is addicted to their chili fries, and Sophie spends a lot of time here with the cheerleaders, but I’ve never been here with Chase. The fact that I’m here with the most popular boy at school is ridiculous—we haven’t had a real conversation since we were ten, and the fact that he is insisting I pretend to be his girlfriend is actually insane. Yet, here I am, about to step into the viper pit that is his friend group.
I bite my lip as I hear his door slam on the other side of the car. I turn to face him. “Don’t even think about it, Chapman,” he tells me before I can say anything. “We’re doing this. I’m starving.” He walks around his car and I reluctantly follow him toward the entrance, thinking how surreal this is when he reaches down and grabs my hand. I react as though he’s on fire, snatching it back in surprise and looking at him with wide eyes.
He stops and rolls his eyes. “We want them to think we’re dating, and holding hands is elementary school stuff.”
It hadn’t even occurred to me that we might need to have physical contact. “We don’t need to hold hands,” I snap back. “We don’t need to do this at all.”
“We agreed, Chapman! Stop bailing on what we’ve agreed to.”
Frustration boils over. I’m sick of feeling like I have no control over this, over my feelings for Jessie—over anything. “No, you decided, Chase. That’s what happened here. You decided you wanted to stop Abigail from coming after you and you saw I was just pathetic enough about Jessie for you to push me into this.”
He opens his mouth to retort but stops himself and instead looks at me for what feels like far too long. Eventually, his face softens. “You’re not pathetic, Livy. I don’t think that—not at all. I think Stephenson’s the pathetic one for picking that psycho over you.” I look back at him, expecting to see a smirk on his face, but he actually looks sincere. “And I’m sorry I’ve pushed you into this. I just thought it could benefit both of us, but if you’re honestly not happy with it, I won’t mention it again. I don’t want you feeling uncomfortable. I’ll drive you back to your car right now.”
I sigh, my gaze drifting behind him to Ferguson’s. I can see his friends through the window, and they’ve definitely noticed us. We probably look like we’re fighting. Aaron raises his hand and waves at me, smiling encouragingly, and I manage a small smile back at him.
I turn back to Chase. “Okay, okay. Just this though, all right? We do this and then we leave it. It’ll buy you a couple of days. Abigail will hopefully get the message and leave you alone, and we can just pretend we fizzled out or something.”
“Sure,” he agrees easily—maybe a little too easily. “And I’m sure this will get back to Jessie.” My stomach tightens at the mere mention of his name. He’d love to be here with these guys, and I’m sure he’ll hear about me being here. Will he be jealous? I hope so. I glance back at Chase and he’s smirking. He knows exactly what he’s doing when he mentions Jessie around me. “Courtney is crazy though.” He steps toward the door and holds it open for me. “When we were freshmen, she wrote me a love note and shoved it in my locker along with a picture of her in her underwear.”
My jaw drops open and I stop dead in the doorway. That skank! It drives me insane that Jessie has picked her over me. Seriously, if he had to be with someone else, couldn’t he pick someone normal? Chase chuckles from behind me and gently pushes me inside. I turn to look at him and he nods toward the back of the diner, at the section his friends are seated in. I take a deep breath before following him toward them.
I finally look up when Chase stops in front of me, and I know I can’t avoid it anymore. They’re all looking at me, every single one of them, and I feel myself audibly swallow. My eyes scan over the group; it’s the usual crowd. Aaron, Brendon, and Jackson smile at me in greeting, eyes darting back and forth between Chase and me like this is a big deal. There are a bunch of other guys I’ve seen around school but never spoken to—Mikey, Seb, and Thom—and then there are the girls. Abigail looks like she wants to kill me, and Sarah Billington, Sasha Pierce, and Jennifer Dawson—all friends of Abigail’s—are all looking at me like I’m some sort of alien, and Sophie—Sophie!
“Hey,” she greets me, grinning widely. “Took you long enough.”
I smile back, instantly feeling more comfortable, and let Chase direct me to an open seat in front of her while he drops in beside me. Sophie’s friends with Sasha and Jennifer from cheerleading, but this is the last place I thought she’d be. She’s friendly enough with them, but she doesn’t usually join these guys on a Friday. She raises an eyebrow and taps her phone on the table. I instantly reach into my pocket and pull out my own phone. Sure enough, I have a text waiting for me.
Sophie: Chase found me after school and told me to come here so you’d feel more comfortable.
I quickly glance up at her in surprise and she nods her head. Then she reaches down, swipes to unlock her phone, and taps out another text, which soon appears on my screen.
Sophie: Your new boy’s thoughtful.
I roll my eyes at this and shake my head slightly. He’s not my new boy, but that is thoughtful, and nice. In fact, Chase Mitchell is turning out to be quite surprising all around.