The Fake Boyfriend Experiment (12 page)

“So, Rafe’s way hot,” Erin said, her eyes gleaming with interest.

I grinned at Erin and flopped back against the plastic straps of the chair. Rafe. Just the thought of him made my whole body relax. “I know.”

“Are you sure you can’t get him to come to the semi?” She propped herself up on her elbow and shielded her eyes against the sun. “I mean, Les is cute, but why would you go with him if you could go with Rafe?”

“Rafe can’t go.” I avoided her gaze by pulling off my sunglasses and polishing them on my towel. “I’ll go with Les because I want to hang with you guys at the dance. Quadruple date.”

“Really?” She eyed me, looking way too skeptical. “Why would you want to hang with us when you can be with Rafe? I mean, he’s completely sexy.”

“I spend a lot of time with him already.” I pretended to inspect my toenails, which I’d painted fluorescent orange last night. No more hiding them in my shoes. Flip flops and orange toenails today, and it felt good, I had to admit. I grinned at my fingernails. They were fluorescent orange and pink stripes. Yay me! “Especially now that I’m in his band.” I shot her a sly look. “He’s giving me private lessons to help me learn the music.”

Her eyes widened. “So, is he a great kisser or what?”

“Ah...”
Oh, way to go, Lily. Can’t you think before you open your mouth sometimes?

“Want a hot dog?”

I looked up to see Les blocking my sun, holding a couple hot dogs. “Definitely.” There was nothing like food for avoiding having to answer a question you didn’t like.

Erin harrumphed then leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Les sat down on my lawn chair, and I had to jerk my feet away from him to keep him from sitting on them. He handed me the hotdog. “So, is who a good kisser? Your boyfriend?”

I took a bite of the hot dog instead of answering. This was so wrong!

“How come he’s not taking you to the semi?” Les persisted.

I swallowed. “Because he’s...um...” What would sound good? “He’s got an audition.”

Les got that glazed look in his eyes, like he thought I was going to talk about piano again. “For what?” But he was already looking across the pool toward his friends, as if trying to figure out how quickly he could escape me.

Screw him! I wasn’t that boring, and neither was my life. “He has an audition for MTV,”I snapped. “He plays the drums.”

“What? MTV?” Erin sat up and yanked her sunglasses off to stare at me. “You didn’t tell us that! Since when?”

“They’re doing a new reality show, and they need a drummer who’s really hot and amazingly talented. Mueller-Fordham always sends a couple kids to those auditions.” Well, they always sent kids to auditions for all the top classical programs in the country, as Erin knew. It wasn’t that much of a stretch that Mueller-Fordham would also be asked to contribute to a reality show for MTV. Top music schools got noticed, end of story. I knew Erin would buy it. “Rafe got the nod this time. He’s flying down to New York for the weekend.”

Les’s mouth dropped open. “He’s going to be on MTV?”

“Yeah, but he might not make the actual show.” I took another bite of the hotdog, feeling sort of pleased with how they were both gawking at me. The fact that my fake boyfriend had an MTV audition had just catapulted my social standing. Yes, I knew it was all a lie, but it still felt good.

Erin sighed dreamily. “Of course he’ll get picked. He’s completely gorgeous. Can you imagine? Your boyfriend will be world famous!”

Les leaned over and rested his arm across my knees, which I’d propped up in front of me. “Guess you won’t see him much if he makes the show, huh?” He seemed even more interested in me now, which was a little annoying. I mean, I was taken, right? If he was a nice guy, he wouldn’t be trying to make the moves on someone else’s girlfriend, would he?

I glared at him. “My boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate that.” I wiggled my legs to get him off, but he didn’t move. I really didn’t want him touching me. I mean, he wasn’t doing anything, not really, but all I could think of was Rafe.

Rafe with the girlfriend, remember? Argh!

I decided not to make Les move after all.

“What’s the big deal about an MTV audition?” Les grinned at me. “It doesn’t matter how famous he is if he’s not around to protect his territory. If you were my girlfriend, I’d be hanging out with you all the time. No guy would get a chance to talk to you.”

Erin gave me a thumbs up from behind Les, then she hopped to her feet and headed off toward the grill, leaving me alone with Les.

Uh, oh. I was going to have to talk again, wasn’t I? I really wasn’t good at that.

“So, Lily,” he drawled, giving me some weird side-of-the eyeball look, as if he were trying to be all sexy.

“So, Les.” I took another bite of my hot dog and decided to chew for a long time. A really, really long time. Hey, it would be rude to talk with my mouth full, right?

He tapped his fingers against my shin. “You want to go to the semi with me?”

I froze mid-chew, then swallowed the whole lump in one go. My heart was pounding and I felt lightheaded. “You don’t care that I have a boyfriend?”

He grinned and flicked my bangs off my forehead with his free hand. It was the same thing Rafe had done, but with Les, it made me sort of want to swat his hand away, like he was an annoying gnat circling me.

“It’s just a dance, right?” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. It’s not like I’m trying to steal his girlfriend.” But there was a gleam in his eye that suggested that was exactly what he planned to do. His expression made my toes curl, and I wasn’t sure if it was a good curl or a bad one.

“So? Want to go?” he asked again.

I took another bite of my hotdog, pretending to play hard to get while I frantically tried to get my thoughts together. Should I go with him? I should, right? I mean, it wasn’t like Rafe was going to suddenly free up and be able to go with me. And even if he was single, he wasn’t the semi-formal type of guy. But what if he was? What if he’d go if I asked? But could I ask him? I couldn’t. Could I? No, he had a girlfriend. But what if I invited him as friends? But then what? I’d be trapped in my original lie. Les was my chance to get another guy so I could “dump” Rafe and get out of the circle of untruths that I’d woven.

“Lily?” Les’s grin had faded, and he was studying me intently. “Should I take the silence as a no?”

I swallowed my hot dog. “No.”

He frowned. “No, it’s not a no, or no, you’re not going to go with me?”

Okay, so I couldn’t help it. It was kind of funny to see Les getting all worked up after I’d been so worried about impressing him that first day. I liked being in control way better. So I grinned at him. “Which do you think it is?”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Are you messing with me?”

“Yep.” I suddenly felt much more cheerful, watching Les squirm. It was amazing the power that my fake boyfriend had given me. I’d have to be sure and thank Rafe the next time I saw him.

Les narrowed his eyes, as if he were trying to figure me out. Which he was, of course. Lily Gardner, woman of mystery. “Messing with me, as in you’re about to say no, or messing with me as in you’re planning to say yes, but you’re torturing me first?”

“Exactly!” I grinned wider at the disgruntled look on his face.

He groaned. “Lily! Are you going with me or not?”

“Yes!”

He started to smile, then frowned. “Yes, you’re going with me, or yes, you’re not?”

I patted his cheek. “I need to check with my boyfriend. Call me Sunday night and I’ll let you know, okay?”

He looked surprised. “Playing hard to get?”

“I am hard to get.”
Oh, good one, Lily
.

“It seems you are.” He grinned and trailed his fingers over my knee, his eyes bright with interest that hadn’t been there the day we’d met on the field. “I’ll call you. Definitely.” Then he stood up and walked back toward the grill.

I flopped my arms over my head and watched everyone flirting over by the grill. I was the only one not over there. I should feel good, right? I mean, Les was into me. I could quadruple date with my friends. I’d established my social status for my entire high school career.

But I didn’t feel good. Not really. I mean, I felt powerful, and that was good, but I also felt like I had a mound of clay in my chest, making it ache.

Les only liked me because I had a boyfriend, not because he thought there was anything appealing about me personally. I wasn’t an idiot, and I was well aware that he’d started being interested the moment he realized I was taken. What would happen when he found out I was socially unfettered? Would it be like the football field again? Ditching me and running away?

I was cool only because I had a fake boyfriend. A fake boyfriend with a fake MTV audition. A fake boyfriend who had a real girlfriend. A fake boyfriend who I couldn’t stop thinking about.

I was so in over my head.

“No, there isn’t. Listen.” He played a few bars on his drums. Simple, fine. “Now, compare that to this.” He played the exact same bars, but it was different. Buzzing with energy, vibrating. “See the difference?”

I pursed my lips, staring glumly at the keyboard. This was starting to feel like a piano lesson. “Yeah.”

“So, do it like that.”

I nodded, and played it again, then looked up. I bit my lip when I saw Rafe shaking his head again. “What’s wrong now?”

“You just played it louder. Louder isn’t better. Play it like you play the JamieX song.”

He was starting to sound like Crusty, wasn’t he? My head began to ache, but I sang a few lines of the JamieX song, then played the new song again.

This time I didn’t need to look at Rafe to know it wasn’t enough.

I dropped my hands and stepped back, my throat tight as all the old pressures slammed into me. That was it. The band experiment was an epic fail. Lily Gardner sucked. “You know, I think the band thing isn’t a good idea.”

Rafe rested his drumsticks on his thigh, his forehead wrinkled as if he had no clue what I was talking about. “Why are you freaking out? So you can’t get the song right yet? So what? That’s what practice is for.”

“No. It’s that stupid passion thing.” I started shaking my head and backing toward the door. “I just don’t have it. This is why I quit the piano. That’s why I’m not doing the audition. Because I can’t.” I was babbling now, but I didn’t care. “I have to leave. I just have to get out.”

“Get out?” His eyebrows shot up. “Where are you going?”

I didn’t answer him. I just yanked open the door and sprinted down the hall. Away. I just had to get away.

“Lily!”

Rafe caught up to me as I vaulted down the stairs. He grabbed my arm, I tripped, and we both went flying. His momentum sent him crashing into me, and we landed hard on the lawn. I groaned as we both sprawled across the grass, my body aching from the impact.

I didn’t bother to get up. It wasn’t worth it. Instead, I rolled onto my back and stared at the sky. The stupid blue sky. Why had I thought being inside playing in a band would be any different from being inside taking piano lessons? Nothing had changed.

“Sorry.” Rafe propped himself up on his elbow and peered down at me. “I didn’t mean to tackle you. You okay?”

“Fine. It’s my weekend for being tackled by guys, apparently.” I realized his face was right over mine. Like, his lips were inches from my face. All he had to do was lean over a little and... I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed. Rafe would never kiss me, and I needed to not think about it. “Go away.”