Page 27 of Fake Skating

“So I’m not sure if I should go or not.”

Cassie stood next to my locker as I put in my combination, trying to get me to help her decide if she should go out with someone I hadn’t met.

I didn’t have an answer, but she’d finally stopped questioning me about why I wasn’t quite sure if I had the manager job locked down yet, so I was willing to discuss people I didn’t know all day long.

Also—I didn’t hate that she seemed to genuinely want my opinion.

Like we were friends.

“He sounds nice,” I said, pulling up on the release latch. “But what’s the chemistry like? Is there awkward silence when you’re together, or is he someone you can—”

Gummy bears.

I stopped talking because when I opened my locker door, a bag of gummy bears dropped down from the top shelf, swinging out at me from where it was connected by what appeared to be a strand of twine.

“What the heck is that?” Cassie reached out and grabbed the bag, holding it so she could read the note that was attached to the front of the candy.

COLLINS—

I DON’T KNOW IF YOU STILL INHALE THESE LIKE YOU USED TO, BUT I SAW THEM IN THE MACHINE AND THOUGHT OF YOU.

—A

P.S. MY BOOK SMELLS LIKE YOUR PERFUME AND IT’S DISTRACTING AS HELL

Oh wow.

I stared at the scrawled-out note and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Thoughts were bouncing around in my brain, chaotic little comments that were all over the place.

He remembers my gummy bear addiction.

There are obvious security concerns at Southview if he was able to get into my locker.

His handwriting is surprisingly nice.

Does his book actually smell like my perfume?

This is so thoughtful.

This is an act.

“Okay, Dani,” Cassie said, letting go of the swinging bag to look at me with huge eyes and a gaping mouth. “What the hell is going on? Who put this in your locker?”

“I, um, I think—”

“I mean, you don’t even really know anyone yet, right, except for Zeu—oh my God, Zeus ?” She screeched his name when she realized, grabbing my upper arms. “I thought you guys were just old friends! You said you were like strangers, didn’t you?”

I was torn between being excited that this fake thing might be easy to pull off, and terrified because I still really didn’t want to do it.

“Shhhh,” I said, ripping down the bag of bears, trying not to smile but failing. I lowered my voice and said, “It’s no big deal. We were like strangers, but we’ve started talking a little, kind of… reconnecting. We’re just, um, old friends catching up.”

“Sure you are.”

“Seriously.”

“Holy shit , though,” she said, giving my arms a shake. “You gave him your locker combination already?”

“No,” I said with a shrug, shaking my head because my dismay at this was absolutely genuine. “I have no idea how he got in.”

“That’s so sweet,” she said, smiling.

“Or felonious. He broke-and-entered.”

“Because he wanted you to have candy,” she added in a singsong voice. “The boy is out here committing crimes foryou.”

That made me laugh and kind of wish I weren’t lying to her.

But there was no way I could trust her enough not to.

Why was I feeling giggly when this wasn’t even real?

The warning bell rang, which meant we had two more minutes.

“I’ll see you later,” Cassie said, taking off in the other direction as I pulled out my phone.

I texted: Thank you for the gummy bears.

He was quick with the response.

Alec: I cannot see a bag of gummy anything without thinking of you.

That made me smile, the fact that he remembered.

It wasn’t easy to concentrate after that, because I was a little keyed up.

Playing this game with Alec was kind of fun, which I hadn’t expected.

He seemed a lot like the old Alec, in this world of pretend, and every tiny piece of me wanted that to be true so badly, because I missed my best friend so much.

But I needed to remember that that wasn’t him anymore.

He might be capable of fun, but he was now Zeus the Hockey God, a guy I couldn’t trust.

Keeping that in mind proved difficult, however, because he was a very entertaining fake flirtation.

He showed up at my locker with Vinny and Richie after sixth period just to say hey and see if I’d eaten all the bears yet (I had, which made him grin like I was adorable), and when he met me there after school, he grabbed the scarf from my hands and wrapped it around my neck like he was a parent bundling up a child about to play in the snow.

I laughed in spite of myself, and then I laughed even more when he took his Southview beanie out of his coat pocket and put it on my head with both hands, saying, “You lose a lot of body heat through the head, Collins, so a wimp like you needs to get a hat.”

I rolled my eyes, and then my stomach flipped all the way over when he bent at the knees so our faces were level, gave me a half smile, and said, “You look good in mine—you should keep it.”

My breath was stuck in my throat as he flirted so well that I had trouble remembering how to speak. I met his gaze and said, “Thanks.”

“You got it,” he said, tugging on a strand of my hair. His eyes were all over my face before he added in a murmur, “Danigirl.”

Sweet holy God.

It was confusing to stare up into the face of this incredibly attractive guy, an oversized specimen of a world-class athlete with a hard jaw, while getting a glimpse of the old Alec Barczewski when his mouth slid into a smile.

“What the hell is this?” Vinny said with a questioning smirk, and—God—I hadn’t even noticed he was there.

“Yeah, get a room,” Richie added, and it was wild the way I hadn’t noticed either of them because all I’d been able to see was Alec.

“So good luck tonight, you know, at your game,” I said like a dope, blinking fast in hopes that I wasn’t looking at him through pathetic heart eyes or something.

I was positive he got that from most human females because, well, damn .

Like, bravo, Mother Nature.

“Thanks,” he replied in a low voice, his eyes getting a playful squint as he raised my scarf to cover my chin, like he was helping me stay warm (again).

I felt a little hypnotized as his… bigness surrounded me. Tall body, wide shoulders, big hands—he was obviously a very physical guy, always nudging with a shoulder or yanking on a curl, and it was going to take some getting used to.

Especially when he wielded direct eye contact like some kind of weapon.

I needed to start reminding myself to breathe or there was going to be a lot of passing out during the course of this fake relationship. I said, “Call me later?”

I could tell by the quick blink of his eyes that I’d surprised him, but he quickly recovered.

“Try and stop me, Collins.”