Page 23 of Hooked On Him

“What are you doing up?” I ask, remembering the time.

He lets out a heavy sigh. “Got into another fight with Gabe,” he mutters, taking a sip of his tea. Gabe would be Cole’s boyfriend of two years.

“What’s he doing now?”

“The same old thing. Bitching and complaining. Nothing new.”

“Now I feel bad for you and don’t have the heart to rip your head off about the whole Austin thing,” I grumble, sitting in the chair at the kitchen table across from him.

“Yes. Please. Feel bad. Don’t kill me. I’m a sad person with relationship problems."

“Aren’t we all,” I sigh heavily, closing my eyes and tipping my head back. “I didn't think I'd be leaving the wedding with a new boyfriend, that's for sure.”

“A new what?” Cole practically shouts. “What the fuck happened tonight?”

“A lot.” I lower my head, glowering at him. “No thanks to you.”

“Hey.” He holds up his hands. “I only set you up on a blind date. Date. Not a blind boyfriend. Whatever that is, that's all you,” he points out. “And what is all that about?”

“First off, you suck for setting me up with my brother's best friend. Dude, what were you thinking?”

“I didn’t think it would be a big deal. You were single. Austin was single. He said he needed a date to the wedding, and you needed a date to the same wedding. I told him I’d hook him up because my buddy was attending the same wedding. I thought I was helping two of my friends.”

“You didn’t stop to think it might be weird to set me up with my brother's best friend?"

“I sure as hell wasn’t going to set you up with any of Gabe’s friends. They’re too prim, proper, and assholely for you. Austin is a good, nice guy. I thought he would be perfect.”

“I’m not denying that. He really is a nice guy. And my type. But now I’m in this big mess that I don’t know how to get out of.”

“What mess? Like that, somehow you two are dating now? Why didn’t you just decide to part ways?”

“Because I lied to my mom,” I say with a blank face. “She wouldn’t get off my back about finding a good man and settling down. She would bring it up every time I saw her. So, I told her I had a boyfriend.”

“And why would you do that?” Cole frowns.

“Because I’m stupid.” I throw my hands in the air. “I don’t know. Anyways. Mom expected my new boyfriend to be there too. I didn't want to tell her I got stood up, or that there really wasn’t a boyfriend, so Austin said we should just play it out and let everyone think we were dating.”

“He did?” Cole’s eyes widen. “And how did that go?”

“Everyone was over the moon, happy for us. Mom pretty much cried happy tears.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. My family loves Austin. So they are happy that we’re together because they want what is best for the both of us. So now, because we don’t want to crush their little hearts with our big lie, we decided to keep this fake dating thing going.”

“Whose idea was that?”

“Why does it matter?”

“Just answer the question,” he snorts.

“His. Why?”

“Interesting.” Cole smiles. “Very interesting."

“And why is it interesting?”

“I think he liiiiikes you.”