Page 18 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend (Port Lane Romances #3)

eleven

I parked my car in Alexander's driveway early Saturday afternoon, but didn't get out immediately.

I sighed and leaned my head back against the headrest, taking a moment to think to myself.

The Christmas party last night had been so great, and I'd stayed out as close as possible to my curfew.

But it had also caused me a bit of an issue — I was pretty sure I was falling for Alexander.

But I couldn't act on it. Not yet, at least. I probably just thought I was interested in him because we were pretending to be a couple.

That was it: I was just getting confused because he was pretending to be romantic around me.

Once this fake relationship was done, I would go back to the regular I-know-nothing-will-ever-happen crush.

Besides, thinking that Alexander would never hurt me the way Joseph did was probably wrong, anyway. Too good to be true.

As I turned off the engine, my phone dinged. It was the special text tone I had selected for Liv. I quickly checked it.

Hey, want to go out for coffee?

I hated to say no to Liv, both because I genuinely did love spending time with her and because I was a little worried that if I said no too many times, then she would just stop asking altogether. But I obviously wasn’t going to cancel on Alexander just to go out with her.

Sorry, I’m hanging out with Alexander all weekend! After school Monday?

For sure! :)

With that problem solved, I finally got out of my car and made my way up the driveway. It felt like such a long walk to go knock on Alexander's door, but I was excited to see him. When I got there, I took a deep breath and knocked.

After a few moments, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and then the door opened.

“Hey!” Alexander said with a big smile. “Come in.”

He stepped aside so I could come into the house. I stomped my boots to get the snow off of them before coming in and taking them off.

His house looked the same as it always did at Christmas. The walls were covered in holiday decorations, and every available surface was piled high with brightly coloured wrapping paper. Garland was wrapped around the banister of the stairs and over every archway.

“Are you baking something?” I asked. “It smells good.”

Alexander's cheeks turned red, and he avoided my gaze.

“Uh, yeah... when my mom found out I had you over, she insisted that I bake you cookies,” he said. He ran a hand through his hair. “Said I have to work hard to impress my girlfriend.”

My heart melted a little at the explanation, and I once again had to remind myself that we weren't actually dating.

“That's so sweet.”

“I would wait to say that until you taste them,” he said. “They're probably not very good.”

“I'm sure they're great,” I said.

Alexander's face lit up. He led me into the kitchen just as the timer went off. He opened the oven and pulled out two trays of cookies. He quickly moved about ten cookies over to a plate.

“We can eat them while we watch the movies,” he said.

“Sounds great,” I said. We walked over to the living room, where a small fire was already blazing in the fireplace.

Next to it stood the tall Christmas tree, covered in perfectly placed ornaments, with presents piled underneath.

There was one covered in skating penguin wrapping paper with my name on it.

All of us opened one present here on Christmas Eve: a pair of pyjamas that we wore to bed that night.

Between the fire, the cookies, and the soft Christmas lights, the living room felt cozy. We both settled down on the couch and pulled a big blanket over us.

“So, these are all my favourites Christmas movies,” Alexander said, gesturing at a pile of about twelve DVDs on the coffee table. “I wasn't sure which ones you've seen before, but I'd be happy to watch any of them.”

“Why not all of them?” I asked.

“Really?” He asked, a twinkle in his eyes. I smiled.

“Yeah,” I said. “I've got nowhere to be. Let's do it.”

Alexander's face lit up, and he began to pile the movies into a good watching order. In the end, he decided we'd start with the shortest movie on the list — Rudolph — and work our way up. He then split the pile into two, one to get through today and one for tomorrow.

We laughed and watched and ate pizza and cookies, and by the time the last movie of the day was over, it was midnight. I was lying on the couch, my head in Alexander's lap, and he was running his fingers through my hair. I was so comfortable that I could have fallen asleep right then and there.

I had never belonged here as much as I did now, in this house, with this boy.

Sometimes, when I got overwhelmed by being a part of my huge family, I liked coming over here and spending time with Alexander's mom.

She loved having me around because she said I was like the daughter she never had.

For me, it was nice to feel like I was the priority in somebody's life rather than one of the many kids my parents had to keep track of.

I wondered whether in all those days that I had been here and all the holidays' Alexander and I had spent together if his mom had wished for us to be like she saw us now — in love, with me as part of the family.

I wondered whether she would ever forgive us if she found out the truth.

I wish I'd thought this plan through more when we first started it. All I'd been worrying about was making Joseph think we were together. I hadn't even thought about the people we might hurt in the process.