Page 19 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend (Port Lane Romances #3)

twelve

I woke up slowly, stretching my arms and yawning.

I could feel Alexander's warmth next to me, and I smiled in relief when I realized he was still there. His fingers loosely intertwined with mine, his breathing deep and even. I nuzzled my head into the crook of his neck and closed my eyes, resting for a few minutes longer. I was drifting off again when I heard loud footsteps upstairs. I jerked awake, suddenly becoming much more aware of where I was and what I was doing. Why were Alexander and I cuddling? We must have moved in our sleep, right? It didn’t matter, anyway.

The crux of the issue was that I fell asleep in his house and if I didn’t move soon, I was going to get caught.

I got up and thought quickly. Could I get out the door without one of his parents seeing me leave? The sound of it opening would probably alert them that something was happening, but maybe I could pretend like I was just arriving. But for us to pull that off, Alexander needed to be awake.

“Alexander,” I hissed, shaking his arm. He groaned and rolled away from me. “Wake up!”

I huffed as he kept snoring, his eyes closed and his face relaxed. I shook him again.

“Go’way,” he mumbled tiredly.

“I can’t,” I said. “I need to get out of here before your parents realize I was here all night!”

“Too late.” The voice sent chills running down my spine. My head shot up, and I locked eyes with Francine Rigby, staring at me from the doorway with her arms crossed and eyebrows raised. I slowly stood up to full height and clasped my hands behind my back.

“Uh, hi, Francine,” I said. “W-we were just….”

“You can relax, darling,” Francine said. She smiled. “I know you just accidentally fell asleep last night.”

“Really?” I asked. I practically fell over from the relief. I’d never done anything like this before, and I had no idea how either of our moms would react to it. “I’m really so sorry about this. I meant to go home, but then we got caught up watching movies and drinking hot chocolate and?—”

“Penny, breathe,” she said. “I promise I’m not mad. I know you’re good kids.”

I couldn't believe it! Francine wasn't mad at me at all! We'd really lucked out.

I smiled, relieved. “Thanks,” I said. “Um, do you want me to help you make breakfast? I'm sure Alexander won’t wake up for a while, anyway.”

Francine grinned at her sleeping son and nodded. “That would be great. Thank you, hon.”

We started making breakfast together, and it was actually fun. We laughed and joked as we cooked, and I felt like I was a kid again, staying at her house while my parents were away.

By the time Alexander woke up, we had breakfast all set and ready to eat. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, stretching as he got up. I smiled at him, and we shared a quick hug before I left, relieved that everything had gone smoothly. I didn't know what I would have done if things had gone wrong.

“So, what's on the agenda for you two today?” Francine asked as we cleared the table after eating.

“More movies,” I said. “Alexander's got a whole pile of them for us to get through.”

“The Polar Express is first,” Alexander said. “I still can't believe you haven't seen it.”

I shrugged helplessly. “I've read the book.”

He shook his head. “It's not the same.

“Well, have fun,” Francine said. She looked at Alexander. “Your dad and I are going to pick up Rhys from college today, so we won't be home until dinnertime, okay?”

He nodded. “See you then.”

“Where is your dad, anyway?” I asked.

“Asleep, probably,” Alexander said. “Where did you think I got it from?”

I laughed and followed him into the living room. He set up the movie quickly, then jumped back onto the couch beside me, making me bounce.

“You're going to love this,” he promised, then he pressed play. I had to admit I had some doubts about it, but I quickly found myself immersed in the movie.

“Hey Penny, your phone’s ringing,” Alexander said as we got near the end of the movie.

“Hm?” I barely even registered what he was saying, focused as I was on the movie.

“Your phone,” he repeated.

“Can you get it?” I asked distractedly. I saw him roll his eyes out of the corner of my eye, but he leant down to grab my phone from my bag at his feet. “It’s probably just Liv.”

“Liv?” Alexander asked. “I didn’t know you two talked outside of school.”

“We saw her at a party two days ago.”

“Yeah, but a party with all my friends,” Alexander said. “I just didn’t know you were friends outside of that now.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not at all.” He grinned. “Actually, I think it’s great.”

He finally pulled the phone free from the bag, but then he frowned at the screen without answering. The phone stopped ringing for a good few seconds before it started anew, like the person was calling back.

“It’s Joseph,” he said.

“What?” I finally paused the TV and pulled my gaze away from the movie. Alexander turned the phone toward me so I could see it. “Why would he call me?”

He hadn’t called in a while. When we first broke up, he was blowing up my phone every day, giving me missed call after missed call, trying to explain himself, but he eventually gave up. I hadn’t heard from him at all since our conversation in the hallway the other day.

I knew I should have just blocked his number by now, but I was too curious about how much he would call me and what he would say in his voicemails — even though it was all just crap about how much he loved me and had made a mistake.

Anyway, blocking his number wasn’t a permanent solution.

We still saw each other in school anyway, so there was no way to avoid him.

I was considering telling Alexander to just deny the call, but then I thought of a better idea. I should rub it in Joseph’s face that I was dating someone new — the same way he had rubbed his relationship with Nikki in my face.

“You know what, Alexander? Why don’t you answer the phone for me? You know, as my boyfriend.” I smiled deviously and winked. “Tell him I’m not here.”

“I like your style,” Alexander grinned. He cleared his throat and answered the phone on speaker-phone. “Hello?”

“Who is this?” Joseph demanded.

“It’s Alexander,” he replied calmly. “What can I do for you, Joseph?”

“Alexander? Where’s Penny?”

“She’s busy right now. What’s up?”

“What are you doing with her phone?” He sounded angrier than I’d heard in a while. “She hates people touching her phone, you know.”

Alexander chuckled. “Well, maybe she didn’t like you are touching her phone, but she seemed perfectly fine with me touching it.”

He was having way too much fun annoying Joseph, but I couldn’t blame him. I loved it too.

“Wow, you’re so confident, huh?” Joseph said condescendingly. “Don’t be — you’re just a rebound, so she is obviously just with you to make me jealous.”

Joseph really was full of himself. Granted, this fake relationship did come to fruition to make him jealous, but I would never have started actually dating someone just to do that.

Even if I had, it was a jerk move for Joseph to say it to the guy.

Not to mention how weird it was for him to be so obvious about being obsessed with me and our relationship when he had a new girlfriend.

“I hate to break it to you, but you’re not important enough for us to do that,” Alexander said. “I’m with Penny now, and you’re not, so you need to stop with your calls. You’re coming off as a creep.”

“Whatever, just tell her I called,” Joseph growled.

“I will, but don’t bet on her calling you back.”

Joseph hung up before Alexander could even get his sentence all the way out, but I was sure he got the gist. Not that I thought it would work as a deterrent, but I could hope.

“Penny, don’t take this the wrong way, but you need to get better taste in men,” Alexander said. He threw my phone back to me, and I just barely managed to catch it. “I mean, where does he get off, calling his ex-girlfriend constantly while he’s flaunting around the girl he cheated on you with?”

“He seemed nicer before,” I murmured. “He was actually really sweet when we first started dating, you know.”

Alexander's eyes softened. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.”

“You didn’t?—”

“No, I did.” He shook his head. “I just meant… You deserve better than him. A million times better. You deserve someone who loves and cherishes you for you.”

My face flushed red. Alexander needed to stop saying stuff like that if he didn’t want me to actually fall for him.

“Right,” I said. I twisted my ring around my finger. “I’m trying to forget about him, but it’s a little easier said than done.”

I was probably just hearing things, but for a second after he started the movie again, I thought I heard Alexander whisper, “I could help you forget him.”