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

two

Lunch at school was definitely a test of one’s popularity—or lack thereof.

Pretty much everyone had a group. Everyone except losers like me, that was.

I sat alone, squished against the wall at the table nobody wanted, eating crappy school chicken wings and avoiding looking at anybody that reminded me of everything wrong in my life.

On top of that, nobody would even come within ten feet of me.

I was like a social pariah. I couldn’t believe how much of a low point I was hitting in my life.

I wished I could go back to the way I was before, but I couldn’t even remember who I was before Nikki and I became friends, and Joseph and I started dating.

Speak of the devil, Joseph walked into the cafeteria, making a beeline to the biggest tables at the back of the cafeteria.

The most popular kids in school always claimed the tables, so there was no surprise that Joseph’s friends were sitting there.

As soon as I looked at him — our eyes making contact for a split second before he pulled away — I felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs.

I hated that I felt this way; that he still had any sort of power over my emotions.

I felt pathetic and powerless next to him.

He passed his best friend, Jesse, when he was only a few feet from my table, forcing me to overhear their conversation.

“How was your weekend?” Jesse asked. The two of them were practically yelling, so the words were carrying across the room, even with everyone else’s conversations going on at the same time.

“Nikki and I went on a date to the Christmas Market,” Joseph said.

His eyes flitted toward me. So, that was why he was talking so loud; he wanted me to hear.

Well, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of thinking I was listening.

I bent down to get my books out of my bag, acting disinterested in whatever he was doing.

It had the added benefit of muffling whatever he said.

When I sat back up with my books, I caught the end of Jesse saying, “Nikki's a lucky girl.”

He fist-bumped Joseph. My eyes narrowed.

Of course, his friend would take his side, but I hated to see them be so blasé about what had happened.

They probably knew what was going on behind my back, everything Joseph was doing with Nikki.

They were probably all laughing at me, revelling in the way he made me look stupid.

Joseph finished the walk over to his table and sat down next to Nikki.

He quickly pecked her on the cheek, then threw his arm around her and said something that made her laugh.

With me out of the picture, they were dating publicly and weren’t afraid to show their PDA, just like every other stupid couple at our school.

She stared at him lovingly, like he was the only thing in the world that mattered.

There was a pang in my heart as I realized that was exactly how I used to look at him — and that now, he only had eyes for her.

It was like I had never existed to him in the first place, and that hurt more than anything.

I glared at them from across the room, my hands tightening on the knife I was using to cut the food on my plate.

From this distance, I had no idea what they were talking about, but Nikki said something and the whole group burst into laughter.

I hated to watch her, but I couldn’t pull my eyes away.

How on earth did she fall so easily into his friend group?

She looked so natural sitting with his arm around her and laughing with all his friends.

It was as if she was meant to be there; as if she didn’t replace me like it was nothing.

If looks could kill, they would both be dead by now.

“Wow, Penny,” somebody said from beside me. “Are you trying to saw through the table?”

The voice pulled me out of my trance, and I dropped my knife in surprise. I looked up to see who had interrupted me. Alexander was sitting next to me, his eyebrow raised in question and a small smirk on his face.

“Sorry,” he said. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” I said, even though we both knew he absolutely did. I glanced back at Nikki and Joseph, who were now making out in front of everyone. Had I really been so blind that I didn’t notice their chemistry all along?

Alexander rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. “Want me to beat them up for you?”

My head snapped in his direction. “What?”

He jerked his chin toward them. “Dumb and Dumber over there. I could beat them up for you if you wanted.”

For a second, I was actually tempted to say yes. Not that I wanted them to get hurt — I was just hoping that it might convince them to stop making out in the middle of the cafeteria.

Alexander held his arm out, flexing his muscles.

“I mean, look how muscular I am,” he said jokingly. “I could definitely kill them in my sleep.”

“No thanks.” I laughed. “I think I'm all right.”

“Whatever you say,” he said. “But keep my services in mind. I'm in high demand as a hitman. I’ll even give you the friend special.”

“Do you have a card or something?” I pulled my eyebrows together and tried to make my expression serious.

“Well, what kind of hitman would I be if I didn’t have a card to leave at every crime scene?” He opened the notebook he had been carrying with him, ripped out the corner of the page, and then scribbled something on it. He slid it over to me. On it, he had written his name and number.

Alexander Rigby had given me — ME — his phone number. Somehow, in all our years of knowing each other, Alexander and I had never exchanged numbers. Usually, we just talked in person or occasionally over our house phones. We never had a reason to talk outside of that.

“Call me anytime,” he said, flashing me a mischievous grin. I stared at the piece of paper for a moment before I finally looked up at him. He was watching me with an amused expression, as if he knew what I was thinking.

“Why...” I didn't quite get the whole question out. I swallowed and tried again. “Your phone number?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “In case you need my services, of course.”

“Of course.” I slid the paper into my pocket, not sure what to do with it but knowing that I would keep it — just in case.

There was just something about him that was so charming, funny, and cute about Alexander. Plus, he had saved me from having to watch Nikki and Joseph make out for the rest of lunch, so that was a plus.

“So, why aren’t you eating lunch with all your football buddies?” I asked. I took a sip of my drink.

“Well, you looked like you could use the company,” he said. He pushed his notebook toward me. “And I believe I promised you my French homework.”

“Oh. Right.” I cleared my throat and stared at the page as if I was looking over his answers.

In reality, I had forgotten about the notes.

I thought that maybe, just maybe, Alexander had actually sought me out and wanted to sit with me.

But no, he just pitied me like everyone else in this school, albeit for different reasons.

“That’s not to say I didn’t want to sit with you,” Alexander quickly added.

“Oh, no, I get it,” I said. I pulled out my notebook and started copying down his answers.

Anytime I thought his answer might not be right, I wrote something different so our responses wouldn’t be exactly the same.

It wasn’t suspicious if we had the same correct answer, but it was very suspicious to have all the same wrong answers.

Alexander and I continued to talk as I copied it down, thankfully discussing anything other than the school gossip. It was nice to have someone to talk to during lunch, even if it was just so I could copy his homework. I pushed the notebook back over to him and capped my pen again.

“Thanks, Alexander,” I said. “I really appreciate it.”

“Happy to help,” he said. His phone lit up with a notification. His face dropped as he read it.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh yeah, everything's okay. I've just got to go, sorry.” He slipped the phone into his pocket. “Will you be okay alone?”

“Oh yeah, I’m fine,” I said, waving a hand through the air. “It’s not exactly my first experience eating lunch alone.”

He studied me for a moment, a cute crinkle appearing between his eyes.

“Hey, why don’t you come to the football meeting with me?” He smirked. “You can ogle all the hot guys.”

“Believe it or not, sitting in a room full of gross and sweaty guys isn’t on my bucket list,” I said.

He looked bewildered. “Who said anything about sweaty?”

“Well, people usually sweat after they play football.”

Alexander laughed. “It’s just a meeting, Penny, not a practice.”

“Oh.” I blushed. “Right. Um… well, either way, go without me. I don’t need to crash a football meeting.”

“Are you sure?” He asked. He stood up, resting his palms on the table's surface. “I’m sure everyone would love to have you there.”

“I’m really okay,” I laughed. “I have some other homework I should get a head start on. Have fun, though.”

He sighed. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

With one last wave, he walked away. I watched him for a second, somewhat regretting turning him down.

What was I going to do here, anyway? I didn’t actually want to get a head start on my work, like I’d told him.

I sighed and pulled out my phone. I guess I could just go on Instagram or something for the rest of the lunch period.

That decision proved to be idiotic when the first post that showed up on my feed was a group photo of Nikki and Joseph and a few of their friends at the carnival Joseph had been talking about earlier.

I thought I’d blocked everyone in their friend group, but I guess I missed someone.