Page 4 of My Fake Date With My Childhood Friend (Port Lane Romances #3)

I sighed as I looked at the photo. It was crazy how things could change so quickly; one day they were my best friends and the next, they just disappeared from my life without warning.

My life used to revolve around the two of them.

When they were both around, they filled the space of twenty people as far as I was concerned.

I didn’t see the need to expand my horizons and make more friends.

Sure, I had some casual friends from my classes, but I didn’t need any other best friends.

Unfortunately, with Nikki and Joseph both gone, a gaping hole had been torn in my life.

I wasn’t close enough to anyone else to sit next to them, and even if I was, I was pretty sure they wouldn’t want to be around me right now.

I guess that was why I tried not to have any time to think anymore — so I wouldn't have to think about how alone I felt.

It was easier to block out reality that way, at least for a little while.

But even though I was busy studying or spending time with my younger siblings or anything else, the loneliness still crept up on me from time to time.

And then there were those long nights when I would lie in my bed, unable to sleep because all I could think about was how unfair life was and how Joseph had just walked away from me without so much as a goodbye.

It felt like my entire world had collapsed around me.

In my peripheral vision, I noticed somebody appearing on the other side of the table, but I didn’t pay attention to it until he said, “Penny.”

“What—” My phone clattered to the table, and I just about jumped out of my skin. I put a hand to my heart and looked up at who was standing across the table from me. “Joseph! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“Sorry,” he said flatly. “I thought you saw me.”

“I didn’t.” Feeling eyes on me, I looked toward the back of the cafeteria. All the people from Joseph’s table, Nikki included, were staring at us, but they all pretended to be busy once they noticed my gaze.

“Can I sit?” He asked.

“No.” I couldn’t believe the nerve of him coming to my table and trying to talk to me. What could he want? Was he just planning to humiliate me yet again? He sat down on the bench facing me, disregarding my words. “Why ask if you’re not going to listen, anyway?”

“Don’t worry; this won’t take long.”

I sighed. It was easier to just give in and get him to leave as soon as possible than to argue with him endlessly.

“What?”

“Are you still going to the Christmas Formal?” He asked.

He was staring at a point just above my shoulder.

I couldn’t decide whether I was happy he didn’t feel like he should look me in the eye after what he did or whether I was angry that he didn’t even have the common decency to look at me when talking to me.

“What does that matter to you?” I asked.

“Just answer the question!” He snapped. I rolled my eyes.

The annual Christmas Formal had been something I’d been looking forward to going to with Joseph.

It was always such a blast, and this was the first year I would get to attend with a boyfriend.

I had already bought the tickets for the both of us, and we had even picked out what dress I was going to wear, though he’d broken it off before I’d gotten the chance to buy it.

But with everything that had happened in the past couple of weeks, I had forgotten about the tickets and the fact that I would need to find another date if I even went at all.

But who could blame me? I had a lot going on. This was the last thing on my mind.

“Of course, I am,” I said, rolling my eyes. Even though I wanted nothing to do with the Christmas season right now — the cheery vibe didn’t exactly go well with a broken heart — I couldn’t let him think that our break-up was causing me to miss this.

“Well… can I…” He cleared his throat. “Can I have the tickets back?”

I gritted my teeth, my blood boiling. So, this was why he was talking to me.

How much lower would he stoop for Nikki?

What would he be willing to do to me to make her happy?

I guess I never really knew him. From what I could remember, he never acted like this when we were together or even before.

But he was so different now, like a stranger to me.

Well, there was one thing I knew for sure: I was not going to just hand him the tickets. He would have to drag them from my cold, dead hands.

“No.”

His eyes widened in surprise, but then he schooled his face into an annoyed expression. “Why not?”

“Because you gave up any right to them when you broke up with me.” He hadn’t even paid for my ticket, for goodness’ sake. And he had given me his ticket to hold on to for “Safe keeping,” whatever that meant. Maybe he should have thought that plan through before he got with Nikki.

Memories played in my head of the day I bought the tickets. It seems like a long time ago.

The girl on the organizing committee, Sophia, was sitting at a table. The table was set up in the hallway and it was decorated for Christmas. At the time, I’d been excited about that prospect. The big sign hanging over her said BUY TICKETS FOR THE CHRISTMAS FORMAL.

“I want to buy two tickets, one for me and my boyfriend,” I said excitedly.

I was holding Joseph's hand, and we stood together in front of the girls selling tickets.

“Wow, Penny, you are a lucky girl,” Sophia said.

“Thank you,” I said, smiling at Joseph.

She handed us the tickets, and I gave her cash.

“I can’t wait to go to the formal with you,” Joseph said before kissing my cheek.

“I can’t wait to go, babe,” I replied, smiling widely.

“Hello, earth to Penny,” Joseph said. Snapping back to reality, I blinked my eyes.

I glanced around the room. I could see at least five people obviously eavesdropping on the conversation.

There were probably even more who were just better at hiding it.

Trying to hold on to the little dignity I had left, I stood up, picked up my tray, and walked away.

Of course, Joseph followed me. At least we had a little more privacy by the tray returning area, though.

“Come on, Penny,” he said in a condescending voice. “It’s not like you need the second ticket, anyway. Besides, it’s the season of giving and all that, right?”

It was a statement, not a question — because, of course, I couldn’t have someone else I was going with. I was just pathetic little Penny, who no boy would ever talk to, let alone ask out.

“You don’t know that.”

He raised his eyebrows. “What, you found a new date already?”

“Why not?” I dropped my tray on the plastic shelf. “You did.”

I flipped my hair over my shoulder in a move reminiscent of Nikki and walked out of the cafeteria, leaving him stunned behind me.

Everyone is replaceable, I thought to myself. Right, Joseph?

If the Christmas decorations had been a nuisance before, they were downright depressing to me now — a constant reminder of my current plight.

Even the stupid front door had a giant poster promoting the formal on it.

I was tempted to rip it down but held myself back.

It wasn't fair to whatever poor student made it.

My thoughts were spinning for the rest of the day.

It warmed up through the day, so my walk home wasn’t as terrible as my walk to school in the morning.

The breeze carried with it a wave of applause and excited murmurs that told me some sort of informal sports game was probably happening on the field.

Other than that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was relatively quiet.

With no one else around, I had some quiet time to think about everything.

I was happy I wiped the smirk off from that jerk's face.

The look on his face was priceless. I was on cloud nine for about fifteen minutes, and then reality sunk in again.

Lots of things kept popping up in my mind all at once.

I didn’t have a date for the Christmas Formal — I didn’t even have any prospects, and the formal was in a week.

This was a huge problem. It would be more humiliating if I showed up to the formal alone after making all that noise.

And getting a date on such short notice would be hard — especially for someone who would understand that I just wanted a date to the formal, not a boyfriend.

But even that could cause problems for me too.

The gossip mill would probably somehow twist it to make it seem like I had paid someone to go with me to the formal or something else equally embarrassing.

I just had so much to think about, and I started to panic. Why did I have to tell Joseph that I had a date? What if I couldn’t get one in time?

This was bad. I didn’t want to go from the girl who got cheated on to the girl who made up a date for the formal. I would become a social pariah at Falcon High and would have to change schools.

Everyone at school already gave me funny looks and gossiped about me constantly, so if this happened, I was dead meat.

Considering how unlikely it was for me to fix this by getting a date, I needed to think of an excuse for why my supposed date couldn't come.

As soon as I got home and sat down in my room, I pulled out my notebook and a purple pen that Nikki had gifted me a few months ago.

Great — I couldn't even use stationary without thinking of her.

In big letters, I wrote at the top of the page:

EXCUSES FOR THE FORMAL

1. Maybe on the day of the formal, I could say the guy was sick

2. He got arrested.

3. His family very suddenly moved away in the middle of the night.

4. He was a Russian spy who had to return after his identity was compromised.

5. He got the flu.

6. His family was in the mob