Page 14 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy (Port Lane Romances #1)

Jaxon smirked. I expected him to make a comment about me not being able to handle spicy foods and while he would be absolutely correct, I also didn’t want to deal with it right then.

“Why don’t we get two things to split?” Jaxon suggested. “I’ll get something spicy, you get something not spicy, and then we’ll have the best of both worlds.”

The answer took me by surprise. Where was the awful Jaxon who never did anything for anyone else? Maybe fake dating him was just the way to get him to stop annoying me.

“I don’t want to make you get something you don’t want just because of me,” I said. While his suggestion was very nice, I felt like there was no way for us to both walk out of the situation happy.

“I don’t mind,” Jaxon said immediately. “Actually, I would prefer it. It’s nice to have options.”

“Bull,” Sabrina said. I hadn’t realized she was listening. “You love spicy food, Jaxon. You think everything else is bland.”

“Well, maybe I feel like bland today,” Jaxon said. He leaned his head toward me. “I’m happy as long as she is.”

He was obviously lying. I believed Sabrina in what she said since she knew Jaxon better than anyone, but I also knew Jaxon was probably lying because it made him seem like a better boyfriend.

And maybe that was a good idea, as a way to convince my friends even more.

Although, how much did that really matter?

We were really just doing this to convince Lewis and he wasn’t anywhere around, nor was anybody at that table really friends with him.

But, I supposed, the more we made it seem real, the better.

If he was going to insist on ordering two things, even if he knew he only liked the one, then I could play at that game too — I would just only eat the non-spicy one, so he could seem like a good boyfriend while also getting the food he liked.

“Does anybody want to get sake with me?” Sabrina asked. She pointed at the big sign on the wall with all the special. “There’s a special deal going on with it.”

“Sake is alcohol, Sabrina,” I said. “We can’t drink for another year.”

Sabrina shook her head. “Legal drinking age in Quebec is eighteen!” she said proudly. “So as long as you’ve got your ID and an early birthday, you’re good to go.”

I didn’t really drink but this seemed like it might be a fun occasion to do so. I pulled my driver’s license out of my wallet and put it on the table, figuring I’d decide whether I wanted to order it when the waiter came.

Jaxon immediately snatched the card and began studying the photo on it. I tried to grab it back but he swatted my hand away.

“No fair!” he whined.

“What?” I asked.

“You actually look good in your photo!”

“What?” I asked. “No, I look awful. Everyone looks awful in their driver’s license photos.”

“No, you look beautiful,” Jaxon insisted. “I look terrible in mine, though.”

I shook my head. “There’s no way you look worse than me.”

“Oh-ho-ho, just you wait.” He whipped his wallet out of his jeans pocket and handed his ID to me.

Okay, I had to admit that he was right — he looked much worse in his photo. He wasn’t wearing his glasses, his hair was all messed up, and the lighting was definitely not doing him any favours.

“Oh my gosh,” I laughed, putting a hand over my mouth. I tried to stop my laughter after a polite few seconds but as soon as I looked at the picture again, it started anew.

“I know I look bad, but it’s not that funny,” Jaxon said.

“You look ridiculous without your glasses,” I choked out between fits of laughter. I was practically bent over the table, my abs on fire.

“Finally, someone agrees with me!” Sabrina yelled. “I’ve been saying this for years.”

“I do not look bad without my glasses!” Jaxon said. It was the most offended I’d ever seen him. I imagined it was a sore spot for him if Sabrina constantly nagged him about it, but I didn’t feel that guilty, considering how much he made fun of me.

“You look like such a dork!” I said. Jaxon snatched his license back from me, but the image was already imprinted in my mind.

“Thanks,” he said sarcastically. “Now I’ll never go anywhere without my glasses again.”

“As if you could see without them anyway.” I laughed.

“You’re bullying me.”

“Don’t dish it if you can’t take it,” I said with a wink. Jaxon shook his head and looked away, but I saw a big smile on his face.

“Hey folks!” A waiter appeared between me and Madison. “Hope it’s going well. Do you guys know what you want to order today?”

“Yeah, I think we’re ready,” I said. We quickly went around the table with our orders.

“Okay great. Anything to drink?”

“Could I get the sake?” Sabrina asked.

“Oh, me too,” Madison said.

The waiter nodded and jotted it down on his notepad. “Okay, that will be out soon.”

“You’re not drinking?” Jaxon asked me once the waiter walked away.

I shrugged. “No, I’ll just try some of Madison’s.”

“That’s presumptuous,” Madison said. She took a long sip of her drink and looked at me over the glass, one eyebrow raised.

“You know you would have offered,” I said. We shared almost everything. I turned back to Jaxon. “What about you? You’re not drinking?”

“I shouldn’t,” he said. “Not during the track season.”

The track season was all year round to him, but okay.

“Can’t do anything to risk that important career,” Sabrina said. “One drink and boom! It’s all over.”

Jaxon glared at Sabrina, but the softness in his eyes made it obvious that he wasn’t being serious.

I wasn’t sure if the two of them ever had disagreements, honestly.

I could imagine that if they did, it would get pretty heated in the same way things go between siblings, but I couldn’t imagine them being angry at each other for long.

“Guess you two didn’t even need to pull out your IDs in the first place,” Madison said.

“No,” I said. I grabbed Jaxon’s license and waved it around in the air. “But I am so glad that we did!”

“Just wait until you meet his mother,” Sabrina told me. “She’ll show you all the childhood photos of Jaxon that you could possibly want.”

“There is no way I’m letting that happen,” Jaxon said. “Violet, I’m telling you now, no chance.”

I glanced between him and Sabrina. While I wasn’t sure there would be a scenario in which I’d end up meeting Jaxon’s mother, if I ever did, I bet I could convince her to show me the photos. The question was how worth it they were.

“How embarrassing are we talking?” I asked Sabrina.

“Two words,” Sabrina said. She leaned forward. “Frosted tips.”

I burst out laughing.

Jaxon rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. As if you don’t have any embarrassing childhood photos.”

“None that you’ll see,” I chortled. I took a long sip of my drink. “Trust me. I keep those under lock and key.”

Jaxon smiled at me, a glint of mischief in his eye. I was suddenly reminded that I was sitting with a boy who snuck into staff meetings for fun. “We’ll see.”