Page 26 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy (Port Lane Romances #1)
Without thinking, I grabbed Jaxon and shoved him backwards into the bathroom. He fell hard onto the tile and groaned loudly. My hand shot to my mouth in surprise.
“Sorry,” I whispered loudly. I shut the bathroom door, guilt clawing at my heart a little.
I could hear the teachers approaching our door, so I tried to casually lean against the bathroom door, hoping that if they could see me, they wouldn’t question what the heck I was doing.
To my relief, Sabrina held it pretty well closed as she stood in the doorway.
I couldn’t even see the teachers, so I hoped that meant they couldn’t see me or the closed bathroom door either.
“Miss Brooks, curfew was twenty minutes ago,” Ms. Moscowitz said. “What are you doing in the hallway?”
The thing about Sabrina was that, like Jaxon, she was nothing if not good at thinking on her feet, but she also didn’t take anything seriously.
As such, it came as no surprise to me when she said, “I’m so sorry, ma’am, I thought I heard a baby crying out here and I just couldn’t leave it to fend for itself. ”
“Get back in your room, Brooks,” Mr. Smith said.
“Yes, sir.” She slammed the door shut then turned around and slumped against it in relief. “So, the teachers were in the hall.”
“Yes, I gathered that,” I said.
She looked around. “Where did Jaxon go?”
I blanked for a second and glanced around as well. Then, I suddenly remembered what I’d done to him and threw open the bathroom door. Jaxon stumbled out, looking a little disoriented.
“Are you okay?” I asked, guilty twisting my fingers as I watched him.
“Couldn’t you have pushed me a little lighter?” he asked.
I grimaced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you so hard. I just panicked.”
“I understand,” he said. “By the way, though, you left this in the bathroom.”
He pulled his arm from behind his back and dangling from his finger was my bra. Jaxon freaking Andrews was holding my bra. Mortifying. Absolutely mortifying.
“Give me that!” I said, snatching it from his hand. Beside me, Sabrina snickered. “And shut up, Brooks!”
“Sorry,” Sabrina said, though she didn’t sound apologetic whatsoever. I threw my bra on top of my other clothes then shut my suitcase over it.
“You probably can’t get back to your room before the teachers check it,” I said to Jaxon. “So, you better call Eli and ask him to cover for you before it’s too late.”
“I’m not sure there’s anything he can but I guess it doesn’t hurt to try,” Jaxon said.
He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket.
I was a little jealous to note that his phone fit in his front pocket since almost all my pants had either useless front pockets or none at all.
I lived in fear that my phone would be stolen from my back pocket without noticing.
“That’s the spirit,” Sabrina said with a thumbs up.
Jaxon grimaced as the phone rang.
“Eli!” he said gratefully when Eli answered. “I need a huge favour!”
I couldn’t hear Eli on the other side of the phone call but I got the gist of the conversation through Jaxon’s side.
He explained what happened in our room, then said that Eli might still be able to pretend Jaxon is in the shower if he plays music through a speaker in the bathroom, since they would think he was listening to music and just couldn’t hear the knocking.
The plan seemed feeble to me, but I didn’t want to put that thought into the universe, so I didn’t say it. I would be very impressed if they managed to get away with it.
He then begged, honest to god begged, Eli to lie for him. Both Sabrina and I couldn’t hold back our laughter as we watched him speak.
“Eli please!” Jaxon said. “Please, I need you to do this, okay? If I get in trouble now, I might get banned from prom and I have big plans for prom! I need to show up Lewis and…” He looked around in a panic.
“And what about, Violet, Eli? Think about poor Violet, having to go to prom without me, all because you wouldn’t just help me out in my moment of need? ”
I covered my mouth with both my hands to stop my laughter from being audible.
Somehow, I didn’t see me laughing as helpful to this.
Much to my amusement, using me as an excuse seemed to be what convinced Eli to do it, as Jaxon said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you, Eli. I owe you so much! Thank you, man!”
He hung up the phone and sighed.
“Well, I guess that’s the best we can do for now,” he said.
“Looks like the three of us are stuck in here for the night,” Sabrina said. “I can sleep on the floor so you two have the bed. So long as you promise nothing weird will happen between the two of you, of course.”
“No, you two take the bed,” Jaxon said. “I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”
Sabrina shook her head. “We wouldn’t even be in this situation if I hadn’t come over after curfew.”
“This is technically your room,” Jaxon said. “You deserve the bed.”
“Look, you guys can take the bed,” I said. “I don’t care if I have to sleep on the floor.”
“If there’s one person who actually deserves the bed, it’s you,” Jaxon said to me. Sabrina nodded in agreement. “Really, the two of you can take it. I don’t mind at all.”
Sabrina sighed tiredly. “Yeah, all right. Do you mind if I borrow some pyjamas? These are a little…” She looked over herself distastefully. “Wet.”
Jaxon snorted. “Sure.” He grabbed an old track shirt and some basketball shorts and threw them at her. “Those shorts aren’t technically pyjamas but they should do the trick.”
Sabrina shrugged. “Works for me. I usually just wear Eli’s clothes to bed anyway.” She looked at each of us in turn. “You know, it’s funny. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Violet in one of your sweaters. Usually, your girlfriends are jumping for the chance to do that.”
My stomach dropped and I looked to Jaxon. While I was sure Sabrina probably didn’t mean anything by her comment, I didn’t like people questioning Jaxon and I not seeming like a real couple.
“Yeah, I guess she hasn’t gotten a chance to steal one yet,” Jaxon said. He winked at me. “All in good time, I’m sure.”
Sabrina laughed a little and headed to the bathroom to get changed. “Yeah.”
“Good save,” I said quietly once she was safely behind a closed door.
“We should have thought of that,” Jaxon murmured back.
His eyes ran over his clothes and he went to grab something out of the bottom of his bag.
When he pulled it out, I realized it was his track team hoodie from that year.
It was black and had BAYSHORE ACADEMY TRACK AND FIELD embroidered on the front. He tossed it to me. “Here.”
“She’s going to know you just gave it to me because of what she said.”
“So?” Jaxon asked. His eyes were alight with mischief. “I mean, what if you were a jealous girlfriend who hated that my other girlfriends got to wear my sweaters and you didn’t?”
I rolled my eyes but laughed anyway. “Shut up.”
“Besides,” Jaxon continued, “this way you won’t have to wear lingerie in front of Sabrina.”
“Oh god, I forgot about that!” I buried my face in my hands.
I could just wear my clothes to bed again like I’d sucked up and done the night before but my clothes from that day were pretty gross by now and I had nothing clean to wear except my stuff for the next day.
I guess wearing Jaxon’s sweater over a nightgown would honestly be less embarrassing.
“I see you’ve rectified the situation,” Sabrina said as she returned. When I looked up, she nodded at the sweater in my hands.
“Yes, it was very important to her that I did it immediately,” Jaxon said seriously. “Never mind that I’ll be freezing on the air-conditioned bus tomorrow.”
“You’re more than welcome to borrow one of my cardigans,” I responded with a wink. “I’m sure they’ll look dashing on you. If you can get it over your muscles, that is.”
“Nah, it’s okay,” Jaxon said. He leapt over his suitcase and pulled me against him, with my back pressed to his stomach. I squealed in surprise but didn’t complain as he wrapped his arms around me. “You’ll just have to keep me warm.”
“I can do that,” I giggled. He pressed a light kiss to my shoulder.
“I’m suddenly starting to understand why you hate PDA,” Sabrina said. She looked mildly disgusted but I hoped it was in the same way I felt disgusted every time I had to watch her and Eli make-out.
Jaxon kissed my cheek one last time before letting go.
I watched him as he set up a pillow and blanket on the floor in a pathetic attempt to make a bed, feeling oddly empty without his arms around me.
I held his sweater to my face, letting the smell of his cologne fill my senses, and laughed as I watched him start a pillow fight with Sabrina.
Was this what it would be like if this was real? This overwhelming sense of happiness and feeling of belonging? I had never longed for a relationship, especially one with Jaxon… not until now.