Page 39 of My Fake Relationship With the Popular Boy (Port Lane Romances #1)

twenty-six

As always, Jaxon held an end-of-the-year pool party for our whole class, but the day after that, he had just our friend group over for a little dip in the pool as well.

“There she is!” he yelled as Madison and I entered the backyard. “The most wonderful girl in the world! Love of my life!”

“Shut up,” I laughed. Then I went up and kissed him. It felt so good knowing that it was real.

Jaxon threw his arm around me, his other hand clutching a bottle of Diet Coke.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said. “And the jersey looks amazing on you, of course.”

I was wearing the track jersey he’d given me before prom as my bathing suit cover up. Truth be told, I used any excuse I could to wear it nowadays.

“Looks better than you than it does on him!” Sabrina added from across the pool.

“Nobody asked for your opinion, Sabrina!” Jaxon yelled. Then he grinned dopily at me. “But for the record, she’s right.”

I giggled. “Thank you.”

“Jaxon, get over here!” Eli called. He was on the diving board.

“Duty calls,” Jaxon said. He put his drink on the small table between a couple lawn chairs and ran over.

Madison was already in the pool, so I quickly took off the clothes that were over my swimsuit and got in beside her.

The water was a nice temperature, warm enough that I didn’t shiver getting in but also cold enough to be refreshing.

I leaned against the side wall with her and sighed, letting my head fall back.

It had been a crazy few weeks and I was desperately ready for summer vacation.

“So, is this the real deal this time?” Madison asked.

My gaze drifted to the deep end, where Jaxon was busy tackling Sabrina into the pool while Eli watched and laughed. I smiled to myself, a warm feeling spreading through my chest. I couldn’t believe it took me this long to see how great of a guy Jaxon was.

“Oh, yeah,” I said. “It really is.”

Madison tilted her head against mine.

“I’m glad.”

We stayed like that for a moment before I pulled away and poked her in the side.

“So, when are you getting in a relationship?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Gosh, you sound like my mother.”

“Think about it, Madison,” I said in a sickly sweet voice. “We can go on triple dates! Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

“Going out with Sabrina and Jaxon at the same time?” Madison asked sarcastically. She put up a double thumbs up. “Boy, does that sound like fun!”

I laughed. That was a fair response.

“Come on,” I said. I ran my hands through my hair and twisted it up into a bun. It would fall out within two minutes since I didn’t have a hair elastic, but I ended to do it anyway out of habit. “I know you always have a crush on someone. Who is it right now?”

Madison didn’t answer me but her eyes told a different story, as they settled on a dark-haired boy next door, who was doing push-ups on the grass.

His shirt was off, showing off his toned muscles, and he was glistening in sweat under the summer sun.

Not exactly my type, but definitely Madison’s.

He looked a little familiar, like maybe he was a couple years above in school, but I didn’t recognize him specifically.

“You know him?” I asked. Madison nodded without taking her eyes off him. “Who is he?”

Madison didn’t live over here so she wouldn’t know him from being neighbours or anything like that. I wasn’t sure where else she would know him from without me knowing him too.

“He’s my brother’s best friend.”

I gasped. “Madison, you can’t!”

Madison just shrugged with a mischievous grin. She dipped underwater and swam off, leaving me alone to watch the mystery boy. She wouldn’t really do it, would she? Her brother would kill her.

“Violet!” Jaxon called. I shook myself out of the weird trance I was stuck in and looked at him. He waved me over. “Come on! I’ll teach you how to do a flip!”

I jumped out of the pool and walked over to meet him. As soon as I was in arm’s reach, he pulled me in tight and tipped us toward the edge.

“Jaxon!” I yelled. That was all I got out before we crashed into the deep water.

Bubbles rose around us as we sank, obscuring all my vision of Jaxon, but he never let go of my hand.

Soon, he was pulling me up to the top and I took a deep breath as my head broke above the surface of the water.

With the hand that wasn’t still gripped in his, I splashed water in his face.

“Hey!” he yelled.

“That’s what you get for pushing me in!” I yelled back, but I was laughing too.

“Hey, at least I came in with you,” he said.

He pecked me on the lips. I would have liked to deepen the kiss but I didn’t think there was any way for us to do that while treading water.

They made it look so easy in movies but our legs were already crashing into each other too much for my liking.

“What were you and Madison talking about over there?”

“Oh, just some boy she liked,” I said.

“Yeah?” he asked. “You think she’s going to have some epic summer romance?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. I grinned at him. “But we will, right?”

He smiled and kissed me again. “I can’t wait.”

I swam over to the wall of the pool and pulled myself onto the edge. He swam over as well but stayed in the water. I studied him for a second, then asked the question that had been plaguing me since the grad trip. “Hey. Why don’t you ever use pick-up lines on me anymore?”

“I thought you hated those,” he said with a small grin.

“I do,” I said. “I mean, I used to. I guess. But I miss them.”

“But you’re my girlfriend now,” he said. Butterflies flew through my stomach every time he called me his girlfriend and this time was no different. “I don’t need to use pick-up lines on you.”

I shrugged half-heartedly. “Do it anyway.”

He shook his head as he laughed. “Are you a time traveller, Evers? Because I see you in my future.”

I broke down in laughter. “That’s the best you could come up with?”

“Hey, I think that one’s pretty good!” he said defensively. “Besides, I didn’t make them up. I used to look them up every morning.” He started laughing by the end of the sentence, probably because I was dying of laughter in front of him.

“Why?” I exclaimed between giggles. I slammed my hands against his chest because it was the only thing in front of me. “Why would you do that?”

“Because,” he said simply. Once his laughter died down a little, he continued.

“Because on the first day of grade nine, I walked into school and saw the most beautiful girl in the world. And I walked up to her, opened my mouth to introduce myself, and the only thing I could think of to say was, ‘do you know where the office is’?”

“Jaxon,” I laughed. My abs were starting to burn from laughing so much. “I can promise you that did not happen.”

“It did!” he insisted. “I remember it so vividly. You were standing at your locker with Madison, and Sabrina and Eli were watching me and said good job because at least I gave it my best shot!”

I wiped at my eyes, scared that I was going to cry from laughing so hard and ruin all my makeup.

“Oh my gosh,” I said.

“So, after that disastrous first meeting,” he said, “I decided to look up pick-up lines so I would always have something to say to you whenever we saw each other. Of course, you didn’t seem to realize I was being serious.

But I knew that one day, if I asked enough times, you might just figure it out. ”

My laughter died down at that. I definitely had my reasons for not dating Jaxon before this.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it would have worked out if we had started going out even a year earlier.

We both had so much to learn. But even so, it sometimes hurt me to know how much I’d missed out on when I was busy hating him.

I leaned forward so our faces were as close to the same height as possible.

“Keep doing them,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” I ran my hand through his hair. “That way I’ll never forget why I fell for you.”