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Chapter sixteen

Robbie

“Yo, Earth to Robbie.”

A wadded-up piece of a cocktail napkin hits me in the center of my forehead, breaking me out of my trance.

“What was that for?” I toss it back to Dane, who’s lounging comfortably across from me with an arm thrown over the back of the booth.

Soft music thumps around us in the dimly lit hotel bar in Reno.

Rylie, our lead singer, is bellied up at the bar while the rest of our bandmates are scattered across the dance floor.

“You’re in another world. Either that or you’re ignoring me. Both options are rude.” He points at me with his beer and then takes a long swig of it.

He’s not wrong. I’m nowhere near the present mentally.

I’ve been living right back at The Squirrely Bear with my lips locked on Naomi’s.

I can’t seem to shake it from my mind. That kiss—and the way it affected me—has been consuming every spare second I have.

It’s entirely too distracting for a kiss that wasn’t supposed to be real in the first place.

I wonder if this is how Naomi feels when she’s daydreaming—completely absorbed and unable to decipher what emotions might be real or not.

As much as I tried to shrug it off initially, I felt something when I was kissing her.

Something small, granted, but it was definitely there—something a guy should not be feeling toward his best friend.

Add that to the irrational way I reacted when she was sick, and I can confidently say I’m edging toward deep water here.

“How do you think the show went?” Dane asks. “That was our biggest venue yet.”

“Best crowd too,” I agree with him. The condensation on the whiskey glass makes my fingers slip as I leisurely rotate it in my hand. “It took a second to get used to the acoustics, but overall, that was a banger of a show. We nailed it.”

Our manager, Aiden, slides into the booth next to Dane.

The two of them start up a conversation—something about the bus schedule—and my mind zones out again, going directly back to Naomi.

It’s not lost on me that this is, without a doubt, the first time I’ve ever felt any hint of a longing to be back in Minnesota—solely because that’s where Naomi is.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out immediately, pathetically eager to see if it’s a text from her. Instead, I see the next best thing: a group message that she’s included in.

Charlie: Anyone down for a boat day tomorrow? The weather looks nice!

Toby: I’ll bring a cooler.

Naomi: Sure!

I respond immediately after seeing her message come through.

Robbie: I’m in!

If Naomi is going, I’m going.

I pull up my flight information to book the red eye tonight back to Minnesota. While doing so, another text comes through. This time it’s from Naomi in our private text thread.

Naomi: I thought you weren’t coming home until next week? At least that’s when you scheduled our next practice session for on my office calendar. Thanks for using a hot-pink marker, by the way. It totally throws off my whole aesthetic.”

Robbie: Change of plans. And you’re welcome. What are you doing?

Naomi: Cleaning up the kitchen while waiting for my scones to finish baking.

My thumbs are poised to reply, but her next message beats me to it.

Naomi: Don’t worry, my timer’s set to go off in four minutes, and then I’m forcing myself to go sit on the dock with a glass of wine.

Robbie: Excellent.

Again, a deep tug inside of me wishes I was right there with her.

I do my best to force the urge—and the memory of the kiss—out of my mind as best I can.

Regardless of these newfound feelings and my desire to be near her, a sobering reminder pops into my head that convinces me there’s no reality where I can let anything come of it.

Even on the off chance she did like me back in that way, she lives in the one city I despise the most in this entire country.

I can’t live there—that won’t change. The best I can do is visit for a few days at a time, like I have been, but what kind of relationship would that be?

As long as my family is there, I won’t be.

Besides, it’s not like I have a stable life settled somewhere else to ask her to join me.

I don’t see any easy way a real relationship between us would work, and I can’t ruin our friendship or risk hurting her in the process of…

what? Selfishly acting on my feelings? Nope, this fake relationship will have to be as close as we’re going to get.

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy every second of pretending while this whole fake-dating situation lasts—as I fully intend to do.

Robbie: Are you okay if I fly home tonight? If so, will you leave the door unlocked for me?

Naomi: Sure. Thanks for asking. See you soon.

I close out my messaging app just as another wadded-up napkin hits me in the face.

“He’s been doing this all night,” Dane tells Aiden.

“Sorry. I just had to change my flight home. I’m leaving tonight,” I tell them.

Dane narrows his eyes at me. “You are aware that we have a gig in three days, right? Why don’t you just stay on the bus? You’ve got to be spending a fortune flying back and forth.”

He’s not wrong, but that’s beside the point. “I’ve been helping a friend with something,” I say simply.

“Well, I don’t care what you do as long as you’re back and mic’d up by showtime,” Aiden says.

“I need to ask you guys about booking the Starfield Festival in October. It’s a five-day commitment, so I want you to consider carefully before agreeing.

They’re expecting record crowds, and you’ll play on a different stage each night. Are we in?”

I raise my brows at Dane, looking at him to make these kinds of decisions, like I usually do, while I casually sip my whiskey. I’m usually just happy to go wherever they tell me to.

“Heck yeah.” He nods enthusiastically with a grin. “We’re absolutely in.”

“I’m there,” I agree. “Sounds like a blast.”

“Great. I’ll check with the rest of the guys, but in the meantime, I’ll put it on the schedule.”

They start talking logistics and travel itineraries, which leads my thoughts straight back to kissing Naomi. I sink into the small swarm of butterflies that flutter in my stomach, letting myself enjoy them while I can. Then I throw a twenty down on the table and slide out of the booth.

“I’m off to pack. Stay outta trouble.” I give both of them a handshake, and then head off to my room to get ready to fly home to Naomi—for the sake of our fake relationship.

Nothing more.

“Jeez, how much did you put in this thing?” Toby grunts as I help him haul the heavy cooler into the boat from the dock.

“The precise amount to ensure we stay well-hydrated and the vibes stay strong,” Charlie replies nonchalantly from the captain’s seat, where he’s messing with the radio.

Owen helps guide the cooler into the boat and I catch sight of the girls sprawled out on the front platform of Charlie’s wakeboarding boat, already soaking up the sun. My chest squeezes in an almost painful way as I zero in on Naomi, the sight of her sucking the breath right out of me.

Toby drops his handle on the cooler, jerking on my arm as it lands with a thud. Toby gives me a long side glance with a knowing smirk, following the direction of my gaze with his own eyes.

Sure, he thinks he knows what he’s seeing.

But what he doesn’t realize is that I’m not a man staring longingly at his girlfriend, as it looks on the surface.

Instead, I’m a distracted man trying with all his might to turn off developing feelings for a platonic friend—one who he happens to be inconveniently fake dating.

It’s complicated.

“And we’re off.” Charlie gives me a nod as I give us a strong push off the dock post at the public landing, taking us out onto the water of Gull Lake.

As the boat works its way smoothly over a few waves, I sink into the vinyl seat next to Luke in the back. I twist my baseball cap backward to avoid it flying off as Charlie shifts into gear, turning the radio up at the same time.

The sun is hot as it beams down on us, already causing a sheen of sweat to surface across my skin. The girls in the front of the boat sit up to better brace themselves against the waves as we start a cruise around the perimeter of the lake.

Gull Lake is located in a neighboring city to Pine Falls.

It’s one that we’ve come to countless times—although not for a few years for me—and the route he takes on our cruise is a familiar one.

Not much seems to have changed, from the wide array of cabins and resorts tucked between long stretches of lush trees, to the restaurants scattered between the shoreline and sandy beaches.

All of it holds a rustic beauty I don’t often see in my travels out of state.

I admit, this is nice.

My attention immediately goes to Naomi at the first minuscule movement she makes, watching from behind my sunglasses, my heart pounding, as she climbs toward the back of the boat to grab a water bottle from the cooler.

“Naomi, can you grab me a seltzer?” Gabby practically shouts at her. I don’t like her tone, but I keep my mouth shut. It’s not the fact that she asked for a drink, but more the way she said it—she’s too bossy for her own good sometimes.

Naomi, being the nice—yet sometimes too accommodating—friend that she is, complies, digging all the way to the bottom of the cooler. After she passes it up to Gabby, she grabs the container of cookies she made this morning.

“Cookie?” She passes them around to our enthusiastic friends, myself included, before putting them away and coming toward the back of the boat.

I practically shove Luke and Toby over with my elbows, patting the seat next to me.

The skim of her arm against mine as she settles sends a rush of something exhilarating straight through my veins—a spark of sorts.

With a smile, I eagerly curl my arm around her, fully relishing the freedom of how I’m able to act with her in front of an audience.

There’s no overthinking, no worrying about my inconvenient feelings and what I should or should not be doing with those said feelings.

Today I’m free to fully enjoy a taste of what it would be like to be with her for real.

And I plan to take full advantage of that.

To my absolute delight, she nestles comfortably into my side, our bare skin rubbing against each other, tinging it with a heat I’m positive isn’t from the sun.

I force my gaze on the homes nestled along the shore, concentrating on admiring the landscape instead of the way her bare shoulder feels under my fingertips, which threatens to become all-consuming. The urge to be even closer than we already are is almost overwhelming—a force I have to taper back.

While our friends sing along and enjoy the music, I zone out, allowing myself a brief moment to admire the strong column of her neck and the way a blonde wisp of hair that fell out of her ponytail swirls in the wind, crashing repeatedly against her skin.

When the hair sticks to the place just under her ear, I dare to slowly move it out of the way with my fingertips.

She stiffens slightly under my touch, but once the moment of surprise passes, I swear she almost leans into me.

Before I know it, I’m suddenly leaning in to place a chaste kiss right in the same spot.

For show, right? This is what an adoring boyfriend would do—and one thousand percent what I would do if this were real.

I zero in on her reaction again. I’m familiar with her enough to know that she isn’t tense or wanting to move away at my closeness. There’s no sign of her being uncomfortable and I can even feel the slightest shiver against my lips.

“Gross,” Gabby shouts over the music.

“What’s her problem?” I mutter against Naomi’s skin before pulling back.

I may not be able to see behind her sunglasses to gauge the look in her eyes, but what I can see is the small way her mouth twists up in a whisper of a smile, the way she hides it by rolling her lips.

She’s not bothered.

And I thoroughly enjoy that fact.

“Get a room,” Charlie chides. I chuckle at the blush that creeps across Naomi’s cheek and squeeze her shoulder playfully.

“Sand volleyball, anyone?” he asks, steering us toward the northeastern side of the lake toward one of our favorite hangouts in high school—Sunny’s on the Lake.

“Oh, it’s on.” Luke rubs his hands together.

“Do you still leave the court with your swim trunks full of sand?” I tease. “Or has your agility improved in the last couple years?”

“Ha-ha.” He shoves my arm. “Keep running your mouth. While you’ve been gallivanting around, being some kind of rock star, I’ve been practicing my volleyball skills. I’ve got moves now you wouldn’t believe.”

“It’s true.” Toby laughs. “He’s actually pretty good.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” I say, getting up to help grab the dock posts as we ease next to it. The girls grab their beach bags while the guys tie the boat securely. Then one by one, everyone else climbs out of the boat.

I hold out a hand for Naomi, who’s the last to step onto the dock. I motion for her to wait so we can fall back from the rest of the group.

“I hope that was alright…the kiss,” I whisper quietly, feeling nerves rise in my stomach that I don’t typically feel around women but that I’m finding are creeping up more and more when I’m near her.

She shrugs with a cheeky smile. “I suppose it’s necessary to do unappealing things like that.”

“Glowing review. Thank you.”

“Try harder next time.” She beams, a hint of a dare flashing along with her smile.

I reach for her hand, relishing how her fingers feel wrapped between mine, and we head off the dock to join our friends