Page 2 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

Monday

“Jacob, you really don’t need to do this,” I said. “I can just tell my parents on my own.” Preferably tomorrow morning right before I left for school to ensure minimum time for questioning. Although my dad would probably host an inquisition during the whole drive to school.

Jacob turned to me in the elevator. “Scarlett, I do not want to be on your dad’s bad side.”

I laughed. “I think everyone is on my dad’s bad side.”

“Not me. Well, not yet at least.”

“I think this will pretty much guarantee it.”

The elevator dinged and the doors parted.

“It’ll be fine,” Jacob said as he slid his hand into mine. “We’ve got this.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. He was grossly overestimating how much my dad liked him.

Sure, my dad had always been nice to Jacob.

But that was before Jacob started dating me.

I pictured how upset my dad had been when he caught Axel in my room last week.

This was going to be a thousand times worse than that.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be holding hands,” I said.

Jacob squeezed my hand. “It’ll be fine,” he said again.

He did not know that for sure !

“Didn’t you say that Uncle Rob and my abuelo were excited about us dating?” Jacob asked. “Maybe your dad will have the same reaction.”

“The same reaction as Uncle Rob and Mr. Tanner?”

Jacob shrugged.

“Have you ever met my dad? He’s basically the opposite of his brother and Mr. Tanner.”

Jacob laughed and knocked on the door.

“Why are you knocking? That makes this so much weirder. My whole family will probably congregate in the entranceway.”

“Great, we can tell them all at once.”

“Absolutely not. We’ll start with my mom because she’ll be the easiest. And then Liam. And then my dad. Last. That way we can live for a few more minutes.”

“Uncle James is not going to freak out, Scarlett. He knew you were going to start dating eventually.”

“I think eventually means like 30 to him. Come on.” I quickly opened the door and pulled him inside.

But he almost bumped into me, because I stopped dead in my tracks. My dad was walking into the entranceway to answer the door.

I immediately pulled my hand out of Jacob’s.

My dad had been looking over his shoulder into the family room, so I didn’t think he’d seen Jacob and me touching.

Everything was fine. But it didn’t feel fine.

It felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. And I felt a little light headed.

I had no idea why I was panicking. I knew that Jacob and I weren’t actually dating.

It wasn’t real. But my whole family was about to think it was.

“Hey guys,” my dad said as he glanced down at his watch. “Jacob, it’s a little late to hang out for a school night.”

“I know,” Jacob said. “I was just dropping Scarlett off.”

My dad smiled. “Thanks for walking her to the door. I appreciate it.”

I wondered how much he’d appreciate it once he knew Jacob and I had been kissing in his truck. Although you could hardly classify what we did as kissing...

“Pumpkin, are you okay?” my dad asked. “You look a little pale.” He lifted his hand and put the back of it against my forehead to check my temperature.

“I’m good,” I said. But my voice came out all squeaky and weird.

My dad’s eyebrows lowered. “Is everything okay? Did something happen at Matt’s?”

Yes! I flubbed my do-over first kiss. And now I have a fake boyfriend instead of a real one. What the hell was my life?

“Actually, yes,” Jacob said. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. He was probably worried I was about to pass out. “Is Aunt Penny here too? And Liam? I have some good news I want to share with all of you.”

No! Not all at once! Ah!

My dad smiled. “Did you get early acceptance to a university? Wait, don’t tell me. Penny will want to hear it too. She’s in the family room. I’ll go get Liam. But are you sure you’re okay, pumpkin?”

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“You’ll get your acceptance letter in the spring, I’m sure of it.” He kissed my forehead and then walked through the kitchen. I heard him yelling up the stairs for Liam.

I groaned. “He thinks you’re about to tell him you got into Harvard and are going to be hundreds of miles away from me next year.

” The only school I wanted to go to was the University of New Castle.

It was where my parents had met. And even though my mom had transferred after the scandal, I still viewed the school as this romantic enchanting place full of possibilities. I really wanted to get in.

“Then it’ll be quite the surprise when I tell him we’re dating. And that I’m planning on going to the University of New Castle.”

“Wait. What?”

Jacob shrugged. “I know Coach wants me to go to Harvard. But it just doesn’t feel like.

..me. My dad never went to college. And my mom went to an online university.

But the University of New Castle was where she’d wanted to go if she’d been allowed to attend in person.

And I may know a few other people that are going there. ” He smiled down at me.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were still considering it?” We’d all talked about going to the same college when we were little. But that felt like forever ago. Back when I had confidence. Stop it.

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Well I’m very surprised.” I never in a million years thought we’d wind up at the same college.

But I also hadn’t known that Aunt Brooklyn had wanted to go there.

This news actually calmed me down a bit.

Jacob, Axel, Sophie, and I had all promised to stay friends forever.

And it would certainly be a lot easier if we somehow all wound up at the same college.

“Come on,” Jacob said. “Let’s go break the big news to your family.” He started walking down the hall.

And just like that I was panicking again. I hurried after him. We walked into the family room just as my dad was walking in from the other side.

“Hey, sweetie,” my mom said. “Oh, hi, Jacob. How are you doing?”

“Never been better,” he said with a smile.

I mean tonight could have gone a little better... I thought about our teeth knocking together and sighed.

“Jacob said he has some big news for us,” my dad said as he sat down on the couch next to my mom.

“This better be good, Scar,” Liam said as he walked into the room. “I was on an important video call.”

“With who?” I asked.

“Someone overseas.”

Oh no. Was he talking about our Russian neighbor? What was he doing calling her? And what time was it in Russia right now?

“What’s up, Jacob?” Liam asked. And then the two of them did some handshake I’d never seen before.

“I was actually the one with news,” Jacob said. “Well, both of us, really.” He smiled down at me. He was really good at pretending this was real. “But first.” He turned to my dad. “Uncle James. I’d like to ask permission to date your daughter.”

It felt like all the air was sucked out of the room. Everyone was eerily quiet. And my dad’s face was completely unreadable.

“Gross,” Liam said with a chuckle. “Jacob, you have terrible taste in women.”

I picked up a pillow off the couch and threw it at him.

He caught it before it could hit his face.

“The two of you are dating?” my mom asked and looked back and forth between us. “Really?”

Why did she say that like she didn’t believe it?

“Yes,” I said and slid my hand into Jacob’s .

“That is if it’s okay with you, sir,” Jacob said to my dad.

My dad was just staring at us. Or had he fallen asleep with his eyes open or something? What the heck was happening?

“Well, that’s wonderful news,” my mom said.

She’d said it was wonderful. But her voice sounded strange.

“Right, James?” She put her hand on my dad’s shoulder. “James?” She kind of nudged him a bit.

And it was like my dad finally regained consciousness. “Wonderful news,” he said. A smile slowly spread across his face. “Yes. Spectacular, really.” He stood up and shook Jacob’s hand for some reason.

Liam and I glanced at each other.

Liam shrugged.

My dad clapped Jacob on the back. “Best news I’ve heard in a long time. You two make a fine couple.”

“Ew,” Liam said.

My dad snapped his fingers in Liam’s general direction. “Stop it. They’re the perfect couple.” He nodded to himself with a strange smile on his face. “We need champagne! Wait. No. Actually, yes. I know you both drink at parties.”

Did he?!

“Ellen!” he called.

Our housekeeper came into the room.

“We need champagne all around!” my dad said.

“Oh?” she asked. “What’s the occasion?”

“Scarlett is dating Jacob .” He emphasized Jacob’s name in a strange way. And then he pointed at Jacob. As if any of us didn’t know who Jacob was.

Seriously...what is happening right now?

Ellen smiled. “How fantastic! I’ll get the refreshments.”

My dad leaned down and hugged my mom in celebration. He pulled her to her feet and planted a big kiss on her. And then he put his hands on the sides of her face. “She’s dating Jacob .”

Liam turned to us. “Is dad high right now?”

“I have no idea,” I whispered.

“I really thought he’d be freaking out. Not celebrating.”

I nodded. “I know, right?”

“I told you he liked me,” Jacob said.

Liam shook his head. “No, he’s definitely high or something.”

Ellen came back in with a tray full of champagne flutes and a bottle.

“Splendid,” my dad said. He grabbed the bottle and popped the top. Some overflowed over his hand and he laughed. He filled up the glasses and handed them out.

“To the happy couple!” my dad said and raised his glass. He took a sip. “Everyone drink up!”

Was this some kind of trick? To catch me drinking underage?

I glanced at Liam again.

He shrugged and took a big sip.

My dad didn’t yell, so I did the same.

“I thought you had a crush on that Olivia girl,” Liam whispered to Jacob, but loud enough for me to hear.

“Olivia who?” I asked.

“That junior with the huge tits...”

“Old news,” Jacob said. He gave Liam a dirty look .

“Sorry, man.” Liam downed the rest of his champagne.

Who was this Olivia person with big knockers?

And why did I care? Jacob and I were only pretending to date.

But I suddenly disliked the name Olivia.

I wanted to press Liam for more information, but I didn’t want to seem desperate.

Besides, I had something else I needed to ask him about.

“Were you on a video call with our neighbor downstairs?”

“Yeah.”

“Why? Is she coming home? When? Oh God, we’re going to be in so much trouble when she sees what we did to that room.”

Liam laughed. “Chill. If she was coming back soon we wouldn’t have had to have a video call.”

What did he mean by that? Wait... “Ew. Were you doing sex things on a video call with her? How old is she?”

“What’s it to you?”

If she was old enough to own an apartment, she was much older than him. “You said Jacob and I were gross? You dating older women...”

“What’s gross about older women? I’ll tell you...nothing. And they’re way better than girls my age. She’s sexy as hell and knows exactly what to do with...”

“Don’t finish that sentence.” He sounded like Sophie. Only...opposite.

“Besides, I’m not dating her. It’s her daughter. And it’s casual.”

Still. Yuck. And even though it was our neighbor’s daughter that he was calling, Liam had defended dating older women. So the daughter was still much older than Liam.

Jacob high fived him.

“Don’t high five him for that,” I said.

Jacob laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.

“You’re supposed to be on my side, boyfriend .”

“Sorry, love.” He kissed the side of my forehead.

I swallowed hard. Love? I smiled. That was really cute. When he said things like that, it was a little hard to remember that none of this was real.

Liam rolled his eyes.

“Congratulations,” my dad said as he walked back over to us. “But in all seriousness, Jacob. If you hurt my daughter, I will kill you.”

Jesus, Dad. But actually...that was more of the reaction I’d expected.

“I would never hurt her,” Jacob said.

My dad nodded. “That’s what I thought. Because if you did, they would never find your body.”

“James,” my mom said.

“Who is the they in this situation?” Liam asked.

“Anyone,” my dad said. “Everyone.”

“Noted,” Jacob said.

But then my dad laughed and shook his head again. “Still no boys allowed in your room though, pumpkin.” He turned back to Jacob. “And Scarlett is waiting until marriage, obviously. So don’t get any ideas in your head.”

My eyes grew round. Had my dad really just said that out loud? And why did he think he was allowed to decide that for me?!

“Yes, sir,” Jacob said.

Liam laughed.

I resisted throwing another pillow at him .

My dad inhaled and exhaled slowly. And then he shook his head. “Seriously, best news ever.”

He seemed like he was in an awfully good mood right now. And there was something I needed. I wasn’t sure I’d get a better moment to ask for it.

“Dad?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“Could I switch my bedroom to be one of the guest rooms?”

“Why would you want to switch to one of the guest rooms? They’re so much smaller.”

I shrugged. “Honestly? I was hoping to not have surveillance on me all the time. It’s...a lot, Dad.”

“Well, if you switch rooms, we’ll be installing cameras in the new room.”

“Dad. All I do is study and sleep in my room. I promise to never have Jacob in my room with the door closed.”

“Yeah, I’m not trying to end up in little bitty pieces all over the city,” Jacob said.

My dad sighed and took a sip of his champagne. “Fine. No cameras.”

“What?” Liam asked. “Can I get them taken down in my room?”

“Your sister is practically an adult. She needs her privacy.”

“So high,” Liam whispered.

Yeah...my dad was definitely acting weird. I’d thought he’d put up a little more of a fight about the cameras. But it almost just seemed like he was...happy. Like super happy. But that was odd too.

“I can’t believe the two of you are dating,” my dad said. “Isn’t this the best news ever, Penny?”

My mom nodded. She was smiling, but it wasn’t one of her normal ones.

I thought my mom would be excited and my dad would be furious. Instead my dad was thrilled and my mom seemed uneasy.

I took another sip of champagne and tucked myself under Jacob’s arm.

But my mom’s expression didn’t change.

And I was a little worried she could tell the whole thing wasn’t real. Or maybe she knew the real reason why I wanted to swap rooms.