Page 52 of Scarlett and the Fake Boyfriend (Scarlett #2)

Saturday

“Did you just call me a Halloween Henchman?” Eli asked.

“No,” I said. “Well...yes.”

He laughed. “Why?”

“Because your parents own a Halloween shop.” I took another sip of my soda.

“And the bit about being a henchman?”

“Funny story. You’re Gigi’s henchman.”

He laughed. “Is that what people think?”

“Apparently, yes. Or maybe it was that you’re her minion? I don’t remember. But I didn’t come up with the nickname.”

“Who did?”

“Someone who shall not be named.”

“How many of those sodas have you had?” Eli asked.

“Just a few sips.”

“Light weight,” he said with a smile.

“Do you mind if I smell you?”

“What?”

I looped my arms behind his back, being careful not to spill my drink. “Hm. You smell good. Like...cedar and pine needles.” Was that a scent that made sense? I laughed at the thought. Scents making sense .

“Thank you?” he said as his hands settled on my hips.

“You’re welcome. So speaking of Gigi. As her henchman, does she ever make you do anything strange?”

“Like?”

“Let me give you an example of a scenario that I’ve just made up in my head. Say she’s texting some girl as a prank. Pretending to be a guy that has a crush on the girl she’s texting.”

“I don’t think Gigi is into girls...”

“You didn’t let me finish. It’s an elaborate prank in this random scenario. She’s texting, pulling the strings, if you will. And then you’re the guy in real life. The puppet. Living out the texting. Like...making out with people and pulling them into closets?”

“That’s a very specific scenario.”

“It feels random to me,” I said.

Eli laughed. “And I’m not a puppet. Or a henchman.”

“You swear?” I asked.

“I think you’re drunk.”

“You did not answer my question, sir.”

“I’m not Gigi’s henchman. As far as I’m concerned, Gigi can go screw herself.”

“What?”

He nodded over to where Gigi was dancing with someone else. And his hands tensed on my waist.

“Oh. You’re in love with her?”

“I definitely didn’t use those words,” Eli said.

“But still.” I stared at Gigi. I was glad she wasn’t dancing with Jacob or Axel. Or Leo. I pressed my lips together. What had Leo smelled like again? Oh, right. Mint. “I know what it’s like to love someone and them not love you back. I’m sorry.”

He cleared his throat. “Like I said, Gigi can go screw herself.” He stared down at me. “You know...we almost kissed the other day.”

“Did we?”

“At the firepit after the game a few weeks ago. The day you had your kissing booth up.”

“Oh, right.” I remembered. “You wanted to kiss Soph.”

He shrugged.

That seemed very noncommittal for a kiss thief. I liked to think I knew my kiss thief. He was obsessed with me. There’d be no shrugs. He’d probably already be kissing me. I really didn’t think it was Eli. But just in case... “Let me measure you real quick.”

“What?”

I put one of my hands on his shoulders. Okay. Tall. I ran it down his abs to his hip. Definitely tall. How was I supposed to measure without a tape measurer though? “Are you over six feet?”

“I’m 6’2.”

“Yeah, you’re built kind of like Jacob. I don’t know why I can’t remember if he has broad shoulders.”

“Jacob?”

“No, I know Jacob has broad shoulders.”

“I’m so confused,” Eli said.

I patted his shoulder. “I’ll pay better attention this time. Have you seen Luis? I need to measure him too.”

“He’s getting a drink at the bar.”

I looked over at my dad handing Luis a drink. “Would you mind telling Luis that I’m formally requesting a dance? I’d do it myself. But I need to catch Sophie up on everything. Actually, wait, no.” I wasn’t in the mood to dance with that jerk. “Let’s do Zach the Stallion instead.”

Eli laughed. “What the hell did you just call Zach?”

“You know...stallion. Because of his massive member.”

Eli laughed harder. “Pretty sure it’s the size of my pinky finger. The dude never changes in the locker room.”

“Because he doesn’t want to shame you.”

“If you say so, Scarlett.”

“Good luck with Gigi.”

“I think I’ll try my luck with Sophie instead.” He winked at me and disappeared into the crowd.

I wasn’t as surprised when Sophie popped up this time. The song had changed to a fast paced one and she shook her hips.

“I think he likes you!” I yelled over the music.

“Who? Eli?”

“Mhm. Just like Mr. Halifax. So...it’s not either of them. Let’s cross them off the list.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Sophie said.

“Well, I smelled Eli just in case. But please don’t make me dance with Mr. Halifax.”

“I would literally die if Mr. Halifax wanted to dance with me.” She hooked her arm in mine and we spun in a circle.

I felt a little dizzy. “ I’m the one that will literally die because my dad will kill me if I dance with Mr. Halifax.”

Sophie glanced over at the bar. “Fair. We’ll do it secretly...somehow.”

I laughed and took a sip of my soda. “I can’t believe this has gotten past my dad. ”

“Hopefully he doesn’t get thirsty,” Sophie said. “Because if he does, he’ll definitely figure it out.”

I nodded. “I really don’t think it’s Mr. Halifax or Eli. It’s much more likely Leo.”

Sophie stopped dancing. “Wait, do you like Leo?”

“He’s funny. Like RJ and Liam said.”

“Right,” she said. “He’s funny like RJ. Which means you’d practically be hooking up with your cousin.”

“Ew, stop.”

She looked around the dance floor. “Do you really think it might be Leo?”

“He did say he was in love with me.”

“I guess dating a guy like your cousin is better than dating a guy like your father.”

I hated this conversation. “Have you seen Jacob? Or Axel for that matter?”

“I have eyes on everyone,” RJ said from behind me.

I spun around and he caught me around the waist.

“I heard you have the hots for me,” RJ said.

“Don’t, perv.” I swatted his hands off my waist. I can’t believe he’d overheard that conversation.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve found that most women fall hopelessly in love with me. It’s not your fault. But cool your loins, baby doll. We’re related. And I’m a little young for you.”

Sophie pretended to hurl.

And I actually gagged a little. “Says the guy who brought a junior to homecoming.”

“Eh.” He shrugged. “I did that for you. I don’t really have a thing for older women like Liam does. But Olivia really is smoking hot.”

Sophie rolled her eyes.

“I really don’t want to hear about my little brother’s sexual preferences.” I said. Seriously...what was his thing with older women? He was being so weird.

Eli walked up behind Sophie and grabbed her hips.

Sophie looked surprised. But then she smiled when she saw it was Eli. And then she not so subtly looked over at Mr. Halifax to see if he was looking.

He 100% was.

Sophie reached up behind Eli’s neck as she swayed along with him to the rhythm of the music. As she stared right into Mr. Halifax’s eyes. And then she dipped it low.

It was almost as suggestive as her spread eagle on his desk with another guy.

Mr. Halifax looked away.

“Soph is definitely trying to get our teacher arrested,” RJ said.

I didn’t disagree.

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

Zach the Stallion was standing there. He just stood there and stared at me. Acting much more like Zach the Shy Spy than Zach the Stallion.

“I’ll leave you to it, baby doll,” RJ said. “Don’t worry, I’ll be watching every second.”

I really wished he wouldn’t. For a second Zach and I just stared at each other.

“Do you...um...” his voice trailed off. “Eli said you wanted to talk?”

“No, I want to dance.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him closer.

One thing I realized very quickly was that Zach was not a good dancer.

“Do you wear cologne?” I asked .

“Oh...um...no.”

I leaned a little closer to smell him anyway. He smelled citrusy. It was pretty distinct. But I couldn’t remember what the kiss thief smelled like. The only time I’d remembered to try to smell him was when we were in the custodial closet. And it had smelled like cleaning supplies.

I put my hand on Zach’s shoulder to get a good measurement.

Zach wasn’t as beefy as Eli. But I wouldn’t necessarily say he had long lean muscles like Axel.

He was somewhere in between. And for the life of me, I really couldn’t remember how the kiss thief was built.

In my defense, he was always grabbing my hands and pulling them away from his body.

Maybe because he was self-conscious? I found my gaze going lower.

The kiss thief was planning on stealing third base tonight. And presumably he’d be into touching me. Really into it. He’d gotten hard just kissing me before. Which meant I might be able to get a good feel of him today.

I looked over at Sophie grinding against Eli. I could do that too. With Zach. And maybe get another measurement.

I spun around, pressing my ass against the front of Zach.

“Oh...um...” he grabbed my hips. “Okay.”

I mimicked Sophie’s dance moves as best as possible.

And it did not take long at all for me to start feeling Zach pressing against my ass. He kept getting harder. And harder. And growing. And growing. Good Lord.

He wasn’t Zach the Shy Spy. He was definitely Zach the Stallion. Sophie was right.

I dipped it low, following Sophie’s lead.

And when I came back up my dad was standing right in front of me.

I was so startled my soda can slipped out of my hand, landing on the floor, spilling the contents in every direction.

“A rulers distance apart,” my dad said.

“Oh...um...yes, Mr. Hunter,” Zach said. But he didn’t let go of my waist. Because I was currently blocking his massive erection from view.

“Now,” my dad said firmly.

I took a step forward, doing my best to keep the tent in Zach’s pants out of my dad’s eyesight.

“Dad, everyone is dancing that way.” I pointed to the dance floor.

“Everyone stop grinding!” my dad said. “What are we? In the early 2000s? There has to be some other kind of dance now.”

Mr. Halifax chuckled. “You’d think.”

Ah! Why was he here?!

My dad and Mr. Halifax just stared at each other for a moment.

“Can I help you with something, West?” my dad said. “I’m having a private conversation with my underaged daughter.”

Dad! Why did he always make everything so much more awkward?

“I thought you might need these.” Mr. Halifax held out some napkins.

“Right.” My dad took them and leaned over to sop up the mess on the floor.

“I can get it,” I said and tried to stop him from getting any closer to the spiked soda .

But my dad had already crouched down.

“Wait, what’s that smell?” He sniffed the air and his eyes zeroed in on the puddle of soda on the ground. He snatched the empty can and took a deep sniff.

I sighed.

“Did you spike this?” he asked me.

I shook my head. “No. Is it spiked?” I feigned a shocked face. “It must have come that way.”

My dad cursed under his breath and stood up. “The sodas have been spiked!” he yelled. “I repeat, the sodas have been spiked! All chaperones on deck!”

The chaperones started snatching cans out of everyone’s hands.

This was so embarrassing.

“Clean this up while I fix this,” my dad said and thrust the empty can into Mr. Halifax’s hand. But then my dad paused because Zach had tried to awkwardly shuffle away with his hands over the front of his tuxedo pants.

My dad frowned. “Does that boy have...” He shook his head and cursed under his breath. “I can only handle one problem at a time.” He snatched a can out of Sophie’s hand and started weaving through the dance floor, leaving a trail of thirsty students behind him.

Mr. Halifax crouched down to clean up the rest of the mess.

“I can do that,” I said and knelt down next to him. I reached out to grab one of the napkins my dad had discarded.

Mr. Halifax reached for the napkin at the same time and our fingers collided.

He cleared his throat and grabbed another napkin. “Are you having a good homecoming, Miss Hunter?”

I nodded.

“You seem to be the belle of the ball.”

I laughed awkwardly. “No, that’s Sophie.” I nodded over to her.

Mr. Halifax didn’t turn around to see her grinding against Eli. But I swear he was scowling.

I wiped up the rest of the mess.

He reached out and grabbed the napkins from my hand. “Get back to dancing. It’s your last homecoming. Enjoy it.”

I suddenly felt much more sober. My last homecoming. At least at Empire High. I promised myself I’d stop wasting time. And wasn’t that all I was doing?

I wanted to unmask my kiss thief.

But there was something I wanted to do more right now. Dance with my boyfriend. I pressed my lips together. Fake boyfriend, I meant.

“Have you seen my boyfriend?” I asked.

I swear Mr. Halifax frowned again. “No, I haven’t seen your boyfriend.”

“Oh.” I had a sick feeling in my stomach. I’d wasted too much time. Jacob was probably off somewhere with Olivia. While I’d been dancing with a bunch of guys that probably weren’t my kiss thief. Knowing my luck...my kiss thief was the teacher right in front of me. And I wanted no part in that.

I mean, sure. Mr. Halifax was handsome... But Sophie was in love with him. And he was so off-limits. I did need to sniff him though. I started to lean in closer.

Mr. Halifax abruptly stood up. “Miss Hunter.” He put his hand out for me .

I grabbed his hand and he helped me to my feet. I wasn’t close enough to smell him. But I tried to memorize the feeling of his hand in mine.

“West,” my dad said.

I quickly dropped Mr. Halifax’s hand.

“Check the restrooms for more sodas,” my dad said.

“Sure thing.” Mr. Halifax nodded at me and walked off the dance floor.

My heart was hammering in my chest. Mr. Halifax nodded at me in such a knowing way. Almost like was saying “until next time.” Or maybe he was saying “follow me to the restroom.”

“Why was he touching you?” my dad asked, way too loudly.

“He wasn’t. He was helping me clean up the soda on the floor.”

“You were holding hands, Scarlett.”

“Dad, he was just helping me to my feet.”

My dad nodded. But he looked pissed. “Where is Jacob?” he asked. “It seems like you’ve danced with everyone in your grade but him.”

“I’m not sure where he is.”

“I’ll find him,” my dad said. “In the meantime, drink this.” He handed me a bottle of water before disappearing into the crowd.

I unscrewed the cap and took a big sip. Ew. I almost spit it out. I was pretty sure this was straight vodka.

Sophie abandoned her dance partner and joined me. “I don’t think I can deny it anymore.”

“What?!” I could barely hear her. The song suddenly seemed much louder than before.

“I think Mr. Halifax is in love with you!”

“No!” I yelled over the music. “Definitely not, Soph.”

She looked so defeated.

“And I have good news!”

She stared at me skeptically.

“You were right about Zach!”

“What?”

“Zach has a huge penis!” I yelled just as the song cut off.