Page 45 of The Omega's Fake Mate

Truth was, I couldn't stop thinking about Zander. Not while I was chatting with my family and friends, not while I helped Conner walk the dog, and certainly not while I was reading. I used tomockother omegas for feeling like this, but now it turned out I wasn't so different from them after all.

Served me right.

The day before the trip, I asked Kade to help me pick out some new clothes. I got a haircut too while I was at it. I kept thinking about that picture Zander had kept of me, from my modeling days. I had them cut my hair a bit shorter and spike it up, the way I had in those days.

If he kept the picture, he must have liked that.

To be honest, I'd only grown my hair out a bit because it required more styling to look good when shorter, but now I figured it might be worth the trouble.

I hoped it was, anyway.

For all I knew, Zander was long since over me and I was getting my hopes up for nothing. I only hoped that by the end of this weekend, I'd be able to tell.

Early Saturday morning, Zander drove up to Kade's house in his Jag, which still looked every bit as shiny as it had for Thanksgiving. I gave Kade a hug, he told me good luck, and then I went outside to get this road trip started, my heart beating way faster than it should.

“Good morning!” I said, getting into the car, trying to be my most cheerful. I wanted my friend to relax around me and not be as nervous as he was the last time we'd met.

“Morning,” Zander said, glancing over at me. Then he stopped. “Did you get your hair cut?”

I shrugged, aiming to appear nonchalant. “I haven't seen my brother in a long time. I figure it's a special occasion.” I touched one of my spikes between my fingers. Zander didn't have to know that I did this for him.

“It looks good on you,” Zander said.

A natural smile found its way on my face. I didn't have to work on being cheerful anymore. Zander liked my haircut!

Yes, maybe it was a little silly to be so happy about that, but whatever.

“I'm glad you like it,” I said while fastening my seatbelt.

Zander returned my smile, but on his face, the expression looked almost a little shy. When he started the engine again, music came on. I recognized the song almost instantly.Matching Mates.I hadn't thought of it in years now, but I'd loved that song when it was new. It couldn't be a coincidence that it was playing in Zander's car now as we rolled down the road out of town.

He remembered.

I leaned back in my seat, gray light from the winter sunrise shining on my face through the window. Without conscious thought, I found myself singing along to the lyrics.

“You're in a good mood,” Zander noted.

“I love this song. Do you have more like that? Old songs, I mean.”

“A whole bunch of them. You might say I made a mix tape for this trip.”

A mix tape! I laughed. In this car, I truly felt transported back in time. “Who listens to mix tapes anymore?”

“You and I in this car, I guess.”

“Okay then, turn it up.”

With a smile, Zander reached for the dash and turned the volume up.

I let myself relax. In six hours or so, we would reach my brother’s town, but until then, I had nothing to be nervous about. No matter what confusing feelings I had for Zander, he was still my friend. It was comforting to know that some things never changed.

Although, something about this felt entirelytoofamiliar. It was as if I’d listened to this exact mix tape before. Then it dawned on me. “I used to have this tape!” I exclaimed. “You destroyed it, didn’t you?”

Zander laughed. “I wondered when you’d figure that out. It’s not anexactreplica, I’m afraid. I couldn’t remember every song that was on that tape, but I gave it my best effort. I don’t think I ever properly apologized.”

“Nah.” I waved him off. “We’re even.” Smiling to myself, I nudged his elbow. “If we had a fake wedding, these songs would be playing at our reception.”

Zander coughed so hard I kind of feared he’d drive us into a ditch.