Fake Turns Real

Plan

John rested his elbow on the table and leaned his head against his palm. He stared into my eyes, expression unreadable, "Be my girlfriend," he whispered.

I blinked a few times blankly at him; it took me a minute to come into words, and all the while he was studying my face, "What?"

"You heard me," John said, "Be my girlfriend."

"Be your – what – your – be your girlfriend?" I stuttered. Was he insane? Me? His girlfriend? He knew I did not like him in that way.

"Yes," he nodded and spooned a mouthful of food and shoved it into his mouth.

"Seriously John," I sighed, "What are you thinking about?"

"Are you dumb?" John said teasingly, sitting straight, "If you have a boyfriend he might just back off. And I get to have what I want." He winked at me.

I shook my head to shake off the image of him winking. I needed to concentrate.

"Well," I exhaled, "Even if I agree to the plan it doesn't mean it's going to last forever. Once everything is settled down I'm going to quit."

"What if I," he pointed his fork at himself, "Make you fall in love with me?" the fork was now pointing at me. He then proceeded to feeding himself some more food.

"That's not going to happen," I rolled my eyes, "It's been this way for years, John." I reminded him.

"It's worth a try," John put down his fork and leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms, "And you can get what you want too."

"Hmm," I was deep in thought. If I had to choose between Richard and John, I would definitely choose John. I knew him better than Richard and honestly speaking I had more common things with John. I would rather spend more time with him than with Richard. And after all, the thing between John and I was not going to last anyway.

"So?" John asked again, his eyes boring into mine. His bare chest was steadily rising and falling against his crossed arms.

"But it's really stupid," I looked down at my plate of food. It was like something from a movie - if you think about it, it was absolutely ridiculous. Was it even going to work at all?

"No it's not," John shook his head, "You know it (Yn), just think about it."

I fell silent and thought about the whole thing over in my head. Maybe John did have a point. Richard would not bother with me anymore if I had got a boyfriend, would he?

"What's your answer?" I pulled my wandering gaze back to John and he asked me, "Yes or no?"

"Yes," I said after a brief pause, "But don't get happy too soon, we'll only appear as boyfriend and girlfriend in front of people, but not when we're alone. And don't even have creepy thoughts about me, okay?"

"I'll try," John grinned cheekily at me.

We finished our breakfast in silence, and John seemed to be unable to wipe the grin off his face. I, on the other hand, was lost in my own thoughts. What might possibly happen from this point on kept playing in my head, and I really hoped I had not made a wrong decision.

What if everything got out of hand and fell apart? What if someone found out and everyone around me ended up hating me forever for being the liar that I was? And John too, wearing a bad name because of me? Or something went wrong and John hated me forever... And even worse, Liam too?

God, I would not want that. Not even the part with John hating me. No matter what, he was at least a friend to me.

But then... Nothing could be worse than being stuck with Richard for all eternity, trying to be his lover while I felt nothing for him, right?