The Pretend Girlfriend

Chapter 1 - Who are you?

A gush of wind swept across the atmosphere, toying with the strands of my hair and flipping the pages of the book I was currently reading. A normal person would've been annoyed with all those hair whipping across their face, or frustrated because they didn't take note of the last page they were at. Instead, I took a long deep breath, enjoying the breeze, feeling calmness overcome my body. I was leaning on the thick trunk of an enormous tree that had noticeably stopped growing over the past two years. The leaves that were attached to the branches were so abundant that the sunlight could merely stream through the cracks in between. This had become my weekly routine, to sit under that same tree at the park which was a three minute walk away from my house.

I used to only come here when I'm feeling stressed out or if I feel the need to escape from reality, but this somehow became a routine. A routine I'm not planning to change for a while. Feeling this amazing breeze that brushes against my skin is the closest I can get to being in heaven. I don't know if it's just me but I love the feeling of the wind blowing in my face. Sort of like dogs when they love sticking their head out of the window when they're in a moving car. I call this place my second home. I could sit here for hours and not move. I would even stay overnight if it weren't for my parents' disapproval. Yes, I've asked them before. Weird, I know.

This place had been my favorite place to come to rejuvenate. Until that one day. The day where a jerk came and ruined everything.

Jace Cooper.

Okay, maybe the term "ruined" is a bit too harsh. But whatever. Anyway...

I was bobbing my head to the music playing through my earphones, while closing my eyes and leaning against the tree trunk when I suddenly felt a presence directly in front of me. At first I dismissed it thinking it could just be a passerby wandering around. Minutes passed and I still felt the presence there, I shifted uncomfortably on my spot and finally willed my eyes to open. My eyes widened in shock when I saw a guy having his body bent slightly toward me, looking at me with an amused expression. He must've been watching me bob my head back and forth. Ugh how embarrassing! But that's not the point! Who is this guy and what does he want from me? Why is he staring at me? What a creep! Though, I have to admit, a really, really good looking creep. Oh sweet mother of monkeys what am I thinking?! I quickly took my earphones out.

"U-um..." Oh great, now I'm stuttering. I groaned internally, and continued. "...what are you doing?"

A deep chuckle came reverberating from his chest and left his lips before he spoke. "Hello to you too." He smiled with a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"Hi.....What are you doing?" I repeated, unintentionally sounding a little too harsh.

He crouched down.

"What? I can't just admire another beautiful human being?" He questioned me with a hand over his heart faking to take offense. What he said had made me blush several shades of red, and to cover up this embarrassing habit of blushing so easily, I retorted with whatever that came to mind.

"pfft. Does this actually work for you? Trying to pick girls up this way?"

"I don't know, it's my first time saying this to someone." He chuckled for a brief moment and then said, "So, did it work?"

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." I gave him a flat stare. But I also felt a tinge of pride swelling up in me, when he said I'm the first person he'd said this to. But then he could be lying. Judging from his character, he's probably a player. I should stay away from this guy. He just shrugged in return. I wonder when this guy is going to leave me alone.

"So..." I started. "Earlier you said 'another human being' who would this 'another' be?

"Me! Of course." He beamed at me.

Hah! Of course. A good looking dude always comes with a cocky attitude. This somehow made me realize what I was doing - talking to a random stranger. I quickly recovered from my bewildered state and cleared my throat before saying, "So, when are you going to leave me alone?" Feeling somewhat agitated while fidgeting in my spot. I just don't have the capacity to tolerate cocky people. It just kind of kills it for me.

"Leave you alone? But I just got here!" The good looking guy dramatically exclaimed. He moved from his crouched position to sit next to me under the tree. I sighed loudly. I guess he wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon. Yay me. He leaned against the tree trunk mirroring my stance and turned his head towards me. "So, why do you like this place so much? I see you come by here every Saturday and Sunday never really got the chance to say hi."

I didn't know what to say so I kept silent and stared ahead, watching three pigeons fight over food crumbs on the ground. Suddenly a large hand intruded my vision before I heard the guy say "I'm Jace by the way. Nice to meet you." I turned my head towards him and felt bad for ignoring him so I took his hand in mine and replied, "Nice to meet you." Jace. What a nice name. I said it a few times in my head. I like the sound of that name.

After letting go of his hand, he continued to look at me expectantly.

"What?"

"You haven't told me your name." Oh.

"It's Kate"

"Is that short for something?" Jace asked, looking genuinely curious. Why would anyone be curious about me? This is new.

"Yeah, it's Katelyn but everyone calls me Kate so I sort of just got stuck with that."

"Huh. Interesting. Well then Katelyn I - "

"I said it's Kate" I interrupted Jace.

"Yeah well I prefer calling you by your actual name. Anyway as I was saying, I was wondering if you could help me with something." He asked, looking slightly sheepish.

Hmm I wonder what it is that could make him feel this way. Curious, I shifted my body so that I was turned on my side, fully facing Jace. "Okay, well it depends. I barely know you. No, scratch that, I don't even know you."

"Yes you do. You know my name. That's enough isn't it." Jace declared.

"Uh, no. You could be a psycho killer I wouldn't know."

"Ha. Ha. Very funny." Mimicking what I said earlier. "Okay, my name is Jace Cooper. Jace Henry Cooper. I'm 21 years old and I'm a student at UMASS. My birthday is on the 5th of May and my blood type is A positive. I lost my virginity when I was - "

"Okay, okay! That's enough." I interrupted Jace again, not wanting to know any unnecessary information. "So what's the favor?"

"Alright it's going to be stupid if I just ask the favor of you now, so I would have to at least explain the details. There's this girl I sort of had a fling with, is crazy. Like crazy obsessed cat lady type of crazy. She comes to my doorstep almost every second day, banging on my door begging me to let her in. The first time she came, I felt bad for her so I let her in. Big mistake. She threw herself onto me, and tried prying my clothes off me. She even tried to take off her own clothes. She managed to take her panties out and fling it to my face." Jace grimaced when he came to that part. "Anyway, so I lied to her I had a girlfriend so she would stop harassing me. But she didn't believe me, because she's never seen me speak or be intimate with a girl from our University. So I told her that my girlfriend is not from our University and that she doesn't know her." Jace took an exaggerated long breath when he finished his speech about this crazy girl. "So the big favor is, could you pretend to be my girlfriend?"

My eyes widened in shock for the second time that day, and my jaw hung open.

"Ex-excuse me?!"

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A/N: hello ^_^ to whoever who actually clicked on this and read this, thank you so much! <3 it's my first time writing a story so, please be lenient. hehe but feel free to correct where i'm wrong, i'm happy to be able to learn from my mistakes and be better at what I wish to do. I like to try to write, but obviously i'm not really good at it. This story is just going to be a starting point for me, so the plot is not really that interesting. lol. anyway hope you enjoyed this so far.

please leave comments to say you like it and you want me to continue, or you hate it and I should give up.

xx

- Adelyn