Lucky's Real Life Romance Novel

Chapter 14

Monday, I was actually kind of nervous as I neared my locker. Aiden was waiting. His hair was down this time, his curls pulled to one side of his face. He smiled at me but I saw the apprehension behind his smile.

"Hey Lucky Lu!" He said.

"Hey Aiden," I smiled back at him as I opened my locker. There was an awkward silence between us before Aiden cleared his throat.

"So Saturday... I didn't know you were... that close to River North," he hinted. I wanted to groan and roll my eyes but I didn't. River was right. Which meant Aiden liked me. I was torn. On one hand, if I played along, I would get the romance experience, but on the other hand, I didn't like Aiden like he liked me. And I had a feeling my research wouldn't be the same if I didn't feel the same. I ran my hand through my loose hair before swapping out my books just for something to do. I took a beat before deciding.

"River and I are really close. We're practically family," I blurted, keeping my eyes on the inside of my locker.

"Oh... that's cool. Mia is adorable," he said awkwardly. I plastered a smile on my face as I faced him after closing my locker.

"Gotta get to class," I said before putting my bag on my shoulder and heading down the hallway. I wanted to crawl into a hole. I can't believe I turned down a research opportunity to defend River.

When lunch rolled around, I handed River his lunch before sitting with a sigh. I covered my face with my hands before preparing myself. My next sentence was going to hurt me.

"You were right," I muttered.

"What was that?" River teased with a slight smirk as he took a bite of his food.

"You were right about Aiden. He asked me about you, and I can't believe I turned down a good research opportunity to defend you," I admitted.

"Research opportunity?" He asked curiously.

Whoops.

I accidentally let that one slip. I sighed and closed my eyes briefly. I debated telling him before I stopped fighting myself. There were already so many secrets between us, what was one more?

"I want to be a writer like my dad, but I want to write romance novels. The problem is, I have no experience to write from. So I've been using the high school to study characters and natural dialogue. The whole reason I became friends with Aiden in the first place was to create an archetype off of him," I admitted.

"Me too?" He asked. I shook my head.

"I was drawn to you because of my Florence Nightingale complex at first, but you were too interesting to leave alone," I answered.

"So you want to learn about romance?" He asked as he chewed. I nodded before finally getting to my own food.

"That's easy," he shrugged. I gave him a questioning look. He couldn't possibly be suggesting what I think he was.

"Watch movies and read more books," he said. I scoffed.

"You think I haven't tried that? If it was that easy I would have better ratings," I responded.

"So you've already tried?" He asked. I nodded as I chewed.

"It was a bust," I answered.

"Okay so instead of chasing the whole relationship. Why not just recreate the scenes you need?" He asked. It was slightly genius, but I didn't want to admit it to River. He was cocky enough as it was.

"Sure, and who's going to just go along with me and play my living Ken doll?" I asked.

"Well, technically, I owe you," he reminded me. I scoffed before looking at him.

"You would willingly put yourself in romantic situations with me? Just because... you owe me?" I asked as I set my empty container aside. River smirked before grabbed me around my waist and pushing me to the floor. His other hand held the back of my head to keep it from hitting the hard floor as he hovered over me, propping himself up on one knee. I was speechless as I stared up at him with wide eyes and my hand gripping his shirt in surprise. My heart lept into my throat. It was a move I wasn't expecting.

"You think I can't?" He challenged me. He wore a smug look on his face and made no move to get up. Okay, so maybe that move was kind of impressive, but I felt slightly bad for the unsuspecting floor.

"So you can toss me on the floor, big deal?" I tried to say like I was unaffected. He smirked before sitting up and offering me a hand up.

"I made you nervous," he said matter-o-factly as we both leaned against the bench as we sat on the floor. I scoffed and rolled my eyes as I pushed my hair out of face. I tried to play it off but he was right.

"So what, you'll be my... personal male lead?" I asked.

"I'll play your game," he agreed. I took an audible breath before looking to the ceiling. I had my reservations about acting out a romance novel with River, but what other choice did I have? He knew the whole truth. I wouldn't feel guilty about using him because he knew what was happening with full disclosure.

"This seems like a bad idea," I muttered to myself.

"Too late. It's better to act this out with me than to use some poor unsuspecting guy and get his hopes up. At least I know what I'm signing up for," he said. It's like he was in my head. It was a little eerie how much we were in sync these days. As different as we were, we thought alike on a lot of things.

"Just one thing: we don't act anything out at school," he said. I scoffed.

"You started that," I said referring to his little move just then. I almost forgot about all the attention he got at school. If being friends with River alone could put me on the radar, I could only imagine what some of our acting could do.