Faking It

Chapter 18: The First Date of Champions

Theo studied me as he added extra mustard to his burger.

"What?" I demanded between mouthfuls.

"Just trying to figure you out." He bit into his burger, still contemplating me as he chewed.

I didn't like the way my cheeks heated under the weight of his gaze. "There's not much to figure out." I shrugged, swirling a fry in ketchup.

Theo shook his head and pointed a fry at me. "Wrong." He chomped it, still contemplating. "For starters, I'm trying to figure out if this cool girl act will drop after a few weeks of dating."

"Fake dating," I corrected.

He looked down at his food, then over at mine, an exaggerated frown on his face. "Huh. This sure looked like a real date to me."

"Do I really have to remind you that you're not the Ellerby I'm actually into?"

He pressed a hand to his chest. "Ouch, Emdubs. You know, instead of sassing me, you could thank me for cheering you up."

I screwed my mouth up and swirled another fry in ketchup. Truth be told, between the verbal sparring and the food, I already was feeling a lot better. But I didn't want to inflate his already substantial ego by admitting it.

Theo leaned across the table. "Is it working?"

I held his gaze as I bit into the fry. "Maybe."

A lopsided grin bloomed across his face. "See? I can be a great fake boyfriend." He winked.

I shoved the last of my burger into my mouth to keep from rolling my eyes.

"Speaking of," he said, wiping his hands when he'd finished his food. "We need to set some ground rules. I can get a little handsy when I'm into people, so I need to know if that'll be a problem."

"Define handsy." I sat back and sipped the last of my milkshake.

"I'm not going to grope you or anything. But it would help if you stopped looking like a mortified deer in headlights every time I put an arm around you, or go in for a kiss."

"Absolutely not." I set my empty glass down with a thunk. "No kissing."

Theo tilted his head. "No one is going to believe this if I can't even kiss you."

I folded my arms. "Then tell them I'm a prude. You can kiss me on the head or the cheek or whatever, but my lips are off limits."

His brows crested, amused. "You know, you might be the first girl who's ever forbidden me from kissing her."

I feigned horror. "Shock of all shocks, someone's immune to your charms."

"I'm plagued by despair," he said flatly, waving for our bill. "But if that's the way you want to play it, you're going to have to really sell that you're into me. You up to that, Emdubs?"

I shrugged. "Fine. Whatever."

The waitress set down our bill as she cleared our plates and Theo fished his wallet from his pocket. I tried not to show my surprise when he left a generous tip. Not that I'd taken him for a cheapskate or anything, but I definitely assumed he'd be the type to think a measly 15% was enough. Jake had always complained that the rich kids at my old school were always the worst when it came to tipping him at his part time job.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Theo slid from the booth and offered me a hand. I wanted ignore it, but I had a part to play now. When our fingers met, a familiar jolt ran up my arm. Though his fingers didn't have the tennis callouses of his brother's, they were just was warm. I swallowed when he didn't immediately drop my hand. Instead, he knit his fingers with mine and led me out the door.