Faking It

Chapter 19: The Sweatshirt

Text from: Jake Morris-Whittaker, 9:02 am

So here I am. Scrolling Insta. And uhhhh...
Care to share who Tee.Ell.Bee712 is?????

Just a guy I go to school with

👀 👀 👀
Do not lie to me Eleanor

We lost the game.
He cheered me up with food.
End of story.

Ah damn. That sucks. Sorry El ☹️
Bright side though...maybe this Tee.Ell.Bee712 guy can hug the sad away? 😏

I hate you.

~*~

I was mid yawn the next morning, standing in the porte-cochere in front of the coach bus, when Theo's arm landed on my shoulders. He leaned his head against mine, his hair still damp from a shower, and I didn't like the way I inhaled a little deeper to enjoy the scent of his cologne.

"I'm calling dibs on Emdubs this time," Theo said to Audra, who'd paused with her travel mug halfway to her mouth, eyebrows high at his approach. "Looked like she made an excellent pillow yesterday, and I'd love a nice, long nap."

It took every ounce of my willpower not to duck out from under his arm when he nuzzled into my hair. But Audra was watching, her brows still high, so I offered her my best sheepish smile.

"There really isn't a tea strong enough to deal with any of this," she muttered, before shoving her sports bag into the luggage compartment and climbing onto the bus.

Theo squeezed me and hefted my sports bag to stow it alongside his. "Quick learner. I like it."

I climbed the bus steps. "If you snore while I'm trying to study, I swear—"

"Snore?" Theo laughed, following me and keeping far closer than I'd have liked. "Come on, you think I'd waste all this uninterrupted Emdubs time sleeping?"

I found a window seat a few rows in front of where Audra had settled in beside JJ. Part of me squirmed when she ignored me, sliding on her noise cancelling headphones and pulling down her hoodie.

Theo collapsed beside me as I was texting an apology to Audra. He plucked my phone from my hands before I could send it.

"Hey!" I reached for it, but he'd already swiped open the camera.

"Smile," he said, then leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek. The camera snapped, and I lunged for my phone again, but he held it away from me.

"Seriously?" He tilted his head at the picture. "You call that a smile?"

It was a full-on grimace, with me side-eyeing him as he kissed my cheek.

I couldn't help but laugh. "I think it sums up my feelings pretty perfectly, actually."

Theo sighed, and then, with a few deft swipes, he'd opened my Instagram.

"Don't," I warned, thinking of Jake's texts.

"Remember that plan I was telling you about?" He was already picking a filter and fixing up the picture—clearly far more of an expert than I was. "This is part of it."

"Can we keep my socials out of it? I don't want my brother on my case if he thinks—"

"You have a brother? That explains a lot." Theo tagged himself, typed a caption, then turned the phone towards me. "Approval, please."

I made a face. As much as I hated the idea of sharing a picture of him kissing me where not only my brother, but all the old friends from home that I'd lost touch with would see...it was actually kind of a cute picture. The kind that happy, joking couples posted—the kind of couple that we were pretending to be.