Faking It

Chapter 26: The Truth Is...

Text from: Jake Morris-Whittaker, 7:01 am

Screw reminders
Can we please talk about that bouquet?! 😲😍🌹

They're just flowers

Uhh huhhhhh 😏😏😏
I know a grand gesture when I see one

Please stop

Fine
But I'm pretty sure I won't be the only guy saying the L word to you anymore...

JAKE

😇😇😇
LOVE YOU EL

~*~

Theo's stunt went viral, which meant of course my brother had seen it. One of the other boys' varsity players had recorded the whole thing, and later that night, after Theo had paraded me through the common room with my massive bouquet, he'd uploaded it to his Instagram and tagged me. It was the last thing I'd wanted to deal with when I had to explain the sudden arrival of two dozen roses to Gyeong-Ja. Especially when I was still inwardly cringing after what I'd blurted on the field.

It only got worse when I had to relive it after Gyeong-Ja demanded that I spill all the details while she helped me trim the flowers and scrounge for a water pitcher in the dining hall. The bouquet looked ridiculous, overflowing from the scratched plastic on the edge of my desk. I couldn't help but wonder if girls like Madeleine and Emma had expensive, cut crystal vases for this exact occasion. Anything to keep my mind off that something that had awoken in my stomach.

All night, I tried and failed to think of anything else. Especially since I kept catching whiffs of the roses—the same scent that had surrounded me when Theo had taken his hopeful step towards me on the soccer field. And as the scene replayed in my head, I blushed. Hard. Why hadn't I just shut that whole thing down and told him that I wasn't interested in kissing him at all? Because I definitely wasn't. Not even a little bit. It was just the whole grand gesture thing that had caught me off guard. And I only kept glancing at my phone because of the Instagram notifications. Not because I was debating sending him a text to thank him for the flowers. A text he would grin down at, his face going all soft and gentle and eager again...

I rolled over with a groan. I needed to get Theo Ellerby out of my head. Which meant turning off my phone to shut down both the notifications and the temptation to thank him. It's not like the flowers meant anything, anyway. They were all an act, just like him. I had to remember that. And most of all, I had to remember that he was a liar, and that this was all a game.

A game that wouldn't let me go, if the next morning was any indication. Before the sun had properly risen, Gyeong-Ja was shaking me awake, already dressed for her run.

"Someone's here for you," she whispered conspiratorially, then bolted out the door.

Right past Theo, who leaned on the frame and smirked, cradling a soccer ball.

"It's way too early for this," I moaned, pulling my pillow back over my head. The something in my stomach was awake again, and I ground my teeth, willing away the heat building beneath my skin as the door snicked closed behind him.

"You never answered my texts." Theo sat with a whomp at the end of my bed. "I had to be sure you hadn't died, Emdubs. And it's time we practice your keep-away skills."

"If your damned video hadn't been blowing up my phone all night, I wouldn't have turned it off," I muttered into my pillow.

"My 'damned video' got almost a hundred thousand views last night," he said matter-of-factly. "Now get up and change into practice clothes. Unless you want the entire school to know that you sleep in One Direction pyjamas."