Faking It

Chapter 31: A Double Date, Why Not?

"Ellie?" William caught my arm. I was so focused on getting outside, away from the too-loud music and too-crowded halls, that I hadn't even noticed it was him. He was dressed up like Peter Pan, complete with a red feather in his hat.

"Hi," I blurted. "What are you..."

I trailed off when Madeleine appeared beside him, in a top-knot and green mini dress to match her Tinkerbell wings.

"Oh hey, Ellie! Have you seen Aurelia and her sister? I wanted to say hi," she shouted, barely audible over the music blasting from the speaker beside us.

"Back there." I gestured behind me. Madeleine smiled, then leaned up to say something to William before she brushed past me, towards the greatroom.

A queasy feeling roiled around my stomach. William and Madeleine had matching costumes. Madeleine was going to find the hostesses, as if she was the one who'd invited him to her friend's party. That didn't seem like some sort of last minute, Friday night date, made after I'd bailed on William. It seemed more like plans with Madeleine, complete with a couples costume, that he would've willingly blown off to take me to dinner.

"Some party, huh?" William shouted over the music, running a hand over the back of his neck. Something crumpled in the general vicinity of my chest at his rueful, lopsided smile—as if he was thinking about our failed dinner date too.

"Yeah." I dropped my eyes to my drink.

I never should've listened to Theo. I should've just said yes to William. Then, we'd be sitting together in some delicious, romantic restaurant and not standing awkwardly at some party that neither of us seemed particularly enthused about attending.

"You know—" William began, right as I said, "I'm—"

We exchanged grimaces, then he leaned in to say, "I can barely hear you. Come."

A hand on my back, he led me towards the greatroom, where the music wasn't as deafening, but the crowd was definitely thicker. Madeleine was with Aurelia's sister by the couches, leaning in to chat animatedly. At the other end of the room, Theo and Connor were flipping Aurelia upside-down for a keg stand.

Following my look, William's jaw set. "So, did he drag you here just to abandon you for his friends?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but my words got all caught up in my throat. Part of me wanted to scoff and agree and ask William to take me away from all of it. But another part was hung up on Theo's reassuring arm around my shoulders. The way his fingers had knit with mine. His eyes on my mouth. After all, he'd followed me when I'd bolted to make sure I was okay. Until one of his friends had come calling, of course.

I wanted to scrub my hands across my face and banish all of this Theo confusion from my thoughts. This wasn't real. It didn't matter. And yet I was reacting like it did.

William's hands landed on my shoulders, startling me. "Ellie, if you're serious about this, you need to make him take you seriously in return."

"What?" I blurted, completely at a loss. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. William was supposed to be warning me away from Theo, not giving me advice about dating him. My stomach knotted.

"We should do a double date." William's eyes jumped between mine, boring into them. "Tell him it was your idea."

Something that felt an awful lot like a warning tingled up my neck. Madeleine bounced up to us, and William hastily dropped his hands.

"You two okay?" she asked, her bright smile at odds with the sharp, alert look in eyes.

"Ellie thinks we should go on a double date," William said.