Sɪᴄᴋ⁻⁻Jsᴄʜʟᴀᴛᴛ//Fᴇᴍ ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 26

"What?" Korine asks gobsmacked. She stopped towel drying her hair to drop the towel dramatically. "You're fake dating him?"

"Kind of?" I can't help the smile that creeps onto my face, eye wrinkles and everything. 

"Are you smiling?" Korine squints. "Stop. Stop it right now."

"I can't!" I cover my mouth, but I can barely see with how much I'm smiling. My smile has invaded my face. 

"I thought we wanted him dead!" Korine smacks my arm. "Oh my God, this is a total Caleb situation."

"It is not." I shake my head offended my sister would even suggest that. "I only got back together with Caleb once."

"After he cheated on you!" Korine slaps my arm again. "With your ex-best friend!" she hits me again.

"Stop hitting me! Your hands are so rough!" I push her back. "To be fair, it was my first serious relationship after you know who and I was still healing."

"Healing smealing." Korine rolls her eyes and sits next to me on her bed. "You're seriously going to do this? After everything?"

"You know I like the chase." I place my hand on Korine's shoulder. "No amount of therapy can change that."

Korine groans and flops down. "Can't you date a doctor or something? Didn't that sexy neurosurgeon in your grade want to date you?"

I giggle. "You mean David?"

"David." Korine swoons. "Muscular and sexy David."

"Barf." I gag. "He's not funny and 6'3."

"He is a future neurosurgeon." Korine swoons. "His parents are rich too. Generational wealth for the win."

"If you like him so much, ditch Quincy and  date him." I poke her, and she wiggles. 

"No. I love Quincy." Korine lifts her nose in protest. "Speaking of my fiance." Korine flipped onto her stomach. "Is Jared coming to the wedding? It's in 3 weeks."

I mentally face-palm myself and squeeze my eyes shut. "I'll ask him tonight when we go out for dinner."

"Dinner?" Korine raises an eyebrow. "You're going to dinner with him?"

'"How else am I supposed to ask him if he's coming to the wedding?" I bat my eyelashes innocently. "I think the answer is going to be a no. He's moving back to New York anyway."

"Good riddance." Korine sighs. "You won't be blinded anymore, and you'll finally give David a chance."

"In your dreams, Kors." I jump off my sister's bed and walk to the door. "If you'll excuse me, I have a date."

...

JARED SCHLATT

yo I'm here

A surge of excitement runs through my veins when I see Schlatt's text. I remind myself never to get excited over one of his texts like that ever again. It was a hard habit to break for some time.

I shove some hoops in my ears and make my way downstairs. 

"Bye! Tell you all about it later!"

I close the door behind me and almost audibly gasp when I see Schlatt. He's dressed head to toe in white; a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and loose-fitting white pants. His collar reveals a silver chain and a matching watch. 

"Hey," He smiles. "You look..." Schlatt imitates a blowing-up sound. 

I blush and grin. "Yeah, I haven't worn this dress in a while." I look down at my black slip dress with the ruffled ends. "It was a birthday gift from my mom." When I look up, Schlatt has the biggest, dorkiest smile. 

"What?" I ask.

"Nothing. I like how you say everything that comes to mind." Schlatt carefully pushes the left side of my bangs out of my eyes and then tucks the hair behind my ear. I feel my knees buckle and try to stand upright and not fold over like a broken table. 

"We should get going." I move past him to the passenger side and let myself in. If Schlatt came and opened the door for me, I would've melted into a puddle. 

"I was thinking," Schlatt said as he put his seatbelt on and began to drive. "We should take some pictures before we get to the restaurant."

"I thought you said the reservation is at 7." I take my phone out of my purse and check the time, and it's 6:24 pm. "You said I had to be ready by 6:20."

"Yeah, well, we need to post pictures if we're fake dating." Schlatt hands his phone to me. "Play something."

"Damn, you're taking this seriously," I mumble. I play Never Change by COIN since it's been stuck in my head all day. "I thought you'd mention me on Twitter, and that's it."

"You kidding?" Schlatt chuckles. "If you think you can handle the heat, then we have to go all in Olive."

"Okay, big guy." I queue some other songs and turn up the AC. "It's fucking hot in here."

"The place is by the water and a little walking area so we can take some pictures of you there," Schlatt says. 

My face heats up at the idea of Schlatt doing some extra research to pick a picture-worthy spot for our date. I know posting about each other only makes our situation more believable, but I catch myself thinking about a real relationship with him. A wave of nausea washes over me and I take it as a sign that it'll never happen. 

"You have the weirdest music taste." Schlatt eyes his screen with the title Gorgeous by Taylor Swift playing. I skipped the COIN song after I heard the chorus that wouldn't leave my head. 

"You're not a fan of T Swift?" I ask. I can only imagine what a guy like Schlatt thinks about Taylor Swift. 

"She's alright." He shrugs. "I respect her if that's what you were wondering."

"I was. I didn't think a homophobic, sexist, misogynistic asshole like you could celebrate a woman's wins." I push his shoulder playfully.

"Ha ha ha." Schlatt deadpans. "I listened to her quarantine albums and they're not bad."

"I'm a total Evermore girl." I blurt out. I've been a Swiftie since I was born practically. "Evermore and TTPD own my heart." I share because if there's one thing I love more than talking about books, it's music. "When I first listened to TTPD I was like 'ew all of these songs sound the same but then I had an epiphany and I'm like wow this is so good' you know?"

As I say that, The Tortured Poets Department plays and I squeal. 

"You're acting as if you didn't add this song to the queue." Schlatt side-eyes me. 

I start to sing along and get extra sassy during the who's going to hold you like me? part. The amount of times I've listened to this song in my angry phase is too many to count. I have practically mastered the sassiness. 

Schlatt shakes his head and smiles, occasionally looking at me while I have my concert. I don't make eye contact with him because if I do I might forget that he's not my real boyfriend and this facade is ending in a month. 

"Oh, by the way. My sister is getting married in 3 weeks. I kept forgetting to ask you if you wanted to be my plus 1?" I lower the radio as Schlatt parks on the side of the road. "I understand if you can't because of the move."

"In 3 weeks this thing is going to be over anyway." Schlatt shrugs and kills the engine. "It's good publicity too."

"Is that a yes?"

"Yes."