Your Average Love Story

Chapter 1 - Monday

Summary:

Francis and Teddy bet Nate that he can't go out with Gina for a week. They find out that they like each other more than they thought...
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"Oooh come on Gina, I know you're madly in love with me."

The blonde-haired girl looked behind her, averting her attention from the computer, and stared hard at the ravenette who gave her a cheeky grin. Only the two of them were in the room right now, Nate of course pestering her while she was trying to do her job as an editor for the school's newspaper.

"I am not." She seethed, gritting her teeth.

"Oh, but it's all so clear, isn't it? The teachers always assign your seat behind me or in front of me... which indicates that we are destined to be together~" The other replied, leaning against the table she was working at.

"Oh yeah? And do you have any other evidence that shows that I'm ' madly in love with you '?" Gina felt her face get hot, slowly swiveling her seat to fully face him.

"Yes! I do have more evidence, thank you for asking." The other's eyes sparkled mischievously, "For example, you're paying attention to me ! Like right now, for instance! You could've ignored me but you didn't !"

"I—" She paused, confusion flickering over her face, "Well that's because you're being annoying , pinhead. I have to reply back or something. Would you like it if I just stopped talking to you? Plus..." The blonde's voice trailed off into silence, leaving the two of them in an awkward quiet.

It's fun arguing with you... 

She kept that thought to herself.

"Okay. Well, whatever. Another piece of evidence that you clearly like me is that you stare at me in all of my classes ." Nate placed a hand under his chin like he was some deep-thinking philosopher, " Now how can you argue against that?"

"Well... you literally sit in front of me in most of them. Where else am I supposed to be staring at?" Gina scoffed, narrowing her eyes.

"Your book, duh."

"And? You think I read books all the time ?"

The other lifted an eyebrow, frowning in puzzlement. "You don't?"

"OF COURSE NOT, YOU IDIOT!"

"Kidding! I'm kidding !" Nate waved his hands, smiling nervously.

They stared at each other for a moment before glancing away.

"But seriously though... you do admit you stare at me? My looks captivate you into a lovesick trance ~?"

"Just remove the 'love' part and you're good." She smirked smugly, "Just being in a one foot radius of you makes me feel nauseous."

"That just might be my lucky socks you're talking about... people say it has that effect."

"Oh— gross ." Gina's face went pale, sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"...But enough talking about that. Let's get back to the topic at hand, shall we?" The ravenette blinked slowly, his grin returning, "It's so clear that you're just infatuated with me, Gina. You're just in denial ."

"Pssshhh. Says the one who has been chasing after Jenny for years."

"Hey ! It was clear that deep down she loved me... she was the one in denial."

"Yeah, suuuure ." The other rolled her eyes, "Anyways, what are you even doing with all these weird assumptions? Are you trying to imply that we should go out or something?"

Nate's eyes widened for a brief moment but quickly gained composure again, "Hmm? I have no idea what you're talking about. I just want to confirm my suspicions that you like me, that's all." He eyed over at the slightly opened door, glaring daggers at it.

"Uh-huh... and why are you looking over there?"

"Hmm? No reason . No reason at all..."

"Wow, that sure was convincing." The blonde narrowed her eyes, "Okay, seriously, what is going on? You're acting super sketchy right now."

She watched as his mouth curved to a small frown. Gina heard her breath hitch when the ravenette began leaning closer to her, almost like he was going to kiss her. Instead, Nate simply paused, mere centimetres from the other's face.

" Okay, so, basically Francis and Teddy bet me 30 dollars that I could get you to go out with me... " He whispered, glancing at the door again, a bit nervous, " And they're kind of watching us right now..."

"Oh wow. You literally agreed to this only for 30 bucks ?! " She hissed, making sure her voice was low.

"...Uhmm... 30 dollars and a jumbo bag of Cheez Doodles, actually..."

"Good grief..." She felt the urge to facepalm but remained still, "Okay? So how are you going to do this? You know I can just reject you, humiliate you, and you'll never get your 30 dollars and the Cheez Doodles? "

"Uhhh... what if we just, y'know, pretend to go out? And, uhm, I can give you 15 dollars and half of the bag after we win this? "

"Hmm... eh, sure, why not? But you can keep the Cheez Doodles, I'm not a fan of them. " Gina paused, licking her lips, " So... we just have to pretend to go out, huh? It'll feel weird having to be nice to each other."

"Errr ... Perhaps we can 'break up' after one week? All we have to do is prove to them that we're going steady, then we'll get the goods, after that we can just split up for some reason, and we can just go back to our usual selves? And maybe, after all of that, we can laugh in their faces that we actually got them to believe that we even liked each other at all and that it was all fake."

"Huh, you actually sound smart for once..."

"Why thank y— Wait a minute !"

"Take it as a compliment, buddy. It's the only one you'll get from me that's genuine."

"Thanks." Nate replied dryly, eyeing the door again. "So, should I go tell them that we have the hots for each other or something? That I was so charming that I even got my archenemy to fall in love with me?"

"Pfft, you should probably word that differently... but other than that sure. Now lemme get back to work." She waved him off, facing herself in front of the computer again.

The ravenette lingered for a moment, shuffling his feet back and forth before walking off, leaving her alone.