fake it 'til you make it - cairo x cc

7: are you with me?

Cc's POV

"I- Uhh, I-"

I can feel my whole face burning up and I'm certain that I look like a tomato right now.

Fuck. She caught me red handed, right in the act. Fuck fuck fuck.

Think fast, Cc!

"Your books, uhh, they were, uhm, tilted. I readjusted them for you, since I- I know you are very tidy, uh, yeah."

Wow, I didn't even convince myself. I really hope Cairo does believe me.

She takes a few steps closer to me, walking almost painfully slowly as she keeps such an intense eye contact that I can feel myself physically faltering. Allwhile I examine her face, looking for a sign that she bought my lie.

Cairo is now right in front of me, her face inches away from mine. I gulp as I look up to her, internally begging for her to finally say something.

"It's interesting you say that.." she begins to talk while keeping the intense eye contact. She slowly tilts her head and continues "..because I distinctively remember stashing them right on top of each other just before I left for the library."

Fuck.

"They weren't crooked, so what did you do with them, Cc?" she digs further.

"I- I saw the paper" I blurt out, unable to think of anything else on the spot. I exhale deeply and lower my gaze to the ground, at the same time I lift my right hand up from behind my back, revealing the poem.

Cairo looks intensely at the paper, then back to my eyes, but I don't return the look.

"Did you read it?" she asks in a very neutral voice, no sign of anger, disappointment, happiness, curiosity or whatsoever. It highly irritates me as I'm clueless what she thinks about the situation right now.

"...No." I answer, still not looking in her eyes.

Suddenly, I can feel her pointer finger and middle finger under my chin, forcing my face upwards until her eyes met mine.

She examines me for a few moments. "You're a bad liar" she states blatantly. "Wanna try again?

My eyes shoot up to hers with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry Cairo, I really am! Please don't be mad at me, I snooped around where I shouldn't have and-"

Cairo interrupts my rambling firmly as she places her index finger on top of my lips.

"Did you like it?" she asks. Still no clue as to how she feels about this situation, I begin to nod carefully.

Her intense gaze softens into a rather amused one, and a slight smirk forms on her mouth. "Good to know" she says before turning away, snapping the poem out of my hands and leaving me behind in an irritated state.

Without the faintest idea why, a sudden boldness overcomes me and I begin to speak up. "Who is it about?"

Cairo stops in her tracks, her back still turned towards me. "What?"

"The poem" I explain. "Who inspired you to write it?"

She turns around, now facing me again with a serious look, her head slightly tilted to the side like previously. The smirk that lingered on her face just moments ago was wiped away completely.

"Why do you want to know that?"

I clear my throat silently. "It's beautiful, but also very sad in a way. Sad to read that you've been hurt multiple times before. But beautiful that you found someone who may be different."

She remains silent for at least a minute, but it felt like an eternity. I begin to think that I may crossed a line with my question. Yes, I'm her pretend-girlfriend, but in a way, we're still pretty much strangers. Maybe I don't know her good enough to ask such a personal question at all. Maybe I even offended her.