Romantic Short Stories

3. Pretend

I brush shoulders with him and my heart immediately starts to beat faster. Why does he always make me feel like this? It doesn't make any sense. I don't know him. He's just the boy with the dorky glasses and black clothes. But for some reason every time we touch whether on purpose or on accident I get nervous or fidgety.

"Bailey, are you okay?" Morgan asks pulling me out of my trance.

"Sorry, just thinking," I reply.

"Is it about him again?" She asks.

"Yeah," I reply leaning against a locker, "I just don't get why I keep feeling this way," I admit.

"Probably because he's a cute guy and you're a pretty teenage girl," Morgan says. As soon as she finishes the bell rings. I quickly say goodbye and leave to my next class. But as soon as I get into the doorway somebody falls on top of me.

"Oof. Sorry about that," they say. I don't respond at first because I'm to busy trying to pick up the papers I dropped.

"Uh, you're good just kind of surprised me," I said finally hopping off the ground to greet whoever it was that had fallen on top of me.

"If it makes you feel any better I was going to help you grab your stuff but my glasses came off and that is really never a good thing," he said laughing. I try to calm my heart rate upon seeing Austin Hughes in front of me. Even worse knowing the fact that Austin Hughes was the one that fell on top of me.

"I guess it's a good thing they didn't break then," I say nervously.

"Yeah, so you're Bailey." He says. "I'm Austin Hughes we have a class together," he introduces himself.

"I know who you are," I say laughing lightly.

"That's a good thing," he begins, "I've been brushing past you for weeks trying to get you to notice me," he finishes and I blush. So he's been shoving me in the hallways for weeks on purpose? I don't know if that's creepy or sweet. But since I've been thinking about him for weeks on end I can't really judge him.

"Are you flirting with me?" I ask still unsure of myself.

"Sort of," he says nervously.

"Well at least tell me that you didn't fall on top of me just for a little attention," I say.

"No I swear this was just an accident," he laughs.

"Than I guess it must be fate," I tell him. He smiles widely. "So can I get into my class?" I ask.

"Oh, yeah." He says stepping to the side.

I walk into class and take a seat next to Morgan and let out a long sigh. "Was that Austin you were just talking to?" She asks and I nod my head.

"Yeah," I say dreamily. I take my long red hair out of its ponytail and let it fall in waves.

"Well, what happened?" She asks.

"Not much I just found out he might like me," I tell her with a smile.

"Your so lucky," she sighs.

"What do you mean," I ask.

"It's just that this kind of stuff almost never happens," she starts, "so I assume he asked if you were with anyone."

"Actually no..." I begin.

I go the rest of the day not thinking too much about it. There isn't much to think anyway. He likes me. I like him. What more is there. Finally, after school, I see him sitting on the bench right outside of doors so I decide to talk to him.

"Hey Austin," I say happily sitting next to him.

"Hey," he replies plainly. I sit there for a moment awkwardly not knowing what to say as he plays on his phone. Finally, I gain the courage to talk again.

"So about earlier is there anything you wanted to ask me?" I ask.

"No, not really," he replies simply making me puzzled. I don't understand. I was almost positive that he liked me just a moment earlier. Could something have happened since we tripped to now to make him lose interest in me?

"So I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime," I ask.

"Listen I don't really like you," he says and my hands begin to tremble. Was he just toying with me?

"My friends just bet that I couldn't get a pretty girl to like me," he says.

"I don't understand," I tell him.

"That conversation in the hall was just a ploy to prove to my friends that I actually managed to make you like me," he says.

"But how..." I mutter.

"I just made sure I was in your line of sight and that you noticed me," he began, "the rest was just making myself attractive and you fell in."

"So it was just a big pretend act," I say.

"Pretty much, I swear I'm usually not this much of a jerk usually." He tells me rubbing the back of his neck. I smirk a little and decide that two can play at his little game.

"Well you might not actually like me but you do think I'm pretty," I say scooting closer.

"Yeah," he says looking at me intently.

"Well then why not take me on a date to make it up to me?" I ask.

"You aren't at all bothered by the fact I scammed you?" he asks.

"That's why you have to make it up to me," I wink.

He grins and nods his head.

"I would love to make it up to you," he replies.

We exchange numbers and I smile happily into my head. It's time this boy learns his lesson. He played pretend with the wrong girl so now she's going to toy with him. I will make Austin Hughes fall in love me and I will be the one to break his heart.

Sorry for the late publish!

12/5/18