My Boyfriend's Best Friend

Chapter Twenty Two

Connor

My phone buzzed and like an addict who had just received his next hit, I pounced on it, opening the text message as if it were the key to all the world's problems. I smirked. The stage was set. Project Get Back Rylie was officially in motion. Acting like nothing was out of the normal, I walked around the corner from the building I had been hiding behind and headed to the table where I sat with my friends. I could see Rylie and Aidan, sitting together and talking and as I approached, a couple of heads looked at me but I held up my finger to my mouth, hushing them.

As stealthy as a tiger, I sidled up to behind Tara and in an abrupt motion, placed a cup of coffee in front of her before covering her eyes with my hands. I had a teasing smile on my face as I waited for her to guess who had temporarily blinded her. I could feel all eyes on us but I remained focused on the task at hand. I could hear some of the girls at the table aww at our antics and I fist-pumped inwardly. Everything was going to plan.

"Umm..." Tara played along. "Connor?" she said after dragging it out.

My smile brightened and I removed my hands. "Yep."

She turned to smile back at me and I took a seat next to her. "Hi," she said softly, staring into my eyes.

"Hi," I replied, pushing her coffee closer. "I got you a latte." She smiled and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Today, it was in waves and I liked the different look on her. It gave her a nice edge.

"Thanks. You shouldn't have," she replied, sticking to the script.

"I wanted to," I beamed truthfully. On cue, Tara blushed and looked down slightly, her hair falling back over her ear and hiding her eyes. She peeked through and once more I was awarded that beautiful smile of hers.

"Well it's very sweet of you."

I was about to reply when Rylie interrupted. "You know a latte is essentially a cappuccino with no chocolate on top so you may as well just drink a cappuccino. Unless you're watching your weight... But really, the loss of the sugar isn't going to do much..."

Oh snap. The group fell silent at Rylie's words and Tara's face once more reddened, but this time out of anger. The playful mood in the air vanished faster than you could say 'coffee'.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Tara demanded, her hands clenching and brown eyes firing daggers at Rylie.

Rylie's eyes widened and I don't think she realised exactly what she had said until then. "Oh shit. Tara I'm so–"

"Forget it," snapped Tara, standing up and putting her things together. "I know what you think about me."

"Wait, Tara, I didn't mean it..." but Rylie's words fell on deaf ears as Tara stalked off angrily. This wasn't in the script. Deciding I should probably go after her, I turned back to the group and looked at them sheepishly.

"Yeah... I'm going to go see if she's okay..." I specifically avoided Rylie's gaze as I shot up and ran after Tara, who had disappeared behind a building. As I moved, I could hear Aidan reprimanding Rylie and I realised that while this was completely accidental, it had worked in my favour. I wanted to smile but I was worried about Tara.

Turned out there was no need. As soon as I rounded the corner I had been hiding behind just minutes ago, Tara pounced on me. "How was it? Believable? I wasn't sure if it was a bit of a stretch to call out Rylie for saying I'm fat... What?" she questioned, noticing the blank look on my face.

"You were acting?" I managed to get out. Before she could even answer, a huge smile lit up on my face and I rushed forwards, picking up Tara and spinning her around in the air. She laughed and when I put her down, her wavy hair was everywhere. "That was brilliant, Tara!"