Page 92 of Faking it For Summer

“Hey, you okay?” Juniper is peering at me through the door at the top of the bookmobile. “We heard you arguing. No longer swimming?”

“I’m fine. He had to work.”

“That sounded like a hell of an argument,” she says. “It sounds like you guys are experiencing the ups and downs of a real relationship. You went from hot to cold so fast.”

“I guess it means we’re really great actors.” I shrug. “We’re pulling it off well.”

“Maybe you should go to a boutique and find a really great evening gown, Mia, because if that was an act, then maybe you’re going to win an Oscar soon.”

“Funny, Juni.Not. I’m going to go change and swim by myself. I’ll see you later.”

I know I’m being a bitch, and I know I’m taking my anger out on her, but I can’t stop myself. I hurry to the restroom to change into the bikini and take a couple of deep breaths. I don’t know why I’m so upset, why I’m so angry. I just know I’m disappointed. I was really looking forward to swimming with Luke. I was really looking forward to seeing how he would like my bikini on me, but yet again, I’m second in his life to work.

“I’m fed up with this bullshit,” I whisper to myself. “When I get a real boyfriend, I’m going to be one hundred percent certainI’m with a man who puts me first, because if I’m not first, then what’s the point of the relationship?”

This isn’t a relationship, Mia.

Then why do I feel like I’m on a roller coaster?

Why do I feel like Luke and I are finally having to face issues that neither one of us has brought up before?

This summer romance is fast proving to be an unraveling of a friendship I know so well, and I’m not sure if faking it with Luke to get back at Rex is going to be worth the price we’ll end up paying to come out on top.

chapter seventeen

Luke

It’s times like these when I wish I had a male best friend too. I need someone to talk to about Mia. I saw the anger in her eyes when I told her I wasn’t able to swim with her right away, and a part of me wondered if it was because she was feeling tense due to our physical intimacy. It wasn’t like I could go to her and ask her if she was upset with me because I knew she wouldn’t tell me the truth, and I had no one to speak to. I have male friends, of course, but none that I am especially close to. None that I could talk to about my situation with Mia.

I think about Rex and how different our relationship could have been if we’d been like real brothers and had a bond. What would it have been like if we hadn’t always been competing?

I look down at my phone and see missed calls from my mother and my father. They’re both annoyed that I hadn’t told them about Mia and that I haven’t spent any one-on-one time with them. Nor have I asked to visit their home yet, but I just didn’t want to. It has never felt like my home. Not like Mia’s parents’ house or my grandparents’.

Who can I speak to?I think to myself.

There is only one person I can call and ask for advice, but I know I’ll have to be really careful. I can speak to my grandma.Bitsy is a gossip, and she is a busy Bee, but she loves me, and she’s always been there for me throughout the years. She is the only one who knows how much I cared about Mia back in the day. I decide to call her because I know I’m going to go crazy if I don’t speak to someone about what’s going on.

“Hi, Luke. What are you doing?” She answers the phone right away. “Grandpa wants to know if you want to play golf later today.”

“Hey, Grandma. I was just calling to see if everything’s going well. Tell Grandpa I would love to, but I can’t today.”

“Grandpa will be disappointed, but he will understand. Lucille and I just got back from crochet, and we’re going to go to bingo tonight.”

“Wow, busy.”

“It’s always busy on the beach.”

“I suppose that’s why you’ll never leave.”

“It’s my home, Luke. Of course, I’ll never leave. I just hope that one day you’ll move back.” Her voice softens. “I do miss seeing you weekly.”

“I know, but I wouldn’t count on it, Gran.”

“But what about Mia?”

“What about her?” I ask before I think about the fact that we’re supposed to be in a relationship. “I mean, she and I haven’t gotten to that stage in the relationship yet where we’re talking about where we’re going to end up.”

“Even though you’ve been dating for a year? Now, now, Luke, I hope you’re not just wasting her time.”