“But it might be fun!”
“Alright,” he says at last. “We’ll pretend to be dating so you can come for dinner, but I can’t promise that if she drives me crazy about it, I won’t just snap and tell her the truth. That would be the end of your meal plan.”
“Okay, we have a deal. I’ll be the most adoring fake girlfriend you’ve never not had.”
I purse my lips and try my hand at being adoring.
His laugh has me frowning. “What’s so funny?”
“I can’t even take you seriously when you’re making that face.”
“What face!?”
“This face.” Roman pulls a face, sucking in his cheeks and pursing his lips—he looks like a fish.
“That is not the face I make!” I’m adorable, dammit!
Roman shrugs. “Potato pa-tah-toe.”
I slump down in my seat, pouting with a smile. “You’re the worst.”
With a grin, Roman concentrates on the road; we’ve arrived back in town and he is trying to find my house without having to ask me for directions. He is doing a great job of it, heading toward the administration building I live across the street from. It’s not hard to find—it’s a landmark. Still, I’m impressed he already knows and doesn’t need reminding.
As we approach, my body goes still at the sight of a big, white pickup truck parked in my driveway. The taillights are glowing, which means the person driving it is still inside the cab of the truck and not inside my house.
Crud.
Roman begins the slow crawl toward it.
“Whose truck is that?”
Oh my god—I don’t even want to say whose truck it is.
Freaking Kyle.
I swallow nervously. “Um, my ex-boyfriend’s. I have no idea what he’s doing here—I told him to leave me alone.”
Roman drives slower still, hands at ten and two on his steering wheel. “When was the last time you saw him?”
“This past week.” My throat contracts when I take a gulp. “He was outside the locker room when I came out of practice, kind of freaked me out.”
“Did it scare you?”
“No—just surprised me. You’d think that, considering he was cheating on me and sleeping with other people, he wouldn’t care that I broke up with him. You’d assume he didn’t actually give a shit, right?”
“But he does?”
I shrug. “Guess so. He’s only approached me once since we broke up—which are pretty good odds, considering—and he didn’t follow me to my car from the locker room. I have no idea why he’s trying to win me back.”
“You’re incredible, that’s why.” Roman says it with such conviction I can do nothing but stare at him. “Maybe he realizes he had a good thing and now he regrets being an asshole.”
A snort leaves my nose. “That’s called taking someone for granted, and I value myself enough to not let a smooth talker turn my head back the other way after I’ve made my decision. I don’t love him.”
I don’t think I ever actually did.
I love the idea of him, but you can’t fall in love with someone’s potential; you fall in love with a person, and we never got to that place in our relationship before he ruined it.
No.
He didn’t ruin it.
He showed his true colors before I wasted too much time, and for that, I should thank him. Thank God I listened to my gut when I saw the signs. Thank God I didn’t fall for his begging.
Gross.
“What do you want to do? Should I keep driving?”
“And then what? We can’t go around the block all night—you said you wanted to get home and study. Plus, I’m tired.”
But I don’t actually want a confrontation—not tonight.
I see him biting on his bottom lip. “Do you want me to talk to him for you?”
I size my new friend up. Even though he’s sitting, Roman isn’t exactly the puny nerd you might envision; he is tall, strapping, and in great shape.
“I won’t ask you to do that.”
“If you don’t want to speak with him now, I am not taking you home.” His long fingers tap on the middle console. “Welp, guess that settles it—you’re coming home with me.” He glances over, the glow from the streetlamps above lighting his eyes. “That is, if you’re comfortable with that.”
I nod. “I would much rather go back to your place than deal with his bullshit for the next thirty minutes, or however long. I’m tired and just want to crawl into bed—you don’t mind if I crawl into bed when I get to your house, do you? I have to be up really early in the morning to work out and condition.”
My eyes find the time on his dashboard. It’s early enough that technically we could stay up talking until we’re ready to try taking me home—but late enough that I could go to bed and easily fall asleep.
“Do you guys have a guest bedroom?”
Roman shifts uncomfortably. “Yeah, but there’s no bed in it.”