Page 24 of Movers and Fakers

“I was going to say I could keep other guys away from you. I’m guessing you have a bunch of them hitting on you, and if you turned me down, you must not want to date at all.” He says all of this as though it’s normal and not entirely egotistical.

“I turned you down because you lack responsibility and have an ego the size of a semitruck.”

“You want someone responsible?” he asks.

I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t want anyone. I want to get through school and ballet unnoticed, that’s all.”

He points at me. “See, I can help with that.”

I give him a flat look. “I’ve never had so many eyes on me offstage in my life as when I’m with you. You’re like a zoo animal, and I don’t want any part of that exhibit.”

His expression falters a little, and I wonder if I went too far.

“Look, it’s nothing personal,” I say, and he lets out a disbelieving huff. “It’s just that I don’t want that kind of life.”

He bobs his head in understanding.

“Can you give it until our next class together to think about it?” he asks in a soft voice. “You don’t have to lie to anyone who asks about us. If they do, you could just ignore them or say you don’t want to talk about it.”

I bite the inside of my cheek and look down at the leaves strewn across the sidewalk.

“A couple of days,” he adds. “That’s all I’m asking.”

“All right,” I whisper. “A couple of days.”

But just like when I signed the contract, I get the feeling that I’m giving away more than I initially agreed to.

“Thanks.”

I lift my head and see a sheepish smile on his lips. Much different from the cocky smirk I’m used to. The sight has my stomach fluttering.

“I should get home,” I blurt out.

“Oh, yeah, me too. Do you want me to walk you back?” he offers.

I shake my head. “No, that’s okay.”

He looks at me like he wants to insist, but doesn’t. Instead, he takes a step off the sidewalk to head in the direction of what I assume is his building.

“Okay, I’ll see you in class.”

“See you,” I murmur.

He disappears into the night, and I head down the path we were on before. Right as I pass beneath the twinkle lights, I realize I’m still wearing Hayes’s jacket. It seems no matter how much I try to get rid of him, he follows me.

My mind spins as I walk to my building. I think of how obnoxious and overly flirtatious he can be. How he’s never studied before even though he’s a year ahead of me. Then I think of how he gave me his jacket and didn’t ask for it back even though he must be cold too. How he asked me about rehearsal and my day and seemed to actually care about the answer even while teasing me.

He runs an underground fight ring and goes through women like I go through pointe shoes, I remind myself. He’s not boyfriend material.

But fake boyfriend material, however … I shake my head and push through the doors to my building, not entirely sure how I got here since I wasn’t paying attention at all. As I get to the elevators, my phone buzzes in my dress pocket.

I pull it out, expecting a message from one of my friends since I bailed without talking to them, but it’s my mom, replying to the photo I sent her before the party.

Mom: You look so beautiful!! Are you having fun? Did you meet any boys? Have you decided about reaching out to Layton?

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I wish there was a way to get her to see I’m happy with my life now. Maybe I don’t live the typical college girl way, but I don’t want that. Ballet and school. That’s it. I even added in a few friends. What more can she ask of me? A lot more, apparently.

Hayes’s words from earlier float into my mind. I can help with that. While I don’t have a line of guys asking me out, I do have a persistent mother. One who would be ecstatic if I told her I had a boyfriend. It would be hard to lie to her, but what’s really the difference between fake dating and real dating? We’ll do all the same stuff in public, and I’ll get to have peace in private.