Page 131 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project
“This one was kind of a private project.”
“Can you tell me about it now?”
He gives her the quick pitch, keeping out certain details, like the secret article about Peter. There’s no reason he needs that judgment. Not tonight.
“That’s amazing. Can I read it?”
“Yeah.” Eli finds the article in his Drive. There are still no new updates from Michael, but Eli tells himself it’s probably because he downloaded the article. Actual writers work in Word, not Google Docs. Patricia’s eyes dart back and forth quickly as she scrolls through the article, her smile growing the longer she reads.
“Wow, this is great, Eli!”
“Thanks.”
“I had no idea you were writing this.”
“Like I said, it was kind of a secret thing I was working on with Michael.”
She hands Eli’s phone back to him. “I’m honestly surprised he wanted something like this. Something this serious deserves a better home than Vent.”
Eli swallows. “Yeah, it was a shock to me too.”
“And I’m guessing this ‘Alex,’ is that . . .”
“Peter, yeah.”
“So, you haven’t been dating him this entire time?”
“No, yeah . . . about that. We came to an agreement, after he came to the office to apologize for how awful that first date was. That’s when I pitched the idea to Michael, and afterward, when Peter and I were talking, I agreed to help teach him how to date in exchange for the article.”
“So, you fake-dated for an article? What in the romance novel . . .”
“We didn’t pretend to date. Until we did, but it was mostly about teaching him the things he’d never gotten the chance to learn; you know, growing up in such a small town.”
“That’s a great idea, Eli.”
“Yeah . . .” He wishes it actually felt that way.
“So why am I getting the impression that you’re not happy with things?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Well, first of all . . .” Patricia grabs the remote from the coffee table, exiting out of the movie. “You only watch Cherry Falls when you’re depressed.”
“Sometimes I just miss Brittany Murphy.”
“Don’t we all.” Patricia sighs. “But you’re also not giving me the energy of someone who’s finally getting their big break after working on it for so long.”
“Well . . . I don’t know.”
“This is exciting! You should’ve told me and Rose, we would’ve gone out!” Patricia peeks down the hallway. “Speaking of, where is Rose?”
“She went to Jolene’s, had a hard week.”
Patricia stands, grabbing Eli’s hand and pulling. “Fair, but we can still go out. Come on, the milkshakes at Orphan Andy’s are calling my name.”
“I’m not in the mood.”
Patricia sinks back to the couch as quickly as she stood. “What’s going on with you? This is exciting, we should be celebrating!”
