Page 36 of The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

“So, I wanted to give him one.” Eli runs his hands along the sweater, flattening it out a bit.

“You must think he’s really cute to give him a second chance.” Patricia beams, shimmying her shoulders in excitement.

“What does that mean?”

“Considering you’ve spent the last six months whining about how dating isn’t for you, I’m surprised you’d want to go out again so soon. Especially with Peter again.”

Eli swallows. All week he considered telling Patricia about everything, just to have someone in his corner for this little scheme of his. But something’s stopped him every time he tries to bring it up, like his brain just knew it’d be a bad idea.

Technically he’s not doing anything wrong, but that hasn’t stopped the odd sense of guilt he feels when he really gives this idea thought. He just keeps telling himself he’s doing something important, something worthwhile. And helping Peter along the way.

Everyone wins.

“I decided you and Rose are right,” he tells her just as much as he’s telling himself, tucking his hair behind his ears and straightening his glasses. He could do without the zit that’s working its way out from under his nose, the red bump tender when Eli touches it. “I thought a lot about what you both said, about getting back out there, and giving people chances. I decided that Peter was worth the second chance.”

He almost believes himself; the lie comes out so naturally.

“Well, that’s very big of you, Eli.”

“Yeah . . . maybe.” He doesn’t meet her eyes in the mirror.

“Where are you going?” she asks, the bed frame creaking as she stands and joins Eli in front of the mirror, smoothing out the shoulders of the outfit. As they stumbled into September, Eli’s sweaters became a little less appropriate for the weather. As if Northern California operated on its own schedule, their version of summer took place mostly at the start of the fall, finishing a few weeks into October. The sweater might be a bit much in the warmer night air, but he doesn’t want to wear anything else.

“Doobu and a movie,” Eli says, stepping away and grabbing the cologne from his dresser.

Patricia turns, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, her mouth open. “You’re going on a repeat date?”

“We’re calling it First Date 2.0. He wanted a redo, and I thought it was a cute idea,” Eli fibs, more than happy to let Peter take credit for his idea.

He’d gone as far as to spend his free time watching the rom-com classics that he felt were applicable to his incredibly weird fake-dating situation that isn’t actually fake-dating. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Drive Me Crazy, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Anyone But You.

There were some takeaways, sure, but Eli isn’t delusional enough to think he can just apply movie logic to his life.

“Do you have a picture of him?” Patricia asks. “Is he cute?”

“None to speak of,” Eli tells her. It was one of the few topics they’d discussed so far, and Eli had to break the news to Peter that having no social media was a huge red flag. And, to his credit, Peter made an Instagram right after that conversation.

So far, Eli is his only follower, but they’re building a platform. They spent hours picking the best pictures for Peter to post of himself, the ones that really showed off his personality, ones that could easily fit on a Hinge, Bumble, or Tinder profile as well.

Unfortunately, there weren’t that many to pick from. The man is gorgeous, no doubt. But Eli had to make a mental note to teach him about angles in selfies.

And because of that, most of their text thread is taken up by pictures of Peter sent over the course of a single day. Him in North Beach, him sweaty in some gym somewhere, him at his desk.

Eli: are you sending these all as you take them?

He couldn’t help but ask, his curiosity getting the best of him.

Peter: Should I not have done that?

Eli had smiled at his phone as the message came in.

Eli: no, keep sending them.

Eli: we need plenty of options.

Eli had liked the ones he thought would make good choices, and the longer he looked at these pictures of Peter, the harder he found it to believe that Peter had never gone out with anyone before Eli.

Then again, wasn’t that what he was here to find out? So far, none of their few talks had led to talking about Peter’s upbringing, but Eli figured it was best to save those heavier conversations for their in-person dates.