Forever Love: A Friends to Lovers Collections Read online

  “I was until I realized how boring staying alone in the house over the summer would be. I also thought I’d have a roommate, but that was before she moved into your place.”

  “Savy doesn’t live with me.”

  “No, she lives with Glen, and he’s your roommate and she spends almost every night there. Like I said, she moved into your place.”

  “Oh. I get it now.” He walked over to the door of the radio station.

  “You get what?”

  “Why you’re being like this.” He shut off the light and ushered me out into the hall.

  “Like what?”

  “You’re jealous. All of your friends have boyfriends and you don’t.”

  “I’m not jealous.” I crossed my arms. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Is it?” He held open the outer door. “I’m not judging you. I’m merely stating the fact.”

  “I’m not jealous.” I brushed off his words. “I’m just trying to accept that I’m fated to spend life perpetually single. I know I can take care of myself, the only thing I was wondering about was the sex.”

  “You can be so incredibly weird.”

  “So can you.” I bumped my shoulder into his. I’m not sure when Kyle and I actually became friends. It happened gradually after he started helping me with my radio show freshman year. Nine months later, I rarely went a day without seeing him. Unfortunately the friendly feelings had slowly grown into something different. Talking about sex with him probably wasn’t going to help, but then again I doubted it could make me want him more.

  We walked silently. I didn’t try to dissuade him from walking me back to my house. I wasn’t keen on getting mugged, and he didn’t seem to mind the small detour out of his way.

  He stopped right out front. “This is going to sound absolutely crazy, but I need you to agree anyway.”

  “Okay.” I watched him with interest. Kyle wasn’t the type to call any of his ideas crazy. He was more likely to proclaim them as wonderful.

  “If you’re ever going to seriously consider trying out the random sex thing, call me first.”

  My mouth fell open. “Uh, you didn’t just say that.”

  “I’m just saying I’d rather my best host not die or get badly hurt after she decides to hook up with a random guy.”

  “Oh yeah? Worried about your radio station?”

  “And a friend.”

  “Haven’t you heard about the hazards of sleeping with a friend?” My heart was beating a mile a minute. Had Kyle offered to have sex with me? He must have had more to drink than I thought.

  “They’re no worse than hooking up with a random psychopath. Or a drummer,” he mumbled.

  “Wait. What?”

  “Nothing.” He looked down.

  “Nuh uh, I heard you. You think I was talking about having sex with Len?” Kyle made no secret of his distaste of the guy.

  “He does flirt with you every chance he gets, even when he’s across the country.”

  “And that means I want to sleep with him?” Admittedly I’d had a mega crush on Len Denton, drummer of Chance of a Lifetime, but if my friendship with him had taught me anything, it was that I definitely didn’t want to sleep with him. I’d have chosen Kyle for that role ten times over.

  Kyle shrugged. “Just saying, I think I’d be a better choice.”

  “So what am I supposed to be agreeing to then? I’ll call you if I get horny next time instead of hooking up with someone random?”

  “It sounds so much worse when you say it that way.”

  “Because it is that bad.” I still didn’t know if he was actually serious. The offer was so unlike Kyle I doubted it could be.

  “Fine. I was just offering.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “You were offering your sexual services. Got it.” I smiled. Joke or not, I had to give him a hard time about it.

  “That sounds even worse.”

  I put a hand on my hip. “Shall we say goodnight before it gets any worse?”

  “Forget I said anything.”

  “I will. After I tell all my friends.” I grinned. Teasing Kyle came so naturally.

  “Don’t you dare.”

  I laughed. “Don’t worry. I wouldn’t do that to my enemy let alone my friend.”

  “Your friends are nice and all, but they’re—”

  “Scary?” I finished for him.

  “Your words. Not mine.” He shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Goodnight, Jade.”

  “Goodnight. Don’t worry. I don’t think I’m going to call you tonight.”

  He laughed. “I told you it was a crazy idea.”

  “I’m going to call Len instead.”

  “Don’t even…”

  I laughed. “You really don’t have to worry about that.”

  “Good.”

  I headed up the front steps of my house. I knew he wouldn’t leave until he saw me walk inside.

  “Jade?” he called right before I pushed open the door.

  “Yeah?”

  “You don’t actually think you’re destined to be alone, do you?”

  “Of course not.” I forced a smile. That was exactly how I felt.

  Kyle

  I’d barely made it around the corner from Jade’s house when my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, half expecting it to be Jade texting me with another joke about my ridiculous offer. She was never going to let me live it down.

  It wasn’t Jade. It was my older brother Dylan. Call me.

  I pocketed my phone. I wasn’t in the state of mind to deal with him. He was the golden boy of the family. As far as my parents were concerned he couldn’t do wrong, but I knew the truth. I was the one who had to clean up the messes he always seemed to make. I was positive he’d made himself another because he never contacted me for any other reason. I’d thought things would get better when he graduated and moved back up to Boston, but they hadn’t. He got in even more trouble now.

  My phone vibrated again. I glanced at the screen. Call Now.

  I let out a deep breath before giving in. I didn’t want to have to explain my asshole brother to my new roommate.

  I pushed call.

  He answered immediately. “Where have you been?”

  “It’s been a minute.”

  “No it hasn’t.”

  “Are you drunk?”

  “I fucked up.” He sounded off, even more off than usual.

  “You? Impossible.” I didn’t hold back on the sarcastic tone.

  “No, I really fucked up this time, and I need your help.”

  “What did you do?” I stopped outside my building.

  “I can’t tell you over the phone.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you then.”

  “You’re coming up to Lake George next week. I’ll see you then.”

  “No I’m not. I told mom I couldn’t make it this year.”

  “Yeah, well, I might have said you changed your mind.”

  “You’re an asshole. How the hell am I supposed to back out of it again?” I’d had to deal with my mother’s wrath once already when I bowed out.

  “You’re not going to. You’ll be there. You’re not leaving me hung out to dry. I need you to have my back.”

  I groaned. Backing out of the trip again was going to be impossible. My mother would flip out. “Fine. I’ll get someone to cover for me at the station.” We didn’t have much going on in the summer, and Jade was always bugging me to let her help out more. This could be a good chance to get on her good side.

  “Good. I’ll tell you everything when I see you.”

  “Great.” I gritted my teeth. It was anything but great. I tried to keep my time with my family to a minimum.

  “Oh and bring your girlfriend. Mom wants to meet her.”

  My stomach dropped. “Oh, I don’t think she can make it.”

  “Why’s that? Is it because she’s not real?”

  “Of course she is.” Of course she wasn’t. I hadn’t
had a girlfriend in months.

  “Great. I already assured mom that if she was real you’d bring her with you. We’d all love to meet her.” He hung up.

  Fuck. I knew lying to my mom was a mistake, but I had no choice. The alternative was putting up with her endless attempts to set me up with her friends’ daughters. After a few disastrous dates, I was determined to avoid those setups for good.

  Now I had three days to fess up to my lie or find someone to come with me. I was friends with plenty of girls, but all of them had boyfriends, except one. The problem was that one was also the girl I’d wanted for months. It looked like I was going to be the one calling Jade that night.

  Jade

  “Didn’t I just say goodnight to you?” I pretended to be annoyed by Kyle’s phone call, but I had nothing better to do. As I’d whined about earlier, my roommate wasn’t home. Again. I really needed to find more people who’d stayed around for the summer.

  “Yeah… sorry. I have a huge favor to ask you.” His voice lilted as though he was nervous. He hadn’t been nervous to offer his sexual services. If he was nervous now this had to be a pretty huge favor.

  “No, I’m not having random sex with you tonight. I’m too busy.”

  He laughed. “I thought we were going to forget I ever said that?”

  “I’m not forgetting it. The more I think about it, it was kind of sweet.”

  “Sweet?”

  “You didn’t want me having some sort of self-esteem issue thinking I couldn’t get some if I wanted it.”

  “Jade, you can get sex anytime you want. That’s not in question.”

  “Then why did you offer?” I chewed on my nail. It was a bad habit that surfaced when I was particularly nervous.

  “We’re not talking about that.”

  “Fine.” I slumped down on my bed. “It was weird though.”

  “This is even weirder.”

  “What is? The favor?”

  “Yes.”

  “Before you tell me what it is, what’s in it for me?”

  “If you help me?”

  “Yes.” I propped myself up with two purple pillows.

  “Free concert tickets.”

  “I already get those.” Free concert tickets was a perk for working at the only college radio station in town.

  “How about a trip to upstate New York?”

  “Uh… by myself?”

  “No. With me.”

  “First you offer sex and now a getaway? Wow, you sound like the desperate one.”

  “With me… and my entire family.”

  I laughed. I didn’t know what else to do. “What is this? Where’s the joke?”

  “There’s no joke. My parents think I have a girlfriend. I don’t.”

  “Why do they think you have one?”

  “I may have let them think I did. It doesn’t matter though. What do you want in return? I feel weird paying you…that seems too much like an escort or whatever, but I’ll let you borrow my car anytime, or anything. It’s only a week. We leave in three days, and the weather should be nice. Lake George is beautiful this time of year.”

  “Only a week? The weather should be nice? You’re asking me to pretend to be your girlfriend.” How was he asking any of this in a remotely serious fashion?

  “Yes… I know it’s pathetic, but I don’t have anyone else to ask.”

  “So now I’m your last resort?” He had to be kidding.

  “No. Of course not. You’re my first choice. Please.”

  “I’ve never been to Lake George before. Chase has a place there, and Cara says it’s beautiful.” My good friend Cara’s boyfriend had taken her up for a visit before.

  “It is. It’s breathtaking. Can’t be missed. Can I order our tickets? You’ll come?”

  “Can I have some time to think about it?” I should have said no, but part of me wasn’t ready to rule out the possibility.

  “You’ll think about it? As in you aren’t automatically saying no?”

  “Against my better judgment I will consider it.” I sighed. “Goodnight again.”

  “Goodnight, greatest most awesome friend in the world.”

  “Buttering me up won’t help.”

  “Are you sure? You’re wonderful you know.”

  I laughed. “Goodnight, Kyle.”

  “Goodnight.”

  I hung up and tossed my phone next to me on the bed.

  Why had I given him false hope? Now I was going to have to let him down the next day. He couldn’t have actually expected me to say yes. I mean, who in their right mind offers to have random sex with a girl one minute and then asks them to be their fake girlfriend the next? Kyle, that’s who. If it had been anyone else the answer would have been an easy no, but this was different. I could never say no to him. Whether he wanted me to cover a shift for someone or do his laundry, I’d have done it… just like I was going to do this. I needed someone to talk me out of it, and fast.

  I picked up my phone again and called someone I knew would still be up.

  “Jade!” Cara answered after a few rings. “How are you?”

  “You sound entirely too excited. What’s going on?” I could hear loud music behind her.

  “What’s wrong with excited?”

  I heard the sound of a door closing and the music quieted. “Nothing. You sound good.” Cara was off on the Sinister Summer tour with her rock star boyfriend. In other words she was having a much more exciting summer than I was.

  “Ok. What’s up with you?”

  “I need you to tell me not to do something idiotic.”

  “Define idiotic.”

  I’d piqued her interest. “Pretending to be someone’s girlfriend…”

  “That’s idiotic. Don’t go there.” Cara was very good at getting straight to the point.

  “You don’t even know who I’m talking about.”

  “I don’t care who. That’s insane. If you need money, I’ll lend you some.”

  “I don’t need money!” I wasn’t sure whether to be offended she’d immediately assumed it was about money.

  “It’s Kyle isn’t it? Oh. My. God.” Her serious tone turned to excited.

  “Wait? Why would it be Kyle?” I asked curiously.

  “Who else would you consider doing this for out of the goodness of your heart? You’re into him. You’ll never admit it, but I bet I’m right.”

  “You’re right,” I mumbled.

  “Ahh!” Her ear piercing scream nearly destroyed my eardrum. “What’s going on with you guys? Why in the world would he ask you to do that?”

  “We’ve been hanging out more, and he apparently made up a fake girlfriend to his parents…”

  “Wait. He wants you to pretend to his parents?”

  “Yeah… on the family trip to Lake George.” It sounded even worse when I explained it to her.

  “Lake George? That’s all the way up in New York.”

  “I’m aware of the geography.”

  “You can’t really say yes, you know that, right?”

  “Why not?” I knew perfectly well, but maybe playing devil’s advocate would get me some good advice.

  “Because pretending to be someone’s girlfriend is inherently risky, and it’s worse when it’s a guy you actually like.”

  “But maybe that’s why it’s good. Maybe pretending will be so awkward that I’ll stop liking him.”

  “And you admitted it.”

  “You’re doing a victory dance, aren’t you?”

  She laughed. “How’d you know?”

  “Just a guess.” Cara didn’t do a great job of hiding her feelings on the subject of my dating life. She thought I’d been single long enough.

  “You should tell him you like him. If he’s desperate for a fake girlfriend, why not get a real one?”

  “I don’t want to be his girlfriend.” I wasn’t going there, and I hoped Cara wouldn’t push for too many details.

  “But you admitted to liking him.”

  “That
doesn’t mean I want a relationship. Think of what would happen when we broke up. I’d lose my show.” And I’d lose much more. I wasn’t strong enough.

  “You can’t stay single forever.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says me. Besides, don’t you uh… get lonely?” That was her polite way of saying horny.

  “There are other ways to deal with that.”

  “Yes, but none as satisfying as finding the right guy.”

  “I don’t want a boyfriend.”

  “Fine. Then why even consider pretending to be his girlfriend? All the fuss with no rewards.”

  “I can’t say no to him. I don’t want him to hate me.”

  “He’s not going to hate you for being reasonable.”

  “I kind of want to go…”

  “Because you like him. At least if you’re doing this it’s with Kyle. That makes it better.”

  “Yeah, I’m glad I wasn’t asked by a random guy.”

  “You know what I mean. Kyle is safe.”

  “Then I probably shouldn’t tell you what else he said tonight.”

  “What do you mean?” She breathed heavily into the phone. “What else did he say?”

  I considered spilling the beans, but I couldn’t. Kyle would kill me. “Nothing. Forget it.”

  “No way. You can’t throw that out and then back down.”

  “Yes I can.” I sat up. “How’s the tour?”

  “Interesting and fun, but I miss normal life.”

  “I’ve followed your blog. I’m totally jealous.” I couldn’t imagine anything cooler than touring across the country and seeing a new city every day. I’d seen so little.

  “Don’t be, and you know you can always come out and join me. Len would love that.” She laughed. “But either way we need to get back to you and this Kyle thing. Are you sure you’re okay going along with the charade?”

  “No. I’m not sure. I know I should probably say no.”

  “Yes, yes you should. Not that you shouldn’t spend time with Kyle… but you need to do it the right way.”

  “The right way… okay.”

  “Sorry. I’m not trying to lecture you.”

  “I know. I only wish I knew how to avoid making everything awkward.”

  “If you think saying no to him will make things awkward, what do you think will happen if you guys ever hooked up or dated?”