Writing the Rules: A Fake Dating Standalone by Mariah Dietz (classic english novels .TXT) 📕

roundness. “I just thought I’d hear from you, is all. It’s not a big deal. It was just weird because I spent the entire day with my ex, and it created all of these doubts and questions, and you were absent, and it was just … weird. And you didn’t do anything wrong. This is me and just … I don’t know, I’ve gotten used to hearing from you every day, so it was strange to not hear from you, especially since it was a holiday.”

A smile teases the corners of my lips, one that I strive to keep hidden.

“Why are you smiling?” she asks, her cheeks beginning to turn a light shade of pink.

“You missed me. Was it my extreme wit? My devilish grin?”

“I’ve changed my mind. It had absolutely nothing to do with you.”

My smile turns sincere. “I was going to reach out to you, but I knew that we’d said our families were off-limits, and I didn’t want to overstep the boundaries,” I say, omitting the fact I didn’t just want to say hi, I wanted to invite her over. “It was kind of weird not to have you there,” I admit.

“It probably would have been weird if I had been there though, too, you know? Questions probably would have been asked, and telling your mom and grandparents about our arrangement would probably lead to a lecture or two, and besides, this is temporary, and you’re leaving this week to go out of town for another game.”

“It’s over on the other side of the state,” I tell her. “Aren’t you coming? Rae said you guys were going to drive over.”

Poppy’s eyes round. “You’re right,” she says. “We are.” She swallows, her nerves becoming more apparent. “It’s the last game.”

I flash a grin. “Well, hopefully not our last game, but it’s the final game of the regular season. I’m adding it to the rules. If all of the other girlfriends are going, it would look suspicious if you weren’t there.”

“You’re probably right.” She nods as though she’s trying to convince herself. “We should get going to the store. They’re going to start saying something if we take too long.” She leans back in her seat, and I put the car into reverse, realizing I don’t hate the idea of them having assumptions.

“Caleb mentioned this morning how much he likes that book you gave him. That was really cool of you, by the way.”

“I’m glad he’s enjoying it. I always feel bad because I don’t know how to interact with him.”

“You mentioned that it can be harder to talk to people when you’re around them a lot.”

“It is. It’s like conversation isn’t easy right away, all conversations and interactions feel increasingly strained with each interaction. I start reading into all the empty spaces, and it makes me really uncomfortable. I know Caleb’s a nice guy and that the reason things don’t always flow naturally is because we’re both introverts, and our connection is an acquaintanceship, you know? I was Rae’s best friend, and he was your best friend, and once in a while, our paths would cross.”

“It was cool of you to extend that olive branch to him. Caleb’s one of the best people I know, and I hated that Candace never attempted to talk to him or even acknowledged him. It always bothered the hell out of me.” I realize too late that I’m comparing her to my ex, something I swore I wouldn’t do because not only are we not dating, but comparing her to Candace paints a negative picture that isn’t fair to that previous relationship. “I didn’t mean to bring her up,” I say.

“No, it’s okay. I know what you mean. Last year when I was seeing Chase, he never made any attempt to get to know Rae or any of my friends, and it always felt like by him not trying with them, he wasn’t trying with me.”

“Exactly.”

She pulls in a breath. “Speaking of Candace, how are things going between you two? I saw you guys talking at the party last week after your game.”

“You did?” I try to recall the details of that night and how I’d made it a point not to be alone with Candace because that seemed like I’d have been hiding and could have potentially led to rumors. But thinking about it now, I realize that it may have been even worse to talk to her out in the open, like I was flaunting the fact. “No,” I say. “We were just talking. Nothing has changed.”

“You defend her a lot. Not that that’s a bad thing. I like that you don’t throw her under the bus, it just sometimes seems like…”

I shake my head. “No. No,” I repeat for good measure. “I think I defend her so much out of habit. Raegan’s never liked her, and neither did any of my friends. But, she wasn’t that bad. I mean, she had her moments, but, I don’t know. Candace was Candace. I knew that going into things, and initially, I liked that about her. I liked that she didn’t give a single fuck what others thought about her.”

“What changed that?”

“I realized she didn’t give a fuck about what anyone thought about anything. After a while, that lack of caring began to suck everything from me, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. It felt like a Dementor sucking out my soul. When Rae had her accident last year, Candace didn’t call or show up for three days. She was jealous that I was with my family and couldn’t understand why I was still there since they said she was going to be okay.”

“I’m sorry,” Poppy says. “That had to have felt lonely.”

I shrug. “I had my family and my friends.” I look across at Poppy, recalling the first night and how she’d been there, hugging my mom and being a calm voice of reason and assurance. She didn’t leave until the second day, and even then, was only gone long