The Fill-In Boyfriend by Lindsey Osorio, Lindsey Osorio, Lindsey Osorio, Lindsey Osorio (macos ebook reader .TXT) 📕

Was he asking what I thought he was asking? “I’m . . . I’m here with Hayden. Your friend.”

“I know. But he told me your arrangement and it’s obviously working.” He nodded his head back and I slowly turned around.

Behind us, Hayden and Eve were talking. Her arm was hooked around his and she laughed at something he said. He had a big smile on his face too.

“He wanted her back. You helped him get her back. So, anyway, my thing, it would probably be three hours, tops. How much would you charge for something like that?”

I stopped cold. “What?”

“Just a date. Nothing afterward.” His eyebrows went up then down. “Unless you wanted to do something after.”

I slapped him so hard that my palm stung.

“Ouch. What was that for?” He cradled his cheek.

“You haven’t changed at all.” He was still the same guy who had taken Laney out two years ago and treated her badly. I stood and stumbled backward and away from him. I made it out to Hayden’s car only to find it locked.

I closed my eyes and counted to ten because I felt tears coming. I succeeded in keeping them at bay and sank to the curb. My phone showed a missed call from Bradley. I hesitated for one second, looked back at the empty theater entrance, then pushed Call Back.

Bradley answered on the second ring. “That was the longest game of phone tag ever,” he said.

“It was.”

“How are you?”

I thought hearing his voice again would stir something in me, make me remember what we had. Maybe even make me feel better. But it actually made my stomach hurt even more. “I’m okay. How about you?”

“I miss you like crazy, Gia.”

“Really?” It was nice to hear that someone was thinking about me.

“You’ve handled this breakup way more maturely than I thought you would.”

“Um . . . thanks?”

“I just mean that I expected a million texts defending yourself but instead I got silence.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, that’s a good thing.”

Right. Nothing like silence to rekindle a connection.

“And I saw your tweet. You walked into prom and faced your friends alone. You showed so much maturity in that.”

“I didn’t. Not really. A friend of mine actually ended up going in with me.” But were we really even friends? Was what Spencer just said true? I was surprised Hayden had told Spencer at all about the fake-date thing without warning me. Especially after he’d come and sat with us. Hayden should’ve warned me that Spencer knew. When had he told him anyway? Tonight?

Bradley kept talking. His voice made me remember how easy our relationship had been. Uncomplicated. There weren’t ex-girlfriends to contend with or feelings to decipher or roles to be played. We had just been together.

Silence took over the line and I realized he was waiting for me to respond to something I hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry. What?”

“I want to see you again.”

“You do?”

“Yes.”

Hayden and the way he’d been standing so close to Eve, laughing with her, flashed through my mind. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“What did you like about me?” I was feeling very unlikable.

“You’re fun. We had a lot of good times together.” That was all he said. Then he stopped like that was profound and should be enough to send me running back to him. Not that I was judging him. I was pretty sure that would’ve been my answer if he had presented me with the same question.

“We did have fun but you were embarrassed by me.”

“I was not.”

“You didn’t want to meet my friends and you never let me meet yours. That hurt, Bradley.”

“Wow,” he said. “You’re . . . different.”

What was I thinking? Bradley wasn’t the answer to the hurt I was feeling over what Hayden had just done. “I think I am. I have to go.”

“Wait, Gia.”

“I can’t do this. I have to go.” I hung up the phone then looked toward the theater entrance. I wasn’t sure what to do. I guess I’d thought Hayden would come after me, but he hadn’t. He was too busy trying to win Eve back. Maybe I should’ve let him explain himself, but right now I was so angry and there was no way I was walking back in there with Spencer and Eve waiting in the wings.

I wasn’t familiar with this part of town, but I saw a bus stop on the corner, several people waiting indicating it might actually be coming soon. I slid off my heels and walked toward it. The bus took five minutes to arrive, plenty of time for Hayden to come looking for me. He didn’t. So when the bus came, the words Beach Front scrolling along its digital screen, I climbed on. I only had a five-dollar bill and the bus driver grumbled while he produced change for me.

I sat next to a woman with earphones in, hoping that meant she wouldn’t try to talk to me, and concentrated on not crying for ten minutes.

My phone vibrated with an incoming call from Hayden that I ignored. Next came a text. I was almost too scared to look but I did.

Where are you?

I didn’t answer, not sure what to say. A stupid tear dripped down my face. I swiped at it angrily.

That’s when the woman next to me decided to stop ignoring me. She took out her earbuds. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Did you know those two words make up the most-told lie in the English language?”

With those words I choked on a sob.

“Oh, sweetheart, don’t cry.” She awkwardly patted my arm.

“I’m fine,” I said again.

She laughed a little. “Please don’t add to the misuse of that phrase.”

My phone chimed again. I thought you were in the bathroom. And I started to think you were dying in there, so I sent someone in to look for you. She said the bathroom was empty. Spencer said you were upset when you left. Where are you, Gia?

The woman sitting next to me still looked concerned.

“Just boy problems,” I finally said, hoping she’d leave me alone. But that started her on a monologue about the problems with teenage boys today.

If you don’t answer, I’m going to call the police. I’m worried.

I quickly typed. Since you told your friend I was a hooker, I thought maybe you had the wrong idea about us. I didn’t realize that was the role I was supposed to play tonight. I found a ride home.

The phone almost immediately started ringing again. I didn’t want to talk about this on the phone with a woman sitting next to me who apparently thought boys should be issued shock collars when they turned thirteen. And besides, for all I knew Hayden was calling to tell me that I was reacting like a girlfriend and not a first date. I was reacting like a girlfriend. I was not his girlfriend.

“I can see I’m not helping,” the woman finally said.

“Thank you for trying, really.” The bus stopped and I stood and walked down the aisle. I smelled the ocean the second I stepped out. The breeze and the sound of waves crashing only served as a secondary confirmation of where I was.

It was only eight o’clock so I had four hours to pout on the beach before I had to figure out how I was really getting home.

I’d only been there an hour when my phone vibrated with a text.

Did you know your parents have a GPS tracker in your phone?

I turned around and saw a figure walking down the beach toward me. It was too dark to make out his features from this far away, but considering the text I’d just gotten, I was sure it was Hayden. I steeled my emotions. There was no way he could know how much I was hurting.

“Do you think I’m creepy now?” he asked when he reached me.

“Maybe more than when you waited in the parking lot to make sure I was okay.”

“Understandably. This actually required effort and ingenuity. And convincing your parents that you weren’t lost while simultaneously asking them to tell me where you were.” He sat down next to me and studied my face. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for there but it took everything in me to make sure he didn’t find it.

“I want to hear your side,” Hayden said. “I want to understand what happened.”

“My side? What about your side?”

“My side is pretty simple. I went to use the bathroom. My ex-girlfriend pulled me into a conversation with an old friend. Then when I came back with a surprise chocolate chip cookie for you, you were gone.”

“That’s a pretty good side, but the side I was referring to was how exactly you explained us to Spencer.”

He looked up like he was thinking. “Oh. After Eve’s graduation party I told him how I’d met you and how you returned the favor.”

“Well, he got the wrong impression.”

“What do you mean? Does this have to do with the confusing hooker text you sent me?”

“I’m sure Spencer told you what happened.”

“Spencer told me that you saw me talking to Eve, got really mad, said a few choice words, then left.”

My jaw dropped. “That’s what he said?”

“That is what he said.” He took a deep breath. “Can I ask you a question?”

“Yes.”

“Had you met Spencer before Eve’s party?”

Oh no, this was not the right time for this to come out.

He closed his eyes for a moment as if he was disappointed by whatever shock I could feel written on my face.

“No. I mean, just once. Barely. I didn’t even think he remembered me. Listen, I didn’t even see you talking to Eve tonight until he pointed it out. And he only pointed it out after asking me if I’d go to some baseball banquet with him so he didn’t have to go alone. He said that you told him about our arrangement and he was wondering how much I charged.”

“He said that?”

“Yes, then he told me that he didn’t need any after-date action unless I was interested.”

“I did not ever tell him I paid you.”

“Well, then he formed that opinion all on his own.”

“That’s not what he told me happened tonight.”

“Of course he didn’t. I’m sure he didn’t want you to be mad at him.”

“He said the same thing about you when I asked him about your text.