I just turned in Faking It. The second book in my Romantic Comedy Dating Dilemma series. It’s also my tenth book which seems surreal. To celebrate, I’m sharing the first unedited chapter of Faking It. Have a great weekend.
CHAPTER ONE
Lisa
Matt walked toward me with an easy grin on his face. He’d finally started to relax around me now that he realized I wasn’t going to throw myself at him. Not that I hadn’t entertained the idea, because he had chocolate brown eyes and dark wavy hair and broad shoulders and…wait…where was I going with this?
Right, I wasn’t throwing myself at man-candy Matt because but he’d made it clear that he thought of me as a friend. And at first that sort of sucked, but I was a big girl and I could deal with it. He made a good friend. We had fun together.
At one time I may have held out hope that he would turn to me and say, “Lisa, I was wrong. You’re exactly the short, nerdy girl I’ve been looking for.” But it had been a few months and now I was over it. At this point in my life I wasn’t sure any guy was worth the trouble. Until some new guy showed up and took my breath away, I was declaring my life a drama-free, date-free zone.
Matt sat down next to me at our normal lunch table in the Greenbrier high school cafeteria and opened his brown paper bag. “Are you and Nina getting your nerd on tonight?” he asked.
“Is it Friday?” I said that like it answered the question, because it totally did. Every Friday night my best friend Nina and I engaged in Nerdgirl Festivities. We went to the bookstore to find new treasures and then hung out in the coffee shop afterwards talking books and boys and anything else that came to mind. “What about you?” I asked. “Any exciting plans?”
He shrugged. “Not sure yet.”
“Someone has commitment issues,” I teased in a sing song voice.
“Hey,” Matt said. “I’m just a guy who likes to keep his options open.”
“Please, you have a pathological insistence on not committing to plans until the last second.”
“Right.” Matt took a bite of his sandwich. “Just because your mom’s a therapist doesn’t mean you’re qualified to analyze me.”
“My mom’s job doesn’t have anything to do with it.” I popped the top on my soda and took a drink. “I’ve seen you try to pick out a donut at Krispy Kreme.”
“It’s not my fault that they all look good,” he said.
“Yes, but most people have a favorite.” Maybe that was his problem with dating. All girls looked good and he couldn’t pick one. “Let’s try an exercise my mom does with her clients. If you could do anything, no matter how impractical tonight, what would you choose?”
Matt’s gaze flicked over to the table where his younger sister sat with her best friend Jane and then he glanced back at me. “That’s a stupid question.”
Busted. I leaned in so no one would over hear us. “I didn’t ask who you’d do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Matt’s tone was a little too defensive.
“Nothing.” Jane had a steady boyfriend, who happened to be drop dead gorgeous, and they appeared to be very much in love. That didn’t stop Matt from staring at her whenever he thought no one was looking. Since I used to spend a fair amount of my time checking out Matt while he was otherwise occupied, I recognized the game he was playing. It was a no win situation.
***
Nina picked me up to go to the bookstore a few hours after school. “So you and Matt seemed awful chatty at lunch today. Anything I should know about?”
“Nope. I’m still living my life in the friend zone.” I tilted the air conditioning vents down so the air didn’t hit me in the face. Short girl problem 101. Whatever normal sized person who’d sat here last had left the vents aimed so the air blew my hair all around my face. Since I wasn’t modeling for a shampoo commercial this was not an ideal setting.
“I know you still like him,” Nina said.
“Wrong. That ship has sailed.”
“Are you sure? West said Matt talks about you when you’re not around.”
I froze for a second and then took a cleansing breath. “Please tell me you’re not discussing my past crush with your boyfriend. That would be in direct violation of the best friend code.”
“Wrong. It doesn’t count if he’s the one that asked about you. He said Matt talks about you almost as much as he talks about Jane.”
“Does he realize Matt is into Jane?” I asked.
“I don’t think so and the better question is why does Matt have a crush on a girl who is obviously so into her boyfriend? And no offense, but not many people could compete with that guy.”
“It’s kind of karma that she isn’t into him,” I said. “He’ll just have to move on like I did.”
“Fine, if you’ve moved on, then who are you interested in?”
“No one, for the moment,” I said. “Although I’m actively looking for a new book boyfriend. Hopefully I’ll find a fabulous new guy at the bookstore.”
“This is totally selfish, but you need a real boyfriend so we can double date.”
I laughed. “So my love life should revolve around yours? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes,” Nina said. “And I’d appreciate it if you’d get with the program.”
“I’ll get right on that.” I knew she was joking but part of it rang true and that kind of bothered me. Is this what life was going to be like from now on? If your best friend has a boyfriend you’d better find one too or soon you won’t have a best friend anymore? Because that would suck.
“Hey,” Nina said. “You know I’m joking. Right?”
“I know.” I sighed and slid lower in my seat. “I have to tell you I don’t have a lot of trust in the male half of the species.” Given that my mom was a family counselor it was the irony of ironies, that my dad abandoned her when she told him she was pregnant. They’d been married less than a year, and I guess the idea of being a parent freaked him out. My mom said one day she came home from work and he was gone. No discussion. No warning. Just a bunch of empty drawers and a note about how he wasn’t ready to be a father. She received divorce papers in the mail before I was even born. I’d never even met the guy and pretty much thought of him as nothing more than a complete douchebag and a sperm donor.
“Given your situation, that’s justified. But look at your mom now. She’s been dating the same guy for years.”
“Yeah, Tony is great,” I said. “But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they’ve never even discussed marriage.”
“Maybe he has own reasons that he doesn’t want to get married,” Nina said.
“It’s weird. I’ve overheard his cell calls to an insurance company about some woman’s bills and prescriptions. I’m kind of afraid of what that might mean.”
“Okay. So either he’s cheating on his sick wife, or he’s stayed married to someone he doesn’t love so his insurance will cover her medical bills?” Nina pulled into the lot of the bookstore and parked in the front row. “That’s either terrible or tragic.”
“I’ve almost asked my mom about it a few times, but if she’s okay with the situation then it can’t be too shady.” Everything my mom did was above board. Her motto was, Honesty is the best and only policy. “Maybe it’s his sister or his mom or something.” I unbuckled my seat belt. “I’m done with all this stressful real life crap. I’m ready to get my happily ever after on. Let’s go buy some books.”
We entered the bookstore. I inhaled the scent of coffee and ink covered pages, my two favorite fragrances, and suddenly all was right in my world. A new display of Harry Potter shirts and bags caught my eye and sucked me in like a tractor beam.
I ran my fingers down the strap of a messenger bag with an owl pattern on one side and Platform 9 3/4 on the other. It seemed to be calling my name. I opened the flap. The bag was divided into two compartments and even had loops for pens. “I might need this.”
“It’s cute,” Nina said. “I don’t really need another bag.”
“Since when did need have anything to do with it.” I had what some might call a purse problem. I liked to think of it as an eclectic collection of geek girl handbags.
“Didn’t you tell me not to let you buy any more purses?”
I hugged the messenger bag to my chest. “I have no recollection of that conversation.”
“Do you have room in your closet for another purse?”
I pictured the shelf in the top of my closet. My handbags were lined up facing out like they were on display because seeing them made me happy. There wasn’t much room left. “If I put the Darth Vader bag inside the Tardis bag I could fit this one up there too.”
“I would point out that the Darth Vader bag is bigger than the Tardis,” Nina said. “But I know what your response to that statement would be.”
“It’s bigger on the inside,” I grinned. While Nina didn’t share a love for all my geeky fandoms, she did at least understand and appreciate them. I ran my hand over the bag. “Cross pollinating fandoms might lead to a disruption in the space time continuum, so I could just keep this bag on my dresser.”
Nina snorted but didn’t bother responding. Then she picked up a pair of socks with an owl and wand pattern. “You can never have too many pairs of socks and they take up much less room.”
I sighed and checked the price on the bag. It was more than I wanted to spend. So, I reluctantly set it back down. “Don’t worry, dear. I’ll be watching for you to go on clearance.” I grabbed a pair of socks decorated with the Sorting hat and Harry Potter spectacles and checked the price tag. “These are cute and much more budget friendly.”
My job at the Crazy Crafts kept me in yarn and books with a little left over for fun money. I crocheted scarves and sold them on Etsy so in a way one of my hobbies paid for itself.
Now that we were headed into warmer weather, my scarf sales would drop. That was okay. I could crochet and stock up for next winter.
“Good choice,” Nina said. “I declare tomorrow Harry Potter sock day,” She stated like it was a new holiday.
“Works for me.”