Page 215 of Promising You
“Hi, Harper. I’ve gotta go. I’ll see you guys later.” Nic leaves and goes back to his seat, which is right next to where Garret is now sitting. Nic seems nervous seeing Garret there. He quickly grabs his tray and takes it to the conveyor belt.
“What was that about?” Harper asks.
“Nic just asked me out.” My eyes are glued on Garret who is now the center of attention at his table. He’s apparently become quite popular with the other guys after his wild weekend in Bermuda.
“He asked you out?” Harper drops the blueberries she was spooning into her yogurt and they go rolling down the table. “What did you say to him?”
“I told him I was busy this weekend.”
My eyes are still on Garret, who looks so damn good it’s not even fair. His dark hair is sexy messy, he’s got stubble on his face to fit his bad-boy image, and he’s wearing one of the fitted black t-shirts that I love on him. It clings to his shoulders and fits snug on his chest. I just want to run my hands under it and feel his skin, his muscles, his—”
“Jade.” Harper kicks my foot under the table. “Stop staring,” she scolds, glancing back at Garret.
“What? I can’t look at my ex?”
“Not that way. You look like you want to rip his clothes off.”
“Because I do.”
She kicks me again. “Come on. You need to get out of here.”
As I get up from the table I see Garret lift his eyes slightly, watching me. It sends a rush of fiery heat through my core. I swear this no-contact thing makes me want him even more than when we were together, which doesn’t seem possible.
Harper practically has to pull me back to her room. “You need to get it together, Jade.” She plops down on her bed, leaning against the wall. I do the same.
“I haven’t seen Garret since Sunday. I couldn’t help but look at him. And I’m sure nobody even noticed.”
“You were gawking, not looking.” She lets out a deep sigh.
“What? What are you thinking, Harper?”
“I think you should go out with Nic.”
CHAPTERFIFTY
“What?No way! I’m not going out with Nic.”
“You want this to look real, right? In the real world, you’d start dating again.”
“That’s not gonna happen, Harper. First of all, I don’t want to date anyone, even if it’s fake dating. Second, Garret would be pissed. And third, it wouldn’t be fair to use Nic like that.”
She considers it. “Yeah. I guess. But I wasn’t saying you had to date him for weeks or months. Just one date. It would show people that you’re moving on.”
“Nic’s a nice guy. I don’t want to lead him on like that.”
“Well, you have to do something so people believe this break-up is real.”
“I’ll mope around my room. Pretend I’m depressed.”
“You’re the one who dumped Garret. So you’re the one who’s supposed to be moving on. Dating again. Garret’s supposed to be the depressed one. And instead he was in Bermuda last week with other girls.”
“Fine. I’ll think about it.”
She reaches over to the table by her bed and picks up the TV remote. “Are you watching the last episode?”
I check the clock and see that it’s time for the final episode of The Prep School Girls’ Reunion show. “Might as well.”
She turns the TV on and clicks through to the right channel. The show is just starting with the cheesy music and quick shots of the stars flashing on the screen. The first scene shows one of the girls fighting with her ex-boyfriend and then getting back together with him. How convenient. A happy ending for the last show. It’s so staged.
