I reach for her hand and give it a squeeze. She lets her palm rest in the cradle of mine and though we’ve seen each other naked, and explored each other’s bodies, this feels like another level of intimacy.
Granted, this is Claire we’re talking about so I’m fully aware that at any second she could tell me to get my meaty paws off her or she could freeze me out with one of her signature glares. But this feels good, and if she’s willing to lean on me a little, I’m gonna soak it up.
“All right,” I say, finding my footing. “The first thing we need to do is call campus security and see what their cameras picked up. They’ll want to document everything, too, I’m guessing.”
“Already on it,” Mickey says, his phone plastered to his ear. Jenksy’s packing up all the supplies from the photo shoot that never actually happened, and Ollie is…taking my picture?
“What the hell?” I ask, gesturing to the phone he’s wielding like the damn paparazzi. “What are you doing?”
He straightens for a second and throws Claire a look that says,Can you believe this guy? I watch in fascination and horror as the two of them have a whole-ass conversation with just facial expressions. It’s downright eerie. But kinda fucking cool, too.
Claire sighs loudly and breaks the silence.
“We really don’t have to take it this far,” she says.
“You sure about that?” Ollie asks as he snaps a photo of our still-joined hands. Claire breaks our connection so fast that I‘m afraid I’ll get a blister from the friction.
“You know I’m right,” he says.
“Fine, you’re right, but it’s still stupid that the best courseof action here is for me to fake date the burliest man in the tri-state area just to stop myself from being harassed by small-minded, self-absorbed dickholes who can’t take criticism.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it any less true.”
She huffs out a beleaguered sigh before turning her body so that she’s standing in front of me. Her hands reach for mine and she pulls on my arms so they’re draped over her shoulders. She raises our joined hands so they’re below her breasts but above her waist.
Basically, her back is pressed to my chest and I’m wrapping her in a hug. “I’m not complaining,” I say, looking first at Claire and then at Ollie. “But what the hell is happening right now?”
Without changing our positions, Claire turns her head and looks up at me. Have I mentioned how much I fucking love that she’s only a few inches shorter than me?
“Ollie and I discussed quite a few things,” she tells me. “But the gist is this: I’m not dumping your ass tonight or tomorrow. In fact, it could be a few weeks until I have to kick your fine behind to the curb.”
“So…you’re my girlfriend?” I ask, merely for clarification.
“You’re fake one,” she says, keeping her voice quiet even though the only other person in the room is Ollie, and he’s basically the puppet master in all this. “And it’s not official yet, but it’s about to be.”
She lost me. “If you know it and I know it, how is it anything less than official?”
“Oh, Pete, you sweet summer child, you.” Ollie’s voice is full of pity and a healthy dose of condescension. “Nothing’s real until the internet says it’s real. Don’t you know that by now?”
“So smart and yet so naïve,” Claire teases.
“Okay, so what? We post a pic? Share a story? A reel, perhaps?”
Claire’s eyes go wide. “How old are you? How do you not know how this works?”
I shrug. “I don’t really do social media.”
“You do now,” Ollie says. “I’m making a post on your account. It’s gonna be great. There’s a carousel of sickeningly sweet photos, a sappy ass caption, and a metric shit-ton of vague as hell hashtags.”
I’m about to thank him when my brain zeroes in on his wording. “Hold up. How are you posting on my account?”
“Dude,” Ollie scoffs. “Your password is so obvious.” His fingers tap a few more times and then he shows us his screen. “Check this out.”
I reach for his phone, but Claire’s hand stills my arm. “Wait. Are you sure you want to do this? I know you get off on heroics, but this isn’t going to be for just a night or even a week. Plus, you might be Bainbridge’s favorite son, but once we go public as a couple, that could change. You saw Shane’s reaction tonight. There could be a lot more of that down the road.”
It's on the tip of my tongue to say yes without hesitation, but Claire deserves a full answer, so I give her one. “I know the risks, Claire, and I’m willing to take them.” What I don’t tell her is that she’s worth the gamble. It’s true, but if I say that now, she’ll take off at a run. I need to keep her by my side, and I need to keep her safe. I can’t do either of those things if I scare her off.
Taking Ollie’s phone, I tilt the screen so Claire can see it, too. Holy shit. His post looks totally legit, and it’s exactly as he described. The list of hashtags is way longer than the post itself and the caption is as cheesy and aww-inducing as he promised:Sometimes the best things happen when you least expect them to.
