Fake Girlfriend

I’m sorry.

It was that simple two word text I got from Cole on the way home that made my stomach flip. After the shock, I got angry—which is what I should have felt in the first place. He should be sorry. All this crap he’s been putting me through, not to mention he was acting like a complete jerk. A text wasn’t going to fix anything. If he thought it would, he was a moron. I ignored it, immediately deleted it from my phone, hating even having to look at it.

“You feeling okay?” Mike asked, sparing me a worried look as he drove.

“For the most part,” I mumbled, shoving the phone in my pocket.

`He raised an eyebrow at me, but didn’t comment, and he turned his attention back to the road, where it stayed for the rest of the drive. He was pretty good at not bothering me when I was in a bad mood. That was mostly because of the fact he couldn’t deal with “girl drama”. I had to say, if he ever got married and had a daughter, I would laugh. Of course, I knew he’d always be there for me, but personally, I didn’t want him in my business anyways. Especially not in my troubles with Cole, of which I would have had to lie about to him, anyways. I pressed the side of my forehead to the cold glass of the window, looking out at the plain scenery I saw everyday coming home from school. My phone vibrated again, and sighing, I pulled it out and read the text, already knowing who it was from.

What? You don’t believe me? Let me make it up to you.

I rolled my eyes. He went from being angry to apologizing? Seriously, this guy was more bipolar than I was, and I had been pretty bipolar these last few days-- his fault, by the way. I did not get this guy at all. Fustrated, my fingers brushed over the keys on my phone.

Don’t count on it. Please stop texting me.

His answer was almost immediate.Don’t count on it. He was mocking me. Again. Where are you anyways? Ditching History?

Going home.

Sick? He knew I wasn’t. Never mind, doesn’t matter. Can we meet up sometime?

No.

You’re gonna have to see me sometime. We still got that project to do, after all.

Shit. That project. I could not afford a failed assignment in History. Erg, Cole would win this round, but I sure as hell wasn’t forgiving him anytime soon. Alright, fine. Tomorrow after school @ my place. Ben’s coming too, so try not to act like you hate me.

I don’t hate you.

I didn’t even bother responding to that last one.

Angrily, I shut off my phone, stuffing it back in my pocket. He didn’t hate me, huh? Yeah, well it sure didn’t seem like that when he regarded me so coldly at lunch. He said he didn’t care about me then. He couldn’t say he didn’t hate me. Not after staring at me so emotionlessly when I was clearly on the verge of tears. Not after saying something like that. I had to admit, his words affected me more than I liked.

I hated this feeling.

***

When we got to the apartments, I silently made my way to mine, Mike surprisingly following me in my complex. I looked back at him with a cocked eyebrow as he sat down Indian-style on my couch and just watch me for an awkward silent moment.

“Everything okay?” he asked me.

I gave my now-habitual fake smile. “Yeah, fine. Why?”

“You’re never sick,” Mike comment. His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “And you don’t look sick now.”

“Just wasn’t feeling good.”

Mike wasn’t stupid. He majored in Psychology, after all, but that was a detail I often forgot. “This has something to do with that new boyfriend of yours, doesn’t it? I knew from the minute I saw that guy that—“

“Please stop.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I really didn’t want to hear any more about Cole right now. “That’s not what’s wrong,” I said.

“You’re lying.”

I groaned in exasperation. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“So you’re just gonna keep what’s bothering you to yourself while it slowly begins to torment you more and more, until you just explode?” That was half a joke, and half serious.

“Yeah. Pretty much,” I said. I pulled him by the arm, slowly sliding him off my couch. “Now please leave. I’m tired.”

Mike stood up, my pulling having very little effect on him budging much. “It’s not even two o’ clock yet,” he said, his forehead creasing in worry.

“Mike,” I groaned. “I just don’t want to talk about it. Okay?”

Mike sighed. “Alright. But I’m across the hall if you end up wanting to share.”

“Yes, yes. I know,” I said, trying to push him out. It didn’t work, so he just walked out himself. I shut the door behind him.

I sat down on my couch with an exaggerated huff, and I bit my lip. Hesitantly, I took my phone out and turned it on. There was a new text message. Shocking. I sighed, opening the message, and while my slow phone slowly processed the message, my mind momentarily wandered. Honestly, why did I even bother opening this text? It would just make me more pissed, and cause more feelings I didn’t want to feel. Cole was such an idiot if he thought he could just act nice whenever he wanted. He—

You Me. Ice skating. This weekend after we finish the project. Just for a little fun?

Hastily, I turned my phone back off. I don’t know why, but I was blushing madly.