Nico frowns as he licks his lips, tasting mine on his skin and his hand lowers, now cupping my outer thighs.

There, we did it.

We kissed for our classmates to see.

For Alex to see.

For show.

Right?

Snack bag in hand, I drop beside Macy on the blanket. “Where are the girls?”

“They went to the vending machines to get us drinks really quick. Here.” She hands me a sub sandwich. “Trent’s mom dropped off a bunch of sandwiches for us.”

“Awesome.” I set it in my lap, pulling some pretzels from our bag while Macy chooses Hot Fries.

“Turkey and avocado, hold the cheese, Dem,” Trent shouts from where he and the boys are, a picnic table a few feet over.

I laugh, lifting it up in thanks.

Nico’s eyes tighten but when I tilt my head, not looking away, his lips twitch and he turns his attention back to his friends.

“You guys are so cute.” Macy smiles.

Krista and Carley walk up right then, lowering to the blanket.

“For you, my dear.” Carley sets a blue Gatorade in front of me.

“Thank you.”

Krista passes Macy a soda. “So.” She peeks toward the guys quickly. “I told you I’d find out, and I did.”

“Find out what?” Carley asks, filling her sandwich with potato chips.

“I found out why Nico and Josie broke up.” Her eyes cut to mine.

My muscles tense, but I try to hide it. “Tell me.”

Krista is a bit of a gossip mill, mainly just for us, but if she got the details, she made sure to confirm them first.

Her hesitation has me on edge.

“Out with it, Krista.” Macy rolls her eyes, tugging her mini jean jacket off.

Krista nods, leaning closer. “So you know how Nico and Josie had that fight at Trent’s bonfire over the summer?” She doesn’t wait for a response but keeps talking. “Apparently Nic found out Josie had fucked someone else.”

“But they’d broke up for the ten-thousandth time the week before that, right?” Carley asks.

My eyes slide to hers.

“Yeah, who cares.” Macy shrugs. “He can’t get mad after the fact.”

He can if he still has feelings for her and that’s what all this is really about.

Krista shakes her head. “The fight was because he found out the entire reason she broke it off with him when she did, was to try and hide that she fucked someone else earlier that morning.”

My mouth drops open. “Wait, so she cheated, then broke up with him right after, all so later she could claim it wasn’t cheating?”

“Exactly, she was hoping to play it off like she hoed-out after the split if he ever found out, when really she cheated, then broke up with him hours later.” Krista takes a quick bite of her sub. “I guess she showed up to the bonfire in the hopes of getting back with Nic, tried to use her planned excuse, but I guess he told her he knew what she did before she even broke it off with him. He was waiting for her to admit it.”

“And then he told her to fuck off,” Macy adds, remembering the tail end of the fight a large group of us happened to walk up on.

“Wow.” Carley chuckles. “Girl needs to have some class and stay away.”

“She needs to stay away period,” Macy snaps, then smiles all dreamy-like. “He’s Demi’s now.”

I give a tight chuckle, quickly covering it by taking a drink.

Krista eyes me and I slowly screw the lid back on the bottle.

“What?” I draw out.

“I sort of... sugar-coated part of the story...” Krista says slowly, pulling her lips back to show her teeth.

“Just tell me.”

“I don’t think it matters.”

“Krista.”

“It was Alex,” she rushes out.

My face falls. “Wait... what?”

Alex?

Macy and Carley both gape at Krista then look to me.

“Alex.” I lower my chin. “Josie slept with Alex while she was with Nico?”

Krista chews on her bottom lip as she nods, then quickly shrugs it off. “It doesn’t mean anything, Demi. I just thought, you know...” She trails off.

“Thought it was a strange coincidence?” Carley asks suspiciously.

Krista nods, her eyes moving between the three of us before once again landing on me.

“Okay, well, who cares.” It’s Macy who says this. “Demi is the one who has, or maybe had, I don’t know, a thing for Alex. So, for any of this to matter, it would have needed to be the other way around. It’s not like Alex was into Demi and so Nico...”

“Pretended to be into me?” I give them the truth covered in a lie, my chest growing tight for reasons I’m not ready to admit.

Is that what this is? A way to get to Alex for screwing the only girl Nico cared enough about to keep around?

“Oh, no.” Krista sits up straight. “There is no way, no how, that’s the case. It is so obvious he’s hot for you. I wasn’t trying to insinuate anything, swear, but I mean, I had to tell you. I can’t help but think if he knew you had the hots for Alex before him, it might make him nervous or angry or something, thinking it could happen again.”

“Yeah.” I give my best fake chuckle. “Good thing he doesn’t know about that.”

Awesome, Demi. Keep offering unnecessary lies.

The rest of lunch I’m useless and lost in thought, but what Krista said was true.

My gaze travels to Nico who’s talking with Thompson.

What purpose would it serve for Nico to want to fake date me when his ex cheated with the guy he’s supposed to help me get?

The simple answer is it wouldn’t.

That doesn’t stop me from coming up with a million other reasons why, none of them making any sense to me.

After a moment, Nico’s eyes slide my way, and as if sensing the tension building in my gut, his expression tightens, and he nods his chin in question.

I give a half smile in answer, and after a moment he nods, looking back to his friends.

It shouldn’t comfort me that my fake boyfriend knows how to read me.

Yet, for some reason... it does.

“Can I ask you something?”

Trent looks up from the blender, nodding his chin as if to say go ahead before focusing back on the margaritas he was asked to help make.

Every time Thompson has a party, he puts Trent behind his parents’ bar to mix drinks.

“Did Josie really sleep with Alex?”

Trent’s glare flies to the kitchen table where Krista sits, and he curses, finally looking back to me.

“Does it matter if she did?” he deflects.

“Trent, come on.” I cross my arms, leaning them on the countertop.

It’s Monday night, so three days since Krista filled me in on Alex and Josie and I need extra confirmation, so I can stop thinking about it which is pretty much how I spent my weekend.

Trent turns off the machine, quickly pouring a cup and handing it to me. He grips the edge of the marble. “Yeah, she did.”

“Did she break Nico’s heart?”

Trent scoffs a small laugh. “No, Dem. Not even a little bit.”

When I frown, he sighs, cuts a quick glance toward the living room where Nico sits, then leans closer. “Nic liked Josie, a lot. They dated for a long time, but it wasn’t so much love as it was comfortable, a way to escape. Someone to hang with.” He lifts his shoulder, adding. “Sex on hand.”