The Fake Boyfriend Experiment (19 page)

He set me down and looked at me, his face going serious. “Lily—”

“Lily!” We both turned around to see my mom and Miss Jespersen hurrying down the aisle toward us.

I immediately tensed. “What are they doing here?”

“No idea.” Rafe moved next to me, settling his arm around my shoulder and pulling me up against him. “Hi, Aunt Joyce,” he said cautiously. “What’s up?”

Crusty didn’t answer. She simply threw her arms around both of us and hugged us so hard I thought I was going to burst. When she let go, I thought I saw her eyes getting watery. “I’m so proud of you both!” she said. She grabbed my shoulders. “Lily, I knew you could do it.”

I stared at her in astonishment. “But I didn’t play classical. Aren’t you mad?”

She shook her head and laughed as tears rolled down her cheeks. “You were brilliant. How could I ask for anything more? I’ll go talk to them about switching your application to the contemporary program. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

I nodded instinctively before I could process the question, realizing that was exactly what I wanted. “Yes, I do. That would be awesome!”

“I’ll make it happen.” Then she turned to Rafe, lightly shoving his shoulder. “And you! I’m going to talk to them about you as well! How come you hid your talent from me? I had no idea you were that good!”

Rafe shrugged and scuffed his feet, but there was no mistaking the pleased expression on his face. “I was just doing my thing. I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Oh, Rafe, it matters. You matter.” She hugged us both again, muttered something about having a chat with Rafe’s mom, then hurried off to talk to the woman running the audition, leaving us behind with my mom.

She was beaming at me, too. “Lily, sweetheart, I hope you aren’t upset, but when I saw you and Rafe drive off, I thought you might be coming here. I called Miss Jespersen and we decided to come.”

I eyed her carefully, waiting for her to get all over me for my music choice. “And?”

“I’m so proud of you.”

Relief rushed through me. “Really?”

“You were brilliant up there, Lily.” She hugged me, squeezing tight when I hugged her back. “I’m so sorry I pressured you, hon. Miss Jespersen was right that we needed to give you room. I promise I’ll back off and listen to you, okay?”

I snorted, but I was still feeling ridiculously giddy. “You won’t be able to do that.”

She started to defend herself, then threw up her hands and laughed. “I’ll try, okay?”

I grinned at her honesty. “Okay.” Maybe this would work. Maybe it really would. I was so excited!

Miss Jespersen came running back. “Rafe! They loved you and are accepting your application for the winter term even though it’s late.” She beamed at both of us. “They didn’t come right out and say it, but they indicated that you both nailed the audition and will be starting NESM in January. I’m so proud!”

My mom screeched and hugged me. “I have to go call Dad. We’ll all go out to celebrate tonight, including Rafe and Miss Jespersen.” She didn’t wait for an answer, as she dug her phone out of her purse and rushed out of the auditorium to call my dad.

Miss Jespersen gave us both hugs again and then hurried off to work the room, no doubt trying to cement our applications.

Our applications. As in, me and Rafe, attending NESM together. Together. I looked at him, and he was still looking stunned. I elbowed him. “Earth to Rafe.”

He looked at me, grinned, then grabbed my hand and tugged me down the aisle and out of the auditorium so we could talk. He stopped immediately in the hall outside and turned me so I was facing him.

“Are you going to come to NESM if you get in?” I asked.

“You bet I am.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t even believe this. What an incredible opportunity.” Then he looked at me. “What about you? Will you do it?”

I nodded. “I think the contemporary program would rock.”

His grin widened. “So, we’ll be hanging together next semester, then. Can you put up with seeing that much of me?”

I immediately frowned and took a step back. “The bigger question is, can Paige put up with you spending that much time with me?”

His smile faded, and he got that serious look on his face again. “Okay, so I was going to tell you this earlier, but I didn’t want to distract you from the audition.”

Oh, here it comes.
Was there any way to avoid this humiliation? “Rafe—”

“Chris told me about last night. About how you wouldn’t kiss him.”

My mouth dropped open, and I wanted to crawl under the nearest table in embarrassment. “He told you?”

“Yeah.” Rafe looked tense and sort of nervous. “I was psyched when he told me.”

I lifted my chin and set my hands on my hips. How dare he tell me he was psyched? Didn’t he realize that would get my hopes up? That was so unfair, and I wasn’t going to go down that road again. “Who I kiss is none of your business. Why would you care anyway? You have a girlfriend.”

He shook his head, not taking his eyes off my face. “Actually, I don’t. I broke up with her.”

“What?” I smacked his chest in astonishment. “Since when?”

“The night of the middle school dance. After you left.”

I stared at him, my ears starting to get this weird buzzing. “Seriously? Why?”

“She told me she could tell I liked you from the way I looked at you during the show.” He shrugged. “She was right.”

I was vaguely aware of students milling by, but I couldn’t drag my gaze off Rafe. “But why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t know if you liked me.”

I hit him again. “Are you an idiot?”

He grinned and caught my hand. “Well, you did ask Chris to the dance, not me.”

“You had a girlfriend!”

“I didn’t, actually.” He leaned toward me, his thumb rubbing over my chin. “But you didn’t kiss him. So I decided to come today.”

My heart fluttered in my chest. “Maybe I just don’t kiss on the first date.”

“Maybe.” He moved even closer, so near I could smell his toothpaste. “Do you kiss in broad daylight in rehearsal halls?”

I swallowed hard, my heart beating so fast I could feel it smashing against my ribs. “Depends.”

He dropped his gaze to my lips. “On what?”

“Um...” I couldn’t remember what I was going to say.

His hand curved around my chin and he lifted my face, and then he kissed me. His lips were warm and soft, but there was no mistaking his kiss. It wasn’t a kiss intended for a boring, uptight classical pianist. It was a kiss that was hot and daring, the kind of kiss that a tattooed drummer would deliver to the girl who could rock a stage with him. It was a kiss that plunged to my toes, ignited every cell in my body and screamed for more. Which he gave me.

It was a kiss that was made of all the passion that Rafe had brought to life inside me. The fire he’d ignited in me as a pianist, as a person, as the girl who he was holding in his arms so tightly that it felt like he would never, ever let me go.

No more lies for me. I was done. From now on, if someone asked me if Rafe was my boyfriend, I was going to tell them the truth.

And that answer would be: yes, he is, most definitely, mine.

Because right now, with the way he was kissing me, I was pretty certain he was.

Hey world, guess what? Lily Gardner has finally lived up to her potential! Rock it, baby, all day long. I was on fire, and so was my life!

(available now)

I finished sweeping and leaned the broom against the wall. “And what if he tries to kiss me again?”

“You should kiss him,” Allie said. “Not a long one. Just a little one, and then cut him off.”

Natalie nodded. “Don’t push him away too hard. He needs to see that you’re worth the chase.” When we all gave Natalie a surprised look at her Allie-type advice, she shrugged. “I’ve been listening to Allie for so long I know what she’s going to say.”

“Well, okay, that’s great advice, but there’s one small problem with that.” Or rather, one big problem. “I still don’t know how to kiss! That was why I didn’t kiss him in the first place. Not because I was putting him on The Ledge.”

“Who didn’t you kiss?” Colin appeared in the doorway of the barn, a big, annoying grin on his face.

Oh, God, I wanted to die right then, right there. Why, oh, why, did he keep walking into our conversations like this? This was completely humiliating.

“Heath Cavendish,” Allie announced.

“Allie!” Okay, I was wrong.
Now
I was completely humiliated.

“Really?” Colin leaned against the doorjamb and folded his arms across his chest, as if he was going to stay and join the conversation. “I can’t imagine many girls refuse to kiss Heath. How’d he take it?”

“I don’t know,” I muttered. “I left.”

“You refused to kiss him and then took off?” Colin grinned. “I love it.”

I was not getting into this discussion with a boy. “Why are you here? Mom said you weren’t coming today.”

“Plans changed, so I thought I’d swing by and see if there was anything to do. I could always use the extra cash.”

“Well, I’m covering all the chores tonight, so you can leave.”

Something flashed in Colin’s eyes, then he shrugged. “Fine. I’ll see you around, then.”

“Wait a sec.” Allie jumped off the feed bin and grabbed Colin’s arm. “You should stay. We could use your advice.”

Was she insane? “No, we can’t. He should leave.”

“No, no.” Allie tugged Colin back into the barn. “Colin, I have a question for you.”

I had to feel a little sorry for him. He didn’t really look like he wanted to be subject to Allie’s interrogation, but he was too nice to reject her. Because he
was
nice, even if he did have a habit of catching me in embarrassing moments.

“Anyway,” Allie continued, “if a guy kissed a girl who’d never kissed before, would he be able to tell?”

Colin narrowed his eyes. “Tell what?”

“That she hadn’t kissed before.” Allie rolled her eyes in exasperation, while I contemplated pretending to pass out so I would have to be rushed off to the hospital, and therefore spared this incredibly humiliating discussion of my kissing talents.

Granted, I wasn’t interested in Colin, but he was a boy. Which meant I didn’t want him listening to my kissing failures.

“Oh.” Colin glanced at me. “That’s why you didn’t kiss Heath? Because you were afraid he’d think you weren’t good at kissing?”

If only the earth would swallow me up now. “I really don’t think we need to be having this conversation.” I turned away and began filling feed buckets. “I have work to do. You all should leave.”

“And I thought you refused to kiss him because you just didn’t want to kiss him,” Colin said, with a hint of derision in his tone. “Dumb idea, I guess. As I said, what girl would turn down Heath Cavendish?”

“So he’s popular,” I snapped at Colin. “What’s wrong with that?” Personally, I thought it was kinda cool that he was popular.

Colin shrugged. “Nothing.”

“You didn’t answer Allie’s question,” Frances interrupted Colin. “We really want to know.”

“Frances!” What was with my friends? Since when had it become their goal to embarrass me so badly? “I don’t want to know!”

Colin turned away from me and looked at Frances, the corners of his mouth turned up in amusement. “You mean, would I be able to tell if I kissed a girl who wasn’t experienced? You guys really want to know that?”

“Yes,” she said.

Natalie nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, could you tell?”

“No, we don’t want to know!” I grabbed Colin’s arm and tried to push him out of the barn, only vaguely noticing that the muscles in his arm were pretty big. “Colin, leave. This conversation is killing me.”

He deftly stepped out of my path and spun back into the barn, still sporting his amused grin. He turned to Frances. “I might be able to tell that a girl was inexperienced, but if I liked her, that would be cool. I’d rather kiss a girl who hasn’t kissed a lot of guys.”

“Really?” Allie twirled her hair, no doubt trying to recall the countless boys she’d kissed. Guaranteed she was contemplating feigning ignorance the next time she kissed a boy.

“But if I just wanted some action, I’d probably be more interested in someone who knew what she was doing,” Colin added.

Well, thank you, Colin, for muddying the waters.

“So what about a guy like Heath?” Allie asked, rubbing her own lips thoughtfully. “What would he want?”

Colin’s tone became a little less friendly. “I’m not Heath. I don’t know.”

Allie looked at me, still wearing that look that indicated her wheels were turning. “Heath has been around a lot. I bet he’s looking for the experienced type.”

I threw up my hands. “Oh, great. Now I’m really going to avoid kissing him. Thanks a lot, Allie.”

“That can be addressed,” she said.

Trepidation slammed my gut. “What can be addressed?” I didn’t like the expression on her face, like she was plotting my downfall.

“Your lack of experience,” she said.

Somehow I felt this entire discussion was heading in a dangerous direction. “What? Am I supposed to practice kissing on the dog?”

“No.” She pointed to Colin. “On him.”

“You want me to kiss Colin?” My stomach flopped and my hands instantly broke into a sweat.

“No, let Colin kiss you. Let him teach you how to kiss. Then you can kiss Heath and wow him.” Allie grinned. “You have to learn somewhere, right?”

“Oh, yes!” Natalie said.

“Perfect,” Frances exclaimed. “Do it!”

“I can’t kiss Colin,” I gasped, not even daring to look at him.

“But he’s cute, and he’s nice,” Allie said. “Why can’t you kiss him?”

“Because...because...” Because having someone teach me how to kiss would be the most embarrassing thing ever. And Colin? Granted, he was moderately cute, but he wasn’t my type at all.

No way could I kiss him.