Song- The Heart Wants What It Wants- Selena Gomez
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Alana
"Have you heard of this band called Oblivion?" I asked Nina while we were seated in the university cafeteria.
"Of course. Everyone knows about that band. They play in clubs and sometimes they even have outdoor gigs. Good music." Nina peeled the wrapper of her cheeseburger and took a bite.
She was acting like she may have heard about them, but I knew Nina too well to know that she had probably stalked the shit outta that band and had magazine cut-outs of the boys stuck somewhere in her journal that consisted of every possible hot men that walked planet earth.
"Do you know anyone called Troy from the band?"
Her eyes lit up. "Yeah. He goes to our university."
Double take on that one. "He what?"
"Yeah, Troy goes here, and so does another one of their band members, Christopher. Thought you knew about that already. They travel a lot, and there are rumors that Troy was kicked out of his previous university because of "malicious" activity." She put malicious in quotes. "I thought you knew about that already."
"How was I supposed to know?"
"Duh. Because he is your ex-boyfriend's cousin."
What the fuck?
"What are you talking about?"
"Troy Masters is Rowan's cousin. He moved to Carmel a few weeks back, I thought you knew about that since you and Dwight are like bffs. Wait, didn't he fill you in? You seem clueless." She poked the straw into the strawberry milk cartoon.
"Dwight and I haven't talked in ages. We only text each other for Christmas' and Birthdays', I get a tons of invitations from him for his house parties but I don't attend those, so yeah, after my breakup with Rowan, things got pretty awkward."
I was lying. Things had definitely gotten messier, but even after Dwight's repeated advances at "making things better", I'd chosen to keep myself away from that family. I didn't even remember the last time I'd seen Minnie, I'd spoken to her on the phone several times, but I'd avoided meeting them only because I was a coward. I knew I would brawl into tears at the sight of the little girl who I had dreamed would be mine someday.
I didn't want Dwight or anyone to console me and sugar coat what I already knew, that I could never be a part of that family.
"I kissed Troy." There I said it.
She spurted the milk out of her mouth like a spray which spilled on her t-shirt. "What the actual fuck? You kissed Troy Masters?"
"Lower down your voice!" I said, took a deep breath and explained her what happened and why I hadn't returned to her forty texts and fifty phone calls.
"Why are you looking at me like I'm some kind of a criminal?"
"I think this would be a better sitcom than The Big Bang Theory. Maybe you should consider writing an auto-biography." She cracked as she wiped the spilled milk from the table.
"In due time." I joked.
"So who is a better kisser? The older one or the younger one?"
"Definitely the older one. Hands down." I could feel the blush creep slowly towards my cheeks.
"How could you only keep digging the Masters' boys?"
"It was a co-incidence."
Nina wasn't listening because her eyes were trailed behind me. "He is coming here."
"What?"
She started her countdown. "Five. Four. Three. Two..."
"Alana, can I talk to you for a minute?" Troy said as he stood by our table with the same overconfidence dripping his voice.
Nina had forgotten her cheeseburger, because apparently this drama was far interesting than a cheeseburger.
"Talk about what?" I asked.
Troy picked up a mozzarella stick from my plate and took a bite, "Stuff that I can only talk in private." To Nina, he said, "Hey there chubby cheeks."
Nina didn't seem offended.
I eyed her. Private or not, she would without a doubt hear the end of it. I rose to my feet and followed Troy out of the cafeteria, feeling eyes bore into me. We rounded the corner and came to a halt where the student body was almost nil. Troy leaned against the side of the wall. I was feeling uncomfortable by every passing minute. The clock was ticking. I folded my arms.
"Look, Yo. This is going to sound ludicrous, but..." He lowered his voice. "The other day at the bar when we...you know, when we kissed, there were some people, more precisely some girls who witnessed it and recorded a video of us getting it on. Now that shit is about to go viral and trust me, you and I both know that nothing happened that night when I took you back to my apartment, but they think we screwed each other. You understand what I'm sayin?"
"Go on." I needed to brace myself for whatever was coming next.
"I have a gig comin' up soon, and I don't need the tabloids making a big deal out of it. Because things ended badly where I studied before with one of girls I slept with told the dean that I...well...she told him nasty stuff that I didn't do..."
"Did you sexually assault someone, Troy?"
"That's fucking crazy! It was between consenting adults, alright?" I watched as rage took over him. He rummaged a cigarette and a lighter from his jacket pocket, lit it and took a long drag. "It's like getting knocked up by someone else and insinuating that I'm the one who contributed the swimmer. I'm always cautious what with women trying to make me the daddy of their babies so they could get tons of money. Why would I feel the need to do something like that when I can get whoever the fuck I want. Plus, if I was a rapist, I would have taken advantage of you when you were in my apartment."
"And what part do I play in this?"
"I came to Carmel to get some peace, and I don't need any more controversies surrounding me. If you decide to be my girlfriend than you can stop people from calling you names and guys from slipping their phone number in your bag, and I can stop gold-diggers from throwing themselves at me. That's not good for the reputation of my band." He blew out a puff of the smoke. "That's killing two fishes with one stone, Yo."
"Killing two birds with one stone." I corrected him. "What was your score in English anyway?"
"I would never kill birds, y'know." He winked. The cigarette was pinched between his fingers as he brought it to his lips and took another drag.
"You're not supposed to smoke on university grounds." I said. "You can get expelled."
He blew out a cloud of smoke. "My uncle just became the committee chairperson this year. How else do you think I got in, given my excellent grades and an outstanding reputation to remind me for a life time. That's sarcasm right there if you don't get my dark humor."
"I know what you mean."
I had to remind myself that Troy's uncle was Gary Masters who was Rowan's father.
"So, how long exactly do I have to pretend to be your girlfriend?" I asked.
"Well, until the rumors die down and people start minding their own fucking business."
I snatched the cigarette out of his fingers and brought it to my lips, taking a small drag and exhaling a puff. This was my only chance to try a cigarette. So far, I'd broken two rules out of my best-selling novel goody-two shoes. Kissing a random guy at a bar who happened to be my ex-boyfriend's cousin and two, smoking a cigarette for the first time on school grounds.
Wow. My father would be so proud.
I took another drag, longer and completely unnecessary. Suddenly, the smoke filled my lungs and a cough erupted from my chest.
Troy chuckled and whistled low as he snatched the cigarette from my fingers. "That's a lot of rebellious behavior coming from a virgin, non-smoker. I said I can't get expelled, doesn't mean you can't."
I smiled. If only he knew.
"One smoke wasn't going to hurt." I said in my defense.
He was amused. "So are you game?"
I realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my year getting random vulgar messages from the football or the basketball team asking me if I had a spare weekend. Pretending to be Troy's girlfriend would definitely keep me from being the center of gossip.
"I guess I don't really have a choice. I mean, I can't undo that kiss in the club, nor can I erase that particular memory from everyone's mind, so one way or the other, they will think that we both hooked up for a one night stand considering the fact that they saw you carry me to your car. Wow, way to complicate things."
"Oh, come on. It'll be fun. I'm not that bad, baby." There was a playful spark in his eyes. "I'll make it worth your while."
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. "So, I forgot to ask you, but how did you know my name that day in the club and my address?"
"Let's just say I've got a good eye for natural beauty. I've had my eyes on you since the time I joined, babe." He was flirting again. "What lecture do you have now?"
"I'm going to head home." I declared.
"Lovely, I'm going to head to my band practice. Wanna join?"
"Uh...I'm not sure, first I need to collect my things and say goodbye to my friend." I said as I turned on my heel and strode back towards the cafeteria.
"I'll be waiting in the parking lot by my car." Troy called out from behind me.
What was this feeling? Kind of seemed like we were official.
I returned to the cafeteria to find Nina seeming bored out of her mind, the cheeseburger forgotten. She was checking the feed on her smartphone. This was going to be hard to explain, and I dreaded Chez's reaction to this. It wasn't like Troy was going to be my real boyfriend or anything.
Alana, you just want to try and date someone else who isn't Rowan Masters, even if it is fake. Admit it!
I tried to tune out the voice in my head. Maybe, just maybe, I wanted to see what it felt like being in a relationship with someone else, or I just wanted to get back at Rowan. I was leaning towards the latter. It was downright childish behavior, but I wondered if Rowan would still be okay with the fake dating, how he would react if he knew that I kissed someone.
Another voice in my head told me that it wouldn't even matter to him at all. The thought made me angry and mad.
"Hey, what happened in there?" Nina broke the train of my thoughts.
"Long story." I said as I grabbed for my things. "I'm going home and Troy is giving me a ride. You are welcome to visit me if you want to know the details, and yeah, don't bring Chez."
"What about your mozzarella sticks?"
"You can have them."
"You're my best friend, I hope you know that."
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A.N: Hello Everyone! Sorry, no Rowan POV this time, but I promise Rowan will be in the next chapter ð Things get pretty interesting in the upcoming chapters and I hope you look forward to it.
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