B A D
B O Y ' S
G A M E
"Good morning, Grey," a deep voice murmurs.
My eyes slowly open to see the brightness that comes from the sun through the blinds. I've never been a morning person, the mere thought of waking up before dawn extremely startling to me. The fact that someone's breaking my slumber makes me especially uneasy, the sound of Archer's voice excruciating.
I turn myself over and see Archer standing less than two feet away from my bed, he's glancing at the clock to see the time.
"Aren't you supposed to be hungover?" I ask him, my voice a tad bit raspy from being parched.
"Nothing a few pills couldn't handle," he replies with a shrug.
I sit myself up in bed, wrapping my blanket around myself. Archer's stare made me extremely conscious of myself and how I looked.
"How did you get in?" I ask.
Arden appears at the doorway a second later with a devious grin.
"That would be me," she says, showing me the spare key my dad and I hide in the flower box outside of our house.
I let out a deep sigh, of course it would be Arden who let Archer in. Archer and I are 'dating' and she probably wants to see us together, Arden a true romantic.
I groan, yawn, and get myself up from the bed completely. I push Archer out of my room so I that I can get dressed, Archer's presence my biggest concern at the moment. Arden too makes her escape and leaves me to myself. I decide to throw on the ultimate lazy day outfit that is still presentable. A plain shirt and a pair of boyfriend jeans goes a long way.
As I walk out of my bedroom door I smell the aroma of food, the smell taunting my empty stomach. I walk into the kitchen to see Archer cooking, he's standing with a pan full of scrambled eggs. After a few seconds he slides the eggs onto two plates next to some crispy bacon.
I sit down at the kitchen island, finding a note placed on the tabletop.
Have a nice breakfast with your boy, I'll see you guys in an hour after I go pick up a film for us to watch. Archer's free all day and said he would love to spend the day with his girlfriend; he sounds like a keeper. Maybe I was wrong about him being such a bad guy.
Arden likes Archer, he certainly won her over with his charisma. Unfortunately, Archer's not a keeper. Hopefully Arden won't be too upset when I tell her that our whole 'relationship' is built on lies.
Archer walks over to the island and places the warm plates down, a few seconds later and two mugs filled with steaming black coffee are right next to the plats. He grabs a set of utensils from a drawer before taking a seat next to me.
"Bon appétit," he says.
I take a fork from him before asking, "You speak French?"
He laughs with a small accidental snort.
"Not at all, it's just something I hear on the cooking shows my mom watches," he explains, a small smile on his face.
"You're a mama's boy aren't you?" I ask teasingly.
He nods a bit, "Yeah, yeah."
We eat our breakfast in silence, it's a simple meal but much appreciated. He could cook, that's good because I surely couldn't cook all the time. But, if he thinks the way to a woman's heart is through food. I've got another thing coming for him.
"I'll wash dishes," he announces, taking my empty plate and walking over to the sink.
I don't stop him and just stay seated, I look at him as he washes the dishes.
"You should get along with Liam, I mean that's if you really want me to even think about going for you. Liam's important to me," I tell him, Archer now drying the dishes.
"I don't want to get along with a guy who likes my girlfriend," he replies, shrugging.
He makes his way over to me and gestures for me to follow him to the couch. He surely made the place like home, cooking and cleaning in such a familiar manner.
I take a seat on the couch and he takes one beside me, the two of us sitting close together.
"He doesn't like me," I correct.
Archer just gives me a glance and shakes his head.
"His eyes say it all."
A man's eyes say it all? Why couldn't I read Archer by his eyes? Why did those beautiful hazel eyes not tell me a thing?
"And what do yours say?" I question, Archer stares into my eyes as I stare into his.
He knew exactly what I meant, taking some time to reply.
"Ask me in two months," he replies, breaking the stare.
I sigh and reach for the television remote, not satisfied with his response. Hopefully I won't have to ask and I'll be able to tell over time. Hopefully his eyes will be filled with the adoration he thinks Liam's eyes are filled with.
Hopefully.
* * *
Once Arden returned to my house and we finished the movie she chose for us it was decided that we would set out for the diner I worked at, even after working there I still don't mind the atmosphere.
The three of us prepare to get into my car, Arden insisting along the way that Archer sits up front with me. Archer tells me he'll drive to my relief, driving never one of my favorite thing. Once Arden buckles up Archer starts the engine, he places one of his hands into mine, holding hands just a part of the act.
The diner's only about five minutes away from my house, nine if the roads are clogged up. We arrive a few minutes after one and park in a parking space up front, a white sedan next to us.
It isn't until we're showed to a window side both that I realize who's sitting at a corner booth not too far away. I immediately divert my eyes once I recognize the face and put my menu up, I don't need to be recognized and deal with an infuriating ex.
I tell Archer to switch seats with me so I can be by the window, he obliges wearily. Arden excuses herself to the restroom.
"Why are you being so weird?" he asks me.
"I'm not being weird," I reply, biting a lip.
He takes a glance at the restroom as if it has to do something with Arden, however, he realizes what is bothering me once he too recognizes the asshole jock a few tables away.
Archers gives me a funny look a second later and I give him one back. Our little staring battle ends once I find our waitress, my coworker Ryan, standing at the table with a pressed smile.
"Ellie, I know it's your day off. But, Candice just called in saying she's got the flu and Jeremy just left. We've only got two servers and the afternoon crowd could come in anytime. So, if you could help us out for an hour or two until the night shift comes in that would be great," she tells me, adding a hopeful smile at the end.
"I'm sorry," I tell Archer, he just simply slides out and lets me through.
As I begin to walk away I feel a hand on my wrist stop me from further walking.
"Ryder's table has yet to have a server," he tells me with a smirk.
I give him a somewhat devious grin before walking to the back of the diner, throwing on an apron and taking some pens from a cubby. After I prepare myself to wait tables I tell Ryan that I've got the large corner booth. Ryan simply shakes her head up and down with gratitude.
I step up to the table, a charmingly fake smile planted on my face.
"Good afternoon, my name is Ellie and I'll be serving you today. Can I interest any of you with a milkshake or float?" I introduce and ask all in one breath, the smile still plastered on my face.
On the introduction part I see Ryder lift his face from the menu and look at me.
"I didn't know you work here on the weekends," he says softly.
I force the smile a bit more before replying, "Yeah, I do. My ex-boyfriend didn't know either because he was too busy being preoccupied with my cousin."
Every boy other than him makes a little hoot or holler, knowing exactly which ex-boyfriend I'm indirectly calling out.
"Cherry coke," he says with frustration laced in his voice, a little less than satisfied with my response.
I nod and write his order down on a notepad, taking the other five boys orders before fetching the drinks.
I fulfill all the orders in a timely manner, balancing a number of cups on a tray and following my return to the table I start to distribute the drinks to the correct people.
"I hear you're dating Archer West," Ryder states, taking his drink from the tray.
"Yeah?" I reply, my response coming out more like a question.
"He's no good, you should dump him," he tells me, probably not aware that Archer's sitting a couple tables away.
"Like she dumped you?" I hear a voice ask from behind me.
Archer steps up from behind me and holds out a hand to Ryder, waiting for his hand to be shaken in a professional manner.
"Nice to finally meet the asshole she's told me about; my name's Archer but you can just call me her boyfriend," he says, a fake smile plastered on his handsome face.