The Dating Tutor (6 page)

She was excited to be out with him. She was amazed by his good looks and manners. The whole evening to this point had been fun, but her heart just wasn’t reacting to the less than subtle nudges she was giving it.

It was as if she just wasn’t
in
to him. The horror of that realization hit her, and she stared across the table at his smiling face with a sense of dread. “This is perfect,” she said dully.

At her unhappy tone, he gave her a cautious look. “Yeah, it’s been fun. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun when I was out.”

“I’ve laughed harder today than…ever.”

“Me, too,” he said.

Ellie’s heart fell at their mutual enjoyment of the evening yet the lack of a spark between them. Jake was everything she’d always wanted. He was polite and funny. He was gorgeous and thoughtful. But all she could think about was…
him
. She couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss with Alec. Her best friend had gone and completely ruined this date for her.

“I’m not feeling anything,” she blurted out. She gaped at him in horror for a moment after her outburst. Then she hurriedly spilled out an elucidation. If she was coming clean, she had to get it all out in the open now or she might chicken out. “I want to like you. I really, really do, but…” She shook her head sadly. “It’s just not there.”

Jake let out his breath in a harsh exhale, sounding almost defeated. “This is my fault,” he said.

“No,” she assured quickly. “No. It’s my fault.”

“No. It’s me.”

“No—”

They both spoke in the same instant, their voices mingling.

“I’m gay.”

“I’m in love with Alec.”

An uncomfortable silence hung in the air while they each contemplated what the other had said. It was Jake who finally spoke. “I knew,” he admitted.

Ellie gawked at him in astonishment. “How? I didn’t even know for sure until just now.”

He shrugged. “I just knew. It’s the way you look at him…like you trust and care about him unconditionally.”

“I do.”

He bobbed his head. “I know.”

She sat in silence, processing that. Apparently her feelings weren’t as subtle or deeply buried as she’d assumed. She pushed that awkward thought aside and concentrated on the confession he’d made. “So you’re…uh…”

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Yeah…”

“Oh.” She couldn’t keep the confusion off her face. “If you don’t mind me asking… Why did you ask me out? If you’re…you know.”

He grimaced. “I was trying to convince myself I wasn’t.” With a weary sigh, he ran his hands through his hair. “I thought if I asked out a
nice
girl, not one of those vapid tramps, I might be happier and forget about the whole feeling attracted to other guys dilemma.”

He grinned wryly. “I’ve done the cheerleader thing. I thought if I tried a low pressure relationship with someone…different…someone more innocent who wasn’t going to put pressure on a physical relationship, I might learn to be normal.” He shrugged with a guilty expression. “Didn’t work.”

“You aren’t abnormal for being who you are,” Ellie said firmly. “There’s no cookie cutter shape of who a person should be.” She could understand his wishes to be like everyone else, though. High school was hard enough without having such a huge secret.

“Thanks,” he said quietly. He stared at the tablecloth, his eyes vacant and unseeing as he contemplated his situation. After a moment, his eyes lifted to hers. “So Alec, huh?” He winked playfully, draining away some of the tension. “The two of us couldn’t be more different.”

She shrugged and rolled her eyes with a grin. “I didn’t even think I had feelings for him until he started tutoring me on how to date
you
.”

Jake threw back his head and laughed. “Tutoring you on how to date me? Why in the world would he need to do that?”

Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. “I’m pretty naive when it comes to this dating stuff. Like completely useless. And you? Well, you’re good looking and popular. I knew I was way out of my league.”

“So you got Alec to teach you the ins and outs of dating,” Jake said, surmising the situation. “Except you made the oopsie of falling for the teacher.”

“Yeah.” Ellie growled in frustration. “I don’t even know how it happened. The date with him was a total disaster. He purposely brought me flowers I’m allergic to. I insulted him. I took too long to order. He bashed my knee into the table. I didn’t survive the night in my heels. I cursed.” She waved a hand in the air as she ticked off all the reasons why she shouldn’t be feeling romantic thoughts for Alec. “I completely botched the date, and still…”

“That’s when you know it’s right,” Jake said with a smile. “When you screw things up yet still fall in love.”

“I guess.” She sighed. “I just don’t know what happens next.”

“Are you going to tell him?”

Ellie shrugged a shoulder and ran a finger along the rim of her glass. “I’m afraid to. We’ve been best friends for so long. If I say something and he doesn’t feel the same way… I don’t want to ruin our friendship.” Her finger continued to run nervously along the top of her glass. “What about you? Now that you know for sure, are you going to come out?”

His face paled, and he shook his head vehemently. “No.” He shook his head again, his eyes wide with fear. “No. I’m not ready for that. I’m still coming to terms with all of this myself. I’m not ready for others to know.”

Ellie bobbed her head and let out a weary sigh. “So now what?”

“Now we both keep pretending, I suppose,” Jake said without any enthusiasm in his voice. “You keep pretending you’re not in love with Alec while I keep pretending I enjoy the flock of girls who hang all over me.”

She stared grimly into the deep red contents of her juice glass. “I wish there was a way we could both get what we wanted without completely emotionally exposing ourselves. It’s not as if you can explain why you’re taking yourself off the market without everyone poking into your personal life.”

He nodded his head glumly. “That would be too easy.” He placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin in the palm of his hand.

As she watched him, Ellie was struck once again by how attractive he was. His blond hair was styled carefully to mimic bedhead in a sexy, scruffy sort of way. His eyes were such a startling shade of blue they were impossible to ignore. He was impeccably dressed, and he was always charming. Yet still she felt nothing for him. She was so caught up in her own disappointment that it took her a moment to notice the devilish look in his eyes.

It rapidly grew before he sat up straight and snapped his fingers. “That’s it!”

“What’s it?” she asked distractedly, taking a sip of juice.

“We fake it.”

“Fake what?”

Jake grinned widely. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her out of her seat and dragged her onto the dance floor. Once there, his arms slipped around her waist and he held her closely against him. Their bodies seemed to fit perfectly together as he gently rocked her to the rhythm of the music.

“What happened to not liking girls?”

“I don’t like girls,” he admitted. “But I
am
excellent at faking it.” After she gave him what she knew was a puzzled look, he continued. “I want to be left alone, and you want to make Alec realize how much he wants you.” He waved a hand between them with a wicked grin. “This is how we do it.”

He twirled her away from him before pulling her back in against his chest with a dramatic flourish. “We fake a relationship. While the two of us are pretending to be madly in love, you keep asking Alec for tutoring. The more you play date with him, the more real it becomes. You can only throw yourselves into so many romantic situations before it starts to feel real, right? So you work on getting Alec to reciprocate your feelings. And while that is happening, I have a reason to turn down other girls. It’s perfect.”

“You want me to lie?” Her tone was uncertain as she felt the idea out in her mind. It would get her close to Alec, but she wasn’t sure about duping him into continuing their tutoring sessions. It felt deceitful.

“You’re lying to him anyway by keeping your feelings a secret. At least this way everything will eventually be out in the open.” His expression became pleading. “Please. I’m not ready to declare my secret yet. We graduate in a few months. I just want to survive high school.”

Ellie stared at him, wonder filling her entire being. She’d always thought it was only girls like her who prayed to survive high school, but here was the most popular boy in school doing the exact same thing. It really showed that one never knew what a person was going through on the inside. Everyone had their own demons. “Okay,” she said softly. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

He beamed in delight. Twirling her in a circle, he let out a laugh. “This is going to be the best scheme anyone’s ever pulled.”

She smiled in response and shook her head at his enthusiasm. “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Trust me. You won’t regret this.”

* * * *

Ellie had just finished with her shower and was brushing out her hair in front of the mirror in her room when the window slid up and Alec climbed in. With brush in hand, she turned to give him a puzzled look. “Why didn’t you use the front door?” It was only nine-thirty on a Saturday night. It wasn’t as if her mother would have turned him away.

He shrugged noncommittally as he closed the window behind him and hopped down off her desk.

She stared suspiciously at him as he silently took a seat on the edge of her bed. “And why are you home so early on a Saturday night? What happened to your date?”

“She was boring.” His dark eyes observed her for a moment before he asked, “And your date? You’re home early too, you know.”

Ellie hesitated. The thought of lying to Alec was a horrible one, but unless she was willing to tell him the truth about her feelings, it was the only way she even had a chance of him knowing how she felt. She took a deep breath for courage, then plastered an ecstatic grin on her face. “My date was amazing!” She gave a girly little squeal. “The only reason I’m home before ten is because Jake is doing volunteer work at a church tomorrow. He is just…perfect.”

“Oh yes. He’s so dreamy.” Alec’s voice was loaded with sarcasm, and he made a face of annoyance at the way she gushed.

“He is.”

He regarded her for a moment in silence before asking, “I take it he kissed you then?”

Ellie was surprised to see the aggressive and almost…jealous look that flashed across his face. She hadn’t been totally convinced this plan of Jake’s would work, but this reaction told her that perhaps he hadn’t been completely off base.

Turning her back to Alec, she allowed herself a little grin. He didn’t like the idea of Jake kissing her. Good. “There was a kiss,” she admitted in a sing-song voice. At least that wasn’t a lie. When Jake dropped her off after their dinner, he’d kissed her on the cheek before heading home. Of course she imagined it was what kissing one’s brother must feel like, but she wouldn’t admit that to Alec. To him, it would be as if she’d kissed Prince Charming.

Spinning back to face her best friend, she gave him a pleading look. “But I still need your help. Jake asked me to go out with him again, and I’m terrified I am going to screw things up. It’s still early in the dating game. I need my tutor.”

Alec opened his mouth to protest, but she rushed forward and cut him off. “Please? Just for a little while longer? Once I start to get a feel for it, I’ll handle things on my own, but I just don’t feel confident enough about myself yet.”

She widened her eyes, giving him a look of innocent desperation. “Please, Alec. I don’t trust anyone but you with this.”

Her friend hesitated. Then he took a deep breath that he slowly let out. “Fine.” At her excited clap, he held up a hand. “But only for a little while longer.”

With a squeal of delight, Ellie threw her arms around his neck and gave him a squeezing hug. “You’re the best!”

Inwardly, she felt a rush of triumphant victory. He’d fallen into step for the first part of her plan. Now all she needed to do was make him fall in love with her.

Chapter Eight

Ellie followed Jake through the throng of students cluttering the stands of the high school’s hockey rink. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” she called to him over the excited thrum that filled the air.

Tugging on her hand, Jake guided her to a seat in the front row. “There is no point to us going on dates unless Alec or our fellow students are around to witness them. This puts me in the eye of the student body with a girl, and it reminds Alec that you aren’t going to wait around forever for him to decide he has feelings for you. We both win.”

With a little sigh, she allowed him to pull her down into a seat. “I guess. I just don’t want to throw him off his game.” She grimaced. “This also feels a little bit like throwing our relationship in his face. It seems mean.”

“You
are
throwing it in his face. You want him to take notice and get jealous. That’s the entire plan. Remember?”

Puffing out a nervous breath, Ellie nodded. “Yeah. I want him—”