006 - FIRST DATING RULE IN THE HISTORY OF TIME

006

FIRST DATING RULE IN THE HISTORY OF TIME

AURORA

Already dating? I stare at Jayden, my brain desperately trying to process the insanity of what he just said. The ringing in my ears almost drown out his words. Already dating? Which means that I cheated. I cheated on Brian.

"Are you out of your mind? I've known you all for just... four hours!"

"Tell that to Coach," Jayden says, scrubbing a hand over his face. "He's the one who suggested it. If the athletic board thinks you and Brian were broken up and that you and I were already a thing, the narrative..."

"Hold on." I cut him off. "Just wait. None of this is making any sense."

I'm right. We have to do some radical thinking here. At the moment, Jayden isn't thinking sanely. Yeah, yeah. He's more concerned about his career. I'm supposed to be that concerned about mine too.

But that doesn't narrow us down to the path where dating a stranger is the only option. I'm quiet as he keeps rambling on and on. So far, I've heard just a few words.

"The school doesn't punish people for having a messy love life, but they do punish people for hostile athlete misconduct."

"I didn't... we didn't..." My mouth closes as I really think about this. I sink back onto the edge of the bed, my knees feeling like jelly.

"Will that affect my scholarship?" That's the first question I ask Jayden. He seems to be pretty versed in these matters. I look up to meet his eyes.

"Nobody is losing a scholarship," he says, his voice dropping low. The hockey captain version of him is suddenly very visible. "I'm not letting that happen to you. But we have to play this smart."

"I'm not dating you."

Jayden tilts his head. He sure does that a lot. Guys do that a lot. Brian used to do that a lot. Wait... why am I thinking about Brian? I'm not supposed to mention him. Not even in my thoughts.

"I don't want to either."

Then what? It's not negotiable. As it is, we can barely go five minutes without arguing. I did clean his bathroom because my brain physically couldn't handle his clutter. We are just incompatible.

"I know what you're thinking. You don't know me, I don't know you. But... we don't really have much of a choice in this. We can make this work."

I just stare at him.

"We can be a dysfunctional couple. Look, it's just until the heat dies down. A few weeks. We show up to a few athlete events together, look miserable but attached, and let the Internet find something else to obsess over."

I roll my eyes and turn around so he can't see my face. "You make it sound so simple."

"It's just dating."

"Like you know what dating entails. Have you ever had a girlfriend before?"

I exhale slowly, my eyes unblinking. This is tethering into the personal zone. I'm not ready for that. I immediately regret asking.

Watching the way his shoulders sag, I sigh softly. I shouldn't have asked him that. Apart from it being a personal question, I don't want to know. He's obviously a player. The photo of him back in the room is either a cousin or sister.

Hockey players are fuckboys. Brian is a perfect example of one.

"Aurora... I don't know if you've noticed but... this video is spreading like wildfire. If you don't get ahead of this... I'm sure you know what's at stake. Are you ready to give up figure skating?"

"Hell no."

"Then what you say?"

"What about Brian? He knows we weren't dating."

"Brian just got caught cheating on the captain's roommate at a team house. If he tries to talk, I'll make sure his ice time is cut so fast his head will spin. He's going to keep his mouth shut."

I swallow hard on nothing. "Fine."

Jayden looks surprised. His brow raises. "Just like that?"

"Do I have a choice?"

He nods. "I think this is the part where we set some ground rules right?"

I frown. "What's with you and rules?" No, really. Back at the room, he started with rules. He's talking about rules now.

He's right though. If we're going to work, we need rules.

"I can think of a few." I mumble.

A faint, amused smirk pulls at the corner of his lips. “Of course you can, Shortie. Let’s hear 'em.”

JAYDEN

I can tell it's relief that does wash over me. But what I know deep down is that it shouldn't be as strong as it is.

I'm the captain of the hockey team. I can get out of this mess unhurt. Coach knows that. I know that. The whole team knows that. Even her ex-boyfriend Brian knows that. I don't know if I should be calling him her ex now.

But Aurora doesn't know that. If I don't get her to agree to this, I'll scale through and she'll take the blame. She can kiss figure-skating goodbye if she doesn't agree to what Coach proposed.

He's only trying to look out for her. And so am I.

If I go to practice, he'll tell me that I'm supposed to be avoiding distractions and not signing up for such things. But it's Northford. If they wanted me to be untouchable, they wouldn't have assigned a girl to my dorm.

"The first rule is a classic," Aurora says.

I know what she'll say. It's the number one fake dating rule ever implemented. No kissing.

"No kissing," she says.

"Deal," I say, crossing my arms. "Unless we’re in public and we need to make it look real. A hand hold, an arm around the shoulder. Standard boyfriend protocol. Nothing more.”

She narrows her eyes, before nodding slowly. “Fine. Rule number two, you don't call me Shortie in front of people.”

Well that's negotiable. It's not like I do call her that on purpose. It just adds to the bickering, which makes the whole thing fun.

“Jayden.”

“Alright, alright. Only when we’re alone.” I check my phone again. The group chats are still losing their minds, but the initial panic is settling into a grim strategy. “We need to make a statement. Or rather, we need to let people see us together tomorrow morning. High visibility.”

“Where?”

“The athlete dining hall,” I say. “Breakfast. It’s always packed before early morning training. If people see us sitting together, acting like a couple, the rumors will morph from 'scandal' to 'confirmation' by lunchtime.”

Aurora lets out a long, shaky breath, rubbing her temples. “I can’t believe this is my life. I came here to skate.”

“You’ll still skate,” I tell her, my voice softening a bit. “And I’ll still play. We just have to survive each other first.”

I walk over to the closet, pulling out a spare blanket and a pillow, and toss them onto the small couch in the corner of Duke’s room.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Taking the couch,” I say, kicking off my sneakers. “You take the bed. You’ve had a long day, and if you’re going to be my fake girlfriend tomorrow, I need you looking less like a zombie,"