Single And In Love With My Fake Boyfriend (Single Girls Club #1)

Chapter Six

Callie

As soon as I walk into the kitchen the next morning, my friends leap up from the table, where they’re eating breakfast, and rush over to me, each of them firing a million questions at me.

“Guys, guys!” I hold up my hands. “One at a time.”

“You need to explain this, pronto .” Lizzie shoves her phone in my face.

It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the screen, but once they do, I notice a photo of Lincoln and me lying on the floor of the café yesterday. Our limbs are all tangled in each other’s and he is on top of me, staring into my eyes while I stare up into his.

I feel the blood drain from my face as I gape at my friends. “Who posted this?”

“Someone who was at the café,” Alex explains. “There are millions of views and thousands of comments.”

“Is there something we should know about?” Emily asks with humongous eyes. “Why are you and Lincoln lying on the floor like that?”

My cheeks warm up. “Because I’m a klutz?” I sigh. “After the interview, I accidentally slammed into him while he balanced on one foot and knocked him over like a bowling ball.”

Emily covers her mouth in shock while Alex looks slightly humored and Lizzie doesn’t seem fazed, since she’s also on the clumsy side and can relate.

“But why are you guys gazing into each other’s eyes like you’re madly in love?” Lizzie asks.

“ What ?” I grab her phone and study the photo. The person who snapped the picture must be a great photographer because Lizzie is right. From this angle, Lincoln and I do look like we’re madly in love. The positioning of our bodies, the way our limbs are entangled, and how we stare into each other’s eyes—wow.

“It’s all over the internet and social media,” Emily informs me. “Everyone is curious who this mystery girl is.”

My eyes snap to hers. “Mystery girl?”

“Lincoln’s mystery girl,” Alex explains. “You know he’s never seen with a girl. And then all of a sudden, there you are. Together with him. Of course there’s an uproar, especially after he was named the most eligible bachelor of the year.”

“What the heck?” I glance back at the photo. “Wait, are you telling me people think that Lincoln and I…” I swallow. “That he and I…? Do they honestly think he and I would throw ourselves down on the floor on purpose to—what? Make out? It’s obvious we fell.”

Lizzie raises her shoulders. “Maybe you guys were caught in a passionate embrace?”

I give her a look.

She holds up her hands. “Just looking at it from an outsider’s perspective.”

I walk toward the table and sit down, rubbing my forehead. This can’t be happening. It’s bad enough I’m mortified that I crashed into him yesterday, but now my shame is all over the internet? And people think that he and I…

“Callie?” Emily slides onto the chair next to mine and rubs my shoulder. “You okay?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

“Did you check your phone?” Lizzie asks as she, too, joins us. “Tons of people are searching you online and on social media. They’re trying to figure out who you are.”

I don’t post that much on social media, just photos of my family and friends. I didn’t have a chance to check my phone this morning, but honestly? I’m not sure I want to.

“Guys, what am I going to do? People really think I’m Lincoln’s girlfriend?”

“I’m sure this will blow over,” Alex says as she lowers herself on her chair and reaches for pancakes. “People will soon learn that you guys aren’t together and they’ll forget all about you. Just ignore it and move on with your life.”

“Alex is right.” Emily gives me an encouraging smile. “They’ll obsess over the next celebrity gossip.”

I take a deep breath and nod, giving them a thankful smile. Of course I have nothing to worry about. Once the world finds out I’m someone of little significance, they’ll forget all about me and obsess over someone else.

“Thanks, guys. I really need to get to work.”

I finish my pancake as fast as I can, go to my room to grab my stuff, then wish them all a good day and leave. They’ll be heading out for work shortly, too. Emily is an English teacher at the high school, Lizzie works for a video game company, and Alex is a chef.

When I peek at my phone, I see I have hundreds of notifications from social media. I’m not in the mood to deal with this right now, especially because all this will probably blow over in the next few hours, so I clear them all and get in my car.

I stop on the way to the office at my favorite coffee house because I’ll need it to get through the day. But just as I’m about to walk inside, I nearly crash into the person who is walking out. Seriously! What is with me and knocking into people?

“Oh, sorry,” a familiar voice says.

My eyes widen when I find Spencer Johnson standing before me, holding two cups of coffee. His face changes when he notices it’s me .

A whole array of emotions overwhelms every part of my body. Pain. Betrayal. Loss of hope. Despair. But they’re quickly replaced with disappointment. Resentment. Anger.

“Buying coffee for your girlfriend, I see.” I toss my head back and glare at him. “Where is she, anyway?” I crane my neck right and left. “Can’t say I really know what she looks like. In the photos you showed off on social media, her lips were always swallowed by yours. It’s kind of hard to see her face, you know?”

Whoa, I have no idea where this is coming from. I’m not the kind of person to confront people like this. I prefer to hide in the background and avoid people. But I think something inside me has snapped. Maybe because I actually thought I would live happily ever after with this jerk?

For a second, a look of panic passes over his face, like he’s ashamed he’s been caught. Which is ridiculous because he was the one who made those photos public. But then he snarls. “Jealous much?”

“Me, jealous?” I laugh out loud. “Sure. Why would I be jealous of someone who’s dating a cheating jerk?”

Spencer looks off toward somewhere behind me and grins. When I turn around, I find his blonde girlfriend sticking her head out the window of a car and impatiently waving him over.

Even though I’ve seen the photos of her on social media, it still stings to see her in real life. Like it’s proof that he really did cheat on me. It wasn’t a nightmare or a misunderstanding. And the fact that she’s drop-dead gorgeous isn’t exactly doing good things for my self-confidence.

“In a moment, babe!” he calls to her. Then he flashes me a grin. “She can barely stay away from me for two minutes. It’s adorable.”

A part of me wants to demand answers from him. What did I ever do to him to cause him to cheat on me? And what is with his malicious tone? Did I ever hurt him?

But it doesn’t matter. The guy’s a jerk and I don’t need that poison in my life. Good riddance.

I turn around and am about to march into the coffeehouse, but then he says in a demeaning tone, “I’m sure there’s someone out there for you. The world’s big enough. Surely there’s one man out there for you, even if it may take a lifetime for you to find him.”

I slowly turn around and face him, seeing the evil grin on his face. Geez, what is with this loser? Did that woman suck out every last bit of his decency? Maybe she sunk her teeth into him and then dragged him down to her underground lair and turned him into a monster.

“Actually, I’m seeing someone.” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “Lincoln Walker. You might have heard of him.”

The grin vanishes from his face. “What?”

“Quarterback for the Atlanta Armadillos?” I fish my phone out of my bag and find the photo that is trending on social media. Oh my gosh, trending ?

I hand him my phone. Spencer is totally flabbergasted as he studies the photo.

“So, yeah,” I say as I take back my phone. “One might call me blessed. But you and the woman you cheated on me with? You guys will have it coming. Karma isn’t a fan of cheaters and liars.”

I raise my head and march into the coffeehouse.

Grabbing hold of the wall, I breathe. In and out, fast and then slowly. Oh my gosh, what did I just do? Did I just admit to my ex that I’m dating Lincoln?

I didn’t want to stoop to his level and lie, but I have no idea what came over me. It’s like seeing that cocky smile on his face ignited something inside me. I have no idea what I did to him for him to treat me this way. Maybe he’s just the kind of person who treats people horribly for fun? I have certainly met people like that throughout my life. I never thought I would one day think I was in love with one.

“Stupid,” I mutter as I gently hit my head on the wall. Now what am I going to do? The world will soon find out that Lincoln and I are not together, which means Spencer will find out, too. Which means he’ll know I lied. Which means he’ll think I’m pathetic. I know I shouldn’t care what the lying bastard thinks, but ugh.

I can’t bask in my stupidity for too long because I’ll be late for work. With a sigh, I peel my forehead off the wall and wait in line for my coffee. Not only am I a pathetic dumped woman, I’m now a pathetic lying dumped woman.