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

Chapter Thirty

Callie

“How about a horror movie?” Lincoln suggests as we get comfortable on the couch after dinner.

I make a face. Out of all the movie genres out there, he had to pick my least favorite?

He chuckles. “What? You don’t like them?”

“What’s there to like? They scare the crap out of me and there’s usually no romance. If there is romance, one of the people gets slaughtered. So no happily ever after. What’s the point?”

He laughs again. “Why are you so cute? Okay, so forget a horror movie. How about…?” He starts flipping through the options.

Did he just call me cute? Why does that make my heart pound wildly?

“Actually, a horror movie is fine,” I tell him. “We should watch what you want to watch, not just what I want.”

He shakes his head. “You’re my guest. I can always watch it by myself.”

“How could you watch a horror movie all alone? Doesn’t that scare you?”

“No.”

I give him a look.

“What?”

“So if you’re all alone in your house watching the scariest movie in the world and then someone suddenly jumps at you…” I grab his arm, making him cry out and nearly fly off the couch. I laugh as I sit back in my seat. “Told you that you can get scared.”

He also laughs. “It’s not the fact that it’s scary,” he tells me. “It’s the fact that when I do have time to watch movies, I usually watch them alone.”

I stare at him, noticing the way his shoulders are a little hunched and the sad look in his eyes. Lincoln is probably lonely a lot. He has many friends, but he doesn’t have anyone he’s truly close to.

I take the remote from him and play the movie. “Let’s watch it.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to be scared.”

“Please, I’m like the most famous woman on social media right now. That’s something to be scared about. If I can handle that, I can handle um…” I pause the movie and quickly read the description. “A serial killer who murders people with a medieval sword. Ugh, really?” I shiver.

He places his hand over mine. “I’m serious, Callie. I’m totally down with watching a romance. I really love seeing how happy they make you.”

My entire body turns to jelly.

I quickly shake my head. “I appreciate that, Linc. But I’d like to watch the horror movie with you.”

He looks closely into my eyes, then nods and sits back on the couch. I press play and the movie begins. The first fifteen minutes aren’t bad at all. The group of young adults run away to some abandoned building to goof off and have fun. Two of them sneak away from the rest to have some alone time.

“The girl is going to be murdered first,” I predict.

“Why do you think so?” he asks.

“It’s more profound when a girl is murdered first. Watch the guy freak out and run to tell his friends. I bet they won’t believe him.”

Sure enough, while the guy and girl are making out, a shadow of the sword appears on the screen, followed by a slash and a scream. Blood splatters everywhere and then the guy yells bloody murder and runs away.

“Called it,” I say with a satisfied nod.

Lincoln chuckles. “And you say you don’t watch horror movies.”

I shrug. “Nah. It’s too predictable.”

“Are you going to ruin the rest of the movie for me?” he asks, nothing but humor in his eyes.

“I guess we’ll see.”

He chuckles again before focusing back on the movie.

“So far, it’s not so bad,” I say. “The murder was off camera. Maybe the whole movie will be like that?”

“Doubt it. I’m sure they did it like this to build the suspense.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Like I predicted, the friends don’t believe the guy. But they are very concerned about the missing girl. Some of them even accuse the boyfriend of doing something to her. A fight ensues between three of the guys, with the girls yelling at them to cut it out. Then, to add to the effect, it starts to pour, and it’s not long before the power is cut.

“Spooky,” I say sarcastically. “Are you sure this is even a horror? It’s like a pseudo-horror.”

Lincoln laughs softly. “Someone sounds like a little snob,” he teases.

“I can’t help it. I review movies for my job and can sometimes be too critical.”

“Not on romances, though, right?”

I beam. “You know me well.”

He moves closer to gaze into my eyes. “And I’m so excited to get to know you even better than that,” he murmurs.

My gaze drops to his lips. Oh my gosh! Why do they always move on their own without my permission? Eyes, did I tell you to veer to his mouth? No, I didn’t! Don’t you know how to follow instructions?

I don’t know how long he and I stare into each other’s eyes. It feels like years, but it’s probably only seconds. And are we moving closer to each other?

An ear-splitting cry yanks me out of whatever trance I’m in. When I look back at the screen, I see such a graphic sight that I yelp and throw myself at Lincoln.

“Callie?” He wraps his arms around me. “You okay?”

I shiver against his chest.

“Do you want to stop the movie?”

“No way!” I remove myself from his arms and sit up in my seat. “I need to know who survives. My guess is Lisa. Who do you think?”

He looks concerned about me, but then he rubs the back of his neck and says, “Maybe Gina?”

“What? No way. Gina is a wuss.”

That makes him laugh again. “Okay. Gus?”

“He’s even a bigger wuss than Gina. Maybe no one survives?”

“There’s always a survivor. Someone needs to tell the tale.”

“Ah, I see.”

Our attention is snapped back to the TV when another person yells. Luckily, there is no murder this time, but gosh, the young people are scared out of their minds. And if a murdering guy with a medieval sword isn’t bad enough, the ghosts of the two friends who were killed are now haunting the remaining friends, too. They can take over their bodies and make them do terrible things.

“Is she going to kill her fiancé?” I dig my fingers into Lincoln’s arm. “The ghost is going to make her murder the love of her life.”

With the woman’s eyes possessed, she makes her way over to her fiancé and attacks him.

“Oh my gosh.” My nails dig deeper into Lincoln’s arm as I squeeze my eyes shut. “Is it over? Tell me when it’s over.”

“I think I’m losing blood flow to my arm,” he gasps.

“What?” I pop an eye open and notice that I’m indeed squishing the living heck out of his arm. “Sorry!” I release his arm.

But then the possessed woman attacks her fiancé even more.

“What the heck!” I throw myself at Lincoln again and bury my face in his chest. Where I feel safe.

His arms wrap around me. “Maybe we should stop the movie.”

“You kidding?” my muffled voice says against his warm and hard chest. “I told you we need to see who survives.”

“But you’re clearly not enjoying this.”

“Clearly, I am.” The words pop out before I can stop them. “I m-mean…” I quickly heave myself out of his hold, though it’s kind of hard to do that because his arms are around me. My face is scorching now. Did I just admit out loud that I love being in his arms?

He loosens them. “You don’t have to prove anything to me. We don’t have to commit to this movie. How about that romance?” He reaches for the remote.

“No, no, no.” I grab the remote and hide it behind me. “I can handle the movie.”

“You sure? Maybe you should stay in my arms in case you get scared again.”

I gawk at him. Did he just…?

Another cry pulls our attention back to the TV. Sure enough, there’s another gruesome murder.

“Okay, I’m staying here,” I say as I throw myself in his arms again. He closes them around me, tighter this time. As though he wants to shield me from all the horrible things happening on the screen. And perhaps in real life, too.

“Have you ever held a girl like this?” I ask, looking up into Lincoln’s gorgeous eyes.

He lowers them to stare into mine. “No.”

Once again, we gaze into each other’s eyes. I feel his warm breath on my cheek, and my gaze once again drops to his lips. His lips that look so kissable right now…

Snapping my eyes away, I mutter, “Looks like I’m an even bigger wuss than Gina and Gus.”

“I’m pretty sure I would be the first to go if we were in that movie,” Lincoln says.

“What? Heck no. You would totally survive.”

He shakes his head with a laugh. “No way. You’d be the one to survive.”

“Me? No way in heck. I’d be first blood.”

“Nope. You’d survive. Someone as amazing as you needs to live in this world and make it a better place.”

My stomach twists in this agonizing good way and I lose all feeling in my limbs. I slowly raise my hand and push some of Lincoln’s hair out of his eyes. Then I sweep my finger across his cheek, studying his face like it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Because it is. Lincoln’s eyes flutter shut and a heavy breath escapes his lips.

The sound of a sword scratching against a metal wall blares out of the TV. I jump in my seat, accidentally knocking my face into Lincoln’s. We both cry out and grab hold of our faces. A second later, the sword slashes another person, but this murder is even more horrific than the last. I clutch Lincoln’s shoulders and practically climb onto him, as though being close to him will shield me from bad guys who might pop out of the TV.

“I got you,” he murmurs in my ear as he puts his hands on my waist and hoists me onto his lap. Then he gathers me close to his chest and envelops me in his arms, making me feel like the most protected person on the planet.

“Told you I’m a wuss,” I say against his shirt.

“You’re brave to me,” he says. “I mean, you’re not giving up on watching this movie even if it’ll give you nightmares tonight.”

My head snaps up. “I won’t have nightmares tonight. Fine, I probably will.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to stop the movie?”

“Not when I’m all cozy and protected by my man,” I joke. “No psychopath with a medieval sword would dare come after me when I have you.”

He presses his cheek to mine. “I wish I could always protect you when you need it,” he whispers.

My heart is hammering in every part of my body. The heat from Lincoln’s body feels so darn good. I wish I could stay here forever.

“Don’t look now,” he says softly in my ear. “I think the guy is coming after Gus.”

Lincoln’s arms squeeze tighter around me, though not enough to hurt me. When Gus is indeed slaughtered, I bury my face in his chest.

This is how it goes for the rest of the movie. Someone is murdered in a ghastly manner, and I smoosh my face into Lincoln’s chest. Finally, finally, it comes to an end and I sigh in relief.

“Well, you survived,” he says with a grin.

“I survived. Barely,” I say as I slide off his lap and sit back in my seat. “Thanks for, um, looking after me.”

“No prob. You think you’ll watch more horror movies now?”

“What? No way. Unless you’re with me.” My eyes widen. Why did I say that? We both know we won’t be together for much longer. Even if we remain friends, we won’t hang out as much as we’re doing now. Our lives are just so different. Who knows if a friendship could even last between us?

He gives me a tight, regretful smile. “I hope to watch many movies with you in the future.” He clears his throat and picks up the remote. “Do you want to watch a romance or do you want to go to sleep?”

“Romance, definitely. I can’t go to bed with a bloody medieval sword the last thing in my brain.”

“Okay.” He offers me the remote.

“Hmm. You pick this time.” I push the remote back to him. “Let’s see what you come up with. This should be fun.”

“Er, okay.” He starts flipping through the options.

I can’t help but notice how cute he looks as he reads the descriptions. If I’m not mistaken, he seems nervous about choosing the right movie. Like he’s worried I won’t like his choice.

“This one looks like a romance, but what is a…romantasy?”

“It’s a combination of romance and fantasy,” I explain. “If done well, a romantasy is the best.”

“There’s a strong female protagonist, a lot of magic and love, and it has a fairytale feeling. And the guy is a pirate. You like that, don’t you?”

“Yes! What movie is this? I never heard of it before.”

“It looks old. Is that okay?”

“Of course! All that matters is the romance. Ooh, I’m so excited. I never saw this before. It looks really good. Can I read the description? Oh my gosh, it sounds just like something I’ll love!”

Lincoln smiles as he watches me gush over the movie. I stop and play with my hair, my gaze dropping to my lap. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“Being so excited about the movie.”

“Why are you sorry?” He tucks his fingers under my chin and raises it, forcing my eyes to meet his. “I told you that I love seeing how happy you get over romance books and movies. You’re so amazing just the way you are. I hope that cheating jerk of a boyfriend didn’t make you feel bad about the things you love.”

“Well, he…” I lift my shoulders. “He was indifferent, I guess.”

“Indifferent?”

“Yeah. He didn’t care much for the movies I enjoyed. He watched a few with me, but they weren’t his thing, so I either watched them with my friends or by myself. But that’s okay. I mean, my guy doesn’t have to like the things I like.”

“That’s true. I just think it’s a shame that he didn’t try to make more of an effort to take on your interests.”

“Yeah, well. He’s a jerk anyway. Who cares? He wasn’t the right guy for me.”

He slides his hand into mine and gives it a gentle squeeze. “I hope you meet the right one soon. Someone who deserves you and who appreciates just how wonderful you are. You deserve to be happy.”

“Thanks,” I say softly. “You deserve that, too.”

He shrugs. “I don’t know about that.”

“You’re one of the nicest people I’ve met. I can’t believe a girl hasn’t snatched you up yet.”

He’s quiet for a few seconds, seeming to be deep in thought. He looks a little bothered about something. I hope I didn’t say anything to offend him.

Before I can ask if he’s okay, he puts on a smile and says, “Let’s start the movie.”