The Fill-In Boyfriend

“Just try. She’s been through a lot.”

“I did try and she didn’t care.”

“Try more than once. She’s moving in with me for the rest of year because her mom is running from some guy again.”

I swallowed hard. “She’s moving in with you?”

“Yes, and I need my two best friends to get along.”

The one time I’d tried to do something nice for Jules by inviting her to my house for our pre-date ritual she ended up lying about it. I stopped, realizing what I’d just said in my head. The one time. There was the ice cream store attempt too, but that wasn’t me really going out of my way. Claire was right. I really hadn’t tried very hard. I rarely made the effort to reach out to her. If Claire liked her, then there must’ve been something I was missing. Something I wasn’t trying very hard to see. I hooked my arm in Claire’s, laid my head on her shoulder, and said, “Okay, I’ll try.”

“Gia gets to pick the restaurant today,” Claire said as she was unlocking the doors. “Her almost boyfriend broke up with her.”

Jules craned her head toward me. “Which boyfriend?”

“Hayden.”

“Is it because he saw you hanging out with Bradley?”

I took a breath to find some patience before I responded. From Jules’s side that was true. The last time she’d seen me, I was hanging out with “Bradley.” “No, that’s not why. His friend was being a slime bag and he didn’t believe me.”

“That sucks,” Laney said.

“Yes, it really does.” I got in the front seat and clicked the seat belt in place.

Jules placed a hand on my shoulder from the backseat. “I’m sorry about Hayden.”

I smiled. She sounded so sincere. Maybe when I’d chased her down outside the coffee shop, she realized I really was interested. Maybe it had been me all along who was holding our friendship back. I could try harder. I would. We’d be fine.

Claire started the car. “Where to?”

“In-N-Out.”

It took me a second to recognize him out of context like this, walking into the restaurant as I sat there with Claire, Laney, and Jules. I was facing the door and my first thought was, That guy looks familiar. Then I nearly spilled my chocolate milk shake as I got to my feet. “Drew?”

He smiled at me then headed over. When he reached me he gave me a hug. “I should’ve asked permission to make the video.”

That still wasn’t an apology but it made me smile. “What are you doing here?”

“I decided I needed to see you.”

My friends were staring at me so I said, “Drew, you remember Claire and Laney and this is Jules. This is my brother.”

“Good to finally meet you in real life,” he said to Jules.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“We met online a couple of days ago. She said I’d want her help with something.”

Why did that news send dread into my heart? “I thought you hated the internet.”

He smiled like it was a joke.

“Help with what?”

“You’ll see.”

“How did you know I was here?” I asked him.

“Mom and Dad have a GPS in your phone. Tell me you knew that.”

“I know. I just don’t know why they insist on giving that information out to everyone.”

“Because I brought you a surprise. A make-up gift. Something your friend assured me you’d be happy about.” With that he smiled at Jules and the dread in my heart turned to ice.

“A make-up gift?”

“A present to make up for my extremely horrible behavior.”

I smiled nervously. If Jules was involved, this couldn’t be good . . . or maybe Claire had been giving her the “try harder” speech too. Maybe she really was trying harder. Maybe she’d watched that video Drew made and realized my life was hard sometimes too. This was the first burst of hope I’d had in an otherwise awful day. My brother had come and was extending a peace offering. A peace offering from both him and Jules.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

He smiled like he was the one getting the gift, went back to the door, and opened it. In walked Bradley. Not fill-in Bradley. The real-life, honest-to-goodness, in-the-flesh Bradley. I’d forgotten how beefy he was. His arms seemed huge. Too big. Had I liked that at one point? His hair was perfectly arranged, his smile perfect and white, and he must’ve been to the tanning bed because his skin was darker than ever.

Drew was walking slightly behind him and had a big, proud smile on his face like he had just brought me a pile of money or something.

“Gia,” Bradley said, then scooped me up in a lung-crushing hug. He was going to break my spine with his comically large arms. Then he set me down and turned toward my friends. This was all happening entirely too fast and my brain was having trouble keeping up. So when he said, “I’m Brad—” my scream of “No!” was one second too late.

The flash of vindication in Jules’s eyes let me know this was the plan.

“Wait. You’re Bradley?” Laney asked. “UCLA Bradley?”

“That’s me. And see, Gia, I’m not embarrassed by you. I’m here to finally meet your friends. It’s long overdue.” He kissed my cheek and I had to physically stop myself from wiping it when he pulled away.

Claire had a look on her face like . . . well, like I had been lying to her for the last month. “Gia? What?”

“He broke up with me in the parking lot at prom. But he exists. See?”

“So, what? You just called a friend to pretend to be him?”

“You had someone pretend to be me?” Bradley asked.

My shoulders started to shake and I had to wrap my arms around myself to stop them. “I just needed to extend the night a little bit. You were there. You were supposed to go inside with me, not break up with me.”

Bradley closed his eyes like he had made the biggest mistake in the world coming here today. I really wished he hadn’t.

“Really, Gia?” Drew said.

I pointed at Jules. “She was trying to prove Bradley didn’t exist.” I had become a child. It was pointless now. I’d dug myself a grave and I was being buried alive in it. “She did this.”

“So you lied to us?” Claire asked.

“I’m sorry. I really, truly am. I didn’t mean to lie. Bradley exists. He just left me in the parking lot, so I felt like it really wasn’t a huge lie. I just rearranged the order of how things happened . . . with a fill-in guy.”