The Stand-In by Stevens Elizabeth

Author:Stevens, Elizabeth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sleeping Dragon Books
Published: 2019-08-01T16:00:00+00:00

Douchebags gonna douche

Friday lunch, Eli and I were back on ticket sales. There were enough people on the committee that you’d think we might not have had to do it twice. But people were quite terrible at volunteering and, so when Milly asked me, I’d felt bad for her and said yes.

Rica and Govi were hanging out on the other side of the corridor from us, being generally unhelpful but keeping us entertained. Lake and Ramsey had needed to go and talk to their music teacher about something so had left only a few moments ago and Eli and I were watching Govi and Rica do what we assumed they thought was some kind of slapstick routine.

Eli leant towards me. “On a scale of one to ten, how likely is she to break his heart?”

I shrugged and leant back in my chair. “How likely is he to break hers?”

Eli cocked his head to the side. “Fair.”

I snorted. “That’s not an answer.”

“At least I didn’t answer with a question. And the same question I’d asked.”

I smiled. “No. But Rica’s not the semi-famous rockstar with a little bit of a reputation.”

“Neither is Govi.”

I looked at him in confusion.

“That would be me.”

I smiled, but it was a cover for the way my heart dropped, before I looked away. “So I’m aware.”

He laughed. “I can’t help the ladies like me.”

I nodded and kept up a smile, despite not feeling it at all. “You certainly can’t help your face.”

“That definitely didn’t sound like a compliment…” he said slowly. “You okay?”

I nodded at him vaguely, pretending to be engrossed with Rica and Govi’s impromptu dance routine that looked to be about two people who liked each other but neither had the courage to make the first move.

“Chloe…”

“Mm?”

He gently turned my face to look at him. “What’s up?” An encouraging smile hinted at his lips. “You can’t be worried I’ll break Ella’s heart.”

I swallowed. “Even if I was, I’m expecting it.”

He winced a little as he slowly took his hand back. “I want to tell you I’m not really that guy…”

I nodded and looked down.

“I’m the first to admit – embarrassingly – that I like the attention and I let it go to my head. I’m young and stupid and – yeah – I’m arrogant. I feel like I have to be a certain kind of guy to get where I want to go in life. But I’m trying to remember nothing’s worth it if I lose the things I care about. I’m trying to be a better person.”

I looked up with a frown. “Why?”

He scoffed, but it was humourless. “Because you...” He paused. “People like you can’t really like that guy. And being scared the important people are going to leave is only going to make them leave…”

“Are you trying to tell me you’re afraid to have your heart broken?” I asked him.

“Aren’t we all? Friends, family…” He tipped my chin back up so I looked at him, “people who could be more.”

“Yet you didn’t really care when you broke all those other hearts?”

His eyes searched mine.

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