Fake Dating Alpha Hockey Captain Riley Above Story

Chapter 27

Something’s wrong when Cynthia walks in the cinema doors.

I joke all the time about her being a deer in headlights. This time, she actually looks the part, visibly shaking and unsteady on her feet as she stumbles in.

“Cynthia?”

She looks up at me, hazel eyes swimming.

As I approach her, I catch a whiff of an unusual smell.

Cynthia usually smells like old cotton, lavender soap, and a faint hint of lilac. There’s also my smell on her. I’ve hugged and held her enough that it’s stuck, however faintly.

But there’s something new there. Something like…fog, maybe.

It’s faint, but the fact it’s there and it’s unusual…

I take a hold of her arm.

“C’mon, twig legs, you need to sit.”

She doesn’t tell me to shut up or punch me playfully. In fact, I don’t think my comment even registers to her. My teeth clench in worry, getting us a seat on a nearby bench.

Len and Cynthia’s friend, Hailey, come over.

“Cynthia? What happened? You alright?” Hailey asks in quick succession. I watch as she takes a hold of her hands.

This seems to help her snap out of her daze, gazing up at Hailey.

“Uhm….I almossst. Got. Hit by a car.”

My heart feels like it freezes in my chest.

“Hah, what? Did you look both ways?” I ask, wrapping my arm around her as I pull her in.

“Yeah,” she answers seriously. “It just… Police sirens. An officer sss-started chasing

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them. After almossst hitting me. Got pulled out the way by a big guy.”

“Uh…” Len, large and softspoken, looks toward the front doors to the cinema. “Was that the revving sound we heard?”

Len and Hailey blanch when she nods. I pull her in closer without thinking about

it.

“Huh…well. Police’ll handle that. You’re good now, though. Ease up, ease up… You know, I’m gonna stop joking about you being a deer in headlights from now on. I think it’s becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. How about…deer on ice?”

Cynthia turns to me and gives me an unamused glare, so I grin back.

She’s reacting. Good. I don’t like how fear looks on her face.

As I continue, Hailey’s cedar smell gets stronger. A glance toward her shows her smiling at me in a weird way. She seems satisfied for some reason, speaking up..

“How about ‘drama deer’? Adds a little alliteration to it.”

“Oooh, that’s a good one.”

Len doesn’t join in, standing nervously as he watches Cynthia’s expression shift into exhausted resignation. Still, this Hailey girl’s not bad at coming up with funny

names.

We chill out here for a bit, calming our hearts.

I keep rubbing my hand over the place I smell that foggy scent, covering it with my own.

The movie was pretty cool! Without the Hollywood restraints, they could get super men tal and psychological and stuff. The directors didn’t have much of a budget, but they made up for it with good acting.

Len and Hailey hit it off well, with Hailey being patient with his silent nature. Even when they lapse into silence, it’s only a little uncomfortable. I could see that going away in the future.

“So, uh, do you want to go eat somewhere?” Hailey asks all of us.

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It’s clear she only wants to go with Len, glancing over at him for a response.

“No, I’m okay,” Cynthia hums.

“Yeah, me, too. I’m gonna get twig legs home.”

She baps my arm as I snicker.

“I could eat,” Len finally replies.

Aaah, I see. He likes Hailey back. He smiled more when we said we wouldn’t be going.

“Great! Well, I’ll see you guys tomorrow then! And Cynthia, text me when you get home, okay?”

Once they walked off to find a place to eat, I start herding Cynthia over to the little parking area behind the cinema.

“What are you…

“Oh, you thought I was joking? Hah, nope. No more public transportation for you.”

“But my carrrss-car. Is. At the parrrking by the trolley stop near me.”

“Eh, don’t worry ’bout it. You can give me your car keys and I’ll handle it.

As we get to my car, I hear someone else walking nearby. It’s not as though we’re backed in a totally dark or alone area, so I’m not worried about it..

But when I smell that fog-like scent coming in stronger, I do stiffen up. “…Alex?”

Though, I find myself relaxing quickly after.

Agh, Hell. I really should’ve recognized it was him before.

“Oh, hah. I thought that was you.”

Cynthia startles slightly at the voice, clearly recognizing it. Both she and I turn around to see my older brother.

He’s bigger and just slightly taller than I am. His eyes have more amber in them

Chapter 27

than mine do, and his skin’s a tad darker than mine. He grins at us, all dimples and white teeth.

“Hey Alex, fancy seeing you here.”

“Ugh, of course you’d sneak up on me!”

Despite my fussing, we grab each other’s hand and dap, patting each other’s backs. Yup. That foggy smell I know well.

It was him all along. Though, maybe I didn’t recognize it because it was so faint on Cynthia. Besides, he’s not supposed to be on this side of town…but if he wasn’t…

I give him an extra squeeze before parting, and he glances at me curiously. Though, I see his eyebrows rise once he sees Cynthia, realizing what I was thanking him for.

“Oh, it’sss you,” Cynthia says, coming up to us, “You’re the one who pulled me frrr-

om the street.”

I’m a bit surprised she knows that. Most humans lose track of almost everything when they get panicked. Though, I guess my brother’s a bit hard to forget once you meet him.

“Cynth, this is my big bro, Michael. Mikey, Cynthia.”

“It’sss nice to meet you.”

She smiles one of those little genuine smiles she does, enough to make her bottom eyelids shift up. It’s very cute.

“Well, I was already glad to help. But I’m even happier knowing I helped save my brother’s…” He glances at me. “Girlfriend?”

I mean, we’re just covering for each other. But…

“Yeah, she’s my girlfriend,” I reply, moving back over and hugging her.

Cynthia gives me a slightly surprised look, her cheeks turning a cute shade of red.

“Oh, how nice! How about I treat the lovely couple then?” Michael nods his head back toward the main street. “Let’s hang out at a diner, yeah?”

Well, hey, no reason to refuse free food.

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“We’re eight years apart. I turn 26 in August.”

“Oh! Do you have the sssame mom, orrr…ah, sorry if that’s-”

“No worries, no worries. Yeah, he and I have the same mom. We were just born a ways apart is all.”

“Oooh, I see. It must be nisss-nice. I’m an only child.”

“Believe me, there’s some relief in that!”

Cynthia and I sit on one side of the booth in this all-day breakfast and lunch place while Michael sits on the other. Despite him and I being brothers and me kinda having questions for him, he and Cynthia have been chatting constantly.

Like, non-stop even.

It’s quite different from how she first talked to me.

She’s laughing when he tells a joke rather than getting irritated, and my brother’s smile is bright as ever. There’s an ease to her that took me a while to unravel, but he does it in one day.

It makes me feel strangely uncomfortable. In fact, aren’t we out here today just cause she wanted to h ook up her friend with one of mine?

“I’m in drama club at sss-school.”

“Oh, neat. Do you work behind the scenes or are you an actor?”

Before she answers, I huff.

“I wouldn’t say she’s gotten that far.”

Both Michael and Cynthia go quiet. Immediately, I want to stomp on my own foot.

When I glance at her, she’s staring at me, her smell twinging with sour upset.

Go dda mnit.

“…Gonna pi ss, be right back.”

Fri, 22 Mar

Chapter 27

I slide out the booth and head to the bathroom, the silence following me all the way there. I know I’m running away after causing problems, and it makes me irritated that I’m doing that.

I don’t actually need to pee, so I just stop and wait in the nook area by the bathrooms. I’m sure Mikey knows I’m not in there, but he still speaks up.

“Hey, you alright?”

“…I…hm. No.”

I flinch.