15. Chapter 12

It's a beautiful, crisp day, and the sky's blue hue brightens everything. I park my car on Main Street and get out. I'm heading to Thanks-A-Latte for a coffee before meeting up with Josh to discuss the guidelines for our fake relationship.

I open the door and my senses are immediately assaulted with the smell of ground espresso beans and the whir of the milk frother. I hear muffled conversations or barks of laughter standing out amongst the chatter. I look ahead of me and see Josh. He's head and shoulders above the other people standing in line.

"Owens," I call out. The room becomes eerily silent as everyone, including Josh, looks at me. The smile that does funny things to my heart immediately makes an appearance on his face as his eyes meet mine. He lets the two people behind him go in front as he comes to stand next to me.

All of a sudden his smile becomes a bit mischievous and he gets a humorous glint in his eye.

"Do you want to give them a bit of a show?" He whispers in my ear.

"Aren't we already?" I ask as I glance around; everyone is staring at us.

Without turning around he raises an eyebrow and I find myself laughing at him. His face is so close. My heart starts to beat faster and my body feels flush at the look in his eyes. I'm surrounded by the scent of Josh and everyone else in the shop fades. His woodsy scent overwhelms me and makes me slightly off balance. His smile falters a bit as his gaze falls to my lips and I find myself doing the same to him just as he leans in. At the very last second he slides his mouth over to my cheek and gives me a hug.

The disappointment that overcomes me as his lips touch my cheek, and not my mouth, catches me by surprise. I try to hide it with an awkward smile, as the sounds of coffee shop come back to life. Everyone suddenly starts to whisper, if you can call that volume a whisper, about what just happened in front of them.

When he looks back at me I'm blinded by the smile on his face. "Looks like hashtag Briosh is official." He winks at me before turning to face the counter. Still flustered at what just happened, I vaguely hear him talking to the person behind the register. I hear him say "Large latte with extra foam" and my mouth drops open. Josh looks at me and smiles.

"Did you think I don't pay attention to how you like your coffee?" He puts his hand on my lower back and leads me over to the side of the counter. The heat from his hand is sending shock waves of electricity throughout my entire body, and my heart is racing.

I'm going to melt. I'm going to melt right here in front of all these people.

I feel heat creep up my neck and pray it doesn't make its way to my face. Rachel puts our coffees in front us; her look tells me she thinks I was holding out on her the last time I was in.

"Thanks, Rach," Josh says. Then to me he asks. "Ready to head out?"

The room becomes silent as everyone stops to try and overhear our conversation. A smile creeps upon my lips. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out and nod my head. Josh grabs my hand and entwines his fingers with mine, I look down at our joined hands just as he whispers in my ear.

"Is this okay?"

Suddenly I feel like I'm doing something that I shouldn't be doing, and I like it. Is this what Josh feels like all the time? I never do anything that could be considered "bad". I am the consummate good girl, always doing and saying the right thing. Not for any other reason except that that's just who I am. I consider myself boring, but Josh rarely does what people expect of him.

With my hand in his I feel something I've never felt before. I look up at him and the twinkle in his eyes gets brighter at the expression on my face.

"Let the fun begin," I snicker and he laughs.

We head toward the exit, hand in hand. Just before the door closes behind us we hear the shop burst into a flurry of conversation.

Here we go.

"Wow, that was crazy." My hand is still entwined with Josh's and my heart is beating in irregular patterns.

"That was just the beginning," he says with a laugh. "Just wait until Chamie gets ahold of this."

I shake my head as we stop in front of my car. "Did you drive here?" Josh lets my hand go and I immediately feel the loss of its warmth.

"No, I walked. I knew you'd stop at Thanks-A-Latte and figured I would just go with you." I scrunch my face and he laughs at me.

"Go where?" I ask confused, and he laughs harder as he pushes some loose hair behind my ear. His finger leaves a path of tingles along every inch of skin that he touches.

"I don't know. Where do you want to go to talk?" That's right. After the events of what just happened I am feeling completely scattered and a bit out of sorts.

We need to iron out Briosh's fake dating rules.

"Want to go for a walk in the park by the pond?" He nods just as I start to walk around the front of my car.

I unlock my door and reach over to unlock his. Yes, my Jetta is that old and I don't care. It's called a classic for a reason.

As Josh pushes his seat back I see a smirk on his face. I know he wants to talk about my manual locks but he's restraining himself.

"Don't say anything." I glare at him and he raises his hands up.

"Not a word." He pretends to zip his lips, but can't contain the smile that breaks free. A smile spreads across my face and just then he looks at me. My stomach swoops and I quickly look away.

I pull away from the curb and head to the park.

"Hand holding and kisses on the cheek," I hear Josh say and it snaps me back to the present moment.

"Huh?" My stomach flutters.

"So far I know that holding your hand and kissing you on the cheek in public are acceptable fake dating behaviors," he says as matter-of-factly as if he's saying his name is Josh.

I shake my head and chuckle.

"Fake date often?" I tease and I feel his eyes heavy on my face.

"Not even a little." By the seriousness of his tone I glance at him. His face is solemn.

"I was joking, Josh." And I feel more than see the tension leave his shoulders.

"This isn't normal for me at all, Brie. I know that I've had a reputation but the truth is I only date women that I like. Not just because I can have them."

"I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sorry if I insulted you."

I turn into the parking lot and pull into the first spot I find. We both get out of the car in silence and amble over to the walking path.

"So," I say, trying to cut through the awkwardness that seems to have enveloped both of us. I nudge him with my body and smile at him. It's the smile that I use whenever someone is unhappy with me. He looks down, shakes his head, and laughs. Then nudges me with his body.

"So."

"So. I don't know about you, but I don't feel comfortable lying to my aunt and uncle, Susie, or your parents."

"I definitely don't," he agrees. "Have you noticed them acting like this whole Briosh thing is funny?"

"Yes!" My eyes widen and I look at him with my mouth in an O. "They keep giving me these weird looks and laughing."

"It's so strange," he agrees.

"Let's go over what we've got so far." I take a step to get in front of him and then turn to face him as I walk backwards. "We tell our families, hand holding, and kisses on the cheek." I glance over his shoulder as I say that last one.

"You wear my jersey at home games." I whip my gaze back to him and laugh at the teasing glint in his eyes.

"Oh you've been waiting for that one," I quip, feeling a warm sensitization in my stomach at the thought of having his name spread across my back.

"Yup. And I'm going to love every moment of you hating it." His smile is so big I swear I can see every tooth.

"Fine." I pretend to grudgingly accept this requirement but the thought of wearing his jersey has my stomach flutter. I turn back around and move to his side. "What about dates?"

"Well of course we have to go on dates! Is it even fake dating if there are no dates?" He asks like I just told him Christmas wasn't coming this year.

"True," I concede. "But you have to make all the plans for them."

"Deal," he gleefully accepts. "So what about PDA."

"PDA?" My eyebrows knit together.

"You know, public displays of affection. Kissing, touching, those types of things."

"Oh, yeah," my voice comes out a bit weakly as the thought of kissing Josh Owens makes me stumble.

"Whoa." Josh grabs my elbow to steady me, concern lines his face. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Must've tripped on a rock." I hear him chuckle at me but thankfully he doesn't say anything else.

"We'll keep the PDA to a minimum and only when necessary. As for the breakup…" My stomach drops at the thought of breaking up with him.

Girl this is fake, you need to plan the break up.

He continues. "All we need to do is a little damage control and hopefully once that's done we can end things. I was thinking that you could dump me and leave me broken-hearted." He nudges me playfully.

"Hmmm. I like that." I stop to turn toward him. "Anything else you can think of?"

"Nope. I think we got the basics covered and we can adjust as we go." He turns to me and gazes into my eyes. Suddenly I start to giggle. "What?"

I laugh harder and he gently pushes my shoulder as he demands. "What?!"

"I can't believe I'm actually doing this. It's—"

"So unlike you?" He finishes my sentence and I nod. "But it's fun too, right?"

I cover my smile and nod as I giggle again.

"Come on." He grabs my elbow and turns me back to the car. "We have to go home and talk to everyone before they get the latest issue of Tea Time."

"You don't think we're too late already?" I joke, and he shrugs in response.

"We're gonna find out."

When we get to the car, I unlock his door first and he gives me a smirk.

"A classic, Josh Owens," I say. "She is a classic."

"That she is." I think I hear him whisper but when I look back at him he's getting into the car.

I get in, start the engine and then back out. We head over to the Owens' and my aunt and uncle's. Josh sends Susie a text so she'll be there too.

I have a swarm of butterflies in my stomach trying to break free and a smile that won't quit. I don't know who this new Brianne Woodbury is but I think I'm going to enjoy her for as long as she's here.