Chapter 9

Evie

That whole thing I said to Fraser last night about the story blowing over?

Yeah. I was wrong.

"You and Fraser are in every single newspaper this morning," Levi says, pointing out the glaringly obvious.

I crashed at his LA apartment after last night"s game. Dropping my gaze to the sports sections he collected on his morning run and has laid out on the coffee table, I let out a loud groan.

I was very wrong.

Fraser"s return to form is getting wall-to-wall coverage, alongside photos of a certain someone yelling and cheering him on with their hair messed up and their face contorted like a lunatic.

"Do I really look like that when I watch a game?" I ask.

His eyes travel over the assortment of photos of me in various states of open-mouth, fist-pumping, face-scrunching fanaticism. "They haven"t doctored the images, if that"s what you"re asking. So, yeah, that really is you."

"Why didn"t you tell me I look hideous?"

Levi shrugs. "Because I don"t think you look hideous. You"re passionate about the guy. Sorry, I mean…the game. Besides, it takes the attention away from me and my total lack of interest. You"re enthusiastic enough for the both of us."

"Yeah, well, now my enthusiasm is splashed across every sports section in the country."

And it"s not my best look.

Although…it is a step up from freeze-frame memes of me in the middle of an uncontrollable sneezing fit.

"This is a nightmare." I collapse onto the sofa. "What am I going to do?"

The doorbell rings.

"I"m not meddling," Levi says all wide-eyed, before I get the chance to accuse him of anything. "He called me."

Levi answers the door. A few moments later, he returns with a worried-looking Fraser.

"Hey," he says when he spots me.

I tuck a pillow into my chest and fold my legs. "Hi."

"Have you seen the sports news?"

"Yeah," Levi replies, gesturing at the coffee table. "We have."

Fraser turns his head, taking in all the headlines. A line emerges between his brows. "Didn"t know newspapers were still a thing."

I muster up a faint smile. "Well, they are."

He sits down next to me on the sofa, keeping some distance between us. "I called Levi as soon as I found out. I"m worried about you."

"Me?"

He nods. "Yeah. I know how much you want this all to blow over. To put it all in the past and move on."

Fraser looks genuinely worried as he repeats my words from dinner last night back to me. I do want to move on, but I want that even more for him, too. He"s got to be hating the attention ten times more than I do.

"What about you?" I ask. "This isn"t exactly your idea of heaven."

"You"re right. It isn"t." His expression softens a little. "But I can think of worse things than being romantically linked to…"

He stops, his eyes drifting over to Levi, who"s standing in the corner of the room, watching us with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Drinks, anyone?" my brother says suddenly with a clap of his hands.

I look at the time. "It"s eight in the morning."

"We"re celebrating," Levi counters. "Or commiserating. One or the other. Whatever the occasion, alcohol will surely make it better."

"I"m fine," Fraser says. "Thanks, though."

"Evie?"

"Nope. I"m good."

"Fine. I"ll drink by myself, then. Thanks, guys." And with that, he leaves the room.

"I was going to say…" Fraser inches closer to me. "I can think of worse things than being romantically linked to the most beautiful woman in the arena last night."

Another wow moment.

The crazy thing is, I don"t think he even realizes how sweet the things he"s saying are.

"Oh. Before I forget…" He stands and walks out of the room.

When he returns, he"s holding a bouquet of yellow roses in one hand and a tray of baked goods in the other.

No. Don"t tell me he bought?—

"Hope you still like malasadas?" He chews his bottom lip. "Based on last night"s dinner, I"m assuming your palette hasn"t changed too much these past seven years."

"Nope. It"s still as unhealthy as ever." I do grabby hands. "Gimme, gimme, gimme."

Fraser chuckles, laying the bouquet over the sports pages and opening the box for me. I close my eyes and inhale the appetizing aroma of freshly fried dough and caramelized sugar.

I pick up one of the treats and take a bite. "Mmm…You are officially my favorite person ever."

"Uh, hello. Favorite brother back in the room."

I giggle and take another bite.

"What are they?" Levi asks, peering into the box.

"Portuguese donuts," Fraser tells him. "Evie used to be obsessed with them. Try one."

"Can"t." He lifts his glass. "Don"t think it"d pair well with vodka."

"Levi!" I cry out. "It"s eight in the morning."

"Five past eight," he corrects, smirking. "And I"m kidding, geez. This is water." But then he straightens, his head snapping to Fraser. "Wait. How did you know Evie went through a malasada era?"

Fraser looks at me.

I look at Levi.

Oh, brother…

Literally.

Seven years ago, Evie"s bedroom…

I catch a glimpse of a shadowy figure outside my bedroom window, and my heart leaps into my throat. Yanking my headphones off, I reach for my trusty umbrella, stopping when I see Fraser waving frantically at me in the window.

"Hey," he says as soon as I open it. "Sorry. Didn"t mean to scare you. Please don"t make me listen to punk music."

I tap my chin like I"m seriously considering it, but really I"m buying some time to slow my breathing, hoping he can"t see how much of a fright I got. The last thing I want is for him to think of me as some scared little kid.

My eyes travel to what he"s holding in his hands. "Is that In-N-Out?"

"It is."

He lifts the white paper bag so I can see the logo and offers a smile.

A very cute smile.

"I forgot Levi is hanging out with his music friends tonight. Don"t suppose you want to share this with me? I"ve got plenty."

Play it cool, Evie.No need for him to know you"ve substituted the whole "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" thing with burgers.

"Sure. I can eat," I say casually, waving him in.

Fraser climbs into my room, and we walk over to the seating area. He looks good in his relaxed-fit Diesel jeans, classic white T-shirt, and the latest pair of Adidas sneakers Levi is super bummed he wasn"t able to get his hands on.

I sit on the couch, and he takes the armchair. Why does he always position himself so far away from me? I don"t smell that bad, do I?

"Take your pick," he says.

I look at all the burgers he"s laid out and grab my favorite. "Thanks."

We eat in silence for a while.

"Do you know what Levi does with his music friends?"

Fraser stops with a handful of fries in midair. "Listen to music?"

"I thought that, too, but nope. I walked in on them one day when they were over here." I rest the burger on my lap. "They sit around and study."

"Study?"

"The Billboard charts."

"Are you serious?"

"Totally. Pick a month, any month, from the last thirty years, and Levi will be able to tell you the top song and album at that time."

Fraser nods, a smile spreading across his face. "That"s pretty neat, actually."

"Trust my brother to take something cool like music and turn it into something nerdy."

"Says the girl who takes notes during hockey games. And then has zero qualms about sharing said notes in great detail."

He"s got a point there. "Go back to your burger, Fraser."

One of the games from last year"s Western Conference Finals between the Desert Canyon Coyotes and the Silver City Miners is playing on the TV. I"d been watching it with one eye while obsessing over my latest batch of bracelets. The materials I ordered on eBay arrived today so I"d been experimenting with them before Fraser showed up.

"You"ll be playing in the major leagues one day."

"I hope so."

"I know so. You"re good."

He stops himself from taking a bite. "Just good?"

"If I tell you what I really think, you might get a big head and rest on your laurels. I will not be responsible for you peaking at juniors."

"Fair enough."

A patch of silence follows.

"You won"t mind all the travel?" I ask.

"Nope."

"But that means…"

"I won"t be here."

"Exactly."

"I cannot wait."

"Do you really hate it here that much?"

He finishes his burger and wipes his hands clean. "I don"t hate it here, but Comfort Bay is a bubble. A sheltered, privileged bubble. I want to see what else is out there. Visit different parts of the country. Figure out who I really am. Hockey is my ticket out."

"That makes sense."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You"re smart. You"ve got to be thinking about college."

"If by thinking about college you mean Mom already deciding that I"ll be going to UCLA, then yes, I"ve been thinking about it a lot."

"She"s kind of scary, your mom."

I hide my smile behind my burger.

I know from Levi that Fraser is low-key petrified of Mom. Smart guy. Even though he has no reason to worry. She likes him. Guess she"s got a soft spot for hockey players. She did marry one, after all.

I chew on a few fries before saying, "They say that nature abhors a vacuum. Well, nature ain"t got nothing on Meredith Freeman. As soon as she sniffed out that I was wavering on where to study, she pounced. She"s always wanted one of us to go to UCLA, and since none of her other kids went there, she"s determined that I will."

"See? Scary."

I giggle. "She is. I think she means well, but it must come from a place deep, deep, deep inside."

"That sounds pretty deep," Fraser says, chuckling. "What will you study, or has she decided that for you, too?"

"Thankfully, no, even though I haven"t decided myself yet. Just please don"t tell her or she"ll pounce."

"I won"t tell a soul."

"I"m tossing up between journalism and education."

"Good options. Leaning more in one direction than the other?"

"No. Not yet. You"re right, though, what you said about us having grown up in a privileged bubble. I recognize that, too. That"s why I"ve always wanted to do something with my life that makes a positive difference in some way. Is that…dumb?"

"Not at all."

"I do know that after college, I want to come back here. Is that dumb?"

"Again, not at all. Why would you think that?"

"Most kids can"t wait to get away and start their own lives far, far away from where they grew up."

"You"re not most kids. Do you, Evie, and don"t care so much about what other people may or may not think."

"Food for thought. Thanks."

The sound of a van reversing catches our attention at the same time.

"Are you filming tonight?"

Fraser nods. "Yeah. I should get going. We"re doing a dinner scene."

"But you just ate two burgers."

"So did you."

I blush. I"d been hoping he hadn"t noticed.

"Which, for the record, is not a bad thing," he clarifies. "I"m impressed you can keep up with me."

"Right."

"Oh, by the way, I brought some malasadas." He points to a white paper bag on the coffee table.

"What are malasadas?"

"They"re a Portuguese pastry. Similar to a donut but without the hole in the middle. I got a few different flavors. Try "em. They"ll change your life."

"Okay. Thanks."

He flashes me a smile, and then we start walking toward the window.

"Wait. Why did you eat if you"re going to be having dinner?"

"We"re filming a dinner scene. Not eating. Big difference. Mom says no one looks good chewing food, so we"re under strict orders to nibble only."

"Reality TV is messed up."

"Welcome to my life."

We reach the window.

He turns to face me square on. "Should I…? Nah. Forget it."

"No, go on. Say it."

"It"s nothing." He averts his gaze, and if I"m not mistaken, he looks kinda sheepish.

"Fraser."

"Fine. I was just going to ask if maybe I should get your number so I don"t, you know, scare the life out of you when I come over again. I"m developing a stress ulcer thinking about what you"re capable of doing to me with that umbrella."

I miss his joke, my mind unable to move past anything after when I come over again.

He wants to see me again!

Play it cool, Evie. Play. It. Cool.

"Exchanging numbers is so mid-2010s. What if…" My breath catches in my throat, but I"m determined to keep playing it cool and get the words out. "What if we make a no-numbers-exchanged pledge instead and just agree that you come over every Wednesday? That way you won"t give me a rare but not completely unheard of teenage heart attack, and there"ll be no need for me to use Rosie to commit violence against you."

His lips twitch. "Rosie? The umbrella?"

"You don"t name inanimate objects?"

He laughs, and it rushes out of him, a deep, warm sound that makes my belly flutter.

"Fine. No exchanging numbers. I accept the pledge," he agrees, his eyes twinkling as he stoops down to move through the windowpane. He glances back and smiles. "See you next Wednesday, Evie."

"You know me, I"m the king of remembering the most random things," Fraser responds lightheartedly to Levi"s question about how he knows about my high school obsession with malasadas.

He is the one who got me hooked on them, after all.

"The two of you will fight to have me on your team come trivia night," he adds, and I hope it"s enough to satisfy Levi"s curiosity.

For a moment, it looks like Levi"s going to say something in response, maybe press for more information, but for whatever reason, he drops Portuguese-donut-gate and moves on.

"So, have you two given any more thought to how you"re going to handle…" He tips his head toward the coffee table, his eyes widening a fraction when he spots the flowers covering the newspapers. "That?"

"No. I honestly expected this thing to blow over," I reply. "I thought it was just a silly online story, that it wouldn"t go much farther than social media. But it seems that my presence at last night"s game has only solidified the dating rumors. And with the team"s victory, it"s given credence to the whole good luck charm angle."

I pick up a pastry and take a bite. "What do you think we should do, Levi?" I ask around a mouthful of malasada.

"Well, you know me, I don"t like to meddl—Oof! Ow. What was that for?"

He scowls at Fraser while I high-five him. If he hadn"t thrown that cushion at my brother, I would have.

"You meddle," Fraser says matter-of-factly. "It"s a known genetic condition affecting everyone born within a twenty-mile radius of Comfort Bay. Come on, man. We need your help. I don"t want Evie to go through…"

He doesn"t have to finish that sentence for all three of us to know exactly what he meant.

He doesn"t want me to go through another round of public humiliation.

The mood in the room shifts.

Levi drops down on the couch opposite Fraser and me. "I don"t think this situation is the same as the…unfortunate incident."

He really thinks calling it that is better. His intention is sweet.

Misguided, but sweet.

"We"re dealing with an entirely different scenario here. If anything, this could be a win-win."

"How so?"

"Well…Fraser is playing better, even if we all know it has nothing to do with your presence. Sorry, Evie."

I stuff a mouthful of donut into my mouth. "I"m soh ohfendid."

Levi rolls his eyes. "Every single time. We go through this every single time."

Fraser chuckles.

Levi continues, "So it"ll stop the media from speculating and linking him romantically to every woman he shares air with. And as for you, Evie, yes, this brings media attention onto you as well, but—dare I say it, it"s the good kind? It is helping your numbers, right?"

With my mouth still full, I give a thumbs up.

My numbers have never been higher. Not even after my first viral video.

I downplayed it with Fraser last night because I don"t want him thinking I"m enjoying this attention or milking it for career gain. I"m honestly not. It"s nothing more than an unexpected bonus.

"What are you getting at, Levi?" Fraser takes up the question I was going to ask.

"What I"m getting at is that you two should date for a while. Fake date, I mean. Otherwise, that would be monumentally weird."

He pulls a face, and I have the sudden urge to fling another cushion his way.

"Let the media run with the story. Eventually, you"ll lose a few games, they"ll get over it, and then you can quietly fake break-up. And that"ll be that."

"That"ll be that." Fraser mutters the words under his breath, his expression darkening.

This is absurd.

Someone has to be the voice of reason here, and even though I have literally zero experience in that role, it looks like I have to be the one to put a stop to this.

"I don"t think this is a good idea. You obviously don"t want to do this, Fraser."

"That"s…not true." His intense blue eyes swing my way. "My only concern is you."

I find myself choking slightly as a piece of donut goes down the wrong way.

This guy and his words.

His brow furrows. "You okay?"

"Yep." I smack my chest a few times. "All good."

He waits for me to fully recover before saying, "I"m serious, Evie. I won"t even consider this unless you are completely comfortable with it. And also, if we do go ahead with it, I want you to know you can change your mind and back out of it at any time."

"How would it work?" I direct the question toward my totally non-meddling brother.

"Well…" he begins, glancing at the litany of newspapers covering his coffee table. "It seems you two already have some momentum established. So I say, keep it simple. Evie, fly out to a few games so the media can get some photos of you in full-on game mode. Fraser, take Evie out for food somewhere public where you"re bound to be seen. Visit her a couple of times back home, and honestly, I think that should be enough to get the media to buy it. The one upside of declining media standards."

"I don"t hate it," Fraser says, with a slight nod. "I mean, if we"re going to do something as wild as fake dating, I think a low-key approach is the way to go. What do you think, Evie?"

Hmmm…Let"s see here.

I get to spend more time with Fraser.

See a few more games, too.

My numbers are likely to stay high, so that"s helpful on the work front.

Fraser remembers my two main food groups—burgers and donuts.

He"s keeping my apartment well-stocked with my favorite flowers.

And I do owe him one for coming to Bryce"s wedding with me.

Aside from all that, I actually want to do this.

Good thing, then, that I"m over my crush.

Yep, it"s totally gone…I"m, like, seventy-three percent sure.

I brush the sugar off my fingertips, smile at Fraser, and announce, "Looks like you"ve got yourself a new girlfriend, buddy."