I shake my head, smiling despite myself. “So… we made a deal.”
Bailey scuffs a laugh. “A deal?”
“We were just helping each other,” I say.
“Okay,” she says slowly. “But how did you get so good at the fake sexual tension thing?”
I nearly choke. “Bailey!”
“Oh, come on.” She bumps my shoulder. “You cannot fake that. Did you guys…?”
Her eyebrows lift dramatically and I look away. My cheeks heat instantly.
Her gasp is loud enough to scare a seagull. “Oh my God. You totally made out. I KNEW IT.”
“I am not discussing this with you,” I mutter, staring very hard at the sand.
“You don’t have to,” she says smugly. “I have all the confirmation I need.”
I glance back at her, heart thudding. “Wait, how do you even know about it?”
She takes a couple seconds before she speaks. “I heard you guys once on the phone, talking about it. I wasn’t trying to snoop…okay I was, and so I heard enough.”
I cover my face again. “Oh my God.”
“And I go through his phone all the time,” she adds casually.
I snap my eyes to her. “Bailey.”
“Don’t worry.” She just shrugs. “I never found any nudes.”
I shake my head, and groan. “I’m so sorry. We never meant to lie to you.”
Bailey’s eyes widen. “You think I care about that? I’m more offended you two thought you were being subtle.”
I shake my head and Bailey arms fold.
“Well,” she says, pointing at me, “you two definitely didn’t stick to the plan.”
I blink. “What?”
“The one where you justpretendto have feelings,” she says, laughing softly. “You guys fell for each other so hard.”
My heart lurches. “No, we didn’t. It was fake.”
Bailey stares at me like I’ve just told her the earth is flat. “Right. Totally fake. So what about the kiss?”
Heat rushes straight to my face. “We just… got caught up in those moments.”
Her mouth drops open. “Oh my GOD it happened more than once?”
I groan, waving my hands. “No—Bailey. It was just… a mistake. It wasn’t supposed to go further. It was supposed to end because it was fake, and it did. It worked and now it’s over.”
The words just spill out of me before I can think about them.
She lets out a loud, disbelieving snort. “You’re serious?” she says. “You really think you’re a good liar?”
“I’m not lying.”