14. Picture Perfect

Blake's POV

"For the last time Jessie, I already have a girlfriend."

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Believe what you want to but it's over, okay?"

"Come on Blake, you can't just give up on us like that."

I groaned. "That's the thing. There was never a “us” and the sooner you get, the easier it'll be for you to move on."

"But…" she was saying when Rylie suddenly appeared out of the blue and grabbed my arm.

"Hey babe," she said pecking my cheek. "Who's your friend?"

"Rylie, this is Jessica. Jessie, this is Rylie, my girlfriend."

"Hi Jessie. Nice to meet you,"Rylie said, stretching her hand for a handshake.

Jessica didn't accept the handshake. Instead, she gave Rylie a dirty look before turning to me.

"You really can't be serious, right? I can't believe you dumped me for this…this… this thing!"

Rylie opened her mouth to pnjeobject but I was quick to jump in.

"Look Jess, I get that you're angry but it would be wise if you mind your tongue. You don't want to mess with me or my girlfriend."

She gulped fearfully but was quick to replace her fearful look with a look of distaste instead.

She snapped her fingers with a "Come on, girls!" and walked away, her entourage trailing behind her.

Once she was gone, I turned to look at Rylie who was staring at me with an amused expression on her face.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. I've just never seen you so serious before. I didn't know you could be so threatening."

"What can I say? I like to stay in character. Besides, frenemies stick together. Here," I said pulling up a chair for her.

"Thanks and thanks for that. I could have managed though but I really appreciate it."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about her."

"Nah. Don't worry about it. I should probably get used to it now that I'm dating the school's golden boy."

"What can I say? No girl can resist all this," I said as I flexed my muscles.

"Oh God! Stop! My eyes are burning. I think I'm going to puke now."

She gagged which caused both of us to burst into laughter.

"Speaking of which, I think it's time we change our relationship status, don't you think?" I asked, bringing my phone out of my pocket.

"I guess so."

"What's your name on Facebook?"

She told me and we proceeded to add each other and confirm our relationship status.

After all was said and done, I suggested we take a picture.

"What for?"

"Well we're dating now and since we've made it public, it's necessary that we maintain an image and we do that by doing what normal couples do."

"Upload silly pictures of each other?"

"Yup. Silly pictures. Lovey-dovey pictures. Kissy pictures."

She made a face at the last one.

"Okay. Maybe the last one is not for us but everything else goes."

"Okay, I guess. So what do we do now?"

"For now, let's just start with something easy. I'll peck your cheek with my arms around your shoulder and all you have to do is look happy, okay?"

"Got it."

"Okay then. Here goes."

I slung my arms around her shoulders, put my phone on selfie mode and pressed my lips to Rylie's cheeks just as I took the picture.

"So how does it look? Is the picture okay?" Rylie asked as we separated.

I clicked on the picture and shook my head.

"It would be okay if you didn't look like you were holding in a fart."

"What do you mean?"

I gave her my phone to look at the picture. She returned it to me with a frown.

"I guess we can't exactly use that one."

"Yeah. So why do you look so uncomfortable?"

"I don't know. Pictures aren't really my thing I guess. Plus I feel like everyone's eyes are on us."

I looked around the cafe we were in and even though a few people were looking at us, we weren't exactly the center of attention.

"Okay. Maybe we should try it at home."

"I think that'll be best."

"Come on then. Let's go."

I helped her up and we walked out of the cafe to my car.

···

"Let's do it again, Rylie. This time, do it exactly how I told you."

"Okay, okay. I'm ready."

I slung my arm around her shoulder and pressed my lips to her cheek for about the umpteenth time that day, not like I minded though.

Since the phone was in her hands, she took the picture on cue and gave it to me afterwards.

"Here goes. It's the moment of truth," I muttered as I prepared to check the picture.

"Quit being dramatic and just check the picture already."

"Fine!" I rolled my eyes at her before looking at the picture.

Simply put, it was perfect. Rylie actually looked like someone who seemed happy to have a loving boyfriend and no longer looked uncomfortable. At first glance, you could never suspect that we'd been at this for hours.

"So…is it okay?"

"Okay? It's perfect. We actually look like a couple."

"Sweet! I was getting tired of having your dry lips on my cheek," she faked a shudder as she spoke.

"Yeah right. I'll have you know that my lips are never dry."

"That's what you think."

"Whatever. I should probably get started on posting this."

"Have fun," she responded, lying on my bed.

Minutes later, I joined her after uploading the picture on all my social media accounts.

"Is it done?"

"Oh yeah," I answered. "You know, you would make a good model."

"Yeah right," she snorted.

"I'm serious, Ry. Once you got over your nervousness, the picture turned out great."

"Looking good in a picture doesn't make me a model. Besides, I don't look that good."

"Whoever told you that nonsense? Don't you know you're beautiful?"

"I'm not… Wait! You think I'm beautiful?" she exclaimed.

"I-is that what I said?" I asked, not meeting her eyes.

"Yes!"

"Well duh! You think if you were ugly, I'd have asked you to be my fake girlfriend?"

"Yeah right. You think I'm beautiful!"

"Don't read too much into it. You're not that beautiful. Just kinda beautiful."

"You liar. You do think I'm beautiful."

"Okay. So what if I do? Would that be such a crime?"

"Oh, not at all. It just feels good to hear you say it," she said with a satisfied smirk.

"Whatever. Now back to what I was saying, you'd totally make a good model. What do you say? I could hook you up with my agent."

"Yeah. I don't think I'm exactly cut out for modeling."

"Okay. What do you love doing?"

"I don't know… Singing, I guess."

"You sing? How come I've never heard you sing?"

"I'm not exactly a public singer."

"Have you ever performed for anyone?"

"I performed for my parents when I was younger but now I mostly just sing in the shower. I used to sing in my room but I stopped when you moved here."

"Wait, you're shy?"

"I'm not shy. Just a bit introverted."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah right. Have you ever performed publicly? Like in front of an audience?"

"Yes. A few times."

"Why'd you stop?"

She hesitated. "I don't want to talk about it," she eventually said.

"Oh! Must've been bad."

She didn't reply at first but eventually I heard her say, "It was."

I smiled. "I get it. Once I tripped and fell off the runway during a fashion show."

"Oh my gosh, you did?!!" she exclaimed as she burst into laughter.

"Yeah yeah. Laugh it out," I said sarcastically.

"I'm trying to stop but the thought of it…" she doubled over in laughter.

After a few minutes passed with her still laughing, I just had to stop her.

"Okay, okay. Enough already!"

"Yeah yeah. Sorry, I just…" she chuckled again but I pressed my hand to her mouth quickly in an effort to silence her.

"I'm only going to remove my hand if you promise to stop laughing… Do you promise to stop laughing?"

She took a few deep breaths before nodding slowly.

"Okay. I'll remove my hand now."

I slowly moved my hand off her mouth and watched her closely.

"So back to my story… It was one of my early jobs and while walking the runway, I tripped on one of my shoelaces and fell right off the runway. I was devastated and I was convinced modeling wasn't for me but my parents and my agent convinced me not to."

"Okay. And your point is?"

I sighed. "Look Rylie, whatever happened to you must've been really bad and I get it. I've been there but you can't give up on something you love because you were hurt or something bad happened. You know the saying: What doesn't kill you makes stronger. We'll, you're still alive, aren't you? This means you can still try again and this time, you have your last experience to back you up and make you stronger."

Once I was done, Rylie kept staring at me as though dazed.

"What?" I asked when her staring got intense.

"Nothing. Just whoa! That was deep!"

"Okay. Why do you sound so surprised?"

"I guess I never really pegged you as a motivational speaker."

"What can I say? I'm a surprise a minute," I said a bit proudly.

"Yeah whatever. But I guess you're right though. I just don't know if I'm ready yet."

I smiled and slung my arm around her shoulder.

"Don't worry. I can help you with that."

"How?"

"Don't worry. You'll find out in good time," I answered smirking.

This should be fun...