Chapter Text
“Earth to Chase!”
Chase had been replaying the events that transpired Saturday afternoon in his head, anger bubbling up at the memory of Gavin Morris threatening Shoshanna and refusing to leave the coffee shop until he stepped in. He hadn’t fully thought the whole fake-dating plan through, but if making Gavin think he and Shoshanna were dating was the only way to keep him away from her, they’d figure out a way to keep up the charade. As complicated a friendship journey as they’d already had so far, this was bound to be the strangest phase of their relationship.
Chase was stirred from his thoughts by Brendan, who’d caught a ride with him to school that day. Brendan’s father travelled for work a lot, often leaving the other Espinozas with only one vehicle. Mrs. Espinoza usually drove her son to school, but she’d begun attending a book club for stay-at-home moms on Monday mornings a few months back, and Brendan hadn’t been willing to make her give that up in order to get him to school, so Chase and the Webers had decided to help out and take turns giving Brendan rides to school on Mondays. Though both parties had insisted they didn’t mind driving him and that they didn’t need anything in return for the favor, he set aside a portion of the little YouTube money he received each month to give them cash for gas. This arrangement worked well for everyone involved, especially Mrs. Espinoza, who’d thanked Brendan’s friends for being the reason she still got to have gossip and wine sessions with her mom friends on Mondays (apparently there wasn’t actually much reading going on in the book club).
Chase glanced at his passenger. “Sorry, what were you saying?”
“Man, you were really zoned out there. You okay?”
“Yeah, I was just… thinking about that physics quiz we took on Friday. Pretty sure I flunked it.”
“Oh yeah, that was a tough one. But hey, Mrs. Hancock is really nice. Even if you fail, I’m sure she’ll give you a chance to retake it.”
“Hopefully.” Chase felt a little guilty about lying to his best friend, but he had to fulfill Shoshanna’s wish to keep everyone in the dark about Gavin and their fake-dating scheme. And as much as he loved Brendan, even if they let only him in on the situation, Chase wasn’t sure he could keep everything to himself. He could totally see him accidentally spilling the beans to Gavin that their romance was fabricated if he got pressured.
The boys arrived at school a few minutes later, and ended up pulling into a parking spot right next to the Webers.
“Hey guys!” Brendan greeted the twins as the four of them made their way toward the building, with Brendan and Joel walking side by side in front of Chase and Shoshanna. “How was everyone’s weekend?”
Chase couldn’t help sparing a glance at Shoshanna, who simply gave a strained smile and a noncommittal shrug in response, while Joel launched into a full review about the epic sci-fi movie he’d seen on Saturday. Brendan, who’d apparently been refraining from discussing the film since it came out in order to avoid spoiling it for Joel, listened with a wide grin, nodding enthusiastically in agreement with everything Joel had to say about the movie. Chase and Shoshanna just watched in amusement.
Once inside, Brendan suddenly broke his attention from Joel’s ramble upon seeing someone down the hall.
“Hey, Gavin! Over here!”
Chase stepped closer to Shoshanna, making no attempt to keep his disdain for Gavin from showing on his face as the kid waved back at Brendan and jogged up to greet him. He practically skidded to a halt, however, when he noticed Chase standing there, and though he kept his expression fairly neutral as he and Brendan talked, his eyes darting up to Chase’s scowl every now and again, as if he was expecting Chase to pounce at any moment.
The two boys merely chatted about the plan for the Vidiots to get together at his mom’s bakery for the filming of the fifty thousand subscriber celebration video on Sunday. Gavin and his mom lived in an apartment above the bakery, so he’d be there to unlock the front doors and let the group inside. Of course, that also meant he’d be there the entire time they filmed and would probably be featured in the video too.
Chase looked at Shoshanna. Despite being the actual victim in the situation, she was doing a much better job at pretending not to be disgusted by Gavin. Not that Chase was really trying to hide it. Gavin seemed to be more intimidated by him when he let his facial expressions say everything he was thinking.
Gavin hurried off to his classes after he and Brendan finished talking. The day then mostly proceeded as normal. Chase tried not to think too hard about how lunch would go down. Gavin had been sitting at their table almost everyday for the past month, and with how close he and Brendan had become, Chase could see Brendan questioning it if Gavin sat somewhere else, as Chase expected he would in order to avoid him.
The anger he’d felt earlier started rising up in him again. His instincts had told him that Gavin was a creep, and he could tell Shoshanna didn’t care for the way he acted around her, but he’d never thought to check in on the situation and make sure she was okay. Granted, Gavin hadn’t seemed very capable of doing anything actually harmful, but Chase could’ve done more than stand by, worrying more about fighting the unreasonable jealousy he felt at the idea of someone stealing his friend away from him than the clear discomfort said friend was displaying whenever Gavin was around. Shame burned hot inside him. How could he be so self-centered?
As soon as the lunch period rolled around, Chase hurried to the cafeteria. He wanted to touch base with Shoshanna and make sure their plan had been working.
She wasn’t in the cafeteria when he got there, so he lingered by the open doorway until he saw her enter the room, looking down at her phone.
“Hey,” he greeted her. She looked up and gave him a grin that put the sun to shame and did weird things to his stomach.
“Hey!” she parroted, sliding her phone into her back pocket as she stepped closer to him. Then, lowering her voice, she said, “Chase, I literally can’t thank you enough for doing this whole fake dating thing for me. I’ve gone the whole morning without Gavin bothering me! I can finally focus in class!”
Chase wasn’t sure how to react. He was thrilled that she could finally feel comfortable and safe at school, but a fresh wave of horror washed over him as he thought about how bad things truly must’ve been for her to be this stoked about it.
“You’re welcome? Have I said enough how sorry I am that all of this has been going on in the first place, though?”
Shoshanna rolled her eyes. “I told you, you don’t need to apologize. You’re my saving grace right now.”
“Well, I’m happy to be that for you.”
The pair made their way over to the lunch line. As they made their way to the table after receiving their food, Chase asked, “So… sitting together while we eat?”
Shoshanna nodded.
“Are you gonna go to the bakery this Sunday? I wouldn’t blame you if you stayed away from any project you-know-who is involved with.”
“Nah, I’ll go. For Brendan’s sake. I know he really wants us all to be able to film something together before the group splits up. Besides, I have a guard dog now. And even if I didn’t, it’s not like the kid would try anything with everybody else around. I’ll be fine. Even though I think the video idea is dumb, I don’t wanna let Brendan down.”
Chase smiled. “Me neither.” A thought struck him just then. If Gavin was going to be there when they all met up to film the video, wouldn’t they have to continue acting like a couple, even with their friends around?
Chase was about to voice this thought to Shoshanna, but they’d made it to the lunch table, where a few of their friends were already sitting, and the last thing he wanted was for them to overhear any of that.
As more of their friends began gradually gathering at the table with them, they received a few puzzled looks, as everyone in the group sort of had an unspoken assigned seating arrangement. Chase was always next to Brendan, and Shoshanna was always next to Joel. And they were always on opposite sides of the table. Seeing the two of them beside each other was clearly sparking some questions in the minds of their peers, but no one addressed it. Chase thought about what Brendan had said about everyone thinking the two of them had feelings for each other. Did they all think this their way of taking the next step? Sitting together at lunch? If so, that was some major kindergarten kind of crap. Were they about to start doing a “Chase and Shoshanna sitting in a tree” chant?
Joel looked especially taken aback when he saw Chase in his own usual spot at the end of the table beside his sister. He didn’t seem angry, but merely thrown off, like everyone else. The seat on Shoshanna’s other side was already occupied, so Joel walked around the table and sat down directly across from her, quirking a brow and glancing back and forth between her and Chase. Chase awkwardly smiled at him. Joel just shrugged and started eating.
Brendan and Kimberly arrived at the table together. Brendan noticed the switch-up in seating arrangement right away, giving Chase a smug smile when he saw that he and Shoshanna were sitting next to each other. After seeing the look Chase shot him in return, Brendan turned away and acknowledged his new seatmate, Joel, with a friendly clap to the shoulder before sitting down between him and Kimberly.
Luckily, everyone seemed to move on from their initial surprise at the break in routine rather quickly, and the group started chatting and joking around as usual. Gavin passed by their table at one point. Brendan waved at him and invited him to join them, but he politely declined, throwing a wary glance at Chase, who scooted just a little closer to Shoshanna for good measure, before he walked off to sit at another table. Brendan simply shrugged it off and resumed talking to his girlfriend about the movie he’d been discussing with Joel earlier, her eyes completely glazed over as he spoke. It was an extremely amusing scene to witness.
“Wait, the movie is about aliens?” Kimberly asked, cutting Brendan off in the middle of explaining one of the most epic fight scenes in the movie. Brendan’s mouth fell open and just hung there for a moment.
“Wha- yeah, it’s about aliens… the movie is called Galaxy’s Most Wanted 3 . They use hovercraft as transportation. The main character is green. Did… did you think the movie took place on earth?”
Kimberly’s eyes widened. “Whoa, I didn’t get any of that.”
Brendan looked genuinely concerned. “How… how didn’t you get all that? Have you not been paying attention?”
Kimberly paused for a moment, as if trying to form some sort of excuse for her not listening to Brendan’s unwarranted movie review. Then she smiled sweetly and changed the subject, “You’re cute when you talk about geeky stuff, you know that?” She leaned a little closer to him as she said it, a glimmer in her eye.
Brendan’s brain seemed to short-circuit momentarily, his face turning crimson. Then he smiled bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck, murmuring, “Thanks, Kimmy.”
Chase turned to Shoshanna and saw that she was watching the exchange too, biting her lip as if to keep from bursting out laughing. As if she could sense him looking at her, she turned to face him as well, and they both snickered.
“What’s so funny?” Brendan asked. The two of them looked to see Brendan glaring at them, his face still flushed.
“Nothing,” Shoshanna giggled, her nose scrunching up in a way that Chase admittedly had always found adorable. “We just-”
“Hey guys!” The entire group went quiet as everybody looked up to see a petite curly-haired girl with a camera strung around her neck, holding up the device with one hand and waving with the other. Chase recognized her as Petra Vanderheist, a girl Shoshanna had repeatedly complained to him about last year when they’d worked together on the school paper. Hardly anyone actually read the paper, but Shoshanna and most of the other reporters still cared about integrity and verifying sources, whereas Petra and the editor in chief were all about publishing gossip and juicy rumors that, more than half the time, weren’t even true. Though most of the newspaper staff disliked these stories, Shoshanna was the only one who decided to quit the paper before the school year was done, and hadn’t spoken to any of the staff since.
“What do you want?” Shoshanna asked Petra, glaring daggers at the girl.
Petra kept up her friendly demeanor, beaming at Shoshanna as she replied, “I’m here to snag a pic of Towns County’s hottest couple.”
Brendan’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline. He glanced at Kimberly, then turned back to Petra, gesturing back and forth between his girlfriend and himself. “Us?”
Petra furrowed her brows at him, her smile dropping. “Um, no.” Then her lips turned up again as she faced Chase and Shoshanna, placing her free hand on her hip. “I’m talking about these two!” she proclaimed cheerily.
The table had already been silent, but that silence became deafening as every one of Chase and Shoshanna’s friends nearly broke their necks snapping their attention to the two of them. Chase couldn’t look at any of them. He just stared slack-jawed at Petra, trying to compute what he was hearing.
The silence lingered for several painful moments before Shoshanna broke it, sputtering, “What are you… what are you talking about?”
Petra rolled her eyes. “Don’t play dumb, Weber. I have it from a good source that the most eligible guy at Towns County is now taken!”
“Who’s this source?” Chase managed to croak out, despite his throat having gone completely dry.
Petra shook her head. “Can’t say. All I know is they heard it straight from you two.”
Chase dared to cast a glance at the table where Gavin sat, and saw that the kid was watching everything going on. He gave Chase a smug look. Gavin was beyond lucky they were under the watchful eyes of school staff, because that was the only thing stopping Chase from jumping out of his chair and throttling him.
“Anyway, I’m on the yearbook staff this year and I’m in charge of the superlatives page. You guys are a shoo-in for ‘Cutest Couple’. Say cheese!” With that, she snapped a photo of Chase and Shoshanna’s mortified expressions and had the nerve to blow a kiss at them before walking back to where she’d come from, which, unsurprisingly, was Gavin’s table.
Their attempt to only convince Gavin of any romantic relations between them without anyone else catching wind of it hadn’t even lasted a day. Chase didn’t know anything about being in a fake relationship, but he was pretty sure they were doing a bad job of it.
Chase closed his eyes as he turned to face forward, afraid to see the looks on his friends’ faces. He reluctantly opened them after a few moments to find them all staring at the two of them with matching expressions of shock on their faces, though each of them had a different emotion mixed in. Kimberly seemed bewildered. Brendan’s open mouth was slightly upturned into a sort of half-grin. And Joel… well, it was hard to tell exactly what the younger Weber twin was feeling at the moment, but Chase got the vibe that he wasn’t exactly over the moon about this new development.
Hugo was the first to break out of his stunned state. “Mauricia, you owe me fifty bucks!”
Mauricia groaned. “You’re gonna hold me to that? I thought we were just joking around?”
“It’s no joke anymore. I’m broke!”
Mauricia rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll send it to you when I get paid on Thursday.”
“Um, what are you guys talking about?” Shoshanna demanded.
Hugo gave her a sly look. “Back in July when we were at Chase’s birthday party, I made a bet with Mauricia that you guys would be dating before the first semester was over. She thought you guys would wait until after graduation. Guess who just won?”
“I can’t believe it finally happened!” Brendan exclaimed, fully beaming at this point. “Now we can go on double dates!”
“Whoa, what? No way!” Shoshanna protested.
“Why not? It’ll be fun!”
“When did this happen?” Max cut in. “Who made the first move?”
Chase and Shoshanna exchanged looks. Obviously, they hadn’t really prepared a backstory for their fake relationship. Time to improvise.
“Um… I did?” Chase answered, internally cringing at the way it came out sounding like a question. “It was… after my birthday party.” With how much people kept bringing up this stupid birthday party at which everyone had apparently been making so much speculation about them, it was the first thing he could think of.
Hugo gasped. “Really? The same night I made the bet?” He turned to Mauricia with an obnoxious grin. “You and your money never stood a chance!”
“Shut up,” Mauricia spat. “Let him tell the story.” She turned to Chase, propping her chin up on her hand and grinning like the hopeless romantic she was. “Go on, Chasey.”
“Right. Um, basically I called her that night after everybody went home and asked her out, and… yeah. That’s pretty much it.”
Everybody seemed a bit disappointed in the story. “Well, that’s a very… modern start to a relationship,” Brendan pointed out.
Chase supposed they were all anticipating some epic tale of a grand romantic gesture that made Shoshanna fall in love with him. As if Chase were capable of that. As if the only relationship he’d ever been in hadn’t ended because he wasn’t romantic enough.
“How come you guys didn’t tell anyone?” It was the first time Joel had spoken since Petra had given them all the news.
“Because we knew everyone would act all crazy and weird and stupid about it,” Shoshanna replied. Chase admired how quick she was to come up with an answer. “Sort of how you all are now.”
“Hey, can you blame us?” Mauricia asked. “We’ve only been waiting for this for years.”
“See, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. What do you mean, you’ve been ‘waiting for this’? Does that not sound bizarre to you guys? Waiting for your friends to get together like they’re characters from your favorite soap opera?”
“This is way better than any TV show, ‘cause its interactive. And we get behind-the-scenes secrets. Like, for example, how long have you guys known you liked each other?”
“I think you’ve all asked us enough questions,” Shoshanna snapped. “How about we all move on from this?”
Mauricia sighed. “Alright. Jeez. But I will be texting you later.”
No one brought up their “relationship” for the rest of the lunch period, but Chase couldn’t stop thinking about how it was most likely still on their minds. He avoided everyone’s eyes, especially Joel’s, and his heart wouldn’t stop racing. As soon as he got a chance, he had to talk to Shoshanna alone.
Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be getting that chance until much later. And until then, it would be impossible to avoid any more prying from his peers. On the way to physics after lunch, Brendan walked alongside him with a cheesy grin on his face.
“You know, I think you should join the drama club, Chase,” Brendan commented. Chase gave him a sideways glance.
“How come?”
“You’re a great actor! Putting up a fight the way you did when I said you liked Shoshanna back when school started." He paused and seemed to mull something over. “Although, I could tell you were in denial, so… I guess I take it back. Maybe you’re not that good an actor. But still, I can’t believe you and Shosh are actually dating! And that you didn’t tell anybody! I know I talked about all of us wondering when you guys were gonna get together, but in all honesty, I didn’t really think you were ever actually going to. No offense, but when it comes to this, you’re both kind of idiots.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m just saying! It took you guys four years to finally realize you have feelings for each other. That’s kind of crazy.”
“Look, can we not talk about this right now?” Chase huffed. They’d reached the physics classroom, and if Chase had already wanted the conversation to die before they’d entered a room full of people, he was desperate for it to do so now.
“Okay, sure. We will talk about it at some point, though. I’m not letting you off the hook that easy, buddy.”
Despite making that promise, Brendan did drop the subject for the rest of the day. That didn’t mean he still didn’t hear about it, though. Or that he didn’t have to feel the heat of Joel’s gaze in PE. He didn’t say anything to Chase all during class. He just seemed to be… observing him, in a way, with an unreadable expression on his face. It seemed like he was trying to process the idea of Chase and Shoshanna dating. Guilt pooled in Chase’s stomach. Amends had been made between him and the Webers long ago, but they still had a complicated history. His role as family friend had come to be accepted by all of them, but the role of Shoshanna’s boyfriend might not be as welcome. Of course, they weren’t actually dating, but Joel didn’t know that. And Chase wouldn’t blame him for having concerns about the idea. Shoshanna could do a lot better than him, and Joel knew it.
He casted a few looks in Shoshanna’s direction during the class period, but only once did their eyes meet, and only for a moment. Still, in that short amount of time, she was able to silently communicate that she was thinking about their predicament as well, and that it had her freaking out just as much.
Chase was eventually able to catch up to her in the entry hall after his final class, but she was surrounded by his other friends. He tried not to feel irritated at the sight of them all gathering there, but he was practically bursting at the seams trying to contain his internal panic over the fact that their entire friend group thought they were dating, and that they weren’t able to set the record straight.
“Hey, Chase!” Kimberly, the first to notice him standing there, chirped, waving. Shoshanna looked up at him, her eyes sending another message like the one he’d received in PE: “We have to talk about this” .
“Headed to practice?” Mauricia asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Chase replied, still focused on Shoshanna.
“Well, don’t let us keep you!” She sounded like she was referring to him, but she was looking back and forth between him and Shoshanna, making it clear that she was actually talking about them. She began hurrying the rest of the group, apart from Shoshanna, who all looked fairly puzzled, but still moved along toward the front doors, giving Chase their goodbyes as they left.
As soon as they were all out of earshot, Shoshanna stepped closer to him, the strained smile she’d been plastering on for her friends having been replaced by a frown.
“This is a disaster!” she complained. “What are we going to do?”
Chase shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to just keep up the act in front of everyone now?”
“But it’s going to be so awkward ! I don’t want to have to switch up our whole dynamic. And I don’t want all our friends to keep making this big fuss over it! Like this is the most exciting thing that could ever happen in the history of the world.”
“Yeah, I don’t really get it either.” Chase let out a sigh. “I feel so stupid. I could’ve guessed Gavin would spread the word after hearing we were dating.”
“I guess we’re both stupid, then. I should’ve thought about that, too.” Her expression turned somber. “I’m sorry I ever had you bring me to work that day. Then this whole mess never would’ve happened.”
“Yeah, and Gavin would’ve kept making your school life miserable. Shosh, I’d rather work through some awkward situation than let somebody treat you like that.”
He thought he caught a ghost of a smile on her face upon hearing that, but it vanished as quickly as it appeared. “Well, putting on a show for everyone it is, then. At least it’s just until graduation, right?” A look of realization painted her features. “Oh crap, are we gonna have to come up with a breakup story?”
Chase grimaced. “Oh, yeah. You’re right.” He thought it over for a moment, but he really didn’t want to give this messy situation much more thought for the time being. He wanted to play some football with his boys and get all this drama off his mind for a whole hour. Let his worries take over another time. “I think we’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it. Or… burn it, I guess.”
Shoshanna chuckled at that. “I think you’re right.” She shook her head. “Today was exhausting. I think I’m going to take a five-hour nap when I get home.”
Chase smiled. “You do that… princess?”
Shoshanna practically gagged. “Excuse me? What was that ?”
“I don’t know, I thought I should maybe try out some nicknames to pull out later? To really sell this thing? Clearly I can scratch that one off the list.”
“You’d better.” She held up a fist. “Call me that again and I’ll make that face of yours a lot less ‘eligible’.”
Somehow the threat had him grinning wider. “Noted. Well, I should probably head out now. Coach is gonna skin me if I’m late again.”
“Wouldn’t want that.”
A voice called out to Shoshanna then. The duo turned to see Joel with his back against one of the front doors, propping it open. He'd probably been waiting outside for Shoshanna. The few times he’d seen him since lunch, Chase hadn’t really been able to interpret the expression on Joel’s face, but now he could read it plainly: he was annoyed.
“Hurry up! We gotta take Brendan home, remember?”
Shoshanna rolled her eyes. “I’m coming!” She turned back to Chase and lowered her voice. “Text me tonight. We’ll get our whole story straight. That way, if anyone asks any more stupid questions, we’ll be prepared.”
“Got it. Talk to you later, Shosh.”
“See ya.”
He watched as she hurried to where her twin stood waiting, staring Chase down. Shoshanna elbowed Joel, causing him to break his gaze away from Chase and scowl at her. He heard some unintelligible bickering between them as they headed off, and though it suddenly felt as if his shoes were made of lead, he managed to trudge along to practice.
Along the way, he found his palms sweating and his heart beating a mile a minute. This was not good. The relationship between him and Shoshanna may not have been real, but it was already having real consequences. Clearly, Joel did not take kindly to the idea of Shoshanna dating him. That wasn’t completely unfair. To suddenly find out that his sister had apparently been secretly dating their mutual ex-nemesis-turned-friend for months, and not even from her, couldn’t be an easy pill to swallow. He imagined he’d feel similarly if Helene was a teenager and something like that happened with her. It would be quite a while before dating was in the cards for her, but Chase was sure that when that time came around, he’d feel a sense of responsibility to look out for her and make sure the guys she brought around were good for her. Joel probably felt the same way, and, in his mind, he hadn’t even gotten the chance to ponder the concept of Chase being Shoshanna’s boyfriend beforehand. Shoshanna had always been protective of Joel, and their parents had always been protective of both their kids. Over the years, Joel had probably taken on that protective nature himself. Chase had nothing but respect for it, but it was definitely going to be throwing a wrench into this plan of his and Shoshanna’s. If Joel disapproved, would Shoshanna's parents also disapprove? Would they be kept apart from each other? And even if not, would this drive a wedge between the twins? The last thing Chase wanted was for this thing to cause conflict for anyone involved.
Chase sighed. He couldn't worry about this right now. He had to get his head in the game. If there was one aspect of his life this fake relationship couldn't affect, it had to be football.
It just had to be.