Lia

We watch the movie in a comfortable silence. I have no idea what it's about though, as I can't concentrate on it because of stupid Blake.

He keeps rubbing my bare knees that he put across his lap. I don't know whether to slap him or punch him. I said 'no touching below waistline' and knees are clearly below waistline. I already kicked him last night for touching, and I'm getting even more tempted to do the same now. But I can't kick him in the face in front of his parents, can I?

So here I am, stuck on his damn couch, with my bare legs across his jean clad thighs, with his warm hand rubbing my knees, sipping hot coffee and eating chocolate cookies as I try to concentrate on the fucking movie playing.

As the credits start rolling, indicating the movie's over, Samantha decides to break the silence in the room.

"Has Blake told you about our Sunday routine?" She asks me. I slowly shake my head in response then turn to Blake for explanation.

"We have this plan we go through every Sunday, as it's the only day my parents are not working. We have breakfast together, then watch a movie, drinking coffee and eating snacks. At lunch mom and dad go on a date and I usually spend time with the guys, and later in the afternoon we go to Soprano for dinner." Blake explains. I'm surprised his parents don't ask why I don't know about it, since supposedly we've been together for months, and that's quite a few Sundays I missed. But I'm grateful they don't pry. I don't have an explanation for this.

"Oh, that's nice."

"Yeah, it is. But what are you guys going to do all day?" Samantha asks me.

I look at Blake, but he just shrugs. Of course. What was I expecting?

"Well since I haven't been at school lately, I think I'm just going to force Blake to study with me." I tell her honestly, since I really am planning on studying.

"We can go through those notes I got you." Blake adds. I nod at him.

"Okay, have fun kids." Jared smiles at us as he takes Samantha's hand and leads her out of the living room. They are goals.

"Want to watch another movie or should we go back to my room?" Blake asks once his parents are out of hearing range.

"Do you really think I need to study on Sunday?" I ask him incredulously.

He smirks at me, clearly getting the wrong idea. "Then what is it that you want to do while we're alone?" He gets back to rubbing my knee.

"Ugh, get your head out of the gutter, Knight. I'm going to copy those notes, and I will need your laptop for it, but I don't study. You'd be surprised how far I am with the syllabus. I can skip over a month of classes and still be ahead with the program." I smirk at his shocked face. He's the first person I've told about me studying ahead of the program, apart from the teachers of course.

"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." I laugh as I pat his chin.

"Then why the hell did I walk around the school, convincing your teachers to give me notes and homework for you when you don't even need it?" He asks, his eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

"Because you're a helpful boyfriend?" I joke, getting him to smile.

"And?"

"And... because you're a diligent boyfriend?"

"And...?"

"And because you're a caring boyfriend?"

"And?"

"And because you're dependable boyfriend?"

"Aaaand?"

"And... because you have long legs that help you walk faster around school. What do you want me to say?" I laugh at him.

"That it's because I'm a great boyfriend, sweetheart." He laughs with me.

"I don't know about that one..." I tease him.

"Say I'm great or I'll tickle you." He warns playfully.

"Blake, don't you dare. Remember about my ribs." I tell him seriously.

"Who said I'm going to tickle your ribs? I have cute little feet right in front of me." He smirks, thinking he's won.

"Ha! My feet are not ticklish. Gotcha!"

"Oh come on! Why?" He whines, defeated, leaning back against the couch.

"Get up, pretty boy. I want to be done with copying those notes before lunch."

"Why?"

"Because I need to go home. I have to take my meds later and I still need to go grocery shopping for the next week. Just because I won't be at school doesn't mean I won't be busy." I patiently explain.

"I can bring you your meds and take you shopping later, and you can have lunch here, with me. We can invite Will and Ty and order something." He tells me, his gaze pleading. Does he really want me to stay so bad?

"You can't take me shopping, you have a family dinner, remember?"

"It's no problem, honey, Blake can go with you." Jared says, clearly having heard our conversation. "You told us you live alone, so I assume you were intending to carry the groceries yourself, with your broken rib. - he gives me a disapproving look - I would rather Blake skipped the dinner and helped you than you hurt yourself." I open my mouth to argue, but he continues before I can say anything. "It won't be the first time Blake skips the dinner, we've been doing this for years. I remember I told you I would drive you home today, but I think that's no longer necessary, as you two have plans already. Blake, take care of Lia, understand?" Jared finishes, his tone final.

"I will, dad, relax." Blake rolls his eyes.

"Good." Jared nods and leaves the room.

"It's like you're their daughter and I'm the son-in-law! I swear to god!" I laugh at Blake's sudden exclamation. "It's not funny. My dad even told you to call him Dad. I feel as if I am the one being introduced to my girlfriend's family, not the other way around." He sulks adorably and I can't stop myself. I pinch his cheeks as I coo at him.

"Awww, aren't you cute? Cute Blakey. I'll call you Cakey" He huffs at me, but doesn't remove his face from my hands.

I let go of his face and start laughing at him. After few seconds he joins me.

That's how his mother finds us. Blake and I sitting on the couch, with my legs across his, both of us laughing hysterically at nothing.

She says nothing, only shakes her head, smiling adoringly and leaves.

Blake

We stop laughing few minutes later. For some reason Lia makes me open up to her. I don't have to pretend to be anyone, simply because she doesn't care about my image or my reputation. She's genuine, that's what gets to me the most. She jokes with me, teases me, mocks me, laughs WITH me and AT me, which not many people dare to do. She didn't get scared when I got mad at her on Monday, she didn't try to seduce me like Victoria when I told her to sleep in my room. On the opposite, she didn't want to sleep with me. She's so different than the other girls I've been with. Spending time with her is... refreshing. That's why I've been insisting on prolonging our time together as much as I can.

Since she won't be coming to school next week, I'm going to make as much use of our time together as I can. Be it studying or whatever, I don't care, as long as she's here.

"Let's go, sweetheart." I say as I place her legs back on the floor, getting up from the couch.

"Stop calling me that! How many times do I have to repeat myself?" I can tell she's annoyed. She should know I won't stop calling her that, but still nags me about it.

"Why do you keep scolding me? I told you pet names are a must." I smirk at her annoyed face, the way she scrunches her nose when she's irritated reminds me of a bunny. Why do I keep thinking of animals all the time?

"I guess it's like a knee-jerk reaction to that RIDICULOUS name you decided to call me by." She exclaims and I chuckle at her.

"Come on. You wanted to be done before lunch." I take her hand, intertwining our fingers and lead her to my room.

"You know we don't have to hold hands now, right? Your parents are not here." She tells me, sounding almost confused.

"I know. But I want to." I tell her. And it's not a lie. I like holding her hand. It fits mine perfectly.

Once she's seated at my desk, I give her the notes I gathered and turn on my laptop for her to work on.

"Why do you type in your notes, anyway? It's twice as much work to write it down and then type it in." I decide to ask her as I type in my password, and she spins the chair around, making sure she doesn't see it.

"I like to have my notes organized, it helps when I have to review them later or add something to a specific topic. It's easier to edit them, too."

"That's smart. I sometimes try to add something, but there is no space on the paper, so I use post-it notes. But I guess your method works better." I nod, turning her back around towards the desk.

"It does, but like you said, it takes twice as much time. If you want, I can share my notes with you. Since I type them down, I have most of them accessible online. I can print them out for you." She suggests.

"Really, you would do that? But we don't have a lot of classes together."

"The teachers may be different, but the program is the same. Since I'm ahead already, you can make use of my notes when you don't feel like taking yours." She chuckles.

"Thank you, but I don't want to use you like that. But if I ever need help, I will know who to go to." I smile at her, leaving her to do her work with a quick kiss on the top of her head, earning a glare as usual.

I go to my bed, leaning against the headboard, and continue reading my book. I'm surprised to see Lia hasn't removed the bookmark when she was reading it earlier.

"Do you have headphones around? I don't like working in silence and I don't want to disturb you."

"Yeah, they're in the first drawer on your right." I instruct.

"Thank you."

After about half an hour I stop reading my book, putting it back on the nightstand, and simply watch Lia work. She works quickly and efficiently, typing the notes in without taking her eyes of my handwritten ones. The angle she's sitting at allows me to see clearly what she's doing on the screen. She creates tables, outlines, lists, and organizes the notes by categories. Once she's done with one subject, she places my notes neatly in the binder, then takes next one of the pile, types it in, and puts it in the binder once she's done. All the while, she remains oblivious to my staring.

For some reason I like watching her. It's calming.

The longer I watch her, the more I understand why she's the best student on the school board. She works so hard, dedicates so much time to her studies that there is no way someone could beat her. Even I couldn't, which at first made my parents mad when they found out I was pushed down to 2nd rank. I wonder how will they react when they find out Lia's the one that beat me.

How didn't I recognize her name earlier? When Will told me about her, I should've figured it out. But I only found out on Tuesday, when I went to Lia's math teacher for notes for her.

As I lean against the headboard and watch Lia work on my laptop, I think about everything that transpired during last week.

I was almost sent to Montana to some juvie, Lia agreed to fake date me – my thoughts stop here. She agreed to fake date me.

Then why the hell does all this feel so real?