Last time on Fake it Till You Make it...

Ever and Mike plotted to get Ben and Erica back together... Ever stuffed her mouth with shrimp, and Ben and Erica shared a kiss. We left off with:

"What does this mean?" I asked. I crossed my fingers as she opened her mouth to respond.

"It means... It means we have to talk. Mike, do you have a room where we can talk in private?" He nodded vigorously. "Of course! Anything for Berica! Just go up to Ben's room or something."

I shoved my hand in my pockets as we walked, feeling rather awkward. My eyes roved over the wall, filled with art. There was a big painting done by Andy Warhol, and right next to it, a messy drawing done by Ever. It had a smiling sun in the corner, and in the center she had drawn Mike and I, with her right in the middle, all of us stick figures. I much preferred Ever's.

I opened the door to my bedroom with a flourish, bowing jokingly as she entered the room. " You have fuzzy blankets." She said in passing, pointing at the fuzzy gray blanket resting at the edge of my bed. I nodded unsurely. "That I do." I sat down on my bed, waiting a second for her to sit down next to me. "I have a question. Or rather, questions." I steepled my hands under my chin. "Alright, shoot."

Her eyes bored into mine as she asked "Who initiated the kiss at Mike's party? You or Ashley." I stared right back at her, not losing eye contact. "Ashley. And I didn't want to keep kissing her, she locked her arms around me."

She fiddled with her fingers as she thought it over. "Okay, say you did try to fight off the kiss. Why did you go out with her later." I laughed bitterly. "You aren't serious, right?" She blinked confusedly. "Pardon?"

"I was jealous!" I burst out exasperatedly. "You were dating this Adam guy, and I don't know, I wanted to show you that you weren't the only one moving on. Well, pretending to move on."

"I just don't know if I can trust you anymore! Obviously my feelings haven't gone away, or else I wouldn't be here, but my trust was breached. Do you know how hard it is for me to trust? When my dad left, I started building this mental wall. Don't let people get to know you. Keep them at an arms distance. I was icy to everyone, except for the few that I trusted." Her ice-blue eyes, the shade that so perfectly matched her usual personality, had tears threatening to spill over. She wasn't crying, but she was holding back, I could tell.

I tentatively extended my hand to her. "Hey. I know it's going to be hard to trust, but... we gotta start somewhere, right? Tomorrow morning, let's meet for coffee, and we can talk things over."

Her eyes dropped from mine. "I don't know. No. Yes. Maybe," She took my hand charily. (Yes that's a real word. It's weird, innit?) "Okay. Which one?"

"The Split Bean, you know, just around the corner," I informed her. "Alright... isn't that where Mike had that disastrous date with Zoe?" I nodded my head. "Oh my god, you're right! That was kinda funny, how  the waitress was flirting with him, not gonna lie..." I sniggered. She flicked my hand. "Hey, that isn't funny, Mike was very into Zoe when that happened!" She scolded me.

"Alright, see you tomorrow. I should help Mike clean up." I ran a hand through my short hair. "See ya."

I was tossing red plastic solo cups into a garbage bag when Mike said something. "Why're you grinning like an idiot?" He asked. "Was I? Didn't notice." He stopped picking up cups and squinted at me. "Wait, is this about Erica?" I nodded, my grin stretching wider than I thought possible. "We're meeting for coffee tomorrow at the Split Bean."

"Hold on a moment... that wasn't where...?" He inquired. Again my smile grew. "Yep. Where that waitress was hitting on you and Zoe got jealous." He threw a cup at me. "Hey! That was not funny."

"Sure, sure." I snickered. "Whatever you sat Mikey." I threw a cup back at him, but he caught it easily. His eyes gleamed with a challenge. "Oh, it's on!" He returned fire. Soon enough, we were diving behind chairs and somersaulting under tables trying to dodge the plastic cups, having a full-scale cup war.

At the end of the night, the room was messier than it had been before we had started 'cleanup.'

(9 AM, Erica's POV)

Ben's green eyes crinkled around the edges as he laughed. "No way! He actually said that? A real human being actually uttered those words?!" I inclined my head, also in a fit of laughter. "Do they voice again!" He begged. I deepened my voice in a dead-on impression of Adan. "I am quite fond of mint gum." He burst out laughing again, clutching his stomach. "Oh, there is no way that guy is not a robot! And his food pictures how did you even put up with that guy?" I flushed. "I mean, I didn't really... I kinda did it to try to get over you."

He put a calloused hand over his heart and swooned dramatically. "I'm so honored. It's a truly humbling experience." I smacked him on the shoulder. The waitress approached us with our orders, balancing the platter carefully on her hand so as to not spill the coffee. I just had a plain coffee with milk, and Ben had the same, except with whipped cream on top. Her green apron fluttered in the slight breeze that came through the store as a customer opened the door.

She had mousy brown hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, and something about her seemed vaguely familiar. I thanked her amiably as she set down the mugs in front of us. She seemed starstruck, and mumbled a few unintelligible sentences, hurrying back to the front of the cafe. I leaned inconspicuously towards Ben. "Does she seem familiar?" I whispered out the corner of my mouth. "I mean, I don't think I've seen her but I'm sure that it's someone that I've heard of."

"Do you think it's the waitress who was making googly-eyes at Mike?" Ben cracked up. "That would be awesome. Let's send a picture to Mike." He slipped his phone out of his pocket and angled his chair so that his back was to the waitress. He flipped the camera so that it was in selfie mode, and pressed the video button. He grinned widely at the camera. "Hey, Mike, here in your favorite coffee store. Anyone look familiar?" He ducked his head slightly so you could see the lady with the green apron in the camera frame. "Also, tell Ever I love her! Bye!" He thumbed in a few texts along with the vide to Mike and pocketed his phone.

A half-hour later I walked out the door with Ben. "So, how was it?" He asked me. "It wasn't too bad... I enjoyed it, really." He turned towards me. "Where do we go from this?" I ruffled his hair fondly. "Let's just take it slow... not dating yet, but getting reacquainted." He linked his arm with mine. "I'm good with that, trust me." Warmth spread through my chest as we walked along the sidewalk back to his house. We laughed at stupid jokes, and Ben almost tripped several times trying to walk backward. All in all, it was a good day.

Sorry for not updating in a while! I had a case of writer's block, and couldn't figure out how to end this chapter. Please remember to leave a vote, it really helps.

Fake it Till You Make it is almost ending! The next chapter will skip forward a few months and be super fluffy, then we have ginormous plot twist in the epilogue! And yes, there WILL be a sequel! It won't be released immediately, but I think you'll enjoy it. Any predictions on what the plot twist will be? Also, if you're into Marauders Era fics (James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Snape, and Peter, etc) please check out my fic Something to Remember Us By if you haven't yet. (Yes this is a shameless self plug.)