Text from: Jake Morris-Whittaker, 9:02 am

So here I am. Scrolling Insta. And uhhhh...
Care to share who Tee.Ell.Bee712 is?????

Just a guy I go to school with

👀 👀 👀
Do not lie to me Eleanor

We lost the game.
He cheered me up with food.
End of story.

Ah damn. That sucks. Sorry El ☹️
Bright side though...maybe this Tee.Ell.Bee712 guy can hug the sad away? 😏

I hate you.

~*~

I was mid yawn the next morning, standing in the porte-cochere in front of the coach bus, when Theo's arm landed on my shoulders. He leaned his head against mine, his hair still damp from a shower, and I didn't like the way I inhaled a little deeper to enjoy the scent of his cologne.

"I'm calling dibs on Emdubs this time," Theo said to Audra, who'd paused with her travel mug halfway to her mouth, eyebrows high at his approach. "Looked like she made an excellent pillow yesterday, and I'd love a nice, long nap."

It took every ounce of my willpower not to duck out from under his arm when he nuzzled into my hair. But Audra was watching, her brows still high, so I offered her my best sheepish smile.

"There really isn't a tea strong enough to deal with any of this," she muttered, before shoving her sports bag into the luggage compartment and climbing onto the bus.

Theo squeezed me and hefted my sports bag to stow it alongside his. "Quick learner. I like it."

I climbed the bus steps. "If you snore while I'm trying to study, I swear—"

"Snore?" Theo laughed, following me and keeping far closer than I'd have liked. "Come on, you think I'd waste all this uninterrupted Emdubs time sleeping?"

I found a window seat a few rows in front of where Audra had settled in beside JJ. Part of me squirmed when she ignored me, sliding on her noise cancelling headphones and pulling down her hoodie.

Theo collapsed beside me as I was texting an apology to Audra. He plucked my phone from my hands before I could send it.

"Hey!" I reached for it, but he'd already swiped open the camera.

"Smile," he said, then leaned in and planted a kiss on my cheek. The camera snapped, and I lunged for my phone again, but he held it away from me.

"Seriously?" He tilted his head at the picture. "You call that a smile?"

It was a full-on grimace, with me side-eyeing him as he kissed my cheek.

I couldn't help but laugh. "I think it sums up my feelings pretty perfectly, actually."

Theo sighed, and then, with a few deft swipes, he'd opened my Instagram.

"Don't," I warned, thinking of Jake's texts.

"Remember that plan I was telling you about?" He was already picking a filter and fixing up the picture—clearly far more of an expert than I was. "This is part of it."

"Can we keep my socials out of it? I don't want my brother on my case if he thinks—"

"You have a brother? That explains a lot." Theo tagged himself, typed a caption, then turned the phone towards me. "Approval, please."

I made a face. As much as I hated the idea of sharing a picture of him kissing me where not only my brother, but all the old friends from home that I'd lost touch with would see...it was actually kind of a cute picture. The kind that happy, joking couples posted—the kind of couple that we were pretending to be.

I chewed my lip, imagining the texts Jake would send once it went up. But he was like a dog with a bone. Even if I didn't let Theo post this one, Jake wasn't going to stop teasing me about that first date picture any time soon. Maybe if my brother thought we were actually dating, he'd let up a bit. And as much as I didn't want to lie to him, he'd understand once this was all over and I explained the ruse. He'd probably even cackle at my audacity.

At least, I hoped he would.

I folded my arms and looked out the window. "Fine. But next time you involve my socials in your grand scheme, I want to know about it first."

"Done and done." Theo tapped my screen. "Now just watch. I suspect there'll be an incoming text from Will in 5, 4, 3, 2..."

My phone pinged, but not with a text.

Theo laughed. "Oh Willy, so predictable. Looks like you have a new follower, Emdubs."

"What?" I seized my phone and scrolled to my notifications.

"Easy," Theo said, then leaned in. "Try to keep the scrolling and drooling to a minimum. You're supposed to be into me, remember?"

I couldn't suppress my grin, though, as I approved William's follow request. Theo watched me with an unreadable expression before he sighed and fished out an iPad. A text from Jake that was just a bunch of question marks and exclamation marks popped up next, to which I replied 😏 he offered a kiss instead of a hug, and tucked my phone into my pocket.

"So. Captain America or Iron Man?" Theo asked, passing me an AirPod.

I blinked at it. "What?"

"That's your second what." He waved the AirPod in front of me until I took it. "It's movie time, and I'm letting you pick. But you'd better hurry up, or we'll—"

"Winter Soldier," I said.

He glanced down at me. "Huh. I didn't take you for a Bucky stan."

"Still waters run deep," I said.

Theo laughed. "As much as I love them, Marvel movies are not deep."

"Whatever." I jammed the AirPod in and leaned my head against his shoulder. "Just push play so I can forget how uncomfortable your shoulder is. If I get a cricked neck for the sake of this..."

I trailed off when he lifted his arm and wrapped it around me, pulling me closer to his chest.

"I have it on good authority that this is my best cuddle position," he said into my hair as he pressed play on his tablet.

I swallowed and did my best not to burrow into him. Because he was absolutely right. It wasn't a bad cuddling position at all.

Thankfully, sunrise over the Washington monument lit up his tablet screen and the "on your left" jogging scene sucked me right in, like it usually did.

Theo absently played with my hair while we watched, and I was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep more times that I'd care to admit. But after the bus had pulled into a rest stop for us to all stretch our legs and buy some lunch, I refused the AirPod when Theo handed it back to me.

"I have to finish this chapter summary before tutoring tonight," I said, flipping open my laptop and balancing my history textbook against the window so I could read.

"But we're at the best part!" Theo protested, gesturing to Bucky and Captain America facing off on screen.

"Spoiler alert: I know how it ends." I turned to the page I'd left off at for my chapter summary.

Theo merely sighed and returned his attention to the movie. We sat together in silence—or at least, me with my music on, and him watching another movie, this one chock-full of explosions and CGI—until the bus finally pulled into the Kingsbridge parking lot. I frantically typed out the last of my notes, worried that the hours I'd lost watching Captain America with Theo had hobbled my chapter summary.

And all the while, Theo said nothing, until he fished my sports bag out from the luggage compartment.

"Here. Take this." He handed me his soccer sweatshirt.

"I have one of my own, thanks." I tried to hand it back to him.

But he just shook his head and adjusted the strap of his sports bag. "Keep it."

I frowned.

He smiled and slung an arm around my shoulders, wheeling us towards the dorms. "Just trust me. You have tutoring tonight, right?"

"Every Sunday, genius. Or did you not see me slaving away over that chapter summary for the past two hours?"

He side-eyed me, a grin flitting across his face. "Easy, princess. You're supposed to be into me, remember?"

"Maybe sarcasm is my love language."

"Already talking love languages? You sure like to move fast."

I elbowed him and he jerked away laughing.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop." He massaged his side. "Your elbows are super pointy, by the way."

"Remember that the next time you sass me." I waggled my elbow at him.

He shook his head. "You're trouble."

"Yes, I am. And for the next little while, I'm your trouble."

"You are. And if you want our little plan to work, you'll wear that sweatshirt to tutoring tonight."

I paused just outside the dorm doors and folded my arms. "Is this the part where you start dictating what I wear? Because I'm not interested."

In response, Theo leaned so close that his breath brushed my skin. "Just trust me," he whispered, planting a kiss on my cheek before drawing away and tucking my hair behind my ear.

I didn't like the part of me that went stock-still at the feel of his lips on my cheek, now that they weren't catching me by surprise like earlier. I liked even less the blush that crept into my cheeks.

But I couldn't bat his hand away and scoff at the cliche move, not if I wanted the rest of the varsity players to believe we were actually into one another. So I stood there like some simpering fool as he smirked and said, "Wear the sweatshirt. You won't regret it."

**A/N: Honestly, nothing I love more than a shared item of clothing...added bonus is the anticipation of Will's reaction. Sweatshirt fallout coming next week!

As always, if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to vote and comment!!**