"Ellie?" William caught my arm. I was so focused on getting outside, away from the too-loud music and too-crowded halls, that I hadn't even noticed it was him. He was dressed up like Peter Pan, complete with a red feather in his hat.

"Hi," I blurted. "What are you..."

I trailed off when Madeleine appeared beside him, in a top-knot and green mini dress to match her Tinkerbell wings.

"Oh hey, Ellie! Have you seen Aurelia and her sister? I wanted to say hi," she shouted, barely audible over the music blasting from the speaker beside us.

"Back there." I gestured behind me. Madeleine smiled, then leaned up to say something to William before she brushed past me, towards the greatroom.

A queasy feeling roiled around my stomach. William and Madeleine had matching costumes. Madeleine was going to find the hostesses, as if she was the one who'd invited him to her friend's party. That didn't seem like some sort of last minute, Friday night date, made after I'd bailed on William. It seemed more like plans with Madeleine, complete with a couples costume, that he would've willingly blown off to take me to dinner.

"Some party, huh?" William shouted over the music, running a hand over the back of his neck. Something crumpled in the general vicinity of my chest at his rueful, lopsided smile—as if he was thinking about our failed dinner date too.

"Yeah." I dropped my eyes to my drink.

I never should've listened to Theo. I should've just said yes to William. Then, we'd be sitting together in some delicious, romantic restaurant and not standing awkwardly at some party that neither of us seemed particularly enthused about attending.

"You know—" William began, right as I said, "I'm—"

We exchanged grimaces, then he leaned in to say, "I can barely hear you. Come."

A hand on my back, he led me towards the greatroom, where the music wasn't as deafening, but the crowd was definitely thicker. Madeleine was with Aurelia's sister by the couches, leaning in to chat animatedly. At the other end of the room, Theo and Connor were flipping Aurelia upside-down for a keg stand.

Following my look, William's jaw set. "So, did he drag you here just to abandon you for his friends?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but my words got all caught up in my throat. Part of me wanted to scoff and agree and ask William to take me away from all of it. But another part was hung up on Theo's reassuring arm around my shoulders. The way his fingers had knit with mine. His eyes on my mouth. After all, he'd followed me when I'd bolted to make sure I was okay. Until one of his friends had come calling, of course.

I wanted to scrub my hands across my face and banish all of this Theo confusion from my thoughts. This wasn't real. It didn't matter. And yet I was reacting like it did.

William's hands landed on my shoulders, startling me. "Ellie, if you're serious about this, you need to make him take you seriously in return."

"What?" I blurted, completely at a loss. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. William was supposed to be warning me away from Theo, not giving me advice about dating him. My stomach knotted.

"We should do a double date." William's eyes jumped between mine, boring into them. "Tell him it was your idea."

Something that felt an awful lot like a warning tingled up my neck. Madeleine bounced up to us, and William hastily dropped his hands.

"You two okay?" she asked, her bright smile at odds with the sharp, alert look in eyes.

"Ellie thinks we should go on a double date," William said.

Madeleine's smile brightened. "Ohmigod yes! A double date would be wonderful!"

The floor felt like it was tilting beneath my feet, and it had nothing to do with alcohol. This was all wrong. It felt too much like a trap. Like I was a chess piece being shoved around, once again.

An arm clamped around my shoulders. "Well, well, well. Look who decided to show up," drawled Theo. "If you're done harassing my date, I need her for—"

William's eyes went flinty. "Actually, we were just setting up a double date."

Theo went rigid beside me. "Haven't you had enough of poaching my girlfriends, Willy?"

Even though his words vanished quickly, swallowed up by the music and the crowd and the chaos, a heavy, charged silence settled between us.

Madeleine recovered first. "How about next week? There's this delicious bistro doing a tasting menu on Saturday."

"Why not," Theo said stiffly. "Now, if you'll excuse us."

He whirled around, dragging me with him. I craned my neck to look back at William.

He was watching us go with something that looked eerily like satisfaction on his face. The pit in my stomach yawned wider.

Theo shoved open the front door and stormed through the cloud of cigarette and pot smoke, onto the lawn. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded, once we were out of earshot.

"I didn't—"

"You know what? Forget it. We're leaving. Just like you wanted, princess." He stormed down the driveway.

I jogged to catch up to him. "Why are you so mad at me? It was William's idea, not mine! And if anything, I should be the one who's mad at you! You made me think that William was testing me, when he was actually going to blow Madeleine off to—"

"No, Emdubs, he wasn't." Theo wrenched open his door and disappeared into the car. It growled to life before I'd even opened the passenger side.

"Yeah, Theo, he was," I snapped, slamming the door behind me. "Did you not see their couples costume? He was going to bail on her for—"

We lurched into motion. "He didn't make plans with her tonight until after you'd ditched him. That 'couples costume' is just William's perennial Peter Pan getup that Madeleine already knew to match. The only reason he hauled himself out here was to see if we're actually legit. And now you've gone and signed him up for front row seats to our little charade with that double date."

I crossed my arms. "I never agreed to it. That was all you!"

His jaw muscle pulsed as we merged onto the freeway. "I leave you alone for two seconds and—"

"Why is this my fault? You're the one who ditched me! Your friends were being gigantic assholes, so can you really blame me for finding someone nicer to talk to? And besides, if I can haul my costumed ass out to a party I never wanted to attend, then why can't you put up with a double—"

"Because I don't want to! Okay?" He raked a hand through his hair.

"Oh, so bailing's only an option if it's you and not me who doesn't want to go?"

His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. He switched gears with a vengeance, and we blew past a truck trundling along in the right lane. "If you thought that was bad, you have no idea what we're up against now."

I barked a bitter laugh. "Really? And how, exactly, is having dinner with William and Madeleine supposed to be worse than your best friend and his girlfriend making fun of me, and then you ditching me to hang out with them?"

Theo blew a sigh through his nose. "Connor wasn't making fun—"

"He wasn't? Then explain it to me. Explain why he refuses to learn my name and why he's so damned fixated on getting the two of us to his beach house or a guest room or whatever. Because I think I have a pretty good idea, but—"

"It's nothing, okay? Just a stupid joke," Theo said, then cranked up the music.

I crossed my arms with a huff and glared out the window, only to meet my own reflection. Something that felt mortifyingly like tears prickled behind my eyes. I blinked furiously, clenching my teeth.

This was ridiculous. We were fighting over nothing because this relationship was nothing. It didn't matter that he'd ditched me. It didn't matter what his friends said about me or did to me because it wasn't like I'd be hanging out with them in the future. I was reacting like a real girlfriend when I was anything but. I'd gotten so comfortable with Theo that it had become too easy to forget that this was all just a ruse. That was what I had to focus on now. Because even though going on a double date with William and Madeleine sounded like the complete opposite of a good time, it would get us that much closer to our endgame.

At least, it would get me towards my endgame. I still had no idea what Theo's was. He'd steered me wrong in refusing William's Friday night date, which made no sense if he was after Madeleine. A well-timed photo of William and me together might've been enough to drive Madeleine straight into Theo's arms. And yet, he'd still convinced me to bail.

I shook my head. Enough. I'd had enough of this.

Uncrossing my arms, I turned down the music. Theo glanced sidelong at me.

"I'm tired of the lies," I said. "If you want this little charade to keep going, I'm gonna need a lot more transparency. I know you lied to me last week and almost made out with Madeleine at Connor's party. You might think it's none of my business, but it is. I need to know why we're doing this. I thought I'd figured it out, but now I don't know anymore. We're supposed to be on the same team, but I can't help you if you're not honest with me."

Before he could answer, I turned the music back up. When he didn't turn it down or make any move to reply, I sighed, leaned my head against the window, and closed my eyes.

**A/N: Looks like trouble in (fake?) paradise! How do you think Theo is going to react to Ellie's ultimatum? And more importantly, what is William up to?!
As always, if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to vote and comment!**