The Holiday Hoax by Skylar M. Cates

Chapter One
     
     
    L OVE . W HY was it always outside my grasp? See, I understood how hookups worked, but I didn’t understand how to make somebody stay.
    Right now I was considering laryngitis. It was shooting my mouth off, after all, that had gotten me into this mess. But not speaking at all would be torture for me. I simply had to talk.
    I must’ve been up half the night, pacing back and forth in my room, trying to figure out where everything went wrong. Always a useless exercise. My first semester at college was supposed to be epic. By this time I should have landed the lead in the theater production and landed the awesomely hot, artistic boyfriend who wanted to keep me in his bed, while still making tons of friends and getting good enough grades to keep my parents off my back. Yeah, that was the plan. But the semester was almost over, and instead of being the start of everything, it was a bunch of crap. I couldn’t wait to get out of here. Forget the encore. Cue the credits. I wanted to be gone already.
    I dragged myself all the way back from my classes, going nowhere, feeling numb.
    Why couldn’t everybody in my dorm stop asking me “what happened with you and Tyler?” and let me alone? I wasn’t certain I could survive too many more idiotic questions. Thank goodness the holiday break was almost here and the other students were starting to focus on the last week of exams. Most in the dorm were sick too, blowing their noses and coughing over their books, downing Red Bull and cough syrup, or some other dumbass combination, and ignoring the Tyler fiasco. It was partly my fault for confronting him in the cafeteria. I’d yelled myself hoarse, stupid tears gathering in my eyes, begging him to tell me what went wrong, while Tyler sat there stiffly, not saying a word back. Wasn’t that like Tyler too? Worse, though, had been the look of pity in his eyes as he stared at me. I’d been so stupid. Life should come with signs like an amusement park ride, warning you of all the possible side effects.
    Tyler never had been serious about me. I’d gotten it all wrong and should have known that he was out of my league. My mother still sent me care packages at the dorm, even though my house was less than an hour away, while Tyler, who’d been in and out of various boarding schools his entire life, seemed totally self-sufficient. He had this poise that I never would have, no matter how old I got. When I’d met Tyler in Acting 101, I’d only had to look at him to feel this giant yes! of hope. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, and shook Tyler’s hand. As I gazed into his blue eyes, for me, that had been it.
    I loved to flirt at parties, but before Tyler I’d never been successful at picking up other guys. “It’s ’cause you talk too much when you’re nervous,” Tyler scolded me. “Loosen up, Evan. Relax. You don’t need to prove how charming you are. You’re always on.”
    I did have a tendency to babble, but how could I relax when I’d spent my time watching Tyler? His hair was perfectly tousled that night, his mouth smirking, skin pale as if he were about to audition for a Twilight movie, while I’d been nervously chatting away. I’d have given up that very night and settled for simply being Tyler’s friend, if it hadn’t ended with a kiss. We’d both been slightly drunk and stumbled into the dorm at nearly four in the morning.
    Tyler halted the elevator, and he put his hands on either side of my face. “You’re cute.”
    “You’re drunk.”
    “Fasten your seat belt,” Tyler said and leaned in. He paused right at my lips and stared into my eyes. I swallowed hard, hoping I looked okay to Tyler.
    We’d latched onto each other. Our mouths open, tongues too eager, teeth clacking, the kiss a bit sloppy. When it ended, Tyler’s expression was one of surprise. He rubbed a hand over his face. “Man, I am drunk.”
    When the door to the elevator opened, we’d gone to his room. Tyler had lucked out at the