A Little Less than Famous by Sara E. Santana Page A

dating life. I don’t just date anyone. I’ve dated two people and I only date someone if I think it’s going to be worth it.”
                               
    I pulled away and covered my face with my hands. “No, no, no, do not say things like that. No talk like that. I do not do emotions.”
     
    “McKinley.” He took my hands off my face. “Come on.”
     
    I looked up at him and found myself weakening. “I don’t make promi ses…I can’t make any promises,” I said, firmly.
     
    “Okay,” Jake said, allowing himself a small victory smile.
     
    “It won’t end well,” I warned him.
     
    He chose to ignore this. “So can I come inside?”
     
    “Definitely not,” I said, shaking my head. “ I do still live with my dad, you know.”
     
    Jake made a face. He looked past me at his car. “Well, maybe…”
     

“No way,” I interrupted. “Not in a car that costs more than I make in ten years.” Jake raised his eyebrows at me. “What? I Googled it. A little much, don’t you think?”
     
    He ignored me again. “What do you think about your car?” H e glanced over at my black 2010 Honda Civic that was probably only worth a small percentage of his.
     
    “I think that it is time for you to go home,” I said, patting him on the shoulders, lightly with my palms. “And I really need to get off this car before I dent it with my butt.” I hopped off the car.
     
    “Can I call you tomorrow?” Jake asked, stepping back.
     
    I stood on tiptop and kissed him lightly, very fast. “Sure.” I smiled at him and started walking back to the diner. “Oh, and Jake? Lets keep this our little secret, yes?”
     
    He raised his eyebrow but shrugged. It occurred to me that maybe he was used to having secret flings with random girls. “Agreed .”
     
    I nodded. “Good night.”
     
    The next morning, after a night’s sleep had given me time to get over the way I felt in Jake’s presence, I felt enormously guilty. I was hiding something huge from my best friend; something that I knew would hurt her badly. So I did the only that I knew to get rid of a boy.
     
    I ignored him. The best way to get rid of someone was to just ignore them. Stop texting them, ignore their phone calls, delete them on Facebook, stop following them on Twitter.
     
    That is, until I discovered the magazine cover.
     
    I was waiting in line, buying tomatoes because we were out at the diner. I wasn’t really paying attention at first. I’d gotten two texts simultaneously, from Amanda and Jake. I sighed, clearing them both and shoving my phone back in my back pocket. That’s when I noticed the magazine cover.
     
    I knew it was me right off the bat. It was a picture of the first kiss Jake and I had shared in that gas station. It was an extremely blurry picture, probably taken from a cell phone, but I could tell it was me. To someone who didn’t know me, you couldn’t tell. Or at least, I hoped. I grabbed the magazine and felt my heart slam in my chest. Jake Kennedy’s New Girl: Who is this Mystery Girl? I quickly put the magazine back on the rack, paid for the tomatoes quickly and booked it out of the store.
     
    As soon as I got back to the diner, I practically threw the tomatoes at Luke. “Is Amanda here?” I asked.
     
    “Yeah, she’s upstairs watching TV. I asked her if she could come downstairs and help, I’d pay her for the afternoon. She said she didn’t want to get dirty.” Luke rolled his eyes as he dumped the tomatoes into the prep sink.
     
    I rolled my eyes and glanced down at the diner. “You need help now?”
     
    He shook his head. “Nah, go upstairs.”
     
    I nodded, taking two steps at a time as I walked up. As I suspected, Amanda was planted on the couch, watching something on E! and flipping through their newly delivered gossip magazines of the week. I paused, took a deep breath and tried to act natural. My phone buzzed and I saw that it was Jake.
     
    Hey are you busy or