"So you and Lawrence are dating now?" Carmen Edwards glanced between Lawrence and I, not really believing we were dating. Which I couldn't blame her, I had been hung up on Peter for so long she didn't think I had it in me to even date someone else. At least not seriously.

Not that Lawrence and I were serious, but I didn't tell Carmen we weren't. It needed t be real for authenticity sake.

I swallowed thickly when she raised an eyebrow at me, giving her a sweet smile. "Yeah. We're close, and he's cute. Plus we like each other so why not?" It was easy to pretend date Lawrence as he casually placed an arm around my shoulder, something we always did anyways - even before this whole ordeal.

She watched me for a bit before nodding her head. "Okay, I'll believe you for now. Besides this might be a good thing! You need to get over Peter anyway." I frowned at that, tensing subtlety. Lawrence squeezed my shoulder comfortingly, noticing the tense posture - but Carmen just thought it was a sweet gesture. "You two are stinkin' adorable!" She grinned, giving me a knowing look.

"Lena and Lawrence are dating?" An unmistakable voice asked, causing me to turn to see the one and only Peter standing there, Blossom beside him. A frowned marred Peter's face as he glanced between us, not entirely understanding the new relationship.

Carmen smirks at me and I raise an eyebrow at her in return. "They just started dating Petey, aren't you happy for them?" She asked in a sickening-sweet voice, making Lawrence snort beside me. If Carmen figured out what was going on she was doing a swell job in helping that department.

Peter's lips pursed for a few moments, shaking his head as if getting thoughts out. "Yeah, congrats you guys!" He smiled softly at us, looking genuinely happy. It made my heart squeeze a little bit, but I kept my posture as I leaned into Lawrence to make it seem more real. Lawrence tensed a little bit but relaxed, tightening his hold on me.

"You look cute together," Blossom told us sweetly, making me smile at her. There was nothing wrong with her, she was a delight, it was the fact she was with Peter the day before I decided I was gonna tell him my feelings. I was a little resentful against her for no reason, and that was perfectly okay. I was only human and my feelings were valid. I just hoped that one day I'd be able to talk to her without feeling my chest pull and tug. "We should have a double date sometime!" Blossom beamed, turning to face Peter with a pleading look.

Carmen snickered at that idea. "In that case make it a triple and I'll drag Wes with me."

Blossom didn't hear the sarcasm behind that and grinned, "that could be fun! I could get to know your friends, Petey," she gave him the extra puppy dog eyes for good measure. I couldn't tell if she was faking it or not.

Peter watched her for a few moments before he sighed, looking defeated at her look. "Fine, you guys cool with that?" He glanced at us, not looking entirely comfortable with the idea - but not wanting to say no either.

Lawrence glanced down at me, as if gauging my reaction to this. I just shrugged, not having any objection towards it. It might help, in a since, if we go along with it - and I had been meaning to get to know Carmen's boyfriend more. He was just normally busy and we didn't run in the same social circles. "Maybe this weekend we can get together?" I suggested, looking around the group for consensus.

"I'm down, just gotta let Wes know we have a triple date. He'll be over joyed!" Carmen grinned at the aspect, looking more amused by the minute. I just glared at her and she smirked at me, unperturbed. Yeah she definitely figured out what was going on, and I was about to get an earful tonight on the phone. Or she'd invite herself over to my house and we'd have a lengthy interrogation over how this plot occurred, in which I will automatically throw Lawrence under the bus.

"Great! This will be so much fun!" Blossom clapped excitedly, looking like a little kid. I have to admit I can see why Peter liked her. She had a very bubbly personality that drew you in almost like a magnet. Probably stems from the fact of who her parents were.

I just gave her a pained smile, hoping that it didn't look as bad as I thought it did. Carmen was giving me a look of sympathy, and Lawrence squeezed my shoulders in comfort. The fact that Peter didn't know how much this was hurting me hurt more than him actually having a new girlfriend. It was like he couldn't see my pain, or he saw it but chose to ignore it instead of asking what was wrong.

As if the bell could feel the awkward in the air it finally rang for us to go to our next class. "That went well..." Lawrence commented dryly as Blossom dragged Peter away to their class.

"You two aren't really dating, are you?" Carmen accused, pointing her finger at us.

"We could be!" I protested, mock-offended. She gave me a knowing look, which made me deflate, "no. We're not actually dating."

"How'd you figure it out so fast?" Lawrence asked, impressed.

Carmen grinned knowingly. "I know Lenny," she smirked, making me scoff at her. "There's no way she got over Peter that quick. Especially not with you." She teased, laughing when Lawrence scowled at that. "If it helps you guys are very convincing." She added afterwards with a shrug. "Though I hope you know what you're doing," she stated, looking at me pointedly.

"I know what I'm doing," I nodded my head, though the butterflies in my stomach told me otherwise. I had no idea what I was doing. I knew this could fail, and I knew that I could possibly get even more hurt by doing this. Part of me knew I was using Lawrence as a way to get over Peter, and I was a little ashamed of that. Another part of me wanted Peter's attention too much to care. It wasn't like we would get to a sexual stage of the relationship.

I'd never let that happen.

I'd never get to the point where I felt like I had to sleep with Lawrence in order to get back at Peter. Peter didn't deserve that. Does he deserve this? I didn't know. But what I did know was I needed to get myself out there and have fun. Not wait for Peter to come to his senses so we could finally be together. In the long run this was better for myself and him.

Though I had to wonder when it would come to a crashing halt. 

AN: Dedicated to the wonderful @Shreya_VA for the beautiful cover she made me <3