The Love Game Read Free

fine.” I give in and sigh. “What do you mean, down to business?”
    “We need to draw up a plan of attack!” She crosses her legs, Indian-style, and bounces twice on the bed.
    “A plan of attack,” I repeat dumbly.
    “Uh, duh! You think we can go into this blind? Oh no, honey.” She shakes her head. “Braden Carter has got more charm than the Irish leprechauns-”
    “Which don't exist.”
    “And that means he's dangerous. You're trying to make him fall in love with you, yet if he lays it on thick you could end up falling in love with him.”
    “There would be no hump and dump, which would defeat the object of Play The Player.” I sigh.
    “Precisely!” She claps once. “So we need to figure out a fool-proof plan that ensures while he's losing his heart, you aren't losing yours. Because that would just be disastrous.”
    “Kay, I don't know.” I sigh again. “Braden Carter doesn't fall in love. If he has a rulebook, that's it, right above the rule that says rules are for losers. I have a month to do this, right? I just don't know how it's possible.”
    “Nothing is impossible if you believe in it enough.”
    “But I don't know if I believe in it.”
    “You will,” she says confidently. “You will.”
    “I hope you're right,” I reply. “Because this is looking like a fail before it's even started.”
    “Knock knock on your cock,” Lila opens the door and Megan follows her in, a large roll of paper and marker pens tucked under her arm.
    “What is that?” I ask, taking it in.
    “Operation Play The Player,” Megan answers, sitting on the floor between our beds. She unrolls the paper, uses two books to hold it flat and writes 'OPTP – Operation Play The Player' at the top of the sheet.
    I shake my head in disbelief. Am I actually doing this? I was under the impression that college meant growing up, but I was wrong. I feel like I'm thirteen again and trying to trick my lifetime crush into admitting he's crushing on me too.
    “Stop shakin' your head.” Lila jumps up on my bed next to me. “It's gonna be okay. You can do this.”
    “You guys do realize that in terms of love and relationships, a month is short, right? And in terms of Braden Carter, a month is a lifetime?” I question. “Who says he won't get bored after a week and go and find one of his floozies to warm his bed?”
    “You have to stop him from doing that,” Megan says softly. “You have to make him never want to leave your side. I give you a week to reel him in, get him interested, and then this is in the bag.”
    “A week?”
    “If you can get him to be by your side in a week, he'll fall in love in three,” she clarifies, uncapping a blue pen. “Stage one. Attachment.” She jots it down on the paper, giving me until next Sunday.
    “Hold up, this isn't even starting until tomorrow!”
    “Wrong.” Kay shakes her head.
    Lila nods in agreement with Kay. “The guys are having a football game in the yard of the frat house later. We're all heading down there.”
    I huff. “Fine. It starts tonight.”
    Megan flashes me a grin, green pen in hand. “Stage two, next week, is Public Appreciation and Attachment.”
    “Which translates to what, in my terms?” I frown.
    “Hand holding, public kissing, exclusivity.”
    I snort. “You guys have a hell of a lot of faith in me, you know.”
    “Stage three, week three,” Kay continues. “Almost Sex and Public Knowledge Relationship.”
    “Everyone will know?”
    “Well, yeah.” Lila raises an eyebrow at me. “Humping and dumping will be so much more satisfying if everyone we know, and then some, knows.”
    “It seems a little... Harsh.”
    “You have to be cruel to be kind, baby girl,” Kay says.
    “They're right,” Megan agrees without looking up from the paper. “I don't much like the idea of hurtin' him, but he needs to sort his head out. If he's this bad five weeks into college, I dread what he's gonna be like in two years. He needs to get a clear message and