cat and mouse
Summary: Garrett and Hannah are dating or are they? As Garrett's feelings for you grow, his fake dating with Hannah, your roommate gets in his way of getting the girl.
Ahead: Garrett Graham x reader, fluff, angst, kind of enemies to lovers but Garrett is into the whole time and you're not into it because of Hannah, Hannah playing cupid
Garrett Graham was never someone on your radar. This was a shocking statement coming from a Briar U female student, but you were a bit of a trailblazer in your own way. As a music major, you and the popular meathead rarely ran in the same circles. You had no reason to care about Garrett Graham until the night everything changed.
Allie was determined to add a little spice to her life; as a result, she dragged your whole friend group to a nearby party. Hannah only agreed when Allie mentioned the attendance of her longtime crush, Justin. As for yourself, you just didn’t want to be left alone in the dorm while your best friends partied.
Live music blared from a nearby stage and drunk college students stumbled around. You stood with Hannah, awkward and a bit too shy for this crowd. Allie danced with Sean (more like around Sean, who behaved like a white piece of bread) while you watched.
“I’m going to grab a drink.” You called over the music.
Hannah nodded in acknowledgement, her eyes tracking none other than Justin from across the area.
You laughed and shook your head at her blatant admiration of the guy and headed for the refreshments. As you grabbed a can of hard seltzer you felt someone bump into your back, the can slipping from your hand and hitting the ground with a thud.
“Shit!” You screeched as the can exploded, sending the fizzy drink in all directions. You jumped backwards and looked up, Garrett Graham’s large stature towering over you with wide eyes.
“Aw man,” Garrett grunted, pulling you back by your arm and away from the spray of the alcoholic beverage. He looked at your face, a look of something unknown falling over his face. “I, uh. Sorry. That was my bad.”
You rolled your eyes, reaching for a new hard seltzer. “Whatever, Graham.” You began to walk away.
Garrett raised an eyebrow, practically on your heels. “Do we know each other?” He was trying to place your name. Surely he would have recognized a face like yours but was failing to place you in his memory.
You shook your head, shrugging. “Not really.”
Garrett let out a breathy laugh at that. “Not really?”
“We have a class together.” You stated, refusing to look at those puppy dog eyes as he follows you. You wish you could shake him off, but his long stride made it nearly impossible.
“Are you sure?” Garrett asked, turning on the charm as he cut you off by slipping in front of your path. “I would have remembered you.”
You prayed the darkness was enough to hide the flush on your cheeks. “I think you’re busy in that class, Graham.”
Garrett grinned, provoking you to continue. “With?”
“That one blonde. What’s her name? Lindsey? Lauren? Not sure, but you sure know each other well.” You patted his chest, leaving him a bit speechless.
You took the moment to disappear into the crowd, ducking and hiding like a small prey animal and Garrett Graham was the big bad wolf. By the time Garrett looked back, you were gone.
“Fuck.” He muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. He wondered if you meant what he was thinking. You finger a sorority girl in the back of your chemistry class one time and somehow a hot girl at a party holds it against you? What were the odds?
As he searches the crowd for you, he catches sight of his original project. Hannah Wells and her perfect philosophy scores. She’s headed for Justin, a pretentious douchebag in his opinion but Hannah’s crush. He watched Hannah striking out, cringing at her awkward attempt at banter before stepping in.
“So,” You spoke, a crease between your brow in confusion. “You and Graham are what? Dating?”
Hannah held up her hands. “No, no, no!” She takes a breath, trying to find the right words. “We’re…friendly.”
“Friendly?” Your brow pops up. “You? Hannah Wells? You’re friendly with a guy who isn’t your boyfriend.”
Hannah shrugged, avoiding your prying eyes. “It’s no big deal.”
You stared at Hannah, trying to put the puzzle pieces together. “Don’t you like Justin?”
Hannah nodded. “Yeah, but I can like more than one guy, right?”
You shrugged. Of course she could like more than one guy, but this was Hannah. Hannah the hopeless romantic who loved classical music. Hannah who was a bit shy and happy to stand back and watch others have fun. While it wasn’t wrong, it wasn’t the Hannah you knew. Regardless, you were a supportive friend and left things there.
Garrett started popping up more and more in the coming weeks. Despite his apparent relationship with Hannah, he was an obvious flirt towards you. As soon as he saw you, his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.
“Well, well, well,” Garrett smirked as he plopped in your booth at Malone’s. You were on your break, trying to catch up on schoolwork and scarf down some food before you ran out of time. “Who do we have here?”
You raised a brow at him, a bite of a turkey club half chewed in your mouth. “Hannah is behind the counter.”
Garrett glanced at the brunette but didn’t get up. “Yeah, I saw.”
This really confused you. You swallowed your bite and cocked your head. “What are you up to, Graham?”
Garrett seemed taken aback by your question, not used to hostility from girls. “Just trying to talk to a beautiful girl.”
You rolled your eyes, fighting off the flush in your face. You leaned forward, your voice low and menacing. “You’re seeing my friend, Graham. I’m not into you and you’re a slimy dickhead if you thought I would be.” With that, you snapped your laptop shut and left the booth.
Garrett sat there, sighing deeply. That was not how he wanted that to go. Whenever he ran into you he tried to talk to you, even just casually. Your rejection was always instant. You would ignore him or seek out Hannah to take the attention off of you.
“Don’t you want to hang out with your girlfriend, Graham?” You would hiss, saying the word girlfriend like it was a threat.
Little did you know, it was all a facade. A facade brought on by the fulfilling of mutual needs. Garrett needed to pass philosophy and Hannah needed to get Justin’s attention. This brought about the fake dating scenario Garrett was currently in. With that, you were fully in the belief that Garrett was dating your best friend, and strictly off limits.
“She fucking hates me.” Garrett proclaimed as he flopped down on his bed, hand over his eyes.
Hannah flipped through her notes, not bothering to look up as he complained about the same thing he always did. “You don’t really make for a sympathetic character.”
Garrett looked up at her, clearly annoyed. “What does that mean?”
Hannah peered up from her notes. “You’re too much. Not only are you “dating” her best friend, but you’re a shameless flirt. How is she supposed to talk to you? Get to know you?”
Garrett pondered her statement, sitting up and placing his hands on his knees. “You’re the genius between the two of us, Wellsy. Tell me what to do.”
That night you headed to Allie’s Drunk Shakespeare performance with Hannah.
“You should give Garrett a chance.” Hannah remarked as you wandered around before the performance began.
Your eyebrows creased, confused. “You want me to give Graham a chance?”
Hannah nodded, holding your shoulders and forcing you to look into her blue eyes. “He’s obsessed with you.”
You blinked at Hannah, scoffing. “What?”
“Yeah. Completely obsessed. He talks about you all the time. Everything is about you, how much you hate him, what he can do to fix it. Please just put me out of my misery.” She begged, sounding completely insane.
You held her forearms, “He’s your boyfriend.”
Hannah let out a cackle. “Absolutely not.”
“What are you talking about? You’ve been-”
“We’ve been playing everyone,” Hannah sputtered out. “I needed to get Justin’s attention and he needed to pass a class. One thing led to another and we were using each other to meet our goals. Even worse, somehow Garrett got more and more into you. He likes you even when you’re mean.”
You said nothing, letting all this new information sink in. You let go of Hannah’s arms and backed away. Your frown was persistent and unwavering, refusing Hannah’s eyes and ignoring her calling your name as headed for the door.
Garrett: So you told her?
Hannah: Yup
Garrett: And she took it…badly?
Hannah: Not sure. She just left and said nothing.
Garrett: That’s not a great reaction
Hannah: Nope.
Garrett made his way to the dorm you shared with Allie and Hannah. He has to do it. He has to make you understand. There was no going back. This was a championship game in the last few seconds. He has to make the goal.
He rapped his knuckles on the door repeatedly, forcing anyone inside to acknowledge him. As he raised his hand to continue knocking, the door swung open. You stood there, wearing nothing but a tiny workout set and your hair in a messy ponytail.
You rolled your eyes when you saw him. “What do you want, Graham? Hannah isn’t here.”
Garrett pushed his way into the dorm, ignoring your scoffing and muttering about his rudeness.
“I need to talk to you.” Garrett stated. You crossed your arms in a way that screamed defiance. Garrett sighed, taking a different approach. “Please talk to me.”
You bit your lip, letting your arms drop in surrender. You sat on the couch, patting the spot next to you. “Talk.”
Garrett sat down, his large hands clasped in front of him. “I like you, but I think you know that.”
You said nothing, just biting your lip. You wanted to see how this played out.
“I know you probably felt blind sighted by Hannah and I’s fake relationship. I never meant for it to spiral out of control like that.” Garrett mustered more courage. “I’ve liked you since I met you at the party.”
“You didn’t even know me.” You whispered, looking down at your own hands.
Garrett couldn’t deny this, “Yeah, but you were worth getting to know. Even if this ends with you kicking me out on my ass, I’m glad I got the chance to know you. Your wit and dry humor. Your hatred of chemistry. All of it.”
You peered up at Garrett, only to find him already looking at you, searching your face for any hint of the feelings he had. You just stared back, unsure of what to say.
Garrett cleared his throat. “I don’t want to make you feel forced to feel the same way. I’ll leave you to think.” He stood, heading towards the door.
Your hand shot out, grabbing the sleeve of his jacket and making him freeze. You stood, your hand traveling up to his perfect shoulders. Your eyes shined with something that he had only dreamt about seeing, desire. “I-”
Garrett didn’t give you a chance to speak. His giant hands held your cheeks as his lips slotted against your own. The kiss was frantic and explosive like the hard seltzer the day you met. Your nail dug into his jacket like he might disappear and his own gripped you like you were made of glass. Your knees hit that couch, making you drop down with a thump followed by Garrett. You laid across the plush cushions with his burly frame over your own.
“Is this okay?” Garrett asked, not wanting to scare you away when he just got you to tolerate him.
You didn’t respond, just hooking your leg over his hips and pulling him closer. Your lips found his again. A shutter ran through your body as his calloused thumb ran across the exposed skin of your hip.
“Holy shit!” Allie shouted as she walked in to find the two of you practically hooking up on their shared couch. She shielded her eyes, “You have a room you know!”
The two of you pulled away slightly, not a hint of shame of either of your faces.
“She’s right,” You said, running your lips over the shell of Garrett’s ear. “I do have a room.”
Garrett grinned, scooping you up so quickly you let out a gasp and laughed in shock. “Great idea.”
