Page 20 of The Great Dating Fake Off
Her laugh, a raspy and unrestrained thing, cuts loose. I much prefer it when it’s aimed at, say, an episode of Family Guy instead of me. “Please, Sebastian. You kept looking at each other back in the lobby.”
“I wasn’t doing that. At all.”
“Then why were you so intent on blowing their cover? To figure out if she’s single, that’s why.” She quirks a brow. “You really want to pretend you’re not attracted to her? She’s a nice brunette with a killer body and a pretty face.”
“A lot of people are into hot brunettes,” I grouse. “Including you. Doesn’t mean I’m paying her any attention.”
“Sure you aren’t.”
Alessia studies Nora from across the room. The urge to look—simply because Alessia is—pesters me until I give in. Nora’s whole body shakes as she laughs at something one of the older Italian ladies swarming her must’ve said.
Another lock of hair slips out of her updo. She tucks it behind her ear. My gaze dips down her neck. That dress was made for her. The neckline dips lower at her cleavage like the top of a heart—
That’s enough looking.
My elbow bumps the edge of the bar hard as I try to match Alessia’s casual posture. “She’s cute, I guess.”
Alessia’s eyes dance with amusement as Nora and Benji get corralled into a different conversation about twenty feet away. Nora grabs his hand and lifts it high, like she’s declaring him the winner of a boxing match. “Whatever the opposite of physical chemistry is, that’s what they have. I bet you a hundred bucks they don’t kiss once this week.”
I pivot away from the mental image of those two kissing as my foot taps impatiently.“I’m starving. Drinking really makes me—”
“She’s a big fan of all this, by the way.” Alessia gestures at my chest and arms. “She kept checking you out back in the lobby.”
A slow exhale leaks out of my mouth. “So, you’re saying I should ask her out?”
“Yeah. But not here. When we get home.” She chews her bottom lip. “It’d be embarrassing for me if my boyfriend was caught…you know. With someone else.”
I sigh and nudge her with my shoulder. “Relax, Mazzelli. I didn’t come to this wedding to seduce another woman while my fake girlfriend stands idly by.”
I tied up that particular loose end for a reason.
She flashes me a sneaky smile. “But after the wedding and our very tragic breakup—”
“I’ll be enjoying my last weeks in Great River before I move, getting drunk with you and my grandmother,” I finish.
Her voice is almost a whisper as the room fills up. “But you said Nora is cute. She’s bubbly. You ate that shit up in college, and I just want you to give yourself permission to have fun once in a while like you used to before that menace Kelcey crushed you into a sad little man pulp.”
“Wow,” I grumble. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I feel like she used you, and therefore I’d like to hurt her. I still cannot fathom how she went crawling back to that shitty ex of hers when you were willing to give her everything.”
“Everything” isn’t all that much. Yes, I wanted to marry her, but what do I have to offer? I move across the country for a living. It’s not all that shocking that she left me for another man who could give her the lifestyle she wanted. Though it would’ve been nice if she’d told me before moving out her stuff while I was at work.
In my periphery, Nora and Benji break away from a middle-aged couple across the room.Nora does a double take our way, and her face lights up.
Alessia lifts her hand to beckon them over.“Might as well invite them over for a drink, right? I’ve got to tell them their handholding looks unnatural. She’s holding his wrist, really. They need to interlace fingers or at least clasp hands.”
“Aw, you’re like the opinionated sister they never asked for.”
“Hello, fellow minglers!” Nora exclaims, guiding Benji toward us.
Alessia flicks her wrist, gesturing at the two of them. “Love the clothes. How are we feeling?”
“There are a lot of people here.” Nora releases Benji’s hand and scans the space. “Ro and Enzo are so popular. Meanwhile, I think my entire wedding roster would fit inside a stretch limo.”
Benji’s eyes are glazed, and he’s more visibly relaxed than he was a few hours ago. Seems we aren’t the only ones who pre-gamed.
“You saw my side of the family tree,” he reminds Nora as he tugs at the lapels of his sport coat. “Almost a hundred people, and that’s just our side. Far too many people.”
