Page 12 of Pretend You're Mine
There was a pause, in which I absentmindedly twirled my hair waiting for him to answer me. What if he had the balls to refuse?
But then he said, “I’ve never been to a church bazaar before. Anything I should know or expect?”
“Just don’t dress like a bum and you should be fine.”
Xander swore under his breath. “Guess I’ll have to go shopping then.”
A surprised bark of laughter bubbled up from my chest. Most of the assholes I’d met never seemed to have a decent sense of humor. Apparently Xander was funnier than I gave him credit for.
“You okay with me driving?” he said.
“Sure,” I said. It would just make explaining things to my parents easier.
“Ok, six P.M. tomorrow it is then, my darling wife.”
“Don’t call me that,” I said. “Anyway, tomorrow I’m your girlfriend.”
“How many different stories are we going to be telling people?”
“We can quiz each other in the car. The truth will work mostly, except for the accidental marriage part. We can add in a good date or two.”
“That dinner date we had wasn’t so bad.”
“It wasn’t so good, either.”
A pause, in which he probably wanted to argue, then he said, “Goodnight Naomi.”
“Goodnight Xander.”
It was only once I’d hung up an picked up the remote that I realized how hard my heart was slamming in my chest.
6
Xander
As I drove us to the church, there seemed to be a conspiracy amongst the other drivers to slow us down.
Naomi huffed anxiously in the seat beside me.
“We’ll get there on time,” I said.
Although I was getting less sure of it by the minute. When I’d pulled up to her tall, grey on grey building, I’d figured we had plenty of time. We’d had a whole thirty minutes to get to this church of hers that was only fifteen minutes away.
Though since it was a bazaar and not an actual service, I wasn’t so sure why it was imperative that we be there at a specific time. I decided to ask.
“Is there a reason we have to be there at six sharp?” I queried.
“It only lasts until seven. So there’s no sense in showing up twenty minutes before the thing closes,” she answered.
I should have been glad to find out that the event only lasted an hour, but I wasn’t. And I couldn’t figure out why. There was a selfish benefit for me, of course. The whole ‘I do one for you, you do one for me’ tenet was human nature.
Which basically meant that if I did this, she was more likely to be agreeable at my upcoming family functions. Although with us being late, it looked like the only thing I was going to succeed at was pissing her off.
“So, if my parents ask, please just say you’re agnostic,” she was saying now.
“Sounds easy enough,” I said shortly.
After all, it was true.
“Is there any way…” she began to say.
“No,” I said flatly. “I can’t go any faster. Unless you want me to crash into another car or the median and miss the bazaar entirely.”
That got Naomi quiet, although she didn’t look happy about it.
When we pulled up into the church parking lot, it was as hopping as Costco on a weekend. Nevertheless, I managed to snag us a spot, and we hurried on in.
Inside, the church’s wooden hall was filled with white-clothed tables of baked goods, while its vaulted ceiling tossed about the eager sounds of people buying, paying, and chatting.
My hand tightened on Naomi’s. Maybe it was the overpowering rush of sensation -sights, sounds, and smells- was a little overwhelming. I found that I was actually glad to be here with Naomi. She was obviously kind and thoughtful to have agreed to do this for her parents, and she smelled like lilacs and honey.
And then there was the fact that she was beautiful. I’d known that the first second I’d seen her in the bar, of course – blonde shoulder-sweeping hair, a smile you didn’t see all that often, green inquisitive eyes.
Whatever the reason, I was proud to be standing her beside her, even if it all was a sham.
There was a stray strand of hair making its way around her jawline, and as I reached over to tuck it behind her ear, Naomi looked my way.
“You ready for this?” I said.
Nodding, her smile seemed so genuinely glad, that I found a smile lighting up my own face for a few seconds, before remembering this was all a show.
“Let’s go then,” I said.
Almost immediately, we were waved over to one of the tables where people were sitting. Around it was the well-coiffed blonde man I recognized as Naomi’s brother from the night I’d met her, as well as an older woman and man who had her eyes and nose, respectively.
The man stood up and stuck out his hand. “You must be Naomi’s new boyfriend.”
