Page 27 of Fake It For Love (Faux Love)
“You’re not dorky,” she said.
“But I am very single,” I replied. “If I show up to this wedding with a beautiful woman on my arm, I will feel a lot less dorky. There’s a lot of baggage there. Stuff I’m not going to get into right now. Let’s just say, showing up to my ex-girlfriend’s wedding alone is not exactly my idea of a good time. Especially considering the way that all went down. What does it say about me if I’m still the same guy that can’t get a date? I couldn’t get a date to prom, and Tony and his crew thought that was the funniest thing ever. Then I show up to the wedding dateless? Don’t make me go alone.”
She looked at me with a smile tugging at her lips. “I don’t want to go alone either.”
“Then we can keep the arrangement?” I asked. “We can be fake dating?”
She groaned and buried her face in her hands again. “How do you always catch me at my worst?”
“I guess I’m just lucky,” I said.
“So, we’re going to do this,” she said.
“Yes.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out the ring I had bought at the last minute. It was an idea that came to me after I signed the deal. “Here,” I said.
Her eyes widened and she pushed away from me. “What the hell is that?”
“I know it wasn’t in the contract, but I wanted to take this up a notch,” I said. “I want to make it seem like I’m not just successful in business. I want to be successful in all aspects of my life. At least I want them to think I am.”
“You mean you want Norah to think you are,” she said with a shake of her head. “If you’re still carrying a torch for her, you’re shit out of luck.”
“I’m not carrying a torch for her,” I said. “That ship sailed a long time ago.”
“She knows we’re not engaged,” she said. “Norah is the one person that knows I’m, uh, working while I’m here. She doesn’t know it’s you. Obviously, she can’t know because I didn’t even know. But if you think us pretending we’re engaged is going to make her jealous, that just isn’t going to work.”
“I don’t want to make her jealous,” I said. “This isn’t about her.”
“Then what is it about?” she asked.
“I want people to think I’m involved,” I said. “I guess you could say I would be using you as a shield of sorts.”
“A shield?” she asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“When I got here, the women mobbed me,” I said. “Women that hated me fifteen years ago. The same women that thought I wasn’t worth their time. Now that they see who I am now, they’re all over me. I don’t want their attention.”
She laughed. “Did you ever think the tables would be turned?”
“No,” I said. “Not even close. I never wanted them to be turned. Those girls—women—they are not my type. I don’t want anything to do with anyone that shallow.”
“I don’t blame you,” she said. “Are you still mad at Norah?”
“For dumping me?” I asked with a smile.
“Yes.”
“No.” I shook my head. “It was a long time ago.”
“Why did you agree to come to the wedding?” she asked. “It seems like that would be adding salt to an old wound.”
“It’s not a wound,” I said.
“I think you should be honest with me,” she said. “You obviously have an ulterior motive for coming here. I get why you want to show up at the reunion. You want to flaunt your success.”
“I wouldn’t say flaunt, but I suppose I do want to prove to everyone I’m not the goofy kid dreaming about planes all the time. They always gave me a hard time about my dream of flying. I can’t count the number of times they gave me shit about my desire to fly. I want to prove them all wrong. I want to prove to them all that dreaming paid off. I got my wings.”
She smiled and nodded. “Your dreams must have paid off in a big way.”
“They did,” I said.
