This weekend wasn’t supposed to be about falling for the guy. Far from it. They were doing this together as a team.
She grabbed a pair of pajamas and pulled them on. Then she tied her hair in the towel in hopes of drying it quickly.
Caleb wasn’t hers to want or to even consider. They were from two different worlds. He was spending his time trying to convince his parents they were together as an actual couple. There was no way this would ever work between them. It was so stupid to think about.
But a small part of her couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to actually be with him. To have his kisses all to herself. For the partying to stop, and for her to be completely devoted to him.
No, it wasn’t going to happen. Not in a million years.
She wrinkled her nose. She really needed to get her head on straight, survive the weekend, and just make it out alive without his family hating her.
Chapter Seven
Downstairs in the sitting room, Caleb sat with Lauren pressed up against him. Everyone was dressed in pajamas or robes. Uncles, aunts, friends. They were all there. She felt so good next to him. With his family, he could touch her without question.
“Does your family play games often?” Lauren asked.
“Not that I’m aware of.” He didn’t like how nervous he felt. This was new. His parents’ insistence about a game seemed odd.
“So, as I’m sure you’re all wondering what the hell this is about, and don’t worry or stress out, this is all going to be over soon. Lou and I, we’ve concocted a little game. We’ve spent all year preparing for it, and we’re hoping you’re going to enjoy it.” His father smiled as he looked around the room.
Caleb didn’t like this.
“Cassie, William, you two are going to go first. You’ve got ten questions. You don’t answer them for yourself, you answer for your partner,” Louise said.
“He’s doing this on purpose,” he said, whispering.
“William, you will go first in answering,” Timothy said.
“Shoot.” William got to his feet and Cassie was given the questions.
He really didn’t like this son of a bitch and now the rest of his family was going to know what it meant as well.
“You have to wait. Cassie is given the ten questions she’s going to ask you, and she has to write down her answers,” Timothy said. “We can’t have anyone cheating now, can we?”
Caleb ran a hand down his face. This was bad.
After a few minutes and his mother poured them all a drink, he just knew deep down he was fucked.
“Are we ready?” Timothy asked. “Cassie, you picked some easy ones here.”
“I know, but come on, there are some hard ones as well.” Cassie winked.
“No touching,” Louise said. “This is our game and we’re not going to have you feeding each other the answers.”
“You guys really took all year to figure this game out?” Caleb asked.
“Yes, and we needed to figure out the questions.”
His parents always found a way to pass the time together and now, he was fucking nervous. He had no doubt his parents were doing this on purpose or had been planning this for some time just to humiliate him. He hadn’t anticipated this. His head wasn’t exactly in the game when it came to Lauren. All of this pretend stuff was getting to him.
Cassie fired off the questions.
“What’s my favorite color?”
“Blue.”
His father had a buzzer which gave a nice little ping. Caleb didn’t even know if they were the right answers or not.
“What’s my favorite animal?”
“You don’t have a favorite but you want a dog.”
Another ping.
“What do I hate most?”
“The fact Caleb doesn’t believe my love for you is genuine.”
“Where do I love to travel to?”
“England.”
“What’s my favorite memory?”
“Of the day I proposed.”
“Why?”
William smiled. “You were having a shitty day. You’d lost a lot of patients and I came out of school, saw you, got down on one knee, and asked you to marry me.”
“What is the worst day of my life?”
“The day you lost your virginity. It was in the back of the car and you always hated it. Shit, I wasn’t supposed to say that.” William covered his mouth.
“I’ll give you that, it’s what she wrote and I’m starting to see an error in this game,” Timothy said, wrinkling his nose.
Lauren chuckled and he couldn’t help but kiss her head.
“What’s my favorite movie?”
“You don’t have one.”
“What part of my body do I hate being tickled?”
“Your feet. It drives you nuts.”
“What would I love more than anything in the world?”
“For me and Caleb to not fight anymore and for him to accept that I love you for you.”
The final bell rang.
Cassie and William laughed and he had to watch them embrace. Now he felt sick.
“Well, what score did they get?” Caleb asked.