The Fake Engagement

All she wanted to do was go home with her besties and forget about the past week. A month of pretending to be something she wasn’t was going to take its toll. There was no getting away from it.

She took a step back. “That’s my ride,” she said.

“Come on,” Juliet said, pulling out some bills and placing them on the table. “We’ll see you out and we’ll let him know that we mean trouble if he hurts you.”

“No, you don’t need to do that,” Eliza said. The last thing she wanted was for her friends to try to make this right. As if she could stop them when they were determined to do whatever they wanted.

She loved her friends so much, but she didn’t need them meddling with her boss. This was all pretend, fake. She and Preston weren’t dating, not even close.

Still, her best friends followed her out. Preston stood by the trunk of the car, and she went to him with her bags.

“This is everything,” she said.

“So, Preston, we expect you treat our girl right,” Juliet said.

“What exactly are your intentions with our girl?” Mackenzie asked.

Eliza groaned. “They’re doing this whole thing where they’re protecting me.”

“They’re being your best friends,” Preston said, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I get it.” He slammed the trunk down.

She wasn’t going to listen to her friends’ line of embarrassing questions. Climbing into the car, she stared straight ahead. “This couldn’t be any more embarrassing.” She thought about it, and actually, if left to her parents, this could be a whole lot worse.

Seconds passed, then minutes.

She screamed when there was a knock on the window, and of course, it was Juliet and Mackenzie.

Preston had left the keys in the ignition, so the car was already running. She pressed the button that rolled down her window.

“All done,” Mackenzie said.

“I hate you guys.”

They each put an arm out, and even though she was sitting, and the cuddle was slightly awkward, the love she had for her friends was absolute.

“Call us every single night if you need to. We’ll always be here,” Juliet said.

“I will, and you’ve got to call me as well. Tell me what is going on with everything and anything. I want all the details. You cannot leave anything out.” Juliet kissed her cheek, then Mackenzie.

They stepped back.

Tears filled her eyes.

This was the first time in her life that she was going away from her best friends. She held her hand up and waved as Preston pulled away from the curb.

She could handle this. She was totally an adult.

Glancing out of the back of the car, she could still see them, so she lifted her hand to say bye. When she could no longer see them, she turned back to face the front. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a tissue.

“Sorry about that. We’ve … this is the first time I’ve been away from them.”

“They are closer to you than any sister,” he said.

“Yep. We kind of made a pact with each other. To always be there, to never fight, that kind of thing. It was something that started out as just a couple of schoolgirls, but it stuck. I would never be without them.”

“And what about boyfriends?” he asked.

“What about them?”

“Any of you dating?”

“If I was dating, I wouldn’t be pretending to be your girlfriend.” She shrugged. “They come and go. Some of them are assholes and don’t last long. We watch each other’s backs no matter what.”

“That’s good. That’s good.”

She glanced over at Preston and actually took him in. Jeans, a white shirt, and she saw the hint of a wife-beater underneath. The suit was gone.

“This is what your parents are expecting?” she asked.

“Going back to my folks is not about impressing them with my thousand-dollar suits.”

“Is that all they cost? A thousand dollars?”

He chuckled. “Come on, Eliza, you and I both know they cost a lot more than that.”

“True, true. You get your amazing PA to go collect them. Still, a suit is a suit, and if you spill red wine or even grease down anything, and they’re stained and ruined just like a fifty-dollar suit.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again.

“I’m going to like this,” she said.

“What?”

“Being able to speak my mind.”

“Don’t even start. So, let’s go over some of the plans right from the top,” he said.

“Are you going to quiz me?” she asked.

“How many siblings do I have?”

“Three brothers and one sister. You do love them dearly.”

“I never added in the last part.”

“I can improvise,” she said.

“Fine. Fine. What do they do?”

“I don’t know?” she asked, turning toward him.

“What?”

“Remember, we agreed that when it came to your brothers, I only know their names. Same with your sister. I don’t need to know anything else.”

“Right, right, of course. That’s what an engaged couple would know.”