“If I was to do this - and I’m not saying that I will,” Ashley started, making very sure Connor knew she wasn’t agreeing yet . “Could I do your PR for this?” It was definitely a weird request and Ashley rushed in to add, “That’s what I’m studying. I’m a few months away from finishing my Master’s in Public Relations and this, well, this would make for a pretty great final thesis.”
Well, it really would . And Connor was hardly unattractive, Ashley could do worse for a college project and a fake boyfriend.
Connor didn’t answer at once. Ashley had to give him credit that at least he didn’t seem desperate, willing to promise her anything just to get her to agree. “We’d have to talk to the team about that,” he finally said. “I can’t really give away bits of Scott’s job without at least asking him first. I’ve got no objections, though.” He gave Ashley a smile, like he trusted her already, which was flattering, if not very wise.
“I can step out and give them a call now?” Connor suggested, and then glanced down at his half-eaten pile of blueberry pancakes. “Well, in a few minutes,” he amended. “If Scott says you can do the PR, what else do we need to talk about before you make a decision?”
Ashley let Connor eat as she thought about his question. If she was actually going to do this - and that was still a big if - there’d definitely need to be some set... rules, she supposed. “We’d need to figure out some sort of relationship history,” she commented. “How long have we dated? How did we meet?” That one was pretty obvious actually. “Here, we would’ve met here. Keep things as close to the truth as possible.”
“It’d have to be longer than... a few weeks, otherwise none of the Ashleys currently trying to get in touch will believe you haven’t just chosen badly .” Which obviously Connor had done, but Ashley felt they could very easily work around that. “How often would we need to see each other? Would I be required to attend your games? I should. What about public engagements, do you even have those?” Ashley really wasn’t sure how that side of hockey worked (or frankly, any side). “I’m going to have to learn the rules of hockey.”
There were a lot of other questions Ashley had, but she did pause to let Connor get a word in edgewise.
“You don’t even know the rules?” Connor asked, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. “It’s not complicated. I can explain it over lunch or something before you come to a game.”
He paused, tongue darting out over his lip to collect a crumb of pastry. “You answered most of your own questions,” he teased, “but yeah, we have some public events. There’s a fan tour,” Connor he listed, “but you wouldn’t have to come to that. People don’t usually bring their girlfriends, because it’s just not much fun for them. Lots of signing autographs and answering questions, giving out free t-shirts…” He shrugged, and his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. It made Ashley wonder whether he found it fun.
“Next month we’ve got a big fund-raising gala type thing,” he went on to explain. “It’s a different charity every year. We get dressed up, eat fancy food, talk hockey with a bunch of people who are likely to donate to whatever the cause is. There’s some dancing.” He looked at Ashley, narrowing his blue eyes slightly. “Can you dance?”
“Yeah, I can dance,” Ashley nodded. She couldn’t say she’d been to a gala before but she had taken formal dancing as a kid, so she could hold her own.
The question was, was she really going to do this ? Some random guy comes into the diner she works in and asks her to be his pretend girlfriend? More than that, his pretend soulmate. “Who would know? Like that this isn’t real ?” Ashley asked, the thought really only now occurring her.
“My mom,” Connor answered, without even pausing for breath. “And my sister. Scott, he’s the Howler’s PR.” He paused, swirling his straw slowly in his milkshake while he considered. “Probably the Howler’s coach. He’s pretty concerned about the whole situation, I think he’d feel better knowing I wasn’t outing a real relationship that I’d been trying to keep private.”
It surprised Ashley that none of the people Connor listed were his team, but who was she to question it? Except, Ashley supposed, she was his fake girlfriend. It did make her think, dates or not, they’d have to at least appear like they knew each other well.
“Why not your team?” She asked because Ashley wanted to know. And yeah, maybe it was also a bit of a test to see how honest Connor was with his answer. They didn’t know each other and Ashley felt that if they were going to lie to people together, they should be honest with each other.
Connor didn’t reply immediately, though he opened his mouth once or twice, as if he was about to say something. Finally, he sighed. “Seriously, I just don’t want to put up with the shit they’ll give me,” he admitted. “I love them, and they’d get it, but they’d still tease me endlessly.” He shrugged.
“On top of that, it just seems like the fewer people know, the smaller the chance it’ll get out. No one on the team will feel betrayed if they find out I was lying. Mom would, so I have to tell her the truth.”
That was a good answer, in Ashley’s opinion anyway. It certainly didn’t imply that she should say no to this ridiculous idea straight out. There was also something just nice in having Connor say he couldn’t and wouldn’t lie to his mom. Ashley had always been close to her parents, so she liked that. Given, if they would go ahead with this, Ashley had no intention of telling her parents the truth. It’d be easier to just say she wasn’t sure if Connor was her true soulmate. Her parents certainly would be fine with it.
“So what is it that you actually would want me to do? I don’t have to move in with you or something, do I?” Because that’d definitely be a no-no, Ashley’s cat wouldn’t like that.
Connor’s eyes widened as he shook his head. “Fuck no, I’m not ready for a girlfriend I live with . Even a pretend one.” He finished his pie, pushing the plate back towards Ashley with a smile. “We don’t have to say we’ve been dating that long. It can be a few months. Long enough that it’s not brand new, not so long we’re looking at apartments together.”
That didn’t really answer Ashley’s question of what she would have to do, but Connor carried on. “I guess… come to games, be seen around with me. Holding hands, that kind of thing. We don’t have to make out for the cameras. Some of the guys do, but just as many don’t.”
“Okay,” Ashley said before she could think better of it. There weren’t any glaring reasons to say no. Apart from how this was definitely one of the strangest things to happen to her. Still, it would make such a good research project and if Ashley spun this the right way? She could probably make it look pretty good on her CV. Working PR for an NHL team would get her far.
Taking the now empty plate, Ashley took it through to the back, giving herself a small moment to think all of this through. Frankly, she figured, even if this did come out for what it truly was, Ashley couldn’t see how she would lose out. Not that there was really any way it would. They could just say that it turned out they weren’t soulmates. It happened plenty, especially for people with names as common as theirs.
When she returned, Ashley gave Connor a look. “Alright, so what next?”
It seemed to take Connor a moment to realize she was agreeing . When he did, Connor gave her a brilliant smile, making him look almost a different person than he had when he’d come in. “I guess now I ask Scott whether he’s willing to let you handle the PR on this. Maybe the team can treat it like an internship, make it seem a bit more respectable?” The uncertain tone made Ashley realize that Connor knew as much about PR as she did about hockey. Well, they were probably both going to learn something, if nothing else.
“Who would you want to know the truth?” he asked. “That seems like the first thing Scott’s going to ask me.” He paused, clearly suppressing a chuckle. “Or second, after how I know you’re not a lunatic fan.”
“No one,” Ashley shook her head. “No one I know is going to think it weird that I have a new boyfriend
, even if our soulmarks match.” It was true, really. Ashley’s parents probably wouldn’t even find out since they didn’t follow sports or gossip therein, and her friends would just... not mind. It seemed a lot easier than explaining that she’d agreed to fake date a complete stranger.
Connor looked briefly surprised, but after a moment he nodded. “Alright, that’s fair. Are there any events you want me to come to, or will it be less weird if we keep out of your life as much as we can?” He frowned slightly, and Ashley wondered if the weirdness of the suggestion was just hitting him now .
If so, he didn’t back down, instead pulling his phone from his jacket pocket, unlocking it and offering it to Ashley. “You’d better give me your number,” he said, lightly. “Otherwise I won’t be able to call you for dates.”
Taking the phone, Ashley shook her head. “You’re welcome to come to whatever stuff with me, but honestly, I don’t get up to much. Mostly studying and working, an occasional party here or there.” Truthfully, Ashley couldn’t even think of anything that she had planned, which probably made her sound pretty lame. Studying did keep her busy and that was hardly embarrassing.
“I can come to a party,” Connor agreed, with a grin. “I’m not much help at studying, and I guess your boss would prefer I didn’t hang around here all the time. Not to mention, that’s probably weird .”
It would be weird, but Ashley was pretty sure her boss would love having one of Madison Howlers hang out at the diner. Not that Ashley planned to tell either Connor or Warren that was an option.
Once she’d saved her number in Connor’s phone, Ashley turned the camera on before taking a selfie of herself smiling widely. “Best make that your lock screen image,” she advised. “We’re probably going to need more. Have you got an Instagram?”
Taking his phone back, and ignoring the many notification alerts, Connor swiped through to set a new lock screen, then to his Instagram. “It’s mostly pictures of the Howlers,” he said, unapologetically, “and whatever Scott schedules for me to post. Is this the kind of thing you study, then? How to get followers and do all the hashtags properly?”
“Not exactly, but yeah we did have a class on that.” There were a lot more things, but Ashley couldn’t deny that figuring out how social media could be utilized was a pretty significant part of a PR job.
It seemed pretty obvious to Ashley that if they were going to do this - and apparently they were - she was going to have to be the one who made sure they did this right. That, to be fair, suited her well. Ashley enjoyed taking the lead on things, though she did recognize that you couldn’t just lead a relationship, even a fake one.
“Have whoever does your PR - Scott? - put out a press release that you have found your soulmate. It’s nice and flattering to have so many people step forward but none of them are the Ashley,” she listed, before fetching a piece of paper to write it all out as bullet points. Maybe she could include this in her essay, too.
Handing the list of immediate actions to Connor, Ashley gave him a wide smile. “Pick me up at six? My address is on the paper.”
Glancing down, Connor read over what Ashley had written, tapping a finger idly against her address. When he looked up, he raised an eyebrow at her. “Is our date going to be this efficient?”
The frown on Ashley’s face clearly rushed Connor to add that he didn’t mind. Being efficient was just the way Ashley was . She liked planning things, having plans and a clear idea of things. It was on the tip of her tongue to say that if Connor wasn’t okay with that, this wouldn’t work out. Except he didn’t say that.
“I usually have to do all the work on dates, deciding where to go, and where there won’t be too many journalists.” He smiled like a thought was just occurring to him. “We can go somewhere that’s actually cool !”
The ease with which Connor said it’d be nice for someone else to decide was... surprising. Ashley was so used to guys telling her she was too bossy or too organized that it genuinely was novel to find someone who didn’t straight away tell her that. It felt... kind of nice, really.
“What’s cool?” She asked suspiciously. Maybe Ashley should’ve asked about Connor’s date ideas first.
“There’s supposedly a bar that’s got ping pong tables,” Connor answered, “and they make a Bloody Mary using their own brand of hot sauce. All the reviews say it’s incredible. The team keep saying we’ll all go down there one night, but it hasn’t happened yet.”
As if he felt he had to justify that, Connor added. “We usually only all go out together after games, and then we’ve got our traditions. We can’t just mix it up and go somewhere new - we might ruin the luck!”
Ashley took a moment before she responded to that, mostly because... if she had had to write a response she imagined a professional athlete to give to ‘what is cool to you’, it’d be that. Drinking spicy drinks that he normally didn’t get to. Not that Ashley had expected the answer to be a museum or anything, but still. A bar wasn’t what she had been aiming for but it’d serve its purpose.
“Alright, I guess we’ll go drink spicy Bloody Maries.” There was no reason for them not to and Ashley kind of caught herself thinking that she wanted to see Connor do something he liked. It was boding well for the fake-dating (which she probably needed to start thinking of as actual dating in her head).
“Great!” Connor said, grinning like he was genuinely excited about the prospect. Once he’d paid for his meal, he did sober a little. “Thank you, for agreeing to do this,” he said. “I know you’ll be getting something out of it, too, but it’s still a lot of hassle to go through for a stranger. I don’t want you to think I don’t appreciate it.”
Ashley was a little surprised by how honest Connor sounded, but then, she also hadn’t really looked up just how much damage the revelation of his soulmark had done on the internet. Not that having a name as generic as ‘Ashley’ should really matter (but perhaps it made it worse because it invited everyone called Ashley to throw themselves at him).
“Make a list,” Ashley told Connor before he could leave. “Make a list of things you’d expect to know about a girlfriend after three months of dating and I’ll just... tell you. If we’re going to make this seem plausible, we’re going to have to get to know each other.”
It was going to be interesting and honestly, right now Ashley didn’t have a lot of interesting things going on, so why not ?
She did somewhat suspect that that was also what a lot of terrible things started with - the sort of confidently asked ‘why not?’.
Chapter Three
Scott had been surprisingly willing to take Ashley on as a sort of unofficial intern. It suggested, at least to Connor, that his idea of a fake girlfriend must’ve been a good one. His mom had been excited, too, especially since Ashley’s soulmark matched his name. Maisy had been less certain, but she had approved of Ashley’s suggestion that Connor made a list of things he thought he’d know about a girlfriend after three months.
Connor had started with basic things - favorite food, favorite movie - before realizing it was unlikely a reporter would ever think to ask him about those. He tried to remember what he’d known about girlfriends he’d actually been with for three months. It wasn’t something that had happened recently. Connor liked dates, what he didn’t like were all the complications . Most girlfriends tended to get complicated before three months, at least in Connor’s experience.
This would be different. Connor had spent half the afternoon swiping through notifications on twitter, changing his settings so that people couldn’t contact him unless he actually knew them. He’d become more and more convinced that telling people he already had a girlfriend was the best way to go. It would get the pressure off him, and off Scott, without making thousands of fans feel like he’d jilted them. Besides, Ashley seemed cool, and she was walking into this with her eyes open. Connor felt a lot better about that than he would about dating someone who thought he genuinely wanted her to be his soulmate.
He
had to admit, walking into the bar with Ashley on his arm had felt pretty fucking good. She looked gorgeous out of her waitress uniform, with her hair falling loose to her shoulders. People definitely stopped and noticed them when they walked in. Connor had booked them a table near the bar. They’d covered a lot of the basics over their first glasses of Bloody Mary - names and ages of siblings, where they’d both grown up.
As their second drinks arrived, Connor asked, “How do you like to celebrate birthdays?” It was something that had definitely tripped him up with women before. “As in,” he clarified, “what do you actually want, not just what do you tell people you want. It’s no good you telling me you don’t want a big fuss if you actually do.”
“Why would I tell people something different from how I actually want to celebrate my birthday?” Ashley asked with a frown. “Anyway, I actually do like my birthdays and I like a fuss,” she answered not giving Connor an opportunity to answer her question first. Ashley reached to take another sip of her Bloody Mary and scrunched her nose up the same way she had done every single time before. Yet, she had also ordered it again , so Connor didn’t think she hated it.
His eyes followed her fingers as they tugged a strand of stray hair behind her ear. “Last year my friends organized a Murder Mystery for my birthday, that was pretty fun until it turned out that I was the victim.”
“So, what, you just had to lie there pretending to be dead, while they did all the solving?” Connor asked, frowning so hard he could feel his brow wrinkling. “That sounds shit .” Connor wasn’t really sure how a for-fun Murder Mystery worked, but he wouldn’t have thought you even needed a real person to play the body. “Did you get up and haunt them, and give them terrible clues about what had actually happened? That’s what I would’ve done.”
“I was allowed to walk around and give bad clues,” Ashley nodded. “But I think I still would’ve preferred to be alive for my own birthday party.” That seemed like a fair enough wish and not quite what Connor had thought of when he’d said ‘fuss’.
Game Plan Page 3