by Zoe Ashton
“I’m Damien by the way. Damien Morgan,” he said and stuck his hand out with professional ease at me. And when he smiled at me again, I knew in that instant that this could actually work.
Chapter 4
Damien
I held onto Mabel’s hand for several seconds before she gingerly pulled it away from me. She was still standing on the treadmill, and we were still the only two people in the gym. The situation was finally beginning to sink in, as we eyed each other suspiciously. It was obvious that she hadn’t expected me to agree to the plan.
“So, what name will I have to adopt?” I said, breaking the awkward silence. She stepped off the treadmill and shrugged her shoulders.
“You can be Damien if you want. I didn’t tell them his name,” she said, and I couldn’t help but stare at her in surprise.
“Two years and you never told them your boyfriend’s name?” I said, and she shook her head.
“No, my excuse was that I didn’t want my sisters spying on him on social media. Which is something that they do,” she replied and rolled her eyes.
“Right,” I said and gulped; the reality of the situation was sinking in. I’d agreed to go away for the weekend with a strange girl, pretending to be her loving boyfriend of two years.
“Just pretend you’re into football; that’s about the only detail that they know about you,” she said as she took a long swig of water from her bottle and I nodded my head. She had started to collect her things and looked like she was about to get going, which put me in a mode of panic. We hadn’t planned anything; she had given me close to no information.
“Wait. Shouldn’t we exchange phone numbers? I could walk you home if you live nearby,” I suggested, and she looked up at me with her large green eyes shining. For the first time, I thought I saw the hint of a smile lingering on her face.
“It might be better if we don’t know much about each other. I don’t expect us to become friends,” she said, tucking in some stray strands of bronze hair behind her ears.
“So, I should look at this as an act of kindness towards a stranger?” I asked, and she finally smiled—a full smile that took over her face. It reached her eyes, and her cheeks flushed, and I couldn’t help but mirror that smile.
“Something like that. I’ll see you at JFK on Friday evening, five. I’ll be at the taxi ranks. You have some time to think about it, and if you don’t turn up, I’ll understand,” she said, and I stared at her. This was happening too fast.
“Okay, sure, but shouldn’t we talk about things a little more?” I said in an attempt to keep her there for some time longer. For some reason, I wanted to keep talking to her.
“It’s a six-hour flight, Damien. We’ll have lots of time to go over things, if necessary. You should decide if you want to go through with it first,” she said and had started to walk backward, away from me towards the gym door.
I shook my head and spread out my arms.
“That’s it?” I said, and she smiled again.
“Friday at five, JFK. I have nothing more to offer other than plane tickets and a weekend at my family home,” she said in a louder voice, and she had a hand on the door. I was desperate for her to stay.
“I’ll see you there!” I called out to her, and she pushed the door open. The last look she gave me was one of disbelief. She was certain that I wasn’t going to turn up. The door swung shut behind her, and I was the last man standing in the gym, not even sure if the last half an hour had actually happened in this reality. Had I completely imagined it? What would have happened if I hadn’t said anything to her?
I sat down on the treadmill, on the one she had been running, and I shook my head in disbelief. Nobody would believe it if I told them. A complete stranger. Well, maybe not a complete stranger since I’d seen her for the past two months. But I knew nothing about her, other than her name and where her parents lived.
Dejectedly, my brain clouded with confusion, I found my way to the locker room. I pulled my phone out of my gym bag and switched it on. I wasn’t expecting the bombardment of missed calls and text messages. They were all from Alice. She’d called me eighteen times and sent me twenty texts.
Why is your phone switched off, Damien?
When are you going to return my calls?
I need to speak to you.
I’m at your apartment right now.
I found panties on the floor. They’re not mine. Whose are they?
Damien, please speak to me. You owe me one truthful conversation.
I didn’t read the others; just deleted them in one go and took in a deep breath. I needed to change the locks on my door. I should have never given her my key. As a rule, I never gave my key to anybody I was sleeping with, but Alice had agreed to feed my fish while I was away last month. This was a mess. I hadn’t expected it to escalate like this and so quickly. I’d only known her for six months, and she’d given me no signs of being possessive or sentimental about sex and casual dating when we first started.
Besides, I always made it very clear with all the girls I dated or slept with that I wasn’t ever looking for anything serious. Another one of my strict rules. It was always up to them to decide if they wanted to go ahead with it after I’d laid my cards bare to them. So, before anything happened between us, Alice knew too that I was not ready for a serious relationship and I never had been before.
Chapter 5
Mabel
I tried to look casual as I stood there at our agreed upon spot. I’d arrived at four thirty and had been standing there, preparing myself for a letdown. I had two plane tickets in my bag, one with Damien’s name on it, but I was also ready with a speech. I would have to tell my family the truth. That was the only way to deal with the situation. I was already guilty of lying to my family for two years, and now I had gone and made an absurd proposition to a guy I didn’t even know. I had willingly invited a stranger to my family home.
As much as I was attracted to Damien, I was secretly hoping that he didn’t actually turn up. Who in their right mind would? Now I would have to find a new gym for myself, I thought.
From the corner of my eye, I saw someone waving, and I jerked my head around to find Damien walking towards me. He was in a pair of dark jeans and a gray t-shirt with a plaid shirt left open over it. I’d never seen him in anything apart from gym clothes before, and just watching him approaching me made my heart stop for a few seconds.
“Didn’t think I’d turn up, did you?” were his first words. His blue eyes were sparkling, and his sandy blond hair was strewn boyishly across his forehead. He had that same flirtatious smile on his face as before, and I bit down on my lip.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” I said, and to my surprise, Damien bent down and picked up my bag off the ground.
“Well, I’m a man of my word. First thing to know about me,” he said and without warning, started walking towards the entrance gates of the airport. I followed him, trying to keep pace; my mind was boggled. I wasn’t prepared for him actually showing up.
“You really don’t have to do this,” I said in a sudden mode of desperation. I had convinced myself, in the past two days, to just tell the truth to my family. Damien stopped suddenly and flipped around to look at me.
“Sounds like you’re trying to talk me out of it. Have you changed your mind, Mabel?” he asked with his eyes narrowing to a squint on my face. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from him; his eyes were hypnotic.
“I wouldn’t have been waiting here for you if I’d changed my mind,” I said, and his face broke into a smile.
“You’re right. Good, let’s go and get on that plane,” he said enthusiastically and started walking again. I watched him like a hawk as I followed him. Firm, athletic, muscular body, a tight small butt and a thin waist. His torso widened as my eyes traveled up, ending in wide rough shoulders. He was carrying both our bags with one hand and had his eyes trained forward. Like he was on a mission. I wished I knew him better so I could figure out what was going thr
ough his mind.
“Mabel,” he said abruptly and turned to look at me again. I hadn’t stopped in time, and our bodies bumped lightly together, and I stepped away from him as though I was burnt.
“Sorry,” I was apologizing profusely while he just stared down at me with a lingering smile on his face.
“You’ve gotta relax,” he said after he’d watched me in silence for a while.
“Yeah, I know. I just want to get it over with,” I said, looking around me nervously.
“I can’t imagine this is easy for you,” he said and cocked his head to the side. Why did his face look like a sculptor had taken a chisel to a piece of marble and carved him out of it? I looked away from him; my cheeks were flushing with embarrassment. This wasn’t a date! This wasn’t about romance.
“Why did you agree to do it?” I blurted the words out, and his eyes narrowed, and he took in a deep breath.
“You’re the one who asked me to do this, and now you’re suspicious of me?” he said, and I gulped. He had a point.
“I’m just curious,” I said, and Damien clenched his jaw.
“Let’s just say I have some things going on in my life and a weekend away with my mind off it will do me good,” he said, and I nodded my head like a diligent pupil.
“Besides, you seem like you could really use my help and I figured I have nothing to lose,” he said and whipped around immediately and started walking. I was back to following him again, trying to calm down the rising wave in my chest. I hadn’t expected it to come to this. This was not how I imagined my life to turn out.
Damien was standing in a queue already, and I rushed to take my place behind him. Neither of us had said a word in several minutes; an awkward silence had descended on us, or at least on me. He seemed rather casual, humming a tune and dragging the bags with his feet as we moved forward in the line.
I remembered that I’d told him we didn’t need to get to know each other, but I couldn’t stop my mind from wondering about him. What his life looked like, what he did for fun apart from going to the gym. How successful he might be professionally. He looked like someone who was happy and content with life. A simple life with no complications. What personal problems could a guy who looked like he did have? Damien Morgan didn’t look like someone who needed imaginary girlfriends; he would never have to lie to his family about his love life.
He turned to look at me suddenly and caught me staring. I looked away from him; my cheeks ruddy with embarrassment.
“Are we going to share a room in your parents’ home?” he asked, and when I looked back at him, he had a wide smile on his face. I hadn’t thought about that.
Chapter 6
Damien
Mabel was sitting beside me, but looking out the window. I stole glances at her, at the way her straight, waist-length bronze hair fell like a beautiful glossy curtain around her face. She had a small delicate face, just like her small pale hands and a long slender neck. This was the first time I had seen her in anything but her usual gym clothes. As it turned out, black was the color of her daily wardrobe too.
She was in a pair of formal looking black straight jeans, and a muted gray silk blouse. Her shoes were conservative black pumps. She looked like she was too formally dressed for a family visit. Her makeup was subtle, and her lips looked natural and pink.
“Let me guess; you work in the fashion industry,” I said, breaking the silence and she finally turned to look at me.
“I suppose you could say that. I’m the assistant to a fashion editor at a magazine,” she replied and tucked some hair behind her ears. Her small teardrop-shaped silver earrings were on display now, and they looked as delicate and gentle as her face.
I nodded my head and smiled, but she only lifted her lips up on the sides.
“You seem nervous,” I said, and Mabel shifted in her seat. We had been on the flight for close to twenty minutes now, and she hadn’t said a word before this.
“I can’t stop wondering if I’m doing the right thing. This is taking the whole lie to a whole new level,” she said, and I reached out and patted her hand on her knee. I drew my hand quickly away when I remembered touching each other was not what this was about. This wasn’t a date. She wasn’t looking for anything more.
“I have to say, I haven’t been invited to meet the parents before,” I said, masking my anxiety with a nervous laugh. Mabel searched my eyes and had her brows crossed.
“Never?” she asked, and I shrugged. The smile I’d been waiting for appeared on her face finally and she was close to a laugh.
“That’s funny?” I asked, and she was laughing.
“No, it’s just that I thought I was the only one,” she replied, and I laughed with her.
“So, we’re both virgins at this,” I added, and she laughed so hard that she snorted. I was glad that she had managed to relax a little.
“So, how many people can I expect to meet?” I asked her when her laughter began to die. Mabel took in a deep breath and half-turned in her seat to face me.
“So, there’s my mom, Shelly, and her husband, my stepfather, Oscar,” Mabel said, counting on her fingers. “Then there’s my older sister, Elsie, and her husband, Adam, and their four-year-old Daphne,” she continued. My mind was already whirring with information.
“Then there’s my middle sister, Linda, and her husband, Justin, and their two-year-old Duke, and my younger sister, Erica, and her new husband, Matthew. They are pregnant and expecting a baby in December,” she finished and settled back down in her chair.
“So, ten people?” I asked, my eyes widening with surprise.
“Yeah, ten,” she said, beginning to enjoy my discomfort.
“I won’t remember any of their names!” I exclaimed, and Mabel was shaking her head.
“You have to. We’ve been together for two years, remember? You would have had a lot of chance to get to know my family by now,” she said in all seriousness. Ten people was not what I’d signed up for. Three, four people maximum was what I was expecting.
“Anything else you want to tell me?” I asked her, and she turned to me with a mocking smile on her face.
“You’ll pick up the rest as you go along. I can list out their professions and where they live if you like,” she said, and I held up my hands defensively.
“No, that’s alright. I need to learn all the names first,” I said and noticed that Mabel was staring at me.
“Erica and Matthew are deciding on baby names at the moment. They’re going to have a boy. Connor or Liam or Henry … I believe those are the options,” she said.
“Stop!” I yelled a little too loudly, and we both ducked down when we realized that some people had turned to look at us.
“No more names!” I said in a mock hush. Mabel giggled; she was beginning to have fun.
“What does your stepfather do? And your mom?” I asked because I wanted to hear her voice again.
“They run a vineyard together,” she replied, and I was impressed.
“That’s rad,” I said, and Mabel burst out laughing again.
“Rad? Who says rad anymore?” she managed to say through her laughter.
I noticed that we were beginning to grow more comfortable in each other’s presence. For complete strangers, who knew next to nothing about each other; we had hit it off very well. I wasn’t sure, though, how long this idyllic state would last. Something about Mabel told me that she didn’t allow herself to have a lot of fun, not for a sustained period of time.
Our arms were grazing as we sat beside each other in the closed space of the aircraft. I got a whiff of the lemon scent of her shampoo, and it made me gulp. I could get used to this, I thought, laughing with Mabel.
We had no strings attached; she was pushing me away while I was trying to draw her close. For some reason, I felt like this was normal, and there was nothing strange about it.
“If my mom tells you the story about how I tried to open up a clothing store when I was twelve, just ignore it,” sh
e said suddenly, and I couldn’t stop myself from laughing again.
“A clothing store at twelve? You have to tell me about this, now,” I said, and Mabel rolled her eyes mockingly.
Chapter 7
Mabel
My mom and stepfather were at the airport when we arrived, and they were holding up posters with my name on it. It was a gag they liked to play every time they came to pick up one of the kids from the airport. The running joke was that we were growing up so fast and they were growing so old that we wouldn’t recognize each other!