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Both of my parents had watched me turn into a shell of myself over the last few years. I stopped reaching out to my old friends because the reminder of my old life hurt too much. I couldn’t go out because the entire city had become one giant reminder of Luke. The only thing I could do was throw myself into my photos and perfect my craft.
When Olivia came into my life, she managed to break down some of those walls I had erected and immediately became my mom’s new favorite person. Olivia would force me out of my apartment and help me recreate some semblance of a social life.
“He would want you to be happy, you know.” My mother squeezed both of my hands, the emotion of the last three years evident on her face.
“I know.”
“You have so much life ahead of you, Maggie.” My father joined our conversation, which made my insides twist. He was not a man of many words, and he avoided any situation that involved feelings, which made this conversation that much more uncomfortable for me. When I had been at the lowest point in my life, I watched him struggle with what to say to make me feel better. Instead, he showed up every other weekend to help clean my apartment, showing he cared in other ways. “You shouldn’t have to stop living just because Luke isn’t here anymore.”
We never had conversations like this after Luke died. I was too distraught to have allowed it, and my parents respected my wishes. But eventually, a conversation like this was bound to happen. I never thought it would be propelled by fake dating Tommy fucking Mikals.
“I know, Dad.”
“We just want you to be happy, sweetheart.”
And honestly, I wanted nothing more than that too.
Maggie
The next day, I was walking out onto the tarmac of a private airport toward the team’s jet. Traveling with the team was one of my favorite perks of being a professional sports photographer. It was never a guarantee that the other team’s media crew would cover the visiting team, so the club sent me and Olivia to every away game.
Chicago was still on the chillier side in April, so I was excited to trade the Midwest weather in for the California sun. The team had a week-long trip up and down the coast of California and I was hoping that we would have some free time for the beach. My body turned as pasty as a sheet of paper in the winter, and I was afraid if I didn’t get any sun, I’d turn translucent.
But those hopes of free time were quickly crushed when I sat down in my seat and checked my phone, only to find an email from Monica waiting for me. She went into extensive detail about a formal event that was happening this week that she expected me and Tommy to attend together. It would be our unofficial “announcement” to the world if we showed up together.
Her words, not mine.
I grabbed a seat toward the back of the plane, away from the players. So I had the perfect view of Tommy as I watched him read the same email. He glanced around once he was done, clearly looking for me. When he glanced over his shoulder toward me, I gave him a small wave. He pointed at his phone discreetly, giving me a look like did you read this? I gave him a small nod. Tommy looked at me for a moment longer before he turned back around in his seat. I could tell from the set of his shoulders that he was less than thrilled about Monica’s demand, but he knew that this was what the two of us had signed up for.
Olivia came sauntering down the aisle a few moments later, her eyes zeroed in on Tommy’s face as she passed him. Part of me was sure that he was ducking his head to avoid looking my best friend in the eyes. He probably wasn’t certain if I had even talked with her yet and was afraid she was going to toss him out of the plane once we reached cruising altitude. She slid into the seat next to me, immediately skewering me with a look. One did not have to be a psychic to know exactly what she was about to say.
“Just because your boyfriend is on this trip doesn’t give you the opportunity to ditch girl time.” She pointed her finger at me, her eyes accusing.
“First of all, he’s not my boyfriend,” came out of my mouth before I could stop it. Technically, Tommy Mikals wasn’t officially my boyfriend publicly until Monica deemed it so. So what I said to Olivia wasn’t a complete lie.
“Whatever he is,” Olivia interrupted, “doesn’t mean you can ditch me the whole week.”
“Like I told you before, you’re never getting rid of me.”
Olivia wrapped an arm around my shoulder to give me a hug as the flight attendants announced that it was time to prepare for takeoff.
“One more thing . . .” Olivia turned back to me. “We all have to hang out. If you start dating someone, it’s the best friend’s job to deliver the speech.”
“What speech?”
“About not breaking your heart.” My eyes drifted to the back of Tommy’s head. I wanted to tell myself that I was safe from any heart-breaking potential. But I was beginning to become unsure due to the way my heart leaped at the sight of him.
As soon as the plane leveled off, I unbuckled myself from my seat to head toward the bathrooms in the back, leaving Olivia snoring with her face pressed up against the window. The room in the back of the plane was more spacious than a normal lavatory area and had a private sitting area that was unoccupied.
When I emerged from the bathroom, I came face-to-face with Tommy sitting in one of the empty chairs, the door to the back of the plane now closed. His arms rested on his knees as he leaned forward, staring at his feet. He looked up when I came out as he wrung his hands together. The concern I saw on his face right after that HR meeting was back.
“Everything okay?” I asked as I hesitated in the doorway of the bathroom.
“Yeah.” Tommy stood quickly. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I was thinking about Monica’s email, and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I wished I could be mad at Tommy’s sincerity. It wasn’t like there were real feelings involved in this. But all I felt was touched at his thoughtfulness, once again.
“All’s good here.” I started to walk back out toward my seat when Tommy’s hand wrapped around my wrist. My eyes stared down at it, hating the way that one simple touch sent my emotions haywire. His eyes seemed to plead with me to tell him something more than that. It was almost like this entire situation was eating him up more than it was me. I had to remind myself we were on the team plane and anyone could walk back here at any time. The last thing I wanted was for Olivia or someone else to come back here and hear us talking about this event we were expected to show up at to confirm we were—fake—dating.
