Finally, thank goodness, dinner is over. We say our goodbyes, plan to meet up tomorrow, endure hugs from my family and awkward small talk with Garrett and Melissa.
We don’t talk much on the walk back to the hotel.
“You okay?” Rodriguez finally asks.
“I don’t know.” It’s the most honest response I can give right now. “That was…”
“A lot.”
“Yeah.”
“You did great though. Your family adores me, Garrett looked miserable the entire night, and Melissa obviously felt threatened by you.”
“She did not.”
“She totally did. She was fishing.”
“For what?”
“For whether you were over Garrett, and whether bringing me was a desperate move or a power move.”
He opens the hotel door for me and the warm air from the lobby wraps around us.
“And in case you weren’t aware, we nailed power move.”
In the elevator, I lean against the wall and shut my eyes. “One down. Like ten more events to go.”
“We’ve got this.” He’s so confident. “Plus, at least tomorrow is just a brewery tour. Beer makes everything better.”
“How are you so good at this?” I ask, opening my eyes to look at him. “The whole fake boyfriend thing. It’s like you’ve done it before.”
“Actually first time.” The elevator stops and we head to our room. “But it helps that you’re easy to fake-date.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re easy to be around. When you’re not overthinking everything.” He walks into our room and I follow him. “And you look great in blue. That also helps.”
I don’t know how to respond to that, so I just walk into the room and start getting ready for bed because I need to do something with my hands.
Rodriguez gets dressed in the bathroom and I get dressed in the room and then we stand in front of each other in pajamas, trying to figure out how to share the bed. I am wearing an oversized T-shirt and pajama shorts and I’m suddenly extremely aware of how much skin is showing.
“Which side do you want?” he asks.
“I don’t care. You choose.”
“Left side okay?”
“Fine.”
We both get into bed from opposite sides and the mattress is large enough that there’s space between us, however, I’m still aware of him next to me and I can feel the heat radiating from him across the small distance.
I lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, attempting not to think about how bizarre this is, how weirdly intimate. How we just acted perfectly as a couple for hours and now we’re in bed together and I’m unsure where the act ends and reality begins.
“JuJu?” His voice is low in the darkness.
“Yeah?”
“You did a great job tonight. I know that was hard.”
