Page 46 of The Fake Out

“We’re fake dating,” I explained and tried to shove myself into the dress. I only got the zipper halfway up before I had to open the door and ask for her help. She zipped it all the way, and we inspected it in the three-way mirror.

“Not bad,” she said. “Okay, what do you mean, fake dating?”

I took a picture of myself in the dress and sent it to Blaise.

ME: What do you think??

ME: For the wedding.

“We’re pretending until the wedding,” I explained.

“What does he get out of it?

“Sex.” I shrugged and went back into the dressing room. I put on the navy blue dress and made a grossed-out face at my reflection in the mirror. It looked a little too mother of the bride.

I opened the door, and Liv wrinkled her nose. “Ew, no, not that one!”

I laughed and went back to try on one of the other black dresses. Ooh, I liked this one. It had thick straps up top but a sexy thigh-high slit in the leg. It was floor-length, but since it was a November wedding, it would work. I snapped another photo and sent it to Blaise.

When I walked out to show Liv, she looked appraisingly at it. “Hmm…that one’s promising. But you need to back up on what you just said.”

“I think this is the one.”

“Go try on the others,” she ordered.

“Fine,” I grumbled but did as she asked.

The next one was an off-the-shoulder dress which was nice, but Liv didn’t like it. I tried on the mid-length black dress with the sweetheart neckline. I liked it, but not as much as the first black one I tried on. I sent a photo of this one to Blaise too. Liv made me try on the one I liked the best again, and she circled around me, inspecting it.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

BLAISE: Um…on my floor, right?

ME: Maybe if you’re a good boy!

BLAISE: Fuck…woman…

BLAISE: The black one. That’s your color.

ME: Duh, but which one?? Help me! You’re supposed to be my date!

BLAISE: The sexy one.

ME: BLAISE!!!

BLAISE: The one you already like, and you’re just asking my opinion, so you can choose the opposite.

ME: You’re so smart!

When I looked up from my phone, Liv had her hands on her hips. “Okay, I haven’t seen a smile on your face like that in a really long time. Are you sure this thing between you and Blaise is just for show?”

I nodded. “He’s helping me go to this wedding and not murder everyone, and I’m helping his family see that he’s over his ex and for them to stop babying him.”

She arched a dark eyebrow at me. “So you had sex again?”

“I tried to say we shouldn’t, but he proposed a friends-with-benefits situation. And, oh my God, Liv, he’s like the hottest man I have ever been with. How could I say no?”

Her eyes widened.“Jesus, V!”