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Not about something this big.
But I didn’t know what else to say.
“Uhh yes, very happy,” I said. “Can we have a moment, Anna?”
But that last bit was lost. Suddenly we were surrounded by Anna’s family. Sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews all cheering along with Anna, hugging her and congratulating me. I couldn’t get the words out to tell people this wasn’t what they thought. Anna and I weren’t getting married.
Everyone was so happy for us.
I looked through the crowd of people and saw my sister, Irene, beaming at me. She rushed over. “Well, that didn’t take long.”
Shit. “How did you find out?”
“It’s spreading like wildfire, Levi. Everyone is already talking about you two getting engaged. In fact, I think someone from the paper is headed this way to get some photos…”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“Anna, can we–”
“Thank you so much, everyone. Levi and I couldn’t be happier to share this news with all of you,” she announced, taking my hand in hers. She smiled at me, and I wasn’t sure how I could tell the truth now.
We were in too deep.
A flash from a camera caught my eye. Irene was right. We were going to make the local paper.
“Anna, can we please talk?”
She finally heard me and nodded, slipping away with me. We were far enough from the crowd so I could speak to her without being overheard.
“What the hell, Anna? We can’t let them think we’re getting married. That’s a lot more serious than just thinking we’re dating.”
Anna’s face fell. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to say either…”
“So what, now we’re going to get fake married too? When does this end?”
“No, no, just because we’re engaged doesn’t mean it ends in marriage. A wedding takes time to plan, Levi, and we’ll break up just like we planned.”
“I don’t know, this seems like a lot. I don’t think it’s fair to our families. They’re so damn happy.”
“I know,” Anna said, biting her lip. “Maybe we should come clean.”
She looked past me at the people celebrating our engagement. This was a mess, a mess we’d gotten into together. It was as much my fault as it was hers, and what would they think if we told them we had lied?
We were in too deep.
Anna looked at me, uncertain at first. “I hate lying to everyone.”
“Me too.”
“But if we tell the truth now…”
“Right, we’ll look like assholes.”
“Shit, we really went too far,” Anna said, pacing. “I got caught up in the excitement. I really didn’t want to let my mom down…and for a second, I actually believed it. I’m such an idiot.”
Tears welled in her eyes, and my heart broke for her. I knew the pressure she was under to please her parents, and for a second, it seemed like she was excited about being engaged to me… which likely swayed my opinion of the entire situation.
Because I had to admit… I liked the idea too.
