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"Are you even listening?"
"Yes, Sophie. I am," I responded gently, mentally giving myself a hard knock when my eyes strayed to her chest again.
"I said that this is bad. Bad for me, bad for you." She pointed at my chest. "I can't have anyone believe that I'm one of your flings or something. I won't be able to live down the embarrassment. Plus, my professional reputation is at stake. I need to be taken seriously to have credibility in my profession. Then there's the part of our neighbors and my friends."
She was pacing around the house now, moving from the kitchen to the foyer, over by the window, then to another.
"Already, I got five calls this morning. Five!! This is terrible. I don't think I can even leave my own house from the store without receiving side glances. And everyone must be thinking the same thing, that you're getting some from me. This is terrible." She moaned.
If this wasn't such a dire situation, I might have actually laughed out loud at her theatrics. Sophie Adams was such a dramatic woman.
"Easy, Sophie. It's not that bad I promise. I'm not that bad." I grinned.
She caste a doubtful glare at me. "You made the news eight times this year for going out with high profile actresses and supermodels and dumping them after two weeks. If you asked me, I'll say you're that bad."
Her self-righteous tone pricked me, and I responded more harshly than I intended. "So what, I had a couple of dates with some women that didn't work out, does that make me a playboy?"
"It makes you the guy with the commitment issues." She responded primly, and I was assailed with the sudden urge to grab her and kiss that smug off her face. I wondered how horrified she will be, the thought brought a smile to my face.
"I have a proposition. A way that would benefit both of us."
She stared at me in obvious distrust but I plodded on.
"What if we both went along with it?"
She looked at me with narrowed eyes. "In what sense?"
"They already think we have a thing going. Why don't we just break the news that we're in a relationship and voila, the gossip stops and everyone will take a back seat." I raised my hands triumphantly.
"You are forgetting something in your perfect plan."
"What is it?" I asked frowning, it was fool-proof, and no one will be the wiser.
"We are not in a relationship. Not once. Not now. Not ever.”
“It’s just a show, Sophie, to make things look better than they’re being manipulated to look right now. We’d just be playing their game right back on them.”
“I don’t see how this is going to work… like, at all.”
“I just explained it.”
“I don’t get it,” she said flatly.
“We hang out a bit in public places, let them see us walking the beach a time or two, and they’ll snap their pictures with their headlines. As the weeks go by, they’ll see us still together and if asked, we both say it’s official. You know, talk the other up, and we don’t even have to see each other but once a week. How’s that?”
“Uh, I don’t really see how that will convince anyone, because we’re not really dating. People pick up on the lack of chemistry and sincerity between a couple. They’ll find out. That will make the situation worse, not better. And no offense, but I am not interested in any relationship of the romantic sort with you. It just wouldn’t work.” She shook her head seriously.
God! The woman was stubborn.
"Stop making this difficult, Sophie. I'm trying to give you the easy way out here." I gritted my teeth in frustration at her stubbornness.
"I'd rather find any way out other than being in a relationship with you."
"And what's bad about being in a relationship with me?" I retorted.
"I would be exactly like one of your prior failed relationships, where it involves you dumping me after two weeks. I don’t need to get involved just to dispel the rumors for a brief time and it turns out, you can’t stick with even a fake relationship. Then, I look worse to everyone than I do right now.”
"Would you rather I made it a month, then?" I teased.
