Forever Tied to you

7

Sophie

My eyes were blurred from the tears that were filling them quicker than I could wipe them away. My parents were good people, and I couldn't understand why they wouldn't just tell me they couldn't afford my tuition. This was all too much to take in, without mentioning that I was supposed to get married and magically appear as if I'm in love with a complete stranger.

"What do I need to do?" I asked as I finally pulled out that pesky thread that had been bugging me since we sat down.

"You can plan the wedding or I can have my mom do it, but really all you need to do is smile and make us believable. The loan sharks have requested to be at the ceremony so you will need to act as if it is truly the best day of your life." He said as I tried to fight back the bile rising in my throat.

"What about me? My plans? Am I supposed to give that up to be some kind of housewife? Because that's not me!" I shook my head as the frustrated tears continued to fall.

That's when he surprised me and got off the couch and knelt in front of me.

"I don't need a housewife Sophie. As my mother said this morning, Law school can still be in your future and once we are settled with all of this behind us we can discuss it further." He spoke tenderly causing me to look up into his blue eyes.

It was the first time I had really looked at him since I got here. The sharp features of his jaw marking a trail to the shadow of facial hair that wrapped around his jaw. The way the blue in his eyes also had specks of green that popped under his dark eyelashes and dark hair that was short, but not too short.

"I..I didn't want any of this." I stuttered as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down my face.

"Just try to make the best of it." He said almost void of any emotion, even though his eyes seemed a little sympathetic.

I squeezed my eyes closed and took a few deep, steadying breaths. I hated this whole situation. Hated that in an instant my life had been taken from me and handed off to someone else.

"Why don't you go take a shower and freshen up. We can figure out the rest after." He said lifting his hand before seemingly thinking better of it and dropping it back down.

I nodded my head and wiped my face before heading back to the room that was now my bedroom. I closed the door and walked into the bathroom, turning on the shower until steam filled the room and the mirror fogged.

I slipped out of my clothes and stood in the shower for the second time since I had woken up. It was as the water ricocheted off my body that the reality of the whole situation finally hit me, like a freight train barreling to a dead end with no breaks to slow it down or stop the catastrophic impact.

My options were to either marry Mason and hope that one day he let me go, or to return home and await whatever torture or death my parents decisions had placed over my head.

It was at this realization that my knees gave out as I fell to the bottom of the bathtub and sobbed. Mason didn't seem like a bad guy, although I knew nothing about him at all. I think that my lack of knowledge about him was part of the reason this whole thing was so difficult. I was going to marry a stranger. A stranger who I had to make more strangers believe that I was completely in love with.

This wasn't my life, it couldn't be, and yet it was. As the water ran cold, I entered acceptance. My life this far had been all about studying and my interactions with people in general was limited, but I had watched people through college.

The lovey doves types who wanted everyone to know how in love they were. I had seen the more conservative types that didn't push every little thing out there, but would subtly touch each other or hold hands as they walked the campus. It looked effortless.

It was just a week. A week of acting and then however long after until Mason was finally tired of me and sent me packing. He wasn't getting anything out of this other than doing his mom a favor so there wouldn't be a need to keep me around once it was all done.

I could do this.

I climbed out of the shower and after putting on a white off the shoulder top and some denim shorts I combed my hair and took in my puffy face.

I applied some makeup to cover the red splotches that crying had almost indented into my skin and once I looked more human I decided that I was going to do my best at making this work. My life, my parents lives, depended on me selling this ruse.

I slipped into some sandals and went back downstairs but I couldn't find Mason so I went to the kitchen for some water. I was taking a sip when a voice startled me and I dropped the glass, watching as it shattered on the tile.

"Oh Sophie, honey I'm so sorry. I forgot that this is still all new to you." Masons mother said as she set her bag down and promptly grabbed a dustpan.

"I'll get it, Mrs Hughes." I bent down to take the dustpan from her and she didn't object.

"Please, call me Julie. Mrs Hughes makes me feel so old." She said lightheartedly as she chuckled.

"Julie." I nodded with a smile and began sweeping up the broken shards. "Mason said I can help with the wedding? Unless you already did everything?" I tried to retract, knowing that I knew nothing about weddings.

"That would be lovely dear, we will need to find you a dress and figure out what you want." She explained as I pinched my lips together.

I didn't know what I wanted, because I wasn't in love with Mason. I hadn't stayed up fantasizing about the perfect day where we would say I Do because I had known him for less than forty eight hours in total.

It was as if she sensed my thoughts as I tipped the shards into the trash and her small hand rested on my shoulder.

"I know it's hard, but even if it's not your perfect dream day, making sure that you at least like it will help with you being able to enjoy yourself enough to sell it like you need too." She gave my shoulder a squeeze while I just gave her a grateful grin.

She was trying to help and she was right. Maybe this whole thing would be easier if I looked at it differently. Maybe if I could plan it in a way that would be fun, it wouldn't be so hard to act as if I was in love with someone who knows less about me than my college professors.

"Julie? I'd really like to help." I smiled as the kitchen door opened and his voice turned both of our focus to him.

"What happened to your foot?"