All I Want for Christmas - Marina

Chapter 2: Carina

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Don't look too happy now," Maya says sarcastically. How on earth did my brother manage to set me up with her.

"Should I just leave now?" I ask her when really I'm asking myself. How is it that Andrea described Maya as gentle and kind when my patient said she was the exact opposite?

"Completely your decision. I got nothing to lose," she says losing a bit of confidence as she says the last part of the sentence. I study her body language.

"Something tells me you're lying." She looks up from where she's sitting, blue eyes looking into my own. She's about to say something when the bartender interrupts us.

"What can I get you?" I look from him to Maya, wondering if it's worth staying. My curiosity gets the best of me so I decide to stay. "White wine please." I take a seat right next to Maya clearly surprising her.

"What made you decide to stay?" she asks.

"I'm just interested to find out what you're hiding," I bite down on my bottom lip to stop the smirk slowly finding its way onto my face. I think back to Andrea and I's conversation about me not playing games with his friend's sister. Surely I'm not doing that. I'm just going on a date like he had asked.

"I'm not hiding anything," she argues making me want to tease her some more. I take a sip of my wine and laugh, knowing it's frustrating her.

"That's a lie again. C'mon you can tell me. I won't judge."

"Won't judge? What else did you do this morning?" Fair point.

"Relax, why are you so worked up?" I see her holding the bridge of her nose and decide to lay off. Maybe whatever it is that's bothering her is serious. Now my need to fix others gets the best of me. "Look, you can share it with me if it helps you. Think about it like this, it's not like we'll be seeing each other again anyways."

"That's precisely the problem," she scoffs. The confused look on my face makes her explain. Although, it seems like she's dreading having to say anything to me. "The holidays are around the corner. My entire family is all up in my grill-"

"All up in your grill?"

"They're bothering me a lot," she clarifies.

"Ohhhh, up your grill"

"in my grill. You know what. Never mind." She puts her hands up. "I don't know why I'm sharing this with you."

"There's the rudeness I saw this morning," I tease.

"I'm not rude. You're just judgmental." Her words bother me, but I try not to show it on my face.

"Oh my gosh Maya just say what the problem is." I feel my drink getting to me so I slow down. I see Maya take a deep breath in preparation for what she's about to say.

"My family has been bothering me about not being in a relationship, and the holiday season is around the corner so I will be seeing all of them. My mom has called me multiple times to ask if I'm bringing anyone so Andy came up with this idea that I should just bring someone, pretend that I'm dating them, and then after some time say that we broke up." She says everything in one breath and finally looks at me when she's done. I can't help but start laughing.

"You are literally, the WORST," she yells making me laugh harder.

"Maya, the way you were stressed, I thought something serious happened. So you just need a fake girlfriend so your mama won't be upset with you?"

"You know, an infuriating woman in pink scrubs once told me to be comforting when someone's hurting." Ahh using my words against me.

"You are comparing your need to find a fake girlfriend to a woman giving birth?" I ask. I see her pause to think about what I just said. She's about to respond, but someone walking in catches her eye. I turn around to see that it's Leah.

"Um are we done here so I can carry on with the rest of my night?" She asks - her attention unwavering from Leah who has now taken a seat across the bar from us. I look at her and think about my conversation with Andrea from earlier.

"I'll do it." My words snap her attention back to me.

"What?" She asks with her eyebrows raised.

"I said, I'll do it." I can tell Maya is having a hard time wrapping her mind around what I've said.

"Okay, what's in it for you?"

"I get to spend my holidays with a beautiful woman with the most incredible blue eyes I've ever seen, sounds like a win for me." I say trying not to laugh.

"Can you chill with the sarcasm?" Maya asks annoyed. What she doesn't understand is that my sarcasm is masking the truth behind how I view her. As much as I don't like Maya, there is no denying that she's very pretty. "What's the real reason?"

"What? You can't believe that I find you attractive?" Her glare makes me roll my eyes. "You're such a buzzkill. Buzzkill Bishop."

"Can you stop?" I hear a bit of a laugh in her voice making me smile.

"Look, let's just say I'm in a similar situation."

"Now you have me intrigued." Maya shifts her body facing me instead of the girl she had her eye on.

"My brother was making fun of the fact this morning that I've never been in a serious relationship. I don't really care but it's been annoying me recently especially since he's dating that girl I hate, Sam. Maybe having you at our holiday family gatherings will help take my mind off of her."

"You've never been in a serious relationship before?" Maya asks smiling.

"Nope. Cannot do it. Have no interest in being in one." I say taking a huge gulp of wine. Maya starts to laugh.

"I'll drink to that," she raises her glass and takes a sip.

"Why?"

"Haven't you heard? I'm 'monogamy is for the weak Maya Bishop'." Now I join in on her laughter.

"We finally have something in common," I smile.

"Okay, I guess this could work. Neither of us like the other enough to even be friends so I don't have to afraid of you falling in love with me." Wow.

"Rude and cocky. Definitely won't be falling for you." Right when I think we could get along she says something that reminds me why I couldn't stand her this morning.

"Judgmental and heartless. The feeling is mutual."

"Heartless? What did I do to receive that compliment?" I can tell an argument is coming.

"I don't know... maybe tell me that I could share a problem with you and then proceed to laugh at me for it."

"How are we going to do this if we can't even go 10 minutes without fighting?" I ask.

"Well I only have to be around my family on December 24th so I'm sure we can fake it for one day."

"You also have to be around mine on December 25th so make that two," I add.

"Okay, 2 days shouldn't be a problem."

"Maya, have you even thought this through? We have to fake it for two days, but we probably have to get to know each other to sell the relationship." I can tell Maya is barely paying attention with how her and Leah keep looking at each other.

"Can we work out the logistics later? I need to attend to something."

"Something or someone?" I ask shaking my head. Maya redirects her attention to me.

"Look, this has been great and all, but I would really like to go home with her," she says moving her head in Leah's direction.

"From what I recall, I'm doing you a favor," I say amazed at how she doesn't seem to care about our arrangement anymore.

"It sounds like we both are doing the other a favor. Can I call you tomorrow to figure everything out?"

"Yeah." Maya pulls out her cellphone to make a new contact, and I see her unable to fill out my name. Nice. I grab her phone out of her hand and put my name in. "My name is Dr. Carina DeLuca." I say with a tight smile as I close my tab and walk out. Unbelievable.