Just for Show

1. Perpetual Bachelor

Author's Note: Hi y'all. If you didn't read the end of my last one, here's the deal. I'm posting the first chapter of two different stories today. Whichever gets more interaction by Wednesday (votes, comments, readers, etc.) will be continued first. If the one you like isn't selected, I'm sure it'll be continued later... as some of you may know, I can't leave things unfinished. Here is the first one. This is the "lighter" option. Enjoy!

1. Perpetual Bachelor

Mitch nearly threw his phone against the wall of his office, choosing to lay his head against the mahogany desk in front of him instead of answering the incoming text messages.

It buzzed again, taunting him.

"Fuck off," Mitch grumbled, his voice muffled by the smelly wood.

He heard a chuckle from the doorway, and nearly snarled at the intrusion.

"Watching your best friend have a panic attack is funny?" He spat.

Kirstin entered the office with her hands up in a surrendering fashion. She took a seat at the edge of his desk, her dress hardly allowing her to do so with its tight fit.

Even in the corporate world, Kirstin managed to look like she was on a runway.

"You kind of... prickle up... like a little porcupine. It's not my fault that you're adorable," she quipped, crossing her arms across her chest.

The phone buzzed again, and Mitch groaned.

"Just tell them you're coming to the wedding alone," Kirstin offered, gently. "It's no big deal."

"It's a huge deal," Mitch countered, staring at the glowing device on his desk. "My cousins will mock me until my dying breath. My mother will probably cry, and my father will go into a 45-minute drunken soliloquy during Jessa's rehearsal dinner about how he's terrified that his second child will die alone."

"Wow. You've really thought about this," Kirstin pondered with a grimace. "Okay. Bring a friend."

"You're already going. With Ben." Mitch chided.

"You have other friends."

"None that I want to bring to Hawaii with me for ten days. None that I want to pretend to be dating in order to appease my intrusive family."

Kirstin laughed, and Mitch hated how amusing she found all of this to be.

"Hire an escort," she teased. "Just like in that horrible movie from when we were teenagers... what was the one? 'The Wedding Date'! One lucky guy will have it made. A paid trip to Hawaii with a handsome, rich man, and with no intention of having sex?" She smirked. "Sounds like everyone wins. Ask for their hottest one."

Mitch stared at her with his mouth agape. "I am not hiring a fake boyfriend."

She shrugged. "Fine. Go alone. I'll make sure the hotel stocks plenty of gin so your father can drink his feelings on the matter."

She disappeared from his office then, mumbling about having to get some work done.

He felt himself becoming nauseous as he typed out his reply to his sister's thousandth follow-up text, asking if she should leave room at his table for a date.

Mitch: Put me down for a plus one. Can't wait sis.

He cursed under his breath as he pocketed the device. He would figure out what to do...

...later.

"You're the youngest person in a supervisory role at the marketing firm, literally ever. You live in a swanky three-bedroom in North Hollywood. You're rolling in it, Mitch, and you're fucking hot. No other twenty-seven year old can compete."