started as a lie

1

"erm i don't know mum" i said.

"please darling. just bring her. we want to meet her" my mum spoke.

"fine" i sighed giving in. i knew if i didn't, she would keep pestering me. we said bye and then ended the call.

i sighed and thought to myself. what have i gotten myself into?

for months my mum had been pestering me about getting into a relationship. if i'm honest, i haven't really been interested in anyone. nobody has really stuck out to me. i've been on a few dates with different people but i've never been on a second date.

one day i lied and told my mum i had a girlfriend, just to get her off my back. i thought my problem would be resolved but boy was i wrong.

she kept asking to meet her. i never told her anything about this "girlfriend" so she was desperate to know. and now i've just agreed to take my girlfriend to meet her and my family. the only problem is that there is no girlfriend.

i've managed to wriggle my way out of it for so long and now i've been caught.

i'm supposed to be taking my "girlfriend" to manchester for the week. what am i supposed to do now.

i sat with my head in my hands. i need to think of something and fast.

the door opened and leah walked in.
"dinners done. you okay?" she asked as she saw me. i nodded and got up.

"you sure?" she asked.
"i'll figure it out" i said quietly and then went downstairs.

we sat and ate in pretty much silence, which was unusual as we normally had a lot to talk about. i thanked leah for dinner and then went up to bed.

i got ready and lay in bed. i decided to ring lotte. she's always been my go to person for advice.

"hi lotts" i said. she smiled through the phone.
"everything alright sof" she said.

"not really. i've got a bit of a dilemma" i said.
"go on what's happened" she said.

"well you know how my mums been pestering me about getting a girlfriend. i sorta told her last month that i got a girlfriend and now i'm supposed to be taking her to meet my family next week." i revealed.

"well that's not good. unless of course, you do have a secret girlfriend that none of us know about" she joked.

"nope. still a single pringle" i laughed.

"well how about you get someone to pretend to be your girlfriend" lotte suggested.

"thats actually a good idea. but who?" i said.

"dunno, who has your mum not met yet?" lotte asked.

"erm.. katie, steph and leah" i said, trying to remember who my mum has met before.

"as one of them then" lotte said.

"katie has a girlfriend, steph is straight and leah's been my friend for years so it might be awkward" i said.

"i still don't know how leah hasn't met your family" lotte said. i just shrugged my shoulders.

"it might be awkward but it's the only option really. just explain your situation to leah, i'm sure she'll understand." lotte said.

"yeah probably" i agreed.

"right i've got to go because i'm being summoned" lotte laughed.

"alright bye bye lotte" i said.
"bye love" she said and ended the call.

i got up and went to leah's room. i knocked on the door and went in. i stood awkwardly at the door, not knowing how to start. leah patted the space next to her on the bed.

i sat next to her and played with the edge of the duvet, looking at everything but her.
"hey what's going on?" she asked, noticing that i was a bit nervous.

"erm i have a huge huge favour to ask" i started.
"what is is" leah asked.

"erm. i kind of need you to pretend to be my girlfriend and meet my family" i said without looking at her. i looked at her and saw that her jaw was slightly open in shock.

"it's only for a week and i'll tell them we broke up after" i added on quickly.

"okay i have a few questions" she finally spoke.

"did you tell them that it's me" she asked. i shook my head.

"okay and how did this whole thing happen" she questioned.

"so basically, my mum was bugging me about getting a girlfriend so i lied and said i did, now she's begging to meet her so i said yes to get her off my back" i explained my situation.

"and how long are we supposed to have been together for?" she asked.

"about a month" i said. she nodded.

"okay i'll do it." she said.

"thank you so so much leah. your a lifesaver honestly" i said. i threw myself on leah and hugged her.

"i almost forgot, when are we doing this" she asked.

"monday until saturday" i said.
"yeah that's fine" she said.

i left her room and went to bed and slept well.

(next day)
today we played against leicester and won 5-0. i scored 2 and assisted 2.

we went home and i decided to pack for the week ahead. i packed a couple of fancy outfits incase we go out for dinner or something. after i had everything packed, i went to find leah.

i went into her room and saw her on her phone sitting on her bed.

"leah you should probably start packing. we're leaving early on monday morning" i said.

she got up and started pulling out some clothes and putting them in her suitcase.

"pack some nice clothes too. i've got a feeling that my mum is going to take us out somewhere fancy." i said. leah nodded and i sat on her bed.

"can we just order a pizza in or something? i cant be arsed cooking" i said. leah agreed and i ordered our usual.

we went down and the pizza came shortly. we sat and ate while chatting.

"i'm kind of nervous. how am i supposed to act? like i don't know" she said.

"just be you leah. and don't panic, they will love you. your a great girl" i reassured her.

"and what about towards you." she asked.

"just do what feels right in the moment. don't do anything your uncomfortable with and don't feel pressured by my family. we don't have to act completely in love. we've only been together for a month after all" i said the last bit jokingly.

"any house rules i should know?" she asked.

"erm. every thing is pretty much the same as here. except we're not allowed shoes on in the house at all. they must come off straight away at the porch when you get in." i said.

my mum is really strict about shoes. as kids, if we came through the house with shoes on, she would go mad.

"how many siblings do you have?" she asked. even though we've been friends for years we haven't really discussed my family before. we always find other things to talk about and it just never came up.

"i've got an older sister, lisa, she's 32 and is married and moved out and a younger brother, oliver, he's 21 and still lives at home" i said.

we chatted for a little while longer and then decided to go to bed.