Fake dating (hamzah the fantastic)

chapter 12

I awoke to the sound of loud chatter and dishes downstairs. The sun completely engulfed the bedroom with warm morning light- how late was it?

I checked my phone and it read: 10:03 am. I guess the events of last night left me pretty tired. I rubbed my eyes as everything slowly came back to me, I felt sad, but my heart warmed a bit as I remembered Hamzah's kindness.

I got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. As I brushed my teeth, I pondered one thing that had been on my mind for these past days: what were Hamzah and I?

Obviously when I came with him on this trip, our relationship was pretty clear: I was just his friend who was doing him a favor by pretending to date him. But as the days passed, our relationship progressed into something seemingly more than a friendship. We had shared a few special moments over the course of the few days I had been here. 

Honestly whenever I thought of him I got this warm feeling in my chest. The one thing I could say for sure was that I knew I had developed feelings for him. I just wasn't sure how he felt about me and what his intentions were. 

With this on my mind, I headed downstairs to find Mandy sitting at the table. 

"Hey! Lia, come look at the dress I'm gonna wear to the engagement party," she said, waving her phone. I walked over and on the screen was this gorgeous ankle length blue dress with spaghetti straps and a square neckline. 

"Wow!" I said. "That's beautiful, it'll look great on you." 

"Thanks, I ordered it yesterday so hopefully it will come on time," she said. "What are you going to wear?" 

I had packed a few dresses, but when I was picking them out I had no idea there was going to be some formal thing I had to go to. All I had packed was short sundresses for dinner and stuff. 

"I guess I don't know yet," I said, looking back towards the stairs. "I didn't bring anything to wear." 

"Perfect!" Mandy said. "That means we can go dress shopping together. Don't worry, we'll find something formal. There are a lot of stores in town." 

I guess that sounded fun, a day out shopping with only Mandy. I hadn't really been able to hang out with her all week. 

But before I could answer, I heard someone coming down the stairs. "Dress shopping, huh?" 

I turned around to see Hamzah in shorts and a hoodie, the same one he let me wear on that first day. 

"Sorry, I couldn't help but overhear..." he said. "...do you mind if I tagged along?" 

I could feel my face flush, I don't even know why. Being around him had been making me nervous recently. 

"Yes," Mandy said when I failed to answer. "You can come." Her chair screeched as she hurriedly got up. "Get ready quickly, I want to have lots of time!" She rushed up the stairs and my eyes followed her until she disappeared behind the landing. 

"Did you eat anything yet?" Hamzah said, immediately drawing my attention back to where he was standing in front of me. 

I thought back to this morning when I woke up...honestly I couldn't remember even though I had just gotten to the kitchen. 

"I think so," I said. Even if I hadn't it was fine because I wasn't that hungry anyway. He nodded and went to the fridge to find something to eat for himself. 

When I woke up, I had thought that things would be pretty awkward with him because of what happened last night, I was kind of embarrassed that I caused a scene. But for some reason I still felt comfortable around him. People always treat me differently when they know what happened to me but he still acted the same. I realized when I was grieving he was always there to comfort me, but when I felt happy he would treat me normally like a friend. He always knew how I felt and fit the mold to ebb or support whatever my emotions were. I smiled at this revelation and headed upstairs to get dressed.