Twisted Deal | A not-so cliche fake dating romance

Chapter Nine

Jennifer

I never meant to put Sebastian into that position, but after I drew a blank, I kind of pointed fingers at him. So now he was stuck staring at my parents and my brothers, and then his eyes settled on me. I see the exact moment he settles into the role of playing the part of a dutiful boyfriend. He forces a smile on his face, but his eyes are genuine enough to be mistaken for the real thing.

"I met Jen back when a good friend of mine had met the love of his life," Bash starts, and this time he was smiling truthfully. He was very supportive of Miles' and Andrea's relationship and very proud of how far they have come. I was proud too. They had gone from a one-night stand to two people who are choosing to spend every night together. I loved that for them.

"She was Andrea's friend, so I saw her around quite a bit after that," Bash continues. "But of course I was dating my girlfriend, Hannah, back then, so we never really interacted." At the mention of his ex-girlfriend, my hands start sweating on my thighs, and I'm worried the timeline isn't going to work out. He had only been single since April, and it was now rendering on July. Was it too early to be in a relationship but enough to invite my family?

Thankfully Bash is thinking more logistically than me.

"So I've never been interested in her," Bash continues and my brothers exchange a glance at each other. Bash bites back a chuckle as he says, "But we have been comforting with each other, but nothing happened until she found me. A few months ago, I broke up with Hannah. I was going through a rough time and she was there. I wasn't looking for anything, so we were friends for a long time until I decided that maybe I wanted to change that status. So I asked her out on a few dates, and now we are here."

I'm smiling broadly. Bash had told a solid story. It was good enough for someone to not even question it. It was also kind of true, and I was glad he had gotten the timeline right because it would have been embarrassing if someone found out when exactly Bash broke up with Hannah. I was glad none of those were overlapping.

Bash smiles at me before he moves a hand to the back of my chair. Just then the waiter comes around to take our orders, and my parents start to order. I look over at Bash, and I'm smiling at him proudly. "You kind of did so great," I whisper to him. He nods, looking equally proud as he leans down to whisper into my ear.

"I agree, but do me a favor next time, Jen?"

"What?" I whisper back to him, curiousity now peeking.

His arm above my chair moves up to my shoulder, where he flicks at a piece of my hair. "Next time maybe a little bit of warning would be lovely."

"I did warn you!" I defend myself quickly. He quirks and eyebrow at me, and I sit innocently in my spot, smiling softly. "When I told my family you'd be telling the story!"

Bash holds eye contact with me for a second before amusement enters into his eyes. I watch the exact moment he starts to laugh, and I can't help but follow along. After a moment, he wipes his grin with the back of his hand and shakes his head at me. "You are something else, Jennifer."

"Thank you," I say with a wide grin as I point my chin at him. He only starts to laugh at that again, and I'm staring to laugh too.

"And you guys?" I suddenly hear beside me a voice loud enough to gather our attention. I blink a few times at Bash before he taps my shoulder a few times. That gets my full attention and I look forward to find that a waiter was waiting for my response patiently.

"Oh," I say when I realize how I've been holding up the waiter. Trying not to cringe outwardly, I say, "I'll have the ziti with shrimp and vin santo cream." It's easy to rattle off the order because I had looked at the menu earlier that day when I was deciding if I should come or not. But then I had thought of the free meal I'd be getting out of it and had made my decision.