[ON HOLD] Mrs. Hart (Collaboration Story with @rac06h10ael)

Chapter Two

Cleo's POV

As I await for Asher to arrive, I put on the finishing touches to my hair and makeup. Placing the final product down, I grab my phone to call Renée. When she picks up, I hear voices in the background, which I could distinguish as Evie crying and the arguing between my parents.

"Hey Ree!" I say excitedly into the phone. I hear a few things being fumbled and laugh to myself.

"Hey Cleo! How's your date night going?" She says in a rushed voice.

"Actually, I'm getting ready for it right now. Can I ask for your opinion on something?" As soon as I ask this, I hear the arguing and crying quiet down, as well as a door closing. As soon as this happens, I hear my sister sigh before answering my question.

"Sure, what's up?"

I hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to word my sentence. I didn't know who was this "fake boyfriend" would be. And whether or not I would have to beat around the bush, or just get straight to the point. I sigh, deciding to beat around the bush as best as I can.

"Alyssa asked me to get lunch with her and offered me a deal, that would hopefully get me out of my debt."

"Okay, go on," she says, sounding interested.

"She suggested that I be the 'girlfriend' of one of her clients for a few months," I finish up. I hear her take a deep breath before answering

"Wow, Cleo...this is just...unexpected. Are you sure you can pull this off? It's been awhile since you've acted," she says, throwing me off guard. She had supported me to be an actress for a while. It surprised me a little that she didn't think that way.

"Renée, I'm confident that I can pull it off. You know I can," I say, with a bit of a confidence, although I wasn't sure if I really was convinced myself.

"Look, when do you have to make a decision by?"

"I'm supposed to text Alyssa my decision tonight," I answer with certainty. She takes another deep breath before giving me her opinion.

"Okay, well, first off, Alyssa seems like she has a lot on her plate and sounds quite stressed and impatient about this, so you'll need to get your decision in as soon as possible. So if you want my opinion, I shouldn't be making your decisions. But, as your sister, I think you should do it. You haven't been able to do so much ever since Evelyn was born. And I may love her to death, but you need to get out more. "

As much as I hated to admit it, for the past ten months, I really didn't get to experience what an average twenty-five year old would do every day. Instead of going to clubs with my friends, I would have to take care of Evie.

"Thanks for your opinion. I'll consider it,"

"No problem, glad I could help. Now go enjoy your date," she says, hanging up. Probably to go back to take care of her niece.

It wasn't until I hung up that I realized that the car horn had been honking for a while. Shit. I grab my purse and hurry out the door to meet Asher.

"I'm so sorry, I got side-tracked," I tell him, running down to his car. I saw him get out of his car, and I couldn't help but blush a little. He looked pretty damn attractive there on the spot.

"It's no problem. But let me first just point out that you look beautiful," he says, opening the passenger side door for me and shutting it.

"Thank you. You don't look half bad yourself," I say as he gets back in the car. He thanks me and puts the key in the ignition.

*****

"You don't know how glad I am that you're here," Asher comments as I sit down in the chair he's pulled out for me. I smile up at him and watch as he walks around the table, sitting down across from me.