"Uh, can you repeat that?" Elizabeth asked Chris with a shocked expression. They were seated in the same bar that Chris owned, except there was breakfast in front of them instead of alcohol.
"I said let's go on a date," Chris repeated.
"Okay, first of all, you set up this meeting this early in the morning for that? And you do know that -"
"Chandria's your bestfriend," Chris cut in. "Of course I do."
"Yeah, so where the hell did that even come from? I mean, when you asked to see me today I thought you said it was for some business proposal or something?" Elizabeth raised an eyebrow.
"It is! Look, both our mothers are becoming headaches with all these blind dating stuff, right? And you want your mother off your back too, right?"
"I do but –"
"This is the perfect solution! Don't you see? I mean, we can tell our mothers to stop pestering us because we've started dating! And it's not like we'll be dating for real! It's a no strings attached proposal and anytime one of us finally found someone to properly date, then we can call this off."
"Uhh –" Elizabeth hesitantly began. "I think you've got the wrong person to make this deal with."
"No, you're practically the only person I can make this deal with."
"Why?"
"Because I know there's absolutely no chance we'll fall in love with each other," Chris paused. "I know about... what happened to him. To you."
Elizabeth breathed in sharply, "Don't. Don't even bring that up."
"I'm sorry... I..." Chris let out a frustrated sigh. "Look, my point is we both have hung ups. And we both want our mothers off our backs. So this is the perfect solution. We'll be each other's Team B."
"Team B?"
"You know, like a fallback for when things don't work out. I mean, in the meantime at least," Chris said. "Come on, think about it at least."
Elizabeth looked at Chris' pleading eyes and she could see the desperation in them. His mother must really be relentless to drive him to make this deal with her.
But Chandria was a big factor here and she needed to let Chandria know about this first. She hadn't even told her yet that she had seen Chris and was seeing him that day. Chandria was just so happy about her wedding that Elizabeth couldn't muster the courage to tell her about meeting Chris because she didn't know how Chandria would react.
Besides, it's not like she didn't want her mother off her case as well because her mother still kept on threatening her with her father if she didn't go on the dates she set up. Elizabeth mulled over it some more and remembered how she could still see the sadness in Chris' eyes when she accidentally blurted out Chandria's name and wedding so there really was no chance they'd fall for each other.
This could work. But she had to tell Chandria about this. Soon.
She slumped her shoulders and sighed, "Fine."
"Fine... as in you agree?" Chris' face lit up.
"Yes."
"Yes!" Chris pumped up his fist in glee and Elizabeth just rolled her eyes in amusement.
"But we'll talk more about this in another time, okay? Like rules and stuff like that," Elizabeth placed the strap of her bag on her shoulder and stood up. "I need to go. I still, uh, I have a flight to catch."
Chris' smile faltered for a moment as he also stood up, "I see."
"Uh, yeah, I'll message you when I get back here in the Metro," Elizabeth smiled at him in sympathy. Chris smiled back but his smile didn't reach his eyes. Elizabeth knew that he knew that Chandria's wedding was later that afternoon. It was all over the lifestyle news and she doubted Chris, with his social class and family, hadn't heard about it.
YOU ARE READING
Beaufort Academy: After Seven
Fanfiction"Telling him that yesterday could never really be discarded, it was always a part of now. There was just no way to get rid of it. No way to push it aside or throw it into an ash can, or dig a hole and bury it. For all buried memories were nothing mo...
