fake-ish :: bws

Fifteen

PART THREE - THE LIE

b

"Brad, cmon, we're leaving without you!" I heard Joe's voice shout from the hallway. I was a bit late - shocker. But I knew they wouldn't leave without me anyway, so I wasn't too worried. I took my jacket from where it was resting on the bed and walked down stairs, running my hand through my hair one more time. I was feeling nervous for some unknown reason - I couldn't figure out if it was because of the party itself, considering it was the first time we were attending such an event, or if it was because of the fact that I was going to have to interact with Victoria in public for the first time - and in front of all the boys.

"Finally!" Joe threw his arms up, giving me a dramatic eye roll. "Let's get going, we still have to stop at Laura's." He said, opening the door and leaving the house.

I couldn't believe it was Saturday already - the week had gone so quickly I'd barely noticed. Our last few days consisted of intense "classes" on "How To Act Around Victoria - a book by Joe O'Neill", and by that I mean: how to act around Victoria in public; how to act around Victoria while in a couply moment; how to act around Victoria while paparazzi are madly taking pictures of us; how to act around Victoria when we're not supposed to be acting; how to act around people who don't know the relationship is fake - part one: with Victoria being present and part two: with Victoria not being present; how to act around "The Victoria Subject" (which means "how to answer questions about the relationship"); and even how to act around each other with Victoria being present. It was quite exhausting to be honest, and the boys - and me - were rather pissed off at Joe for being such a pain in the ass. As you can see, everything revolved around Victoria, and that was all Joe was concerned about - how to please her and how to make her feel comfortable.

It was actually very annoying. None of us understood why he was so worried and obsessed about that whole thing - it wasn't going to be that hard anyway. Plus, the boys weren't even directly involved, so they were having quite a hard time understanding why those lessons were important to them. But that was all Joe talked about the whole week. Our hope was that this party would distract him and, with my schedule starting on Monday, he would calm down a bit.

"Now, remember everything I've been telling you this week, boys," Joe said as soon as we were all in the car (it was almost a minivan, to be honest) Nicole had sent to pick us up.

"We all remember every bit of it, Joe, there's no need to remind us," Tristan shot before Joe could start rambling about all of his lessons again.

"Good," he nodded, and we just rolled our eyes.

I sighed and threw my back on the seat, trying to calm myself down and thinking about what to say to Victoria in our "first" meeting, while watching the city lights pass outside the car window.

;

"Brad, Victoria's just over there," Joe suddenly whispered in my ear. I looked at the direction he nodded, trying to be discrete, and saw her there, holding a glass of champagne and laughing at something the girl in front of her had just said. She looked incredibly gorgeous. I was mesmerised. I almost let my chin drop in amazement, but right before I could lose myself admiring her, Laura came into my vision, handing me a glass of something and laughing, as Joe had said something that I didn't hear.

"Who are you staring at over there, Brad?" Laura asked, smirking. I wasn't staring!

"Huh? No one?!" I said, unsurely, looking at her and raising my eyebrows quizzically. Laura just smirked at me and turned her head back slightly, looking at the same direction I was "staring" at just now.

"Ooooooh!" she whisper-shouted, and her grin widened. "Victoria Olinsky! Okay, yeah, I'd be staring at her too if I were you, boys," she laughed. "Oh by the way, it's been ages since I last saw her! Let's go over there say hi, yeah? I can introduce you all!" she exclaimed excitedly, looking at me and winking, turning around and quickly making her way through the crowd. I looked at Joe, who just nodded and gave me a shy smile, obviously glad the plan was working out perfectly without Laura getting suspicious.