Golden Boy's Game

│07│

THE CHURCH WAS a quaint building, overlooking the city gardens. The windows, which were adorned with stained glass bounced off colors of blue, yellow and red into the fall light as we approached the church.

Delia had already headed inside to make final preparations and put on her dress. Her bridesmaids and maid of honor had already gone with her to help out. The rest of the guests were hanging out in the main hall of the church.

"Ready?" Amanda said, fixing me with a firm look. "This is going to work, don't worry. Just follow the plan."

Eloise nodded and took my hand. "I'll be scouting between both of you, keeping things in control. There's no way this can fail if you both play it right."

"Right," I repeated monotonously. There must've been something in my voice because Amanda and Eloise exchanged a worried glance at each other. Without another word, we made our way into the church, leaving the chilly fall air and the smell of flowers behind.

"It's game time, ladies."

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Caleb looked sharp, in his shiny grey suit and contrasting blue tie. I cast my eyes away from his figure and glanced at Amanda, for support. But I found that when my eyes landed on her, she was already preoccupied with glaring daggers towards someone else. Slowly, my eyes followed her line of vision towards Emmett, who was talking with a girl in a pink dress at the corner. Anger clouded my vision as I observed how his fingers lingered on her and their suspiciously close proximity.

"Just remember the plan," Amanda mumble with a conflicted look on her face as she turned away, hurrying towards Caleb.

Biting my lip, I made my way over to Emmett who was talking animatedly with the girl. They were definitely holding hands as I neared them. He hadn't seen me either.

"Emmett," I greeted with false cheer. He turned instantly at the sound of my voice and his face lit up.

"Hey," he said softly as he eyed my dress. His eyes lingered on my face for a second too long and I felt myself trying to hold back a wince. "You look amazing."

"Thank you," I said cordially as I let my eyes drift lazily onto the girl standing at his side. Her red hair contrasted starkly against her black dress. "I'm Emeraude."

"Alicia," she smiled warmly, reaching out to shake my hand. Her fingers were nimble and surprisingly soft. "I don't suppose you've heard of me. I'm Emmett's cousin."

Cousin? I felt my eyebrows arch slightly as I resisted the urge to turn around and run back to Amanda to warn her that this girl wasn't exactly imposing a threat. Faking a smile, I looked back at Emmett. "Cousin, huh?"

"Yeah," Emmett said awkwardly, positioning his hands behind his back. "Alicia, could you give us a minute?"

"Of course."

Her heels clicked satisfyingly as she walked away, leaving Emmett and me with silence. He watched her go and then slowly turned his eyes to look back at me. "How are you?"

Well, my sister is getting married to someone she's barely known, to my knowledge. I'm involved in a plot to make my fake boyfriend jealous. I'm suspicious that you used Amanda to make me jealous, except it didn't work so I'm guessing that's why you broke up with her. Life is hella great!

"I'm doing alright."

He nodded in reply. "Look, about the whole Cynthia thing... there's something you should know."