Collateral Damage

III

yes the male leads name is the same as a member of my favorite band EFF OFF

She was sat down in the courtyard. Two minutes had passed since the last bell of the day had rung, Halle was afraid she'd been pranked. She tapped her toes on the pavement and looked around for any sign of someone looking for her.

Two more minutes passed.

Giving up, she stood and slung her bag back over her shoulder, she began walking to the parking lot when she heard someone yell her name, "Halle, wait!"

She turned around and looked behind her, someone was running up to her.

"Luke?" She asks looking him up and down. "I'm looking for someone, has anyone asked about me?"

Lucas Bianchi was co-captain of the football team. Aiden's second in command. They had never really spoken, other than at family events, since his grandparents were well known in her parents social sphere. "Yeah, I'm looking for you."

She was taken aback, she peered up at him through her eyelashes, "why are you looking for me? You left a note on my locker?"

He nodded and placed a hand on her shoulder, pointing to a ledge where they could sit down. "I heard you turned Aiden down the other day, pretty brave of you."

Halle rolled her eyes and took her backpack back off, "yeah, I realize that now." She looks down, feeling his eyes on her but refusing to meet his gaze.

"I'm telling everyone it's not true, Aiden's just an ass, he's not used to being turned down," he explains, "I mean... I can't excuse his actions."

Halle stand back up and finally looks at Luke, "look, if you're here to try and tell me to reconsider-"

He stands up in a rush, "no! No, I'm here because I have a proposition for you."

She raises her eyebrows at him, "well, spill."

"Look, Hal, we've known each other for pretty much our whole lives, and I know your parents have been all over you about dating someone respectable. So why don't we date?" He says, pressing his lips down into one thin line.

She chokes on air. She looks at him, coughing. "You can't be serious," She wheezes.

He shrugs, "I'm serious. Not because we're in love or anything, but since we're both pressured to date we can like... fake it."

Her face slackens, "fake date?" This had to be some sort of joke, was she being punk'd?

"Yeah, around our family and friends we act like a couple but we aren't. We could even flirt with other people," he says, leaning back on his hands.

She sighs and scratches the back of her neck, "So casual fake dating. I give it a month," she says.

He smiles at her, "So is that a yes?" She nods, "great, my grandparents want you over for dinner on Friday and my sisters wedding is on the seventeenth, I'll be your escort and your invite should come in the mail by next Wednesday."

She looks at him incredulously, "woah woah woah, I have to make these plans, I have to make sure I have a babysitter, what do I do if I don't get a babysitter and the nanny can't work?"

"Hey, calm down, isn't there someone you could leave her with?" He asks, he looks desperate.

"...Her dad, but he has classes," she looks away from Luke.

Luke sighs, "look Hal, I was kinda supposed to ask you a few weeks ago, but I didn't, so please don't make me get down on my knees and beg."

She smiled at the nickname, "I'll figure it out."

He smiled and put an arm around her, "thank you, girlfriend."

She smiled shyly, "you're welcome... boyfriend."

~

She was laying down at home, wearing a peach colored dress splayed out on her queen sized bed, waiting for her parents to get home. She was looking for patterns in the textured ceiling, while thinking.

About Luke.

It's not like she hadn't thought about the prospects of dating him before, but now it was a reality. Well, it was fake real. Wow. This was a conundrum.

He was cute, she's always thought so, even as a kid he was. Now he was, well, hot, and she's never really noticed how much he's changed.

He was tall, probably six and a quarter feet tall. His skin was tan from the summer but he would probably get paler after some time off of the beach. His hair was beautiful. Raven black and in the sun it looked like it was reflecting blues and purples. Her parents adored him, he was the perfect person to fake date. He would very much please her parents, hopefully she would please his grandparents.

His mom got pregnant with his sister out of wedlock, and her parents disowned her. She got married eventually to her daughter's father. Not long after they had Luke, and a decade later they had another little girl. Not long after the other little girl was born their dad died, it's been about seven years. Halle went to the funeral, Luke's grandparents weren't there.

It was sad, but at the same time, she had seen the same thing happen in her life. And now she wondered where her sister was. If she was happy. If she missed her daughter.

There was a knock on her door, "Halle, your parents are home, it's time for drinks."

Sighing before she sits up, her freshly washed and straightened hair falling around her body. She opens the door and walks down the spiral staircase, "you get thinner and thinner everyday I see you, I'll have the cook begin to make you meals with more calories."

Her father taps his cigar into the ash tray, "she looks fine Anastasia, a good strong girl."

Her mother hums in response, "a young girl who needs a young man to marry."

"Alexander Bianchi told me his grandson had found a lovely young woman from school," father remarked, "shame, he's such a lovely young man. I had hoped he could've ended up with our Halle. You wouldn't happen to know who the girl is?"

Halle takes her seat, thanking the butler for pulling out her chair, "it's me."

Her father puts down his cigar and her mother puts down her wine. "I beg your pardon."

"Lucas asked if he could be my escort to his sisters wedding later this month, and Alexander and Florence invited me to dinner Friday." She said, laying her napkin down on her lap and looking up to see shocked expressions on her parents' faces.

They both promptly stand up, "why didn't you tell us?! We must invite him to dinner soon, how about the following Friday? How is he on Sunday? The sooner the better, please ask him. Let's make the plan for Sunday." Her mother freaks out, "clear all schedules for Sunday, we're having our daughter's boyfriend over."

"And see if there's a family event we can invite him to. In order to make up for that wedding."

~

I'm tired

My Moma made spinach dip and I wanna eat it but it has to chill

I have to work but rn Moma and I are watching a Christmas movie yeehaw

-h