Anna steals a kiss from an unsuspecting Joe and runs away. He catches her soon and makes her pay. Read how the hopelessly romantic Anna and the strictly casual Joe try to get along.
"Let's tell everyone she's your evil twin," Marge suggests. I crush the paper I find on the table and throw it at her. "I'll never listen to your stupid ideas again," I say. It was Marge who suggested I kiss Joe at the mall. She retorts, "Hey, because of me you were able to get back at your cheating bastard of an ex."
Lizzie nods in approval.
"Did I though?" I ask. I don't know if Mason got jealous because of that photo, or if he even saw it. "Trust, me," Marge says, "Mason is out there crying over losing you." I give her a deadpan expression. Whenever she says, "Trust me," I'm beginning to not do exactly that.
I lean back on my chair. "Why does he need a fake girlfriend anyway?"
"Remember what Estelle told you?" Lizzie says. "He doesn't do real girlfriends."
"Real or fake, why does he need a girlfriend in the first place? If it's just a date he can take anyone he wants," I say. With his popularity, no girl would say no to him, including yours truly. "I don't know," Marge says thoughtfully. "Make sure to ask him why would you?" she adds. I crush another paper and throw it at her.
"And why me?!" I ask. "Doesn't his school have any girlfriends for hire?"
"Convenience," Lizzie says. "You're from a different school. And I'm pretty sure if the girls in his school got to be his girlfriend, even a fake one, for a day, it'll distort their reality."
I sigh. "I'm screwed."
I'm having a phase of bad luck since I found out my ex-boyfriend cheated on me. I don't want to get in any trouble because of Joe. If he tells everyone the truth, I'll be too embarrassed to show my face outside, especially in front of Mason.
"Relax. It's just dinner. It'll be over before you know it," Lizzie says.
Marge drives me to the address of the dinner party Joe texted me. It's some sort of a museum. And the dinner party looks more like a gala as Marge and I pull over at the venue. "Damn," she says, "I wish I could come, too."
"I can tell them you're my plus one," I say excitedly at the prospect of her coming. That way I won't be alone in a crowd of strangers in there. "I was just saying," Marge says grinning. I get out and slam shut her car door as hard as possible.
Near the entrance there are a few security personnel taking names of the guests. "Annalee Collins," I say to one of them. He looks through the list of names on the clipboard he's holding and nods. "Have a good night, Miss," he says, gesturing me to go inside.
Once I'm in, I find myself standing among a very sophisticated and posh looking crowd. I unconsciously smooth the wrinkles on my dress. Good thing I chose to wear one of my classy dresses or else I would've stuck out like a sore thumb here.
I take out my phone and dial Joe. "Are you here?" he asks. "I'm inside, near the entrance," I say. "Stay there. I'm coming," he says.
Soon he appears before me, dressed formally, looking more handsome than usual. But I don't have time to check him out properly. "Come on," he says. "I'll introduce you to my family."
He leads me through the crowd. We stop when we reach a particularly rich looking group of people. Just looking at them makes me nervous. "Mom, this is Anna," he says to the older woman. Her expressions go wide with excitement. "Anna! It's so good to finally see you!" she says while drowning me in a hug. "You're so beautiful," she says, placing her hand on my cheek. It feels weird how friendly she seems.
"Anna," says the stern looking man standing next to her. "Nice to meet you. I'm Adam Felix, Joe's father," he says reaching out his hand. I nervously shake it. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Felix. Thanks for inviting me," I say. "You can call me Adam," he says and stretches his lips by a nanometer. I believe that's him smiling.
"And I'm Ruth, Joe's older sister," says the younger woman. "Hi," I say shaking her hand. "This is my fiancé, Charlie," she says, crossing her arm into the hand of the good looking guy standing next to her. Charlie politely nods at me. I nod back at him. "So, how long have you guys been dating?" Ruth asks.
I smile and look at my boyfriend. We should've prepared a story. "A month or so," he casually says. "How did you guys meet? If I'm not wrong, you go to Reagan's girls' school right, Anna?" his sister says.
"Yes," I say. And as for how we met... "We met at the mall."
"How?" she asks. Tired from her questions already I look around and see everyone staring at me. Where is Marge when I need her stupid ideas? I look at Joe. He tries to hide a smile before saying, "At the elevator."
"The elevator?" his mom says.
"The elevator broke down. We got stuck together for about five minutes," he says.
"That is so romantic. Didn't know something like this could even happen to you, Joe," Ruth says smirking.
I spend about ten more minutes answering their questions about me, my family, yadda, yadda, yadda. By the time Joe had excused us from them I feel exhausted. "Can I leave now?" I ask. He shakes his head. "We're just getting started," he says.
Oh dear.
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