Page 34 of Love, Lilly

“Yes, you can go with Lilly. As her pretend date.” Her face lights up with pride like she has solved all the world’s problems. “You have to admit, Lil, Oliver looks a bit like Harry Styles,” she adds.

I stare at Oliver, who does look a lot like the aforementioned Mr Styles. “As much as I appreciate you offering your brother to me,” I say, confused as I look at Oliver, who doesn’t appear to be upset by the suggestion, “I don’t think Emma would like this idea very much.”

Silence follows this, with Amy biting her lip and glancing towards Oliver, who is now looking at the ground.

“What? What did I say?” I ask.

“Oliver and Emma broke up on Friday,” Amy tells me in a quiet voice.

Shocked at this new piece of information, I glance at Oliver to gauge how upset he is by this recent development. He looks up at me and meets my eyes, not appearing to be heartbroken.

“I’m so sorry, Ol. I obviously didn’t know. Are you OK? Do you need a hug?” I ask, wanting to make him feel better.

“I’m fine, thanks, Lil. It was a long time coming.” Ever the stoic, Oliver stands up from his spot against the door frame and walks further into the room. After he takes a seat in the armchair across from me, he leans forward with his arms on his knees and says, “If you need me, I can pretend to be your boyfriend.”

Unable to believe my ears, still shocked by the breakup announcement, I backtrack a bit.

“But you and Emma just broke up. What if she has a change of heart and then she learns you are going out with me, pretending, of course…”

“Lil, Oliver broke up with her. Not the other way around,” Amy tells me almost proudly. “So there is no chance of them getting back together. Right, Ol?”

Oliver gives me a searching look, then answers, “That’s right, we are done. And I am free if you need me to be your date.”

Buoyed by the fact that Oliver is now single and offering me a solution to my Sebastian problem, I tell him with a touch of hesitation, “It is a full weekend event. We would need to be away for both Friday and Saturday nights.”

“That sounds OK to me,” Oliver says, not looking at all concerned.

“Are you sure? This is a lot to ask.”

“No, it’s not,” Amy butts in. “He is happy to do it. You would help him out if he needed it, right?”

“Of course,” I say, and I mean it. I would do anything for Oliver.

“Then it is settled. Lilly crisis averted. Now can I go back to bed? I have a late shift tonight with the douche bag Lucas, and I need all my energy to get through it.” She gets up and gives me a hug. “Love you, Lilly Bug.” And with a yawn, she heads up to bed.

I look at Oliver, who has been watching me this whole time, and ask again, “Are you sure you want to do this? It is going to take up your entire weekend. Don’t you usually spend your weekend working? Or exercising? Or both?” I ask, giving him an out should he change his mind.

“Don’t worry about me, Lilly. My work can wait. You are more important. I am happy to play the role of your adoring boyfriend,” he adds with a small smile while I blush on the inside at the sentiment behind what he has just said to me. Oliver willing to put aside work for me? It is unheard of.

“Just send me through the details, and we can organise from there.” Ever the pragmatist, Oliver is focusing on the logistics, while I am trying to calm my internal reaction to the idea of dating Oliver, even if it is only pretend.

“OK, will do. I’ll sort out everything from my end, the hotel and stuff,” I say, now focused on everything that needs to get done, including finding the perfect revenge dress—you know, the important stuff. “I’ll email you what you need to know, and we can go from there.”

Oliver nods.

“If you’re sure?” I ask one last time, giving him a final chance to change his mind.

“I have never been surer of anything. Lilly Hamilton, it will be my honour to be your pretend boyfriend.”

And with that, I fall for him just a little more.

CHAPTER 20

Lilly

As predicted, the working week drags as I suffer through doing my actual job—you know, answering phone calls, filing papers, and of course, avoiding the wandering hands of my unsubtle male colleagues. This place is getting more unbearable by the day. It is a good thing that I have many things at the moment vying for equal shares of attention in my life: my burgeoning business (the Love, Lilly Instagram page now has one hundred thousand followers and is growing daily), my quest to find the perfect dress to wear to the wedding (involving scouring online boutiques and their sale options), and the heart-warming knowledge that Oliver has agreed to be my pretend boyfriend in two weeks’ time. Every time I think of him offering to be my adoring boyfriend, I have to rein in my overactive imagination.

“It is just pretend, Lilly,” I have to keep repeating to myself, and no good can come from getting caught up in the moment and believing it is real.

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