Page 42 of My Fake Fiancé

“Thank you,” I smile gratefully at him and he nods.

My dad comes back to the couch and sits down with us. He cracks open another soda and takes a drink before he speaks.

“So, how do you feel about your daughter being engaged to Kurt?” My dad asks and I let out a chuckle. Juliana’s dad laughs too then clears his throat and sits up a little straighter.

“Very disappointed in her choice. I mean Kurt? Really? She couldn’t do better than him?” Juliana’s dad chuckles and pokes fun of me. He gives me a big smile to show he’s being sarcastic. I roll my eyes but smile as well.

“Thanks for that,” I say in response and my dad laughs and slaps my back.

“No, but seriously, you’re a great guy Kurt. Of course, I’m happy for both of you. I was a little surprised at first, I think a lot of us were.” He takes a breath and I jump in.

“I know, we were a little surprised too. But, and I’m sure you’ve all heard the story before, we were friends and grew closer and fell in love. The engagement was pretty quick since we were really just friends before I proposed but when you know, you know. And I think we both knew.” I say the common phrase that I’ve heard so many times.

“Hey, I can believe it,” Juliana’s dad raises his hands in defense. “I know y’all both had crushes on each other when you were kids but that was years ago. It’s funny to see that it came back stronger than just a crush.”

“She had a crush on me?” I ask, smirking a little. “That’s cute.”

“Don’t start feeling all good about yourself because you definitely had a crush on her as well.” I start to deny it but my dad shakes his head and laughs. He continues talking, “Oh, don’t deny it. You did, we all knew it. Your mother thought it was adorable.”

“Okay, fine,” I relent a little. “Maybe when I was younger I had a bit of a crush on her too. Just a small one.”

“Just a small one?” My dad laughs and shakes his head at me. “A small one that led to y’all being engaged many years later? I think it may have been a bigger crush than either of y’all would care to admit. But hey, that crush led you both to the place you are now and you both genuinely seem quite happy. So that is all that matters.”

Juliana’s dad nods, agreeing with everything my dad has said. The game comes back on but we keep the volume low while we continue talking. I start to relax more and only glance at my phone a few more times, but not as nervously as I had been doing earlier.

“Do you remember that time the Sunday School kids went out to y’all’s place and you took care of her after she got hurt? She didn’t stop talking about that for a whole month. And every Sunday she wanted her mom to help her pick out her cutest outfit and she would talk about you all morning then when we were getting close to Church in the car, she grew quiet and got so nervous. I doubt she even looked at you let alone talked to you then.” Juliana’s dad confesses and laughs at the memory. I can’t help but smile. Juliana and I talked about that day recently and it was fun to hear the aftermath from her dad.

“You’re right, I do not remember her approaching me after that event.” I laugh and her dad laughs with me. “I think I made sure to check in with her the Sunday after that weekend at the lake house but it was just a quick check-in to see if her cut was healing alright. I remember she showed it to me then she ran away.” I let out another laugh recalling the memory. Looking back on it now I can see how her actions showed how nervous she was because she had a crush on me.

Chapter 39

Juliana

When the stylist asks if I am ready to show everyone, I have mixed reactions. I know that she can tell I love this dress. I nod reluctantly. That’s why we came here. That’s why Ms. Michaels set all of this up. To see all the options for a wedding dress. I shouldn’t show them this dress. I know I shouldn’t. Maybe they won’t like it as much as I do. But then again maybe they’ll see how much I like it and that will make them like it more. There are too many thoughts going through my head. Before I know it, the stylist has me up on the platform and I hear gasps and murmurs again. This time, they sound like good reactions. After they admire the back of the dress and take peeks of my front in the mirror, the stylist helps me turn around to face them.

Looking around the group I see three out of the five have tears in their eyes. Merrin and Tatyana are the ones without tears but Merrin is grinning. Tatyana looks like she wants to love it but she knows our situation and she gives me a sad look. I realize I have a smile on my face but as soon as I see Tatyana’s reaction, the smile fades. I look down at the floor, seeing the beautiful train of the dress twisted around the platform.

“So, what does everyone think?” The stylist asks everyone and reaches down to straighten out the train of the dress. The train is delicate lace and extends maybe three feet longer than the end of the dress, which is kind of a dramatic length but it looks incredible with this dress.

“I love it!” Mrs. Michaels chokes out, dabbing tears from her face. She reaches over and squeezes my mother's hand. My mother has tears in her eyes as well. She smiles over at Mrs. Michaels then gets up to stand beside me in front of the mirror. My mom takes my hand and turns me to face the mirror again, she smiles at me in the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” my mom says softly. Everyone gets up off the couch to join us and get a closer look at the dress.

“Wow, Juliana, this is the one.” Merrin touches the bodice of the dress, mesmerized by it. Everyone takes their turn touching different parts of the dress, admiring it. “This is the one.”

“Yeah, I think this is the one.” Tatyana agrees with her and I shoot her a look, she shrugs and mouths ‘sorry’.

“Oh, Juliana,” Gram comes to stand beside me as well. “This dress is amazing and you look incredible. I agree, this is the one.”

I sigh and look at myself in the mirror. Obviously, I can’t buy this dress. I can’t spend real money on a real wedding dress for a wedding that isn’t going to happen.

“I don’t know…” I see everyone’s faces in the mirror. Everyone is staring at me and they are all smiling. Everyone looks happy. I don’t want to let anyone down but I know if I bought the dress it would just make everything worse. “I do like it. I love it. I just don’t have the money to purchase it at the moment. Especially since we don’t even have a date set for the wedding.” I turn around to face away from the mirror as everyone goes back to their seats.

“That’s true,” Tatyana pipes up. “You shouldn’t get the dress too soon because you never know how long the engagement will be. Could be short but also could be a year or so. You two should really have that conversation.” Tatyana gives me a pointed look as she plops back into her chair. She crosses her arms and leans back in the chair.

“Thank you, Tatyana.” I smile a tight smile at her and she laughs. I turn to address the stylist. “Thank you, it’s beautiful but for now I think it will just be a dream for the future.” The stylist nods and helps me back to the dressing room to change out of the dress and back into my normal clothes.

When I come out of the dressing room Mrs. Michaels and Gram are admiring the dress where it hangs, on a hook outside the dressing room. They look up as I exit and they both smile at me.

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