Page 70 of My Fake Fiancé

We stare at the deceiving little glass and then we both burst out laughing. Once we have calmed down, I speak.

“Go give yourself a refill while I get dried off. Then you can tell me all about why men suck. I mean I have my own reasons, but I have a feeling you’re about to add to the list.”

“Oh, you know it. Hurry up.”

“Get out,” I shoot back at her and wait while she grumbles and exits the bathroom.

I get out of the shower, wrap my shower towel around myself, and use my towel to dry my hair a bit. I look at myself in the mirror and decide Callum can wait. I head into my bedroom and grab my phone sending a quick text telling Callum something came up and I’ll have to cancel tonight. He responds almost immediately with a sad face emoji, I send back a text asking for a rain check and he quickly agrees. I let him know I’ll call him later in the week and set up a time. I don’t wait for a response, putting my phone down and quickly changing into an old t-shirt and pajama shorts.

Emerging from my bedroom, I find Tatyana sprawled on the couch staring at the TV. I turn to look at it and frown. I go and kneel in front of her.

“The TV isn’t on, T.” She sits up and blinks a little.

“What kind of liquor is this?” She holds up her newly refilled glass and eyes it.

“I don’t know, babe, it’s yours. You bought it.” I laugh and go to the kitchen to make us both some water and a snack.

When I come back to the living room, I switch her drink for some water which she is reluctantly grateful for. I set all the snacks down and settle in beside her. “Okay, what did Mike do to make you feel this way? I thought everything was going well.”

“Well, yeah, that’s the issue. I thought everything was too. When we went on vacation, I knew he would be busy working but the fact that he invited me to go… Well, it made me think some things…” Tatyana trails off and I feel my eyes widening before her face shifts into a grimace. I fix my face quickly.

“Oooh,” I say softly. “Oh, I mean, I can kind of see why you’d think that. And you guys have had that conversation before,” I say and Tatyana nods eagerly. “So, what happened? You seemed fine when you came back from the trip.”

“Well, I wasn’t. It was a good trip but obviously, I had expected something more. So, the next weekend I asked him about it and he laughed. He actually laughed at me. I didn’t handle that well,” Tatyana tells me and I nod, understanding. “I lashed out at him and got upset at his reaction. He did not handle that well either. And now, all we do is argue. Not even in person! We’re arguing over text because he’s been too busy to see me.” Tatyana has started crying now. I hand her tissues to wipe her face.

“So, what do you want to do?” I ask as she sniffles.” You love Mike.”

“I do, so much. But after our blowup in person he’s just acting so different. He used to always want to spend time with me but now he’s too busy and I have no idea what’s going on because he won’t even talk to me.” Her cries break my heart and I pull her into a giant bear hug.

When our hug ends, I pull back and look her over. She still has tears on her cheeks but the amount is subsiding. I dab at her face with a tissue then hand her more water. While she drinks, I think up a game plan.

“Okay,” I say when she finishes the water. “Do you want to formulate a plan to resolve this or do you want to wallow in self pity for a bit?”

“Self pity,” Tatyana says pretty quickly. I laugh.

“Okay, fine. You let me wallow more than once so I am onboard as well. Wallow in self pity for a few hours and then we’ll get our shit together, okay?” I clarify.

“Perfect,” Tatyana says before grabbing the remote.

Chapter 61

Juliana

After many hours of crying, drinking, and more than a few chick flicks muted in the background, Tatyana has finally fallen asleep. She didn't make it to her bedroom though. About halfway through the evening, we decided to build a tent and sleep in the living room. Since Tatyana was a couple drinks deep, I took over the entire operation while she directed me from the couch. In the end, the setup was not bad.

We had a mattress topper on the floor with a couple of layers of blankets to make it even more comfortable. Lined up along the edge of the makeshift bed were the stools from our kitchen counter, giving us enough height that even if the sheets over the top caved in, we would still have room to sit up. A final sheet was placed over the top of the TV to keep it included in our fort/tent. And while Tatyana searched for another movie to watch, I brought in more pillows and blankets and lined the couch cushions against the chairs to completely shield us from the outside world. Then we settled in for the night.

Somewhere around 1:30 in the morning, I shut off the TV and crawl out from under all the blankets and sheets. I turn off all the lights and made sure our door is locked. Then I set about cleaning up the kitchen, as quietly as I can knowing that I will not get any sleep knowing how much food we had left out so I put everything away.

By 2 a.m., I begin to yawn. Every so often I hear a soft ping coming from Tatyana's phone. I know it's Mike. They love each other, I know they do. They'll get over this fight.

I sigh and walk back to the living and grab her phone, glancing over the messages. Most, if not all, are from Mike. I don't read through all of them and only briefly skim a few but I can tell he's just worried and hopes that she is safe. I go to plug her phone in then step into the bathroom to wash up and place a call on my own phone.

"Hey Juli, is Tatyana there with you, is she okay?" Mike asks nervously like he thinks I'd be mad at him.

"She's here. And she is okay, Tatyana just needed some companionship." I smile at myself in the mirror when I hear him let out a breath of relief.

"I'm sure she's already told you what happened.." he begins, timidly. He knows she tells me everything which is why he treads lightly with me.

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