Page 19 of My Fake Fiancé

“Thank you for this.” Kurt lifts his cup to me before taking a long sip.

“Of course, no problem. Not technically the same level as Wednesday’s dinner so start looking forward to another dinner date, on me this time. Any update on the engagement party?” I ask quickly, trying to gloss over my mentioning a date. Kurt sighs, leaning back and stretching his back out on the chair. “Oh sorry, did you have a long day?”

“Technically no, it was a very short day.” I sit quietly in case he wants to say more, he does. “The case I’m working on took a turn and new information came to light today actually.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. We could have rescheduled, Kurt. I would have understood, do you need to leave now, go back to work?” I start overthinking.

Kurt sits up straight and takes another drink from his coffee then starts on his pastry. I narrow my eyes at him, annoyed that he chose to eat first rather than respond to me. I cross my arms and he looks up at me laughing at my displeased expression.

“Sorry, no. It’s fine. Nothing is going to change today. There is nothing I can do at the moment. This actually helps take my mind off work. So again, thank you.” Kurt lifts his coffee again but he cheers me this time.

“Glad I could help.” I lift my cup in return and take a sip when he does.

“So I realized that we hadn’t figured out our story for how we started dating.” Kurt settles in and starts eating his pastry.

“Oh, yes! Wednesday night wasn’t very productive in that regard.” I shift in my seat, sitting up straighter, intrigued. “Do you have a story in mind?”

“Well, I think we should keep the story simple.” Kurt sets his fork down to lay out the story for me. “We just tell people that we went out to lunch after church one day, spent hours talking, decided to meet up again, and it just kind of progressed from there.”

I nod in agreement, taking in the story. “Simple, but plausible. Wait but how do we explain getting engaged so quickly? I mean, I was just in a relationship not even six months ago and you were with Ashley until very recently. ”

“Right,” Kurt says, pondering the question. “Ok, so we just decided we knew what we wanted. We’d both been in relationships that weren’t going anywhere. We grew closer, as friends, and one day realized it was more than a friendship. And at that point, we both confessed our love and I proposed.”

“Are people actually going to believe this?” Sighing, I sit back, lift my cup, and swirl it, giving myself something to do with my hands.

“I think so. But to be safe, don’t offer any information unless directly asked.”

“Smart. Such a lawyer thing to say.” I chuckle and Kurt shakes his head with a smile. I sip my drink. “Okay, great! We have our story down. Oh no wait, people are going to ask how you proposed.”

“We’ll just say that when we made our confessions of love, I proposed in the spur of the moment. Nothing too extravagant but it felt right. Does that sound okay?” Kurt studies my face and I smile at him. He smiles back at me and we both end up laughing. Creating our fake relationship is so silly.

“Yes,” I say after we stop laughing and I’ve caught my breath. “That sounds good. Should be easy to remember and hard to mess up. But we’ll see.”

After a couple of hours of discussing how to address our new relationship or engagement with others, we decide to meet up again another night just to hang out, and spend some time together. I really enjoy spending time with him. I check my phone and see by the time that I am cutting it close to dinner with my family.

“Kurt, I should head back to my apartment. I have to get ready for family dinner.” I chuckle and Kurt nods.

“Let me give you a ride,” He stands up and waits for me to get up as well before we head back to his car. I don’t bother arguing with him and instead accept his offer of a ride.

When I am settled in his car, I lean my head back on the headrest and close my eyes. I am exhausted but I know I need my energy for this evening.

“You okay?” Kurt asks, turning down the radio so we can hear each other speak. I don’t open my eyes but I can feel him casting glances my way. I let a yawn escape my mouth and Kurt chuckles. “Long day?” He pokes fun at my earlier comment. Even though he’s turned back to look at the road and can’t see it, I roll my eyes but also let a small smile appear on my lips.

“Oh, not really. But yes, I am okay.” I keep my eyes closed until I feel the familiar bump when entering the parking lot of my apartment. I slowly open my eyes and rub at them a little, trying to chase away the sleepiness. “Thanks for driving me home.”

“Hey, no problem, it’s what any good man would do when taking his fiancé out.” Kurt smiles at me, his eyes sparkling. I shake my head but smile as well. We might as well have fun with the situation that we are in.

“And what a great fiancé you are, my dear,” I respond, then hop out of the car before he can get out, I wave him off. “I’ve got to go, no need to walk me inside tonight. Text me when you want to meet up again.”

“Sounds good, have a good time with your parents tonight.” Kurt leans over the passenger seat so he can still see me while he talks.

“Oh, I will,” I say with a little laugh then give a quick wave and run into my apartment building. I look back when the door shuts and see Kurt just pulling away. If he doesn’t walk me to the door, then he at least waits for me to get inside the building. It’s very sweet of him.

The apartment is empty when I arrive. Tatyana must still be at work or out with Mike. I change into a plain white t-shirt and throw on a cute, knee-length denim skirt. I freshen up quickly as well then head back down to the parking lot to get into my car. I plug my phone in to play music and to charge it because it didn’t get a lot of charge while I was changing. Then I back out of my spot and head out onto the road towards my parents’ house.

Chapter 19

Juliana

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