Page 57 of The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco

“Okay. Okay.” Aria took a deep breath. “Because I don’t know if I should trust myself. Like, if I should believe in my own feelings or—or be wary.”

“Oh, honey,” Jen sighed. “I know what you mean. I know exactly what you mean.”

“Do you?”

“Well, there were a lot of times, with Theo, when I wondered if I was making bad decisions. I mean, when we got together, he was my boss.”

Aria nodded. At the time, she’d kind of thought Jen was making bad decisions too. Obviously, she hadn’t said anything—but she’d been suspicious of the older, wealthy guy who held so much power over her best friend. She’d expected everything to end in tears.

And now they were married. Sometimes, she supposed, things did work out. Sometimes, people really just wanted to love you.

“Even when he proposed,” Jen was saying, “I kind of wondered what the fuck I was thinking. All I knew was that I loved him, and I believed in us. And sometimes I wondered if love was a trustworthy emotion. But you know what? I think it’s worth the risk.”

Aria nodded slowly as her mind worked through those words. “Okay. Um… thank you.”

“Do you want to talk about anything?”

“No, no. I think I’m good.”

“Okay, love.”

Aria put down the phone and let her messy thoughts sit for a while. Or tried to. She went about her day, looking into properties for the tattoo shop—which, yes, she was still going to do. She supposed some women might send back all that money as a point of principle. Frankly, the mere idea made Aria hysterical with laughter. She felt more inclined to demand a bonus for the way he’d fucked her over, but she wouldn’t push her luck.

That thought made her imagine Nik’s reaction, though. He’d laugh and argue just for the sake of it, that teasing smile on his face—but in the end he’d agree anyway, because he had this weird idea that she was smarter than him.

By the time night fell and Aria was back in bed, she’d made her decision. She opened up the thread of emails they’d begun weeks ago and sent another.

I still don’t trust you.

Then she rolled over and went to sleep.

Chapter 12

Must Be My Influence

The next day Aria woke up to a reply that had arrived exactly three minutes after her email.

It’s a weird feeling, to be this upset over a message but this fucking ecstatic that it came at all. I know you don’t trust me, and I understand why. Can I try my best to fix it?

Aria’s tongue snuck out to toy with her lip ring as she considered her response. Finally, she typed out:

You can send me shitty Vines, if you want. And anything else that will make me laugh. I don’t think I can deal with heavy conversations.

She didn’t know how he’d respond to that. After all, she hadn’t really answered his question. She hadn’t given him a chance to do or get what he wanted. And yet, she was barely surprised when he replied with exactly what she’d asked for. No further questions, no probing remarks, just a series of videos that made her laugh. He kept it up throughout the day, even though she didn’t reply; one at lunch, another around dinner, another just before she went to bed.

And then he did it the next day. And the next day. And the next.

By the fifth day, the urge to reply was so strong that she stopped trying to fight it. What was the point, after all? Why was she denying herself the great luxury of a fucking email exchange?

For the first time since she’d asked him to make her laugh, Aria typed out a message to Nik.

* * *

“Well, then.” Lila Jones, British footballing legend, looked around the table of suits. “I don’t know about all of you, but I think we definitely have space for Mr. Christou within the foundation.”

The swell of pleasure in Nik’s chest was muted, like a lot of his feelings recently—but it was undeniably there. And it grew in intensity as the rest of the room nodded, murmuring their agreement and flashing welcoming smiles. Satisfaction bloomed. He’d decided that since he had enough money—more than enough—he didn’t need to look for work as a coach or a manager. Instead, he wanted to focus on philanthropic pursuits. To help people. He’d be working with Lila’s charity, which focused on making football training accessible to disadvantaged girls—but it had occurred to him that, when he knew enough, he could also choose a cause back home.

He remembered Aria telling him that he could do anything. Would it be too much to let her know that he was doing this? Probably. He was excited, and she was the person he wanted to blurt out all his excitement to, but it wouldn’t make her laugh. He was supposed to be making her laugh.

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