Page 8 of The Puck Decoy

I flick my eyes across the room and find the man in question still watching us, which is why I casually brush my hand on his shoulder in what to outsiders would be mistaken as intimacy. “He’s still watching us,” I reply quietly, bringing my body next to his once more and desperately trying to ignore his alluring scent, as I pretend this whole thing doesn’t affect me.

Engaged.

I am engaged. Something I have honestly wondered if I would ever be, yet now here I am, engaged, to Josh of all people. One of the first people to ever truly get me, to become my friend, and now my fiancé.

How the hell am I going to survive this with my heart still intact?

At that thought I almost tell him I’ve changed my mind, that I can’t do this without ever giving him a reason why, but then he looks at me. He looks at me and the ground beneath me shifts, because right now he isn’t looking at me like I am his friend, he is looking at me like I am his savior, as he scoffs at what I said.

“Of course he is, if he had his way he’d have us exchange our vows right here and consummate the marriage in front of him and all his pathetic guests,” Josh spits, turning towards me and pulling my body into his with little to no effort. I swallow my gasp as he presses up against me, and silently pray he doesn’t see the blush no doubt staining my cheeks. “This has to work, Hallie, I cannot let him win again, we have to make him believe this is real.”

His words and his body rob me of any response, because for just a second he isn’t the harsh and brutal Josh I have come to know. No, instead I see a flash of the boy I fell in love with, the soft and gentle boy who became my best friend when I was nine years old. When I don’t say anything, he jolts back a little, breaking his intensity as if now realizing our close position. He moves to separate us, but knowing his father’s gaze still preys upon us, I grip the lapel of his jacket and hold him in place. Then I use my other hand to turn his cheek away from his father and other prying eyes, making the moment look more intimate than it is.

“It will work, Josh, I can make them believe it’s real,” I all but promise him, not adding out loud how easy it will be for me to do that.

A real marriage requires trust, lust, and love, and unfortunately I just so happen to have all three for my fake fiancé. Something he thankfully doesn’t notice as he sighs and nods at me, pulling our bodies apart, but looping our arms together, turning us back towards the rest of the room. Most people's eyes are still on us, and I try not to shudder under the countless female stares looking at me with distaste.

“Let’s just make it through the next couple of hours, which should be easy considering we have the wrath of Maddie waiting for us,” he muses, our eyes flicking over to her, and though her smile is still in place, I can still see some betrayal in her eyes as she looks at us.

“I will handle Mads, don’t worry,” I tell him, knowing that whenever the two of them argue, though it’s rare, it always gets heated. “Let’s just get tonight over with, and I’m sure everything else will be fine.”

Everything but my heart that is.

We spend the next two hours blurring the lines between the stories of our friendship, and creating the fake relationship we now have, until people are making comments like ‘they always knew we’d get married’. By the time we leave, I feel the mask that I have kept perfectly in place all night slipping. I’m not stupid, I know how these parties work, I have been attending ones like them for as long as I can remember, but I have never let myself be the center of attention at any of them. If anything, I go out of my way to be invisible, always staying on the outskirts, only speaking to the few people I like, Maddie and Josh included on that very short list, and then leaving without incident, and honestly I expected tonight to be the same.

Of course as usual I underestimated Mayor Peters, and it seems I am not the only one struggling with tonight's events and revelations, because when we leave the party and climb into the car, Maddie slides into the back seat silently. Which leaves me to take the front seat with her brother once more, as we endure the world's most silent and awkward car ride. Not one to ever feel comfortable in the spotlight, I don’t bother breaking the tension, and by the time Josh pulls up at our house, I have practically picked all of the skin off my thumb in my anxious state.

Maddie slides out of the car first, moving right up the steps of the house, not even greeting her bodyguard Hector on her way, as she unlocks the door and stomps inside. Josh and I sigh in unison, as we both unbuckle our seatbelts and head inside to face the music.

When we reach the living room, Maddie is standing in the center and all she does is grit out one word, “Explain.”

I move to take a step forward, but Josh puts out his arm and blocks my way, taking the steps necessary to put himself in the center between me and Mads. I guess he knows how to handle this situation more than I do, so I let him take the lead, it’s their father’s demands after all. What I don’t expect is for him to totally ream her out.

“You knew this was going to happen, Maddie, what else did you expect?” His tone is harsher than I anticipated towards her, and she opens her mouth to respond but he cuts her off. “You chose Nova, remember? And I chose to step in and take your place so you could have him, so what else is there to explain?”

Of course growing up with him I am more than used to the anger that clings to him right now, but so is his sister. Maddie stalks towards him with nothing but contempt in her eyes for her brother right now, and I know this isn’t going to be easy.

“What else is there to explain?” she repeats with disbelief, a humorless air about her tone. “I don’t know, how about howmy best friend became involved, how about why you didn’t tell me this was happening, how about why you didn’t pick literally anyone else in the world, huh? Why don’t you explain that?” Her tone is just as harsh as her brother’s, and I doubt telling her that her father picked me would make her any less angry right now. I know stepping between them will do nobody any good, so I remain quiet.

“Father made his demands and I met them,” Josh replies flatly, and I wish his words didn’t sting me the way they do, despite knowing how fake this all is. “Demands that were given so you could live your own life however you want, remember?”

I’m not stupid, I knew all about the deal that my best friend's father was trying to force on her. He threatened her tuition at Fairfield U if she didn’t marry the guy he picked out, but when everything happened with Nova, I just assumed it was all off the table. They might not see eye to eye, but Josh has always been his golden boy. Smart and athletic, and someone he could brag about to his fellow political sycophants. I never expected him to make a new deal with his son, and even more so, I never expected Josh would ever actually accept such a thing. Yet the Mayor knew the one weakness that would get him.

“I didn’t want this, and I’m not accepting it, pick someone else,” Maddie urges, and panic flows through my entire body at the thought of Josh playing happily ever after with someone else, even if it is pretend.

“The deal is already done, Madeline, it was you or me, you or her,” he states simply, moving to stand beside me. “And we both chose you.”

Maddie looks between us, shaking her head in refusal, but when her brother doesn’t budge, she turns her attention to me. “I won’t let you do this, Hallie, not for me.” Tears gather in her eyes now, and I push away from Josh, and pull her hands into mine.

“Maddie, you're my best friend and I love you, but you can’t stop me from saving you, not when I’ve seen how happy you’ve been lately.” And she has been so happy, Nova has changed her completely, it’s why I didn’t hesitate in saying yes, not just for Josh, but for her too. “You can’t ask me to take that away from you,” I tell her with a smile.

“And I can’t ask you to throw away your life to marry Josh,” she cries, and I almost laugh. Laugh at the thought of anyone thinking they were throwing their life away getting to marry someone as kind-hearted as Josh Peters, but instead I just try and reassure her.

“It will be okay, we have a plan,” I start but Josh cuts me off.

“Our marriage isn’t really any of your business, Maddie. I asked Hallie to be my wife and she said yes, end of discussion.” His words are said with such finality that I flinch, but of course his sister doesn’t back down.

“No, not end of discussion,” she yells back just as there is a knock at the door, and neither of them even look in its direction as they stare each other down.

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