Page 5 of The Puck Decoy

It’s with that in mind that the next command slips right off my tongue without pause. “On your knees, twenty-two,” I say, and his head snaps back down towards me.

“What?” he asks, stumbling over the word and looking at me like I have grown an extra head.

“You heard me, Joshua. You want to marry me then get on your knees and ask me properly.” This might not be real, in fact it’s as far from true love as I could possibly get, but hell if I am not getting a proper proposal, even if it’s a fake one. I wanted it when I was eleven and I still want it now.

“Really?” he asks, looking at me like I have gone crazy. “You’re insane, you know that right?” I want to tell him he is the one who makes me insane, that I have been crazy since the second I stormed into the middle of his own personal self-made hockey game, but as always the words die in the pit between us.

“Yeah, I know I’m crazy,” I admit freely, not adding that I am crazy in love. “I also know I’d get on my knees if you asked me.”

“What?” he asks again, in shock this time, and it’s only then I replay the words I just said back in my head, and my confidence stumbles as his shock turns to a smirk. “So all I have to do is ask, huh?” he says, and the bastard knows exactly how to make me squirm.

“No, wait I mean, that came out wrong,” I trip over the words as I rush to get them out, but thankfully Josh sighs as he takes pity on me.

Then he drops to one knee in front of me, and every single one of my fantasies blur together at once. Josh Peters was a beautiful boy that grew up to be a breathtaking man, but right now, on his knee before me in his perfectly pressed tuxedo, he looks like a god sent to ruin me.

“Hallie RoseTinkerbellSanders,” he starts, and my breath catches in my throat as he smirks at his own joke. “I don’t have a ring pop on hand, but will you please do me the honor of becoming my fake wife so I can save my sister and your best friend from a terrible and lonely future?” he asks, and when I raise an amused brow, he finally adds, “Will you marry me, Hallie Bear?”

The words hang in the air between us, just like they did when we were kids, except now there is no childhood innocence lingering there. Something shifts at his words, and I want to make a joke, to refuse him, to tell him I can’t marry him. To keep us in the black and white we have grown comfortable in and not push us back into those shades of gray that I could never understand, but I can’t, because it’s him. The boy I fell in love with when I was a child, now a man I would do anything for, especially when it comes at the price of helping the one person we both love most in the world.

It might hurt me, change me, break me irrevocably, but if there’s one thing I could never do, it’s say no to Josh Peters.

“Yes,” I say, barely above a whisper, as I force back the tears threatening to break free at what I am about to do. “Yes, Joshua, I will marry you.”

And just like that I am once again free falling into his abyss.

The drive over to my parents’ house is unusually silent given who my passenger is. I’ve spent years being on the receiving end of many heated debates, and thought out monologues regarding things that interest Hallie, but right now she remains tight-lipped by my side the entire time. In fact, she has barely said two words since she agreed to marry me, something I still can’t quite believe she agreed to, and then we were somehow walking out of her house to come here. I’m not sure if her new found silence is a good thing or a bad thing, especially not when her usual M.O. is to talk endlessly until she drives me completely crazy. That Hallie I can deal with, but this one? I’m not so sure.

Her eyes are fixed out the window, her stare blank and uninterested, as if she would rather be anywhere else but here.Her hands are fidgeting in her lap, a nervous tell of hers, and her leg is bouncing up and down rapidly as we pull through the community iron gates that lead to my childhood home. She has been here at least a thousand times, and now I can’t help but wonder what she sees when she looks at it. It looks nothing like how her parents' home used to be, even though they resided on this very same estate before they moved. No, her house was warm, inviting, and filled with love. Nothing like the one we are both about to enter.

I’m not surprised when we pull up that the whole place is covered in fall decorations, which will no doubt make all the partygoers swoon, but all I see is the stark truth: that my father cares more about his image than he does anything else.

When we reach the usual valet they hire, I greet him by name as I pass him my keys, knowing he will take it to my usual spot, before moving around the car and opening the door for Hallie. She looks at the house with the same disdain that I am sure is clear on my own face, and it only makes me smile. If anyone hates my father the way Maddie and I do, it’s her. I just hope she can hold her own against him because upgrading herself from my sister’s best friend to my future wife is only going to put her under more fire. She knows I will protect her, at least I hope she does, but I need her more than she realizes, especially if I am going to beat my father at his own game.

We move towards the front door but I halt, feeling that same dread that drowns me every time I come here starting to consume me. In truth this place hasn’t felt like home for me in a very long time, and it feels even less like it now that I no longer live here, but for once I’m not alone. Hallie steps up beside me and loops her arm through mine as if it’s the most natural thing in the world for us. She stares up to where my mother and father stand in the doorway, greeting guests as if they are a perfectly happy couple.

“You’re not bailing on me already are you, Joshua, because I have to say, that’s very bad husbandly form,” she jokes with a smile, flicking her gaze to me, and when our stares lock, my heart stops thundering in my chest. That calming effect she always seems to have on me, soothing me from the inside out.

Her green eyes are shining bright as usual, with a hint of mischief just like always, and I can’t help but be captivated by her. She will make the perfect wife. She’s stunning of course, her beauty only exaggerated tonight by the gold dress that clings to her every curve, but it’s more than that. She’s smart, funny, kind, passionate, and I know no matter what she will always be there for me. One day she will make the perfect real wife, but for now, we have to fake it until we make it.

It’s why I entwine our arms even closer, rolling my neck, and straightening my shoulders at the same time in preparation for the night ahead. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Hals, I’ll always have your back,” I tell her, and I mean it. This thing between us might be fake, but our friendship is real, and I care about her more than she knows.

Saving Maddie is the most important thing to me, but having someone to help me do it is just an added bonus, especially with that someone being Hallie. At least tonight, and for the foreseeable future I guess, I’ll have her by my side for support. Which is a strangely comforting feeling I haven’t felt– or should I say, let myself feel–since I was a child..

“And I’ll always have yours,” she replies softly, and before I can thank her, she adds, “But only if we survive our first night as a fake engaged couple.”

Those last words are meant just for me as she starts leading us up the stairs towards where my parents wait. My mother is still fawning over guests coming through the door, but my father’s gaze is already laser focused on the two of us. His eyes take in our linked arms and pressed shoulders, and a winningsmirk tugs at the corner of his mouth. He thinks he’s finally got me exactly where he wants me, just like I need him to. This is the start of the game, the one he has been winning for far too long, but tonight, I take back some of that power and push back in the only way I know how.

When we reach the top of the stairs, the guests talking with my mother finally move aside and she spots us too. “Oh, Josh darling, look at you, so handsome in your tux,” she coos, stepping forward, and I pull my linked arm from Hallie’s to embrace her in greeting.

“Good evening, Mother, you look beautiful,” I respond blandly, my ingrained manners coming out in full force, before I step back and nod my head at the man by her side. “Father,” I add dryly, and his smirk is still filled with knowing pride that most might mistake for affection towards me, but unfortunately I know better.

Silence stretches between us, and my mother does what she does best, and quickly jumps back in with a smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “And, Hallie dear, look at you, just as beautiful as always,” she preens, offering her a hug.

“Thank you, Mrs. Peters, I was just about to say the same to you,” Hallie replies, perfectly polite as always, before pulling away from my mom. As if on instinct, I put my arm around her shoulders and pull her back into me, causing my mother to flick her gaze between the two of us.

I see wonder there now, and just as I am sure that my father is buzzing inside right now, I am also sure that my mother isn’t privy to the deal that forced my current hand. Of course she ignores the obvious, just like always, and decides to change the subject instead. “And just where is your sister, I thought she was coming with you?” she asks, forcing an air of annoyance in her tone, when deep down I bet she wishes Maddie wouldn’t come at all.

My eyes stay locked with my father’s as I respond to her. “Maddie is still with Nova and his mother, they all spent Thanksgiving together as you know, but she will be here soon.”

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