Page 17 of My Big Fat Vampire Wedding
Of course she would prefer to be fake-dating Victor. Ifhe decided this wasn’t for him, though, she was going to have to be OK with it being someone else.
“I … er … I have alotof family,” Pandora said. “Just wanted to give you all of the facts. Half a dozen aunts and uncles. Even more cousins and distant relations. And most of them will likely be attending wedding festivities.”
“Consider me forewarned,” Victor said, though Pandora thought he seemed visibly less comfortable compared to a few moments ago.
He didn’t exactly strike her as a people person. Which was fine. She was usually talkative enough for two. Besides, it wasn’t like he would be around her family constantly. In fact, it was in everyone’s best interest if they interacted as little as possible.
She would just have to claim that Victor was very busy with his studies, if her family kept wanting to have him over.
“If I agree, how would we go about this?” Victor asked. “I feel like things need to be as official as possible, when we are both going to be spending a year faking this.”
“I think it’s probably smart if we draft up a document and sign it. I don’t know if that is legally binding or anything if we don’t go to a lawyer, but it’s better than nothing. I mean, we could totally go to a lawyer, I guess. I was just kind of worried about this, you know, getting out, and my parents maybe hearing—”
“An informal contract will be fine,” Victor cut her off. “What would that document entail?”
“The exact parameters of the engagement. One-year commitment from the day we are married. What is expected: wedding festivities, living together after the wedding to really sell it, then the dissolution of the marriage and my giving you half of my inheritance.”
“I wouldn’t be chuffed taking half of it,” Victor said. If possible, she just fell a teensy bit harder for him. He didn’t even know how much she would be getting and, therefore, how much he was forfeiting. He didn’t care. He just wanted things to be fair.
“OK. Well, we can work out exactly how much. How much you will need to finish your PhD, for example. Plus a food, living, and clothing stipend.”
“I thought you said I would be living with you.”
Pandora felt a warm sensation in her chest at all the images that thought conjured up. The two of them standing side by side in the kitchen, waiting for the coffee to brew. Sitting with each other on the couch, each lost in their respective books. Heading down the hallway toward the bedroom …
But just as many negative thoughts flooded her mind. Where would she hide her blood, for example, while she was living with Victor? How much human food that she didn’t need, or particularly enjoyed, would she have to choke down? What if hecaught herdrinking blood?
“Pandora?” Victor called out, snapping her out of the tsunami of bad thoughts. That warm feeling crept across her chest again at the sound of her name on his lips. She hadn’t realized heknewher name.
“Yeah?” she asked, suddenly aware she’d been staring at him. Likely with hearts in her eyes.
“Living expenses.”
“Oh, right. So, like, retroactive ones. For this time period between now and when we actually get married. Since, normally, you would be going back home.”
“I have some savings,” Victor said. “I was going to use them to buy a car to maybe travel back and forth from myparents’ place and London. I’ve really become attached to the area. But I can use it to live on for a few months.”
“What about UCL?”
“I’m paid up until the end of the autumn term,” he said. “I was just going to leave early, since there seemed to be no use finishing it up if I was out of money anyway.”
“That works out perfectly, then. You can keep going to uni. I will keep working here. And then we can move in together once we’re married.”
“In three months,” he said.
“Yes.”
“This is mad,” he said, watching Pandora with a mix of amusement and disbelief.
“It really is. But?” she prompted him.
“But it seems like it’s the answer to both our problems. One year,” he said, holding out his hand to shake.
Pandora felt a fluttering sensation move through her belly as she pressed her hand into his. “One year.”
“I guess there is only one more thing to say,” Victor declared as Pandora saw Lucy walking past the windows.
Her friend froze, turned, and stared at the two of them, with their hands still clasped, her mouth falling open in a comical O.
