Page 10 of Dating Your Fake Fiance
“Dana, are you home?” a woman calls out. “Your father and I need to talk to you.”
We both realize at the exact moment that the voice is closer than it should be. The door to her bedroom swings open, and we both scramble to cover ourselves.
“Camila, don't just walk in—" her father says but stops when he sees the awkward and slightly compromising position we are both in. “Oh, for the love of God."
“Dana Catherine Covington!” her mother yells.
"What?" Dana snaps back. "You just burst into my house and my bedroom, and you want to scold me when you find me in bed with my boyfriend?”
The moment of excitement I feel at her calling me her boyfriend is short-lived when I remember I'm still naked, her parents are still staring at us, and my nose is still bleeding.
“What happened to his face?” her father asks, pointing at me.
Dana looks between him and me and back again. “Will you two go downstairs and let us get dressed?”
Her parents exchange a look before turning and walking out of the room. Dana grabs her robe off the chair next to the bed and pulls it on. She leads me into the bathroom and hands me a hand towel to press to my face.
“Tilt your head back,” she instructs me. “I’m going to go deal with my parents.”
"Give me a moment, and I can come with you."
“No,” she shakes her head. “This is something I have to deal with. If they’ve come all the way here. It must be something big.”
"Okay," I say and remove the towel to give her a quick kiss.
She laughs. “Head back.”
DANA
This morning started out so promising, but now Charlie is bleeding on my new towels, and my parents have made their first appearance at my house since I moved in three years ago.
“Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?” I ask, finding them sitting on the same sectional that just a few hours ago Charlie was fucking me on.
“Well, your mother insisted we come over here when she heard from Buffy Pendleton’s mother that you are engaged and didn't tell us."
"What are you talking about?" I raise my hands in exasperation but quickly move my left hand behind my back when both their mouths open when they see Charlie's ring on my hand. "It's not what you think."
“Do you have any idea how it felt to have Siggy Pendleton inform me that my own daughter was engaged, and she didn’t even tell me?” My mother yells.
I'm barely able to keep from rolling my eyes. The drama this woman makes into a mountain from a molehill is staggering—although, in this case, a part of its true.
“I'm not engaged," I say and explain the situation to them.
“Siggy will never let me hear the end of this when she finds out the truth,” my mother says.
“Who cares what Siggy thinks? I know I don’t care. At least not anymore. I’m done letting what other people think of me dictate what I do or how I feel about myself.”
“Who is this young man?” My father asks.
“His name is Charlie Coughlin.”
He shakes his head. "I don't know anyone named Coughlin."
"Well, you wouldn't because he isn’t from a crusty wasp of a family that you two like to be friends with.”
“Is it serious?”
“Yes, sir,” Charlie says, appearing at the bottom of the steps.
