Page 21 of Olivia's Only Pretending
“Rethinkingit?” His voice sharpened. “Why?”
“I’ve been thinking about what a wild idea it is to bring you as a fake date to my workplace,” I said. “I don’t know what I’ve been thinking. I can handle seeing Ryan on my own. I don’t need to drag you into drama and risk our friendship … or my job?—”
“Olivia,” Victor cut in, voice steady and calm. “I’m not your fake date. I’m yourrealdate. I’m your best friend. Why not bring your best friend?”
I nodded along, listening from my driver’s seat.
“Our only plan is not to correct anyone. That’s it. We’re not making a scene. We’re just letting them call us whatever they want to. I don’t think you’re risking your job—or us—by bringing your best friend, someone who really cares about you, to your work dinner.”
I sighed, hitting my blinker as I took the exit. He made it sound so simple and harmless compared to the dumpster fire my brain was creating.
“Besides.” He broke through my thoughts. “I want to go. I’m excited. You dump me now, andthat’llcause some drama in our friendship.”
“Really?” Maybe I was simply overthinking the whole thing.
“Really,” Victor said, a car door slamming on his end of the line. “And, admit it, you’re nervous to see Ryan. That’s normal. That doesn’t make you weak or immature, it makes you human, and your friend wants to be there for you—let him.Let me.”
I swallowed, my grip tight around the steering wheel. “Okay.”
“You need to take a deep breath,” he said, reminding me to inhale and exhale, my chest expanding and contracting underneath my seat belt. “I think tonight will be fun, honestly.”
Istood in the middle of my closet, surrounded by dresses, jackets, and sweaters, but I still didn’t have anything to wear to the fancy work dinner. I’d had a couple of options in mind—a slinky green dress, maybe a red jumper, but now, under pressure, neither felt right. And Victor would be here in less than an hour, so I had no time to waste.
I had an idea, so I pulled out my phone and called up Lucy. The moment she picked up, I blurted, “Can I borrow a dress?”
“Do you have a specific dress in mind, or do I need to bring over options?” she replied without missing a beat. Her blinker clicked, and the low hum of her car buzzed in the background.
I closed my eyes. A couple of weeks ago, we’d gone shopping, and I’d talked her into buying a silky black slip dress. I ran my fingers across the clothes hanging around me, the material rough underneath my fingers. “That black dress you bought the other day?”
“I knew you wanted that dress for yourself.” She chuckled. “I’m heading home from work now. I’ll grab it and bring it over.”
“You’re doing that deep breathing thing you do when you’re stressed out,” Lucy said, with her head cocked to the side as she examined me from her spot lounging on my bed. My oat-colored comforter was bunched up under her stomach. “Is it because of Ryan?”
“Well, Luce, I’m not exactly thrilled he’s going to be there,” I muttered, even though I was nervous about so much more than Ryan.
I twirled around in front of my full-length mirror, smoothing the black silky material with my shaking hands.
“I hope it doesn’t ruin the fancy dinner for you. I know you’ve been excited about it. But, hey, at least Victor will be there.” Lucy crossed her ankles in the air behind her. “Honestly, him showing up as your date will probably make it things just as awkward for Ryan. So you won’t be the only person suffering tonight.”
“Making it awkward for Ryan wasn’t really my intention, you know,” I said, turning to Lucy. “I just wanted to have my person there.”
She had her thinking face on. Her nose was all scrunched up. “Victor’s your person?”
“Well, yeah, but I didn’t mean my personlike that.” I crossed my arms. “Not like how Adam is your person.”
“How did you mean ‘your person,’ then?” Lucy sat up on the bed, serious about this conversation.
My nerves were already on edge. I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to be grilled about my feelings for Victor by one of my sisters again. “He’s become one of my closest friends. It’s as simple as that.”
“Well, he’s a good person to have,” Lucy said. Victor hadn’t just won me over this summer. He’d made fans out of the whole Rhodes clan. “Is knowing he’s going to be there helping you feel better about tonight at all?”
I turned to her and let out a big exhale. “Not the way I’d hoped.”
“I can tell.” She gave me a sympathetic pout.
The room was getting darker, aglow with only a couple of lamps.
“The last time my colleagues saw Ryan and me in the same room, we wereRyan and Olivia, the golden couple of the history department.” I twisted my auburn hair into a low knot at thebase of my neck. “After he left, I wasn’t half of a couple anymore. I became poor Olivia, left behind by Ryan.”
