Page 26 of Moon Shot

“What is this?” Aubrey cried, shoving her phone in my face.

“Proof that being nice is always a mistake,” I grumbled. Waving her phone away, I pulled my feet onto the chair. “I was doing work at the coffee shop. Your friend wouldn’t leave me alone, and the media won’t leave him alone, apparently.”

“First Basemen Found His Princess,” Aubrey read the headline, her eyes wide and sparkling. “You hate Rowan, but maybe you’ve been lying to me all along.”

“You’re right, Aubrey.” I rolled my eyes up to meet hers. “I hate Rowan and now you.”

“But look at you two,” she shoved the phone toward me again. “He’s touching you, Mer. You’re alone, like, without Ethan or I. That’s happened maybe twice in the last six years. What were you two even doing alone? I don’t believe you.”

“Are you finished?” I groaned, dropping my head onto the cushion. I let Aubrey huff and puff a little about what she, just like the magazine, thought was true rather than believe her best friend of twenty years.

“Fine. I’m done, for now.”

I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her. “I was at a coffee shop and he was too. It’s bound to happen when we live in the same city. I’ve seen him at the grocery store before. I always go the other way,” I laughed to myself, catching Aubrey shake her head.

“No,” she told me, standing and waving her phone around. “You’re not running through your usual anti-Rowan script. You need to tell me what happened. Right now.”

“Or else you’ll tell my dad?” I feigned fear, pretending to bite my nails and laughing at Aubrey’s worried expression. “Aubrey, drop it.”

“Ethan told me about Etta putting you together in Seattle. Did something happen there?”

Her big, hopeful eyes were killing me. How could I lie to her? There I was, telling her I still hated Rowan when it was day two and I needed to make it believable. I could answer her honestly, at least about Seattle.

“Sort of,” I breathed, leaving the couch to make coffee in the kitchen. Aubrey was on my tail, her eyes wide and demanding as she sat on my counter, eagerly awaiting my story.

“It was really sweet,” I began, starting our make-believe romance and hating myself for lying to my best friend. “And unexpected.” That was at least true. Aubrey covered her mouth, nodding for me to continue as a tear fell from her eye. “Whoa,” I laughed. “Why are you crying?”

“It’s just,” she rolled her lips inward. “It’s you two, and you’re so… It was only a matter of time.”

I caught myself before my glare turned deadly, remembering Rowan’s words. Everyone has to believe it. To know she felt that way this entire time was infuriating, but I couldn’t let that take over. Urging me to tell her the rest of our story, I did as I remembered whatever I could from romance novels and chick flicks.

“We were up all night talking, and he sort of just asked me why we hated each other,” I paused, sorting through my inventory of romance, “and I couldn’t really remember.”

“You didn’t tell him about Halloween?” Aubrey was on the edge of her seat, gnawing at her thumb, wiggling her knee, falling into our fake relationship.

“I’ll never tell him that. It’s too embarrassing now. But that’s really it. And then we kissed.”

Aubrey moaned, rolling her eyes. “Tell me everything. He has the most perfect lips. How did you not tell me this? Holy shit, Meredith! You and Rowan!”

“Me and Rowan.” I clicked my tongue, trying not to bite it. What are we getting into?

“This is perfect!” Aubrey bounced from the counter, her consuming hug causing me to stumble backward. She rambled for a bit about the wedding and how great it was that the maid of honor and best man were now together. I hadn’t thought that far. Our plan was to be fake over before the wedding. This thing was only going to get us through October. We’d be free birds come Halloween, which was perfect because that seemed to be my unlucky holiday with Rowan.

“We have a box for the game tomorrow,” Aubrey told me, gnawing her thumb nail. “Do you want to come with us? Ezra is bringing some girl.”

“I think she’s more than some girl,” I added. “He told me about her in Seattle.”

“So, you’ll come? Maybe your boyfriend can meet us after.”

“Yes. No. Wait.” I stepped out of her hug and busied myself with the coffee. Aubrey reached for two mugs from my cupboard, leaning against the counter at my side.

“This is the best wedding present,” she told me, tugging on some of my hair. The weight of our fake relationship had now doubled. I wondered if we could’ve told Aubrey the truth because I know she would’ve played along if she knew why we were doing it. But now, I was thigh deep in Rowan and there wasn’t an escape.

I hated to call in sick after a day off, but I wasn’t ready to face my people after they’d seen the same news as Aubrey. First Basemen Found His Princess. I think I was more like a queen, but I couldn’t be critical when it wasn’t really a relationship.

Pacing the sidewalk outside of my building, I was worrying about the game. Could I look at Rowan and pretend to be someone else around our friends? My nerves were squirming by the time Ethan’s car pulled along the curb. It’s because of the lie.

Holding my breath, I reached for the back door and opened it, expecting their flood of chatter.

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