Page 32 of Alive At Night

Julian’s entire body seemed to tense, though I didn’t understand the reason behind it. “Why did you do that?”

“Because,” I began slowly. Maybe if I enunciated it more, he’d understand me for once. “If Noah and I are going to act like we’re in a relationship at my sister’s wedding, we need to get to know each other first.”

From my very first text, Noah had been super friendly. All my nervousness about talking to him vanished as soon as he started texting back, asking me questions about working with Julian and moving to Boston, making it seem like he was genuinely interested to know more about me. There was an ease to talking to him that I enjoyed. Sometimes I couldn’t tell if he was being flirtatious or if he just had a natural bit of charm to him, but I liked it. We could definitely survive one night together.

“Hold on. Hold on.” Julian lifted a hand while raking the other one through his damp strands. “Hold on, Rosie.”

He paused, and it felt theatric, as usual. I tapped my foot, impatient.

“Holding on,” I said dryly. “And waiting for the point.”

“Sister?” His confusion verged on something…more. Something I couldn’t put my finger on. “You don’t have a sister.”

“Sofia,” I said, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat. I hadn’t meant to let that slip to him, but it was the least of my concerns at the moment. The wedding was only a month away, and just thinking about it made my palms sweat. “My biological sister.”

I watched as the neurons fired in Julian’s brain. He relaxed, softening, looking like he wanted to ask more. But then the gears in his head turned faster, and we skipped right past the questions to something else. A dark mask of irritation replaced his momentary understanding.

“And you want Noah to pretend to be yourboyfriend?” His lip curled on the last word like he couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to date me. “That’s not what you told me.”

“I told you I needed a fake date.”

“A fake date is different from a fake boyfriend, Juni.”

His incredulity was somewhat satisfying today, considering Noah had already agreed to my plan without seeming bothered by it. Our conversation from Friday had extended into the weekend, and while I was a little overwhelmed by how flirty and forward he was, Julian had warned me that he was a bit of a player, so I wasn’t too surprised or bothered.

“It’s just for one night.” Why did he care so much? “It’ll be fine.”

“Why?”

“What do you meanwhy?”

The exasperation on Julian’s face told me he thought the question should be obvious.

“Why does he need to pretend to be your boyfriend?”

I stiffened, having no desire to explain that particularwhyto the man in front of me.

“Because, Julian.”

That was all I had in me today.

Julian opened his mouth to undoubtedly call out my nonanswer when a friendly face popped into the door of our office. One that was more than welcome at the moment.

“How do either of you get anything done when you spend half your time at work arguing?”

Cameron gave a megawatt smile, clearly teasing.

Julian, on the other hand, did not seem amused.

“Wanna grab some coffee quick?” he asked, sending Cameron a look that pleaded for a reason to get out of this office.

I was positive that Cameron’s reply would only piss Julian off more, and I grimaced in preparation. Sure enough, Cameron lifted his coffee cup from Georgia’s—the one I got him earlier this morning—and gave a regretful response.

“Juniper already brought me some.” An awkward silence filled the room for only a second before Cameron rushed to add, “But I’ll go with you, man. Just gotta be back to meet with our team by nine.”

He glanced at me—because I was on said team—before checking Julian’s reaction. Which was to wave it off and turn back toward his desk.

“No worries,” Julian said. “Maybe another time.”

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