Not Safe For Work: A Steamy Fake Dating Romance

Chapter 17

“Gav!”Gabby yells from the kitchen. “Your phone’s ringing.”

“Can you answer it for me?” I yell back. “I just got out of the shower.”

“Nope! It’s your fake girlfriend who you wish was your real girlfriend who I still think will definitely break your heart again if you?—”

“I got it,” I say, grabbing the phone off the island. I glare at Gabby and shake my wet hair at her.

“Hello?”

“Hi.” I must be smiling already because Gabby pokes me in the chest with a wooden spoon. I back away and head toward my room to get dressed. I can’t help it. I like Liv’s voice. “You really want me to come over?”

“Of course. Churro asked for you specifically, and I hate disappointing him.”

Her laugh rings through the phone and I swear I can feel the sound in my entire body.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to let down my favorite hedgehog. What can I bring?”

“Just you. And maybe some luck because Gabby and I are both masters at Sushi Go.”

“Sushi Go?” Liv asks through the phone.

“Yeah, it’s a card game. Don’t worry, it”s really easy, definitely meant for children. But we love it.”

“Can’t wait.”

I hang up the phone and throw on some sweatpants and a T-shirt. I’m freshly showered but somehow also sweating. Liv and I have hung out together several times now, but something about having her here with Gabby and Kadesha changes things. There’s no pretending to be cool when I’m playing a children’s card game with my sister.

The funny thing is, I invited her over thinking it would be helpful to her. That if we’re going to be sharing a hotel room together in a week, we should get to know each other as much as we can. I hate the idea of contributing to Liv’s anxiety and I want her to feel as comfortable around me as possible. Luckily I was able to call the hotel and secure a room with two beds.

But now I’m the one who’s anxious and jittery. Liv and I are friends now. We flirt. Am I going to ruin that tonight when she sees how Gabby and I fight over cards covered in smiling tempura shrimp?

My thought spiral must be worse than I thought, because what feels like thirty seconds later, someone’s knocking on our door.

“What’s with the watermelon?”

Liv arrives just after seven. She’s still in the same clothes from work and has her laptop bag slung over her shoulder. But she’s also carrying a whole watermelon, something my sister points out oh so graciously.

“It’s for Churro. I read they’re a healthy treat for hedgies,” she answers, her voice small and unsure. I flash a quick glare at Gabby.

“I’m sure he’ll love it. Come on in.” I grab the watermelon from Liv and offer it to Gabby but she swiftly turns away.

“I’ll cut some up for him,” Kadesha offers. She takes the melon and places it on the counter, and extends a hand to Liv. “I’m Kadesha, Gabby’s girlfriend. We’re so excited you’re here.”

Liv looks skeptical, and I don’t blame her after the greeting from my sister, but she offers a smile and lets me take her bag to set down by the door.

“Do you want to change?” I ask. We’re all in sweats and pajamas but Liv’s got on the typical blazer and pointy heels. There’s no way she’s going to be comfortable in that.

“Umm, I’m okay. I didn’t want to go all the way home. I was down in SOMA after work so…” She trails off. I look at Gabby, hoping she’ll get the hint and offer something to Liv. They’re about the same size. She either doesn’t understand, or she’s still very much anti-Olivia.

“Come on, you can borrow something of mine. I want you to be comfortable.”

“Okay,” she says with a hefty amount of hesitation, following me into my room.

I grab a few options. Sweatpants, sweatshirts, shorts, T-shirts, throw them all on the bed. “Wear whatever you want,” I say before closing the door so she can have some privacy.

Gabby rolls her eyes at me when I come back to the living room. They go so high I’m worried they’ll get stuck that way.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Your face says it all.”

“Can you two behave for one night?” Kadesha scolds.

“Sorry,” we both mutter back.

Olivia comes out a second later. She is drowning in my clothes. Sweatpants that are clearly rolled a few times at her hips and a hoodie that reaches her knees hang loosely off her body. She looks ridiculous, but also happy. She’s grinning from ear to ear.

“Thanks, Scottie,” she says, taking a seat next to me on the floor. “I feel like I’m living in a cloud right now.” She crosses her legs—well, I think she does; it’s honestly hard to tell—and wraps her arms around herself. “Can I wear your clothes every day?”

“Yes.” Gabby and Kadesha both stare daggers at me and I realize that was not just an internal thought. Shit. “I mean, keep ‘em, if you want.”

She beams and…shit. I shouldn’t have offered the Messi hoodie. It might be my favorite but I already know I’ll never be asking for it back.

Gabby pulls out Sushi Go and expertly explains the rules to Liv. What she doesn’t say is that game nights are sacred to us. When we were young, we didn’t have a lot of luxuries, but I taught Gabby every card game I could. She probably would have preferred playing with dolls or stuffed animals, but we couldn’t afford anything like that. So we played card games, even made up our own games to keep ourselves entertained.

Things are different now, but we’re all about traditions. We’ve branched out on different games, and for some reason, Sushi Go has been our favorite for a while. I’m pretty sure Gabby just likes how it allows for sabotage.

“The cards are so cute.” Liv “ooh’s” and “ahh’s” when we run her through the deck. “Oh!” She suddenly jumps up and we all stare. “Sorry. I just, umm, forgot about the watermelon. Sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” I say, standing up too. “Let’s go get it for him.”

Gabby grabs all the snacks she made while we make up a tiny plate for Churro. Liv goes crazy for the actual tiny plates Kadesha got us. She asks if she can hold on to Churro so I give her the sling and we all settle back in the living room.

“Hey Chunk,” Liv coos, holding Churro up in his sling. “How would you like a tasty treat?” She offers him the plate and we all watch as he nibbles it up.

“I guess he likes it,” I say. “Thanks for bringing it over.”

“I will never get over how cute he is. And I still want to hear the bedtime story.”

I gulp, notice Gabby and Kadesha snickering, and grab the plate to put in the sink.

We’re on our fifth round of the game when Gabby starts screaming at me in Spanish. I’m actually impressed she waited this long. Apparently, she thinks Liv and I have been sneaking each other sashimi cards when she’s not looking.

We have been.

“Los dos son unos tramposos! Lo sabía! Gavin, nunca has ganado tres veces seguido.”

We all laugh, tossing the remaining cards into the pile. “Cálmate,” I whisper to Gabby. “We’re just having a little fun.”

Of course, Liv is apologizing profusely, saying I made her do it, but Gabby just keeps muttering under her breath. She switched to Italian for a moment but now the hard vowels are making me wonder if she’s practicing her Danish.

“Damn, how many languages do you speak?” Liv asks a moment later.

“Five. Six…ish.” Gabby shrugs. She’s never understood how impressive it is. Learning new languages is Gabby’s favorite pastime.

“That’s incredible. How’d you get into that? I mean, where did you even start?” Liv’s eyes are full of wonder, but Gabby’s cloud over.

I decide to answer for her. “We were both bilingual as kids. Our dad mainly spoke English so our mom only spoke to us in Spanish. When we moved to the States it was a tough transition, especially for Gabby since she was so young.”

“Tough?” Gabby looks at me, daring me to be more honest. “I was in first grade and couldn’t really differentiate one language from the other. Kids were mean.” She looks at me again and her face softens this time. “But lucky for me, I have the best big brother in the world. He spent every afternoon and weekend helping me adjust. And the more time we spent in the library reading about languages, I guess I developed a knack for them. We taught ourselves French, but of course Gavin lost it immediately. I practiced a lot more. Then Italian and Portuguese were pretty easy to pick up with a couple online classes. I’m working on a few more. Hoping it helps me get better job offers.”

My heart warms with Gabby’s admission. “Without my brilliant sister, I probably would have lost my Spanish by now. I’m glad I get to keep that part of our family though.”

“That’s amazing,” Liv replies. “I wish my family held on to more of their culture. I think my grandparents spoke a little French but it sort of died with them. At least my brother cooks authentic French food sometimes.”

“Did you try the Alfajores yet?” Gabby extends the plate of cookies to Liv and I don’t miss the change in her tone. Maybe she’s warming up to her. “They’re our mom’s recipe.”

Liv takes a small bite, then a larger one. “Wow. These are insane.”

Gabby looks at me again, with a softness that makes my chest ache. “Did I mention I have the best brother? He made sure to save her recipe book for me.”

I sniff, cover it up by taking a long pull of my beer.

Liv turns to me and smiles softly. “He is the best, huh? I wish I could have dated him instead of my shitty ex.”

And for the second time this month, I spit out my drink at Liv’s words. The plus side, I think the sound of it covered up the gasps from Gabby and Kadesha.

Liv turns crimson. “I meant, like, hypothetically. Like I wish I had dated someone as nice as you. Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” She pops up to follow Gabby who’s already grabbing paper towels. My arm saved most of the cards, but there’s still beer everywhere.

“It’s fine, Liv,” I say when she comes back, wiping down my sleeve. “Just went down the wrong pipe.”

She scrunches her whole face at me, another silent apology.

Kadesha hands me a new beer and motions to clink our bottles together. She shoots me a mischievous grin. “Best game night ever!”