Chapter 13
SYDNEY
I told myself I wasn’t going to cry. Yet here I am, on my second packet of tissues and we’ve only been here for thirty minutes.
“It’s… just… so beautiful,” I cry.
Blake smiles and rubs my back as I try, and fail, to collect myself.
“So you’ve said the last four dresses.” Kinsley laughs, turning back to the set of full-length mirrors and twisting from side to side. “Although, this one is really pretty.”
“It really is,” Blake agrees, handing me another unopened pack of tissues.
It’s like she knows I’m a complete sap for all of this and came well prepared, which is good because one of us thought she could handle all the romantic stuff today without blowing through her stash and the other was clearly thinking more realistically.
“Uh, hello? I can’t see. Hold me up.” A voice breaks through the speaker of my phone.
“Oh, shite. Sorry, Cass.” I quickly hold my phone up so she can see Kinsley in her wedding dress. Well, maybe her wedding dress, but it’s a wedding dress nonetheless.
Blake reaches over and takes the phone from my hands. “Maybe I should hold onto this.”
“Please, I swear I’m getting motion sickness from all the wiggling,” Cassie jokes and I shrug.
“I will not apologize for being excited about my brother finally marrying the love of his life.” My eyes connect with Kinsley’s and my bottom lip wobbles.
“I mean, they’ve been through so much to get here.
” I sniff. “Years apart, only to find each other again? It’s like a romantic movie come to life,” I wail, dropping my head into my hands.
“There, there,” Blake consoles me, patting my shaking shoulders.
I furiously wipe at my eyes, thankful that I decided against wearing any kind of makeup today. “I’m okay. Kinsley, you look amazing in this dress.”
“Jace is definitely punching above his belt with this one. I still don’t know how he landed you,” Cassie jokes.
There’s a noise in the background of our call and I glance down to see her attention move somewhere off screen.
“Hey, baby.” She smiles only to be met with a stern voice.
“What are you doing?”
Her face slowly drops and I look over at Blake. She smirks when I roll my eyes at the sound of Cassie’s boyfriend’s voice. I’m not a fan of the prick—sorry—Dick—I mean, Richard.
“Oh, I’m just looking at wedding dresses for Kinsley with the girls.”
Kinsley rounds the small sofa that me and Blake sit on so we are all in frame.
He mumbles something too quiet for us to hear.
Turning back to face us, Cassie pastes on a smile that doesn’t resemble her genuine one from earlier.
“Sorry, Richard was sleeping and I didn’t realize I’d been talking so loud. ”
You weren’t.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to keep you from sleeping,” Kinsley apologizes.
“No. No. It’s okay, I should probably get to bed though. Love you girls.”
We say our goodbyes seconds before the call ends. Blake hands me back my phone and I slide it into my purse.
“So, who’s going to be the one to tell Cassie that her boyfriend sucks? Don’t we have to as her best friends? It’s got to be a written rule in a code somewhere,” I say, taking a sip of the complementary champagne the shop associate gave us when we first arrived.
Blake sighs. “I’ve actually tried to, multiple times.”
“And?”
“And she’s still with him.”
Kinsley ducks back into the changing room. “Well, what did you say?”
Blake looks anywhere but at me and I peer at her. “Blake.”
“Hm?”
“Oh my god, you didn’t actually tell her!”
Throwing her hands in the air, she huffs. “Fine. Maybe I didn’t come right out and say that no one likes him and we think she should dump his ass, but I did express some concerns.”
“And what did she say?”
“She had an answer for everything. She’s always been like this, giving everyone the benefit of the doubt and refusing to see anything but the good in them.”
“It’s a good trait to have until it screws you over.”
Kinsley pops her head around the curtain. “So what do we do?”
Blake shrugs, slightly defeated. “I guess we just be there for her, for whatever she needs, when she needs it.”
We’re all quiet for a moment before Kinsley disappears behind the curtain once more. A moment later she steps out and Blake sits up with wide eyes.
I turn my head and my jaw drops for an entirely new reason. “Oh my god.”
She smiles timidly and walks over to mirrors. Her eyes turn glassy as she spins around, taking in the sheer fabric adorned with tiny stitched in stars across her back.
The sleeveless gown hugs her perfectly, flowing freely at her waist into a long train speckled with stones and pearls. It really looks like she’s wearing a whole galaxy.
It’s perfect.
“This is the one,” Kinsley whispers, tears forming in her eyes.
Blake and I stand and walk over, hugging her from both sides.
“Your girl Lily is incredibly talented,” I muse.
She nods. “I still can’t believe she told me to pick out whatever one I wanted.”
“Perks of having a fashion designer childhood best friend, I guess,” Blake points out and we all laugh.
I smile. “Jace is going to fall in love with you all over again when he sees you in this dress.”
We take some pictures and send them off to Cassie with instructions to delete the evidence immediately after. You can’t ever be too careful when it comes to my snoopy brother. She’s not even in the same country as us but he’d find a way to get Cassie to break.
Thirty minutes later, Kinsley is back in her leggings and oversized knit jumper and sits next to me while Blake goes back to try on her bridesmaid dress.
While we wait, I pull up the picture Blake took of me earlier. I’m holding what looks like a black wedding dress up to my front and pretending to twirl. Tucking my lips to hold in my giggle, I send the picture to Lawson. His response is immediate.
He Who Growls A Lot:
A bit unconventional, don’t you think?
Me:
This would go perfect with the all black bouquet I picked out earlier. Just planning ahead for when this fake relationship takes that step.
He Who Growls A Lot:
How very progressional thinking of you. I would have pegged you for a classic white dress and pink flowers kind of girl.
Me:
But your favorite color is black and I want us to match!
He Who Growls A Lot:
I’ll wear whatever color you want me to, sunshine.
But you will not be wearing a black dress on our wedding day.
Heat rushes to my cheeks and I bite my lip, trying to contain my giddy smile. Why does he sound like he’s not talking about a hypothetical fake wedding anymore? Dream on, Sydney.
“What has you all tomato-faced?” Kinsley asks, bumping her shoulder into mine.
I hold my phone against my chest and smooth out my face. “Nothing.”
She laughs. “You are so lying!”
“What’s Sydney lying about?” Blake asks, striding out of the dressing room in a champagne silk dress that hugs her body perfectly.
“Oh, Blake. That looks so good on you.” I try to change the subject.
And fail.
Blake nods towards my phone that I’m still clutching to my chest in a death grip. “Who are you texting?”
Kinsley’s hand shoots up. “Oh. Oh. Pick me. I know the answer.”
“Yes, future Mrs. Collins?”
Kinsley grins at me and her eyebrows jump. “Lawson,” she sing-songs his name.
My mouth pops open. “How could you possibly know that?”
She reaches over and pinches my cheek. “Because you always get this full-on blush when you talk to him, or about him, or if he’s near.”
I swat her hand away and pout. “I do not!”
Blake’s manic laughter catches my attention and I look to see her doubled over. Standing back up she wipes away a tear. Her face drops when I stare at her. “Oh, wow. You’re being serious.”
“I do not get all flushed when it comes to Lawson,” I defend.
Kinsley smothers her giggle and smiles at me. “You just did,” she whispers.
I growl and drop my hands to my legs. Sighing, I close my eyes. “Okay, fine. Maybe I get a little flustered around him sometimes.”
“A little?” Blake says at the same time as Kinsley huffs, “Sometimes?”
Rolling my eyes, I stand up and walk over to the racks of dresses, ignoring their laughter. Taking a solidifying breath, I turn and nibble on my lip. “Actually. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Their smiles drop and I fidget slightly under their gazes.
After I agreed to help Lawson out and go along with this fake dating proposal, we decided that we should tell at least our friends about what was going on.
Neither of us wanted to lie to them. He’s telling the guys today, while I’m supposed to tell the girls.
I’ll just have to catch Cassie up on everything when we talk tomorrow, I guess.
“Syd? Is everything okay?”
I hum, running my fingers over the soft fabrics next to me. “Meandlawsonaredating,” I rush out so fast that the words bleed together.
Blake’s eyebrows furrow. “I’m sorry. Can you say that again?”
I groan and tip my head back. “Me and Lawson are together.”
You could hear a pin drop with the silence that follows the damning statement. I look between their shocked faces.
“I feel like I’m missing something here,” Kinsley mumbles and Blake nods in agreement.
I trudge over to the sitting area and plop down in the middle of the sofa Kinsley is perched on while Blake slowly lowers next to me.
“You’re serious? You and Lawson? I’m confused. How did this happen exactly?” Blake muses, her eyebrows furrowing.
“Well, we aren’t really together.”
“That’s not clearing anything up for us,” Kinsley mumbles.
“It’s fake.”
I glance between them and they each watch me with matching confused and slightly worried looks. So, I tell them everything.
How I’ve been helping Lawson with his image behind the scenes. How it’s been a positive change and the bad press over what happened is slowly fading into the background.
I tell them what the team’s PR manager said and how they want to see even more.
That the one thing that could really skyrocket his chances is… me.
Us.
Blake’s eyebrows dip and she tilts her head. “Won’t people realize that it was you he was carrying in that photo once you two come out?”
I blanch. Shite. “I didn’t think about that, but yeah, I guess it wouldn’t be hard to make that connection now, would it?”
Kinsley places her hand over mine and squeezes. “And are you ready for that kind of attention? For everyone to know what happened to you?”
“Those who matter to me already know what happened, and they heard it from me. That’s what’s important. While this will probably bring about a new wave of questions from the public, I won’t have to answer them.”
Blake snorts. “Like Lawson would ever let any of those vultures close enough to you for that to even be a possibility.”
“So what’s the plan then? How can we help?
How are you going to announce this? Do we need to practice our stories to line up with yours?
Has he told the guys yet? Oh Jace is going to lose it and want to plan all your fake dates, I just know it.
He’s been waiting for this moment all his life,” Kinsley fires off in rapid succession and I laugh.
“We’re still working through a plan. So far we have a basic idea of how we want to handle everything, but we also just want to kind of take it day by day.
We agreed we’d end it when he got his contract and since we don’t know a date for that, we don’t want to box ourselves into a firm timeline of events. ”
Blake nods. “Makes sense. How are you going to say this came about? I mean, his teammate is your older brother.” She claps. “Oh, I love the forbidden kind of romance.”
Me and Kinsley share a look and I reach over, holding up Blake’s hand that has her wedding band on it. “Clearly.”
She rolls her eyes. “Whatever. If it’s not going to be a forbidden romance, then what?”
Kinsley twists her lips. “Jace would fail at playing the upset big brother. He’s too much of a cheerleader.”
I nod. “That’s what we thought too. So we’re going to say it just sort of happened. That we’d been spending so much time together since the incident and along the way, we just kind of… connected on another level other than childhood friends.”
Blake’s eyebrows raise. “Shared trauma bringing you together. It’s actually the perfect set up. Even if it’s a horrible thing to have actually happened, no one would question the reasoning.”
“Exaclty. It’s perfect because of the fact it is not a lie. That’s how we decided we would successfully make this work. Try to put as much truth into all of this as we can. That way there isn’t a chance for it to fall apart.”
Kinsley hums her agreement. “That’s smart.”
“We’re also each writing down a set of rules so that we don’t cross any lines.” I pull out my phone and open the notes app. “I did some research—”
“Of course you did.” Blake laughs, shaking her head.
“And I came up with a few so far that I think are pretty good.”
Kinsley nods towards the screen. “Well, go on, let’s hear them.”
“One. Open Communication. We talk through everything before it happens to make sure we are both comfortable and okay with moving forward.”
“Excellent start.” Kinsley bobs her head.
“Two. PDA. Kissing is fine since it would be weird if we didn’t. But no tongue.”
“But that’s the best part,” Blake whines jokingly and I jab my elbow into her side.
“Three. If we’re doing this, then there can’t be anyone else. I won’t let the world see me as his only to come back to a hotel room to find him with another girl. I refuse to be played the fool.”
Kinsley chuckles. “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that one.”
“And why not?”
She waves me off. “No reason. Do you have any more?”
I bite my lip, debating if I should even say this last one. It took me forever to type it out even knowing no one would see it. Sighing, I lock my phone. “No sex.”
Blake chokes on her drink and Kinsley looks at me with wide eyes. My cheeks redden and I fumble over my words. “I just… I don’t want all of my firsts to be for show, okay?”
They’re silent and I hesitantly meet each of their eyes. Kinsley leans forward. “Your first?”
I lick my lips. “Yeah,” I whisper.
Kinsley’s eyebrows furrow and her hand tightens on mine. “Are you sure you want to do this, Sydney? I’m sure he would understand if—”
“No. I want to do this, truly. He’s done so much for me already. Pretending to be his girlfriend for a few weeks—”
“Or months,” Blake points out.
“It’s the least I can do. I’ve been racking my brain for weeks on how I can repay him for what he did and what he’s putting himself through for me. This is it.”
“You know he didn’t do what he did just to have you indebted to him,” Kinsley murmurs.
I nod shallowly. “I know.” I glance between them. “He’s been saving me from one thing or another all my life. It’s my turn to do the saving this time.”