Chapter 7
Faking it until they made it was easier at six in the evening than six in the morning, at least for Sabrina.
Luke—who slept in her bed without arguing, which helped in making it Not Weird—Luke was actually up and cheerful at four-thirty, which caused her to revisit the possibility that even as a fake relationship, this one was doomed.
She was barely coherent when she rolled out of bed as late as humanly possible, and communicated mostly in grunts even after a shower.
Luke, aka Mr. Perkypants, carried luggage, juggled ID, bantered with the airline employees, and blissfully did not try to make small talk with Sabrina until they were through security and she'd burned her tongue on a terrible, but caffeinated, airport cafe coffee.
Her face propped on one hand, eyes closed, she eventually croaked, "Is this what god-like levels of fitness does to a person?
Makes them relentlessly pleasant even at oh god hundred in the morning? "
"God-like?" Luke asked dubiously, which was enough to make Sabrina peel her eyes open to stare at him.
"You have seen yourself, haven't you? You're like the fourth Hemsworth brother."
Luke laughed, which was a relief. If he hadn't seen The Good Place she would have to re-evaluate the fake relationship on entirely different grounds.
"I'm going to take that as a compliment.
I'm afraid I've always been a morning person, though.
Mornings are just so quiet and fresh and full of potential. "
"Anyone who can say that after going through airport security is either deranged or the world's most positive persona.
And I'm afraid you don't come across as deranged.
Although you did agree to this madness, so I might be wrong about that.
" She was finally starting to wake up, and couldn't help smiling across the table at Luke Jones.
He was awfully attractive, and obviously incredibly kind.
The morning person thing might not be a deal-breaker after all.
"Thank you, if I didn't say that before. "
"You probably did, but you're welcome. It's an adventure." His gaze was soft on hers, his smile almost wistful, and her eyebrows drew down curiously.
"What's that face for? You look kind of sad."
He shook himself and shrugged, smile strengthening. "No idea. Maybe there are moments of melancholy in early mornings even if you're a morning person?"
"Legit." Sabrina finished the last of her coffee and groaned. "Okay. I think I'm approaching functionality. Are we ready for this? Have we missed any incredibly important topics that we should know about one another in our fake relationship?"
"Probably, but the panic of not knowing is half the fun, right? And it's not like we've been dating all that long, so it's fine if we don't know everything about each other."
"What have you been doing while you were out of town? Since it seems like it'd be easy to slip up if we say you've been in Virtue the whole time."
"I've been at a bunch of fitness conferences and yoga retreats and things. Mostly in Europe."
"I didn't even know fitness conferences were a thing.
Did you jet-set back to Virtue on your long weekends, or something?
Is that how we've been hanging out?" Their flight was announced and they both got up, Luke reaching for Sabrina's bag for her, though he lifted his eyebrows to make sure it was okay.
She chuckled. "Sure, go ahead. Who am I to refuse when a big handsome man wants to carry my things? "
"A big handsome boyfriend," he reminded her, and she smiled even more widely.
"That's right. Thank you, big handsome boyfriend."
"You're very welcome, petite beautiful girlfriend."
Sabrina, taken aback, felt herself blush and it was Luke's turn to chortle. "You've got to know how gorgeous you are, right? Anyway, some of my conferences have been in the States, so I can have been back and forthing from those, at least."
"Cool. So what do you do at fitness conferences?"
"Oh, you know, talk about lifestyle choices and eating well and the fact that people who haven't spent their entire lives dedicated to staying in shape actually find it a lot harder to get in shape than fitness people think it is."
"That sounds…very reality-based. Weirdly so, even." They were in line by then, trudging along as ID and tickets were checked.
"It's genuinely a problem," Luke said quite seriously.
"One that's hard to explain to the 'just do it' crowd.
Social media sells us all these little videos of people my age and in my kind of shape saying 'all you have to do is this simple exercise to open up your hips,' or whatever, and then they do something my fifty year old client literally can't get into position for.
One of my big things is breaking all that down and making exercises accessible, but assuming my clients can start where I am is really demoralizing for them.
So much beginner stuff expects a level of fitness a lot of people just don't have, and man, if you can't do the beginner stuff, why would you ever imagine you could advance?
Might as well quit and go have that burger and milkshake, right? "
"Are you sure you're a fitness trainer? Because yeah, almost everything I see is, like, 'all you have to do is put your ankle behind your ear and breathe!
' and I promise you, if I could get my ankle behind my ear, I would not also be able to breathe.
Sounds to me like you should have a real platform," Sabrina said admiringly.
"Well, I'm—" Luke broke off as the line attendant gestured them forward, and the next few minutes were spent getting to the plane and settling in their business-class seats, which made Luke groan and stretch out.
"This is the life. I'll be your fake boyfriend as long as you want, if you're going to fly me places in seats I actually fit in. "
Sabrina, who was almost swamped by the amount of room she had, grinned across the aisle at him. "Never flown business class before?"
"I have, but that doesn't make it any less luxurious. Thank you."
"You're kind of helping me out of a major bind," Sabrina said wryly. "It's the least I can do. Are you a talker or a sleeper on planes?"
"Normally a talker." Luke yawned luxuriously. "In this particular case, though, I might take advantage and snooze. Especially if I'm supposed to charm your friends when we get off the plane."
"I'm pretty sure you can manage that without a nap. Just flex and they'll swoon."
"Yeah?" Luke glanced at her and flexed, apparently to see if she would swoon. Sabrina was only half kidding as she giggled girlishly and fanned herself.
"Yeah, like that. That'll do. I," she said emphatically, "like to nap on planes. Especially when I've had to wake up at a horrible hour to get on said plane. You're not really going to get me up early to work out, are you?"
"Depends on how badly you want to break up with me, I guess."
For some reason the casual comment hit Sabrina like a blow, taking her breath away.
She whispered, "Not that badly," and with effort, closed her eyes for a nap rather than think about the bizarre fact that she didn't want to break up with her fake boyfriend at all.
It was probably just the desperation to prove herself to her friends, but Luke was a great guy, and it felt like she was doing him a disservice by getting him involved in this insane plot.
But then, of course, that was all it was: an insane plot he'd agreed to because she was Emmy's friend.
Sabrina had to keep that in mind, especially over the next few days where they'd be sharing a hotel room.
And presumably a hotel bed, because in the unlikely event her room had two beds, the idea of having to make one up to hotel standards every morning before any of her friends showed up at the door was a non-starter.
Sabrina rarely made her bed anyway, much less as neatly as hotel staff did.
Of course, it would probably turn out that Luke could make a bed so snugly you could bounce a quarter off the sheets, but she didn't want to put him through that, either.
Unless it was better than sharing a bed with her, which she supposed it might be.
Just because of the level of awkwardness, if nothing else.
But they were both adults, she told herself firmly.
They could spend a few nights in a bed platonically without getting weird about it.
That was definitely something she could do with the hottest, kindest, most gorgeous guy she'd met in a long time, possibly ever.
"Doomed," she said under her breath. "I'm doomed."
Luke, apparently attuned to her every murmur, said, "Hmm?" and she opened her eyes to find him smiling at her across the aisle.
Oh, God, he really was just incredibly attractive.
Those dark eyes with those dark, dark eyelashes, and that curious tilt to his smile.
Those cheekbones, for heaven's sake. That chiseled jaw.
The broad shoulders. The whole dang package, in fact.
Sabrina had the absurd impulse to lean over and kiss him.
She got hold of herself and shook her head. "Nothing important. I'm going to try to catch some shut-eye, so see you on the other side?"
Luke nodded, and she went to sleep with the memory of his smile haunting her dreams.
The entire crew, Girls and their boys alike, were waiting for them at the airport. Sabrina, who had hoped to get to the hotel before having to face them all down, reeled as she and Luke came out of the arrivals doors, both of them juggling enough luggage that they weren't holding hands.