Chapter 7 #2
She could see The Girls noting she was alone, and the sly grins and nods that were exchanged.
A brief murderous impulse rose in her, although their reaction was fair enough, since she had in fact lied about having a boyfriend.
Still, they didn't have to be so snarky about it right off the bat, especially as she could also see them all rearranging their expressions into ones of sympathy so they could go 'aww, your secret boyfriend couldn't make it after all? '
She could also see Gina and Jan clocking Luke's extremely gorgeous self just a few steps behind her, and fully losing interest in Sabrina herself as they admired the hottie in her wake.
Then they pulled themselves back together to squeal and blow kisses and, once Sabrina was past the barrier, to offer hugs and hands to shake.
They all looked great, Mindy at the head of the pack with her red hair swept up like it was already her wedding day, Gina and Jan looking like blonde peas in a pod, which they often did, both wearing full face makeup and shades of pink that Sabrina knew proclaimed their solidarity with Elle Woods, and Keana a statuesque queen whose black curls trailed down her spine in ringlets.
Her naturally brown skin made Gina's fake tan look a bit orange by comparison, while Mindy had clearly been staying out of the sun to protect those milky, freckled tones.
In fact, she looked like she'd been using lemon juice to try to fade the freckles, since she insisted that her complexion was just pale, and freckles didn't go with her self-image.
Sabrina, who'd been outdoors a lot over the summer, hoped her own tan was more evenly distributed than she thought, because a farmer's tan wouldn't fit with Mindy's wedding aesthetic.
Too late now. She hugged, kissed, and shook hands where appropriate, and finally stepped back to gesture at Luke, who had been waiting patiently through all of the greetings. "Everybody, this is Luke. Luke, this is…everybody. Mindy and Craig, Gina and Tom, Jan and Derek, Keana and Cole."
Luke, beaming like he'd been looking forward to this for weeks instead of slightly more than twenty-four hours, leaned in to shake the first available hand. "Great to meet you. Thanks for letting me tag along. Congratulations to you both, Mindy, Craig."
They were in a busy airport, with hundreds of people making their way past. Luggage was rolling, voices were lifted, phones were ringing, overhead announcements were being made…
and despite all that noise, Sabrina was pretty sure she could hear a pin drop amongst her friends group.
Every single one of the Girls dropped their jaws.
Their menfolk didn't look as surprised, although a couple of glances were exchanged.
Luke let them all stand there gaping just long enough to get uncomfortable, then smiled incredibly brightly.
"So! We're not just going to stand around at the airport all weekend, are we? Sabrina and I are ready to go!"
It was like he'd shot a bolt of electricity into them.
All at once everybody was talking, explaining plans, saying how nice it was to meet him, and very much not saying 'we didn't think you were real' straight to Luke's face.
Craig, who was a fairly decent guy as far as Sabrina could tell, took her suitcase and grinned at her like he knew perfectly well she'd pulled one over on everybody, but that he approved.
He couldn't know, she thought. Not about the pulling one over. Maybe. Probably. Fake boyfriends were romcom tropes, not something that people really did. But she'd clearly surprised everybody, and Craig just as clearly approved.
Now that her hand was free, Luke moved his own luggage and bags around so he could take her hand, and they followed the rest of the group out, fielding questions that were asked at rapid-fire top volume: what did Luke do, they were so surprised and pleased to meet him, how did they meet.
Beneath that, Gina said, "I can't believe you've been hiding him from us. "
Sabrina took a deep breath. "I told you, I wanted to see if it seemed like it had a chance of working before I started really making a big deal about it."
"We thought you'd made him up," Jan said bluntly, from just on Gina's other side.
"Yeah, I know you did," Sabrina said as flatly. "Honestly if I had my way I probably wouldn't introduce you for months yet. I don't want to scare him off."
On some level she almost even believed that.
On the level where she was really, really pretending this was all for real, maybe.
If this was a real relationship, she absolutely would not subject Luke to The Girls until they'd been together for months, possibly a year or more.
But since it was all fake, throwing him into the deep end…
…still seemed kind of awful, but he was down for it, and Sabrina was determined they would have a good time this weekend.
"I mean, can you even scare him off?" Gina asked breathlessly. "He's coming to a wedding with you? After, what, six weeks?"
"Well, like I said, I've never been to Vegas," Luke said, as if he'd been part of the conversation all along.
"I think it's crazier that I'm actually invited to the wedding than it is for me to take a long weekend with Sabrina in Sin City.
I appreciate it!" he added hastily, beaming that fantastic smile at Mindy and Craig.
"But it's a little crazy, and incredibly nice of you. I'll stay out of your hair—"
"Don't be ridiculous," Craig said easily. "I've got my bachelor's party tonight, so you've got to come along. Can't let you just hang out in Vegas all by yourself."
Luke looked properly taken aback, and Sabrina couldn't decide if it was an act or not. "Are you sure? I'm a stranger. And I'm sure I could get a ticket to a residency. I think I read the girls who did that K-pop movie soundtrack were playing?"
"You are absolutely not going to them without me," Sabrina blurted, and Mindy gave a brittle laugh.
"See, you've got to go with Craig," she said. "Because I can't have Sabrina skipping my bachelorette party."
"I never would," Sabrina promised, although if tickets to the K-pop group actually materialized she would be hard-pressed to not go.
"As long as I'm not in the way," Luke said, and the guys all insisted it wasn't as everybody was herded into cars.
Sabrina made a real effort to go with Luke, even though The Girls were clearly trying to get her separated from him, and she shot Mindy a slightly insincere smile as she got into the car with him.
"Easier for us to go together, we've got to get all our stuff into the same room! Besides, what's half an hour when we'll be spending the whole weekend together?" She smiled merrily, waved, and shut the door firmly before Mindy could object.