My Fake Forever

One

An Indecent Proposal

MIA

I FUMBLE AROUND IN the bottom of my bag, trying to dig out my keys.

“Come on, where are they?” I mutter under my breath.

They have to be in there. I can distinctly remember putting them in here . . .

Didn’t I?

“Oh shit,”

I pull out my phone from my pocket and dial Chloe’s number. Luckily for me, she answers on the third ring.

“Hey, Mia! Missing us already?” I can’t help but smile at her enthusiastic tone.

“Always. Chloe, have I left my keys at the salon?”

“Umm . . .” her voice trails off as she looks around. “Ah, yes, they are here,”

“Son of a bitch,” I huff as I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration.

Great, I'm going to have to walk back down to the salon. I'm going to be late for my blind date now.

“Thanks, Clo, I'll come grab them,” I cut the call and roll my eyes.

I knew it was going to be a bad day when I woke up this morning. I just had a feeling. I stupidly agreed to go on yet another blind date tonight. Why did I keep doing this to myself? Have I learnt nothing in my twenty-eight years on this planet?

Of course not. I’m a romance junkie.

Despite my last shitty breakup, I’m always hoping that my next greatest love story will be right around the corner. That's what happens in the movies and novels—right?

Ever the optimist.

I am on all the dating apps, and in the last four months, I have been on eight dates.

Yes, eight.

And two of those were blind dates.

Some of them have been ok, and some of them have been blah. Well to be honest, most of them have been blah, otherwise I would still be seeing them wouldn’t I? But I vow to carry on until I find my Prince Charming.

After all, what's the alternative? Oh yeah, die alone.

That was the last thing I wanted to happen.

It would mean all the girls I went to high school with would be right.

When I was at school, let's just say I was an acquired taste. I had Harry Potter style glasses, wild curly hair and bushy eyebrows to match. I wasn’t everyone’s first choice for picking prom dates.

The mean girls and the jock boys picked me on for my whole high school life.

My name was Mia Jameson—“The Poodle”. They were all convinced that I would end up as an old spinster. I was determined to prove them wrong.

After reading countless romantic novels, I realised one thing—all the heroines are beautiful.

All Disney Princesses are beautiful. I had to change my ways.

I was sick with my parents telling me, “It's what's on the inside that counts,” or the cliché, “you are perfect to us.” Yeah sure, Prince Charming only married Snow White because she was such a nice person, he totally overlooked her beauty.

So, I decided to take the plunge, I decided to make that change.

And, after chemically straightening my hair, getting blonde highlights, wearing contacts and a lot of eyebrow shaping, I looked half decent.

I have kept the same style over the last ten years, maybe changing my hair length slightly, but I do own a beauty salon, so that's kinda a given.

I've been on plenty of dates, but I still am yet to find one that sticks and has the promise of going the distance.

It's tough dating. You never know what you are going to get.

But I have learnt from experience to expect the unexpected, and hope and pray that one day I will meet my own Prince Charming, or Chris Hemsworth.

Chris Hemsworth can meet me anytime he wants.

It’s a brutal dating world out there. I’ve been around the dating block for a few years, so I kind of know what to expect. Gone are the days of sitting in a bar or pub looking pretty, and waiting for a decent man to approach you.

There is almost too much choice when you are actively dating. Well for the guys that is. You might think it went well, but you need to remember that you are on a conveyor belt of endless women and there’s a pretty high chance you’ll get ghosted.

So, that's what leads me to tonight’s date. I doubt he is Chris Hemsworth, or even Prince Charming for that matter, but you never know!

I head down the hall and over to the lift.

I reach to press the call button and before I do, the doors open and my neighbour, Austin, comes into view.

Austin Conall is beyond handsome. He is an Adonis.

He is the very definition of hotness and he happens to be a massive man whore.

But despite all that, he is one of my closest friends.

We have lived across the hall from each other for just over four years now.

At first, I was like every other woman who laid eyes on him, a complete mess and utterly dumbfounded by his beauty.

But after seeing him come home with countless women night after night, I realised that he would never be the type of man you bring home to meet your parents, and instead he is the sort of man you confide in and make you laugh after a bad date.

“Hey, stranger,” he says as he flashes me a heart stopping smile.

I step aside to allow him to get past me. “Hey,”

Austin gracefully exits the lift and stops just in front of me. “It's Friday night, Jameson. Got any plans?”

I comb my eyes over his tall frame. He is tall, dark and handsome. The cliché of men. And a total heartbreaker.

“Well, I have to go back to the salon as I've left my keys there, and then after that, I have to try and make this”- I point to my face -“look half decent.”

“Oh, Jameson, it always looks decent.”

“Gee, thanks. I'm flattered. How many women have you used that line on, today?” I say, cocking a brow.

Austin smirks down at me, “not nearly enough. What time is your date?”

“Six thirty, why?”

He looks down at his watch and frowns. “Well, it's almost five thirty now, and you still have to walk back to the salon and get ready. You'll never make it.”

I roll my eyes. Thanks for the reminder. “Yes, I know. And I'm wasting precious time standing here talking to you!”

“Wanna lift there? It will take half the time?”

“Really?” I smile. God, this man is a lifesaver. “Are you sure? I don't want to eat into your Friday night. I know how important they are to you, you know when you cruise the bars looking for self-loathing women,”

“Ha ha. Yes, I'm sure. Now let's go.”

We make our way down to the lobby while talking about each other's day at work.

Austin is the founder and CEO of a local Architect firm.

Each year, his company goes from strength to strength and pulls in more clients.

He has really worked hard for his company's success and I just know he was a total nerd at school.

He just so happened to turn into a sexy nerd.

I, on the other hand, was practically gifted my beauty salon by my parents.

I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, but I was lucky that I had my parents to fall back on when things didn't work out.

It wasn't until my early twenties when I realised that I quite enjoyed painting my sister's nails and dying her hair, so it spiralled from there.

My parents, being insanely wealthy, leapt at the chance and bought me my own business - Serenity Salon.

The lift reaches the lobby and the doors open. We step out, and I follow Austin into the underground car park. He opens the door of his BMW and I slide into the passenger seat.

As we drive along the road, I notice Austin smirking.

“What's wrong with your face?” I jibe.

He looks at me as if I should already know. “Are you not going to compliment my new wheels?”

“Um, they’re very nice?” I say, deadpan.

Austin lets out a chuckle.

Of course, I noticed that he has bought a BMW M3. I just didn't want to give him the satisfaction of bragging about it the whole way to my salon.

“You are the only woman I know who is not affected by my money,”

“Is that a problem?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No, it's refreshing.”

We arrive, and I run in and grab my keys from Chloe. Chloe has worked for me for three years now and in that time, has become a very good friend.

After a quick hello and goodbye, we are on our way back home. Luckily, work is only a ten-minute drive from my apartment, so we make it back just before six o'clock.

“So, do you know anything about this one?” Austin asks as we walk into the lobby.

“Nope, not really. Just that he’s hot.”

“Not as hot as me though,” he winks.

I roll my eyes and look up at him, “Austin, no one is as good looking as you.”

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman rounds the corner carrying a large box and goes flying as I knock into her.

Oh, shit.

“Oh, God. I'm so sorry, here—” I bend down and reach for her hand, “let me help you up!”

“God, watch where you’re going,” she says as she straightens herself up.

It is then, by her tone, that I realise who she is, Amber—freaking—McVey. My arch enemy from high school. The bitch that made my teen years a living hell. And I just knocked her over.

Oops.

Austin’s eyes, of course immediately dart to Austin who is standing there grinning at her like a Cheshire fucking cat while holding her stupid box.

I look at him and roll my eyes. Please, dude, anyone but her.

Amber reciprocates his smile and bats her eyelids like a woman possessed.

Why does every woman who lays her eyes on Austin Conall have to fall so deeply in lust with him?

Yeah, sure he’s God’s gift to women and I’m pretty sure he can make angels weep with his chiselled jaw and perfectly sculpted cheekbones, but really?

Actually, yeah, I can see why.

“Hi,” Amber says, flinging her long blonde hair over her shoulder.

I roll my eyes again. I’m going to need a retina transplant at this rate.

Austin smiles a long, sexy smile at her. “Hey.” Suddenly, his phone begins to buzz in his pocket. He hands Amber her box and takes his phone out and frowns down at the screen, “shit, sorry, I'm gonna have to take this. I'll see you up there, yeah?”

I nod. “Ok.”

Austin meanders over to the stairwell while on his phone, and ascends to the fourth floor.

It is then that I realise that both Amber and I are watching him as he disappears from view.

Oh, dear Lord.

“Anyway—” I begin, realising that I have to get ready for my blind date. “See you around.”

“Hold it.” Amber says as I walk away.

I stop and turn to face her.

“I know you,” she says, narrowing her eyes as if she’s trying to calculate something. Suddenly, her eyes widen.

Fan-fucking-tastic. She's worked it out.

“You’re Poodle—” she shakes her head. “I mean Mia. You're Mia Jameson!”

I shrug and hold up my hands, “guilty.”

“O.M.G! No way! Since when did you get so hot?” she squeaks.

Did she just call me hot? The woman who has a real life instagram filter permanently applied?

“How are you? I haven't seen you in like, forever!”

I inwardly grown. God, I forgot how nauseating she is. “Yeah, it's been a few years. I'm sorry to be rude, but I need to go.” I say, pointing over to the lift.

“Oh sure, if I had a man as hot as that, I wouldn't want to be apart from him either!” she winks.

“What?” Oh, she thinks we are together.

“You two will have to come round for dinner once we are settled into our new flat!” Amber says at a million miles per hour.

Huh?

I remain silent as my brain misfires. Put her out of her misery, Mia.

“My fiancé is great, your boyfriend will get on with him, I can just tell!”

And suddenly, in a moment of absolute stupidity, I blurt out something I know I will come to regret. “I’m engaged too,”

Amber’s eyes widen in surprise. “Are you?”

I nod.

“Wow!” She frowns and looks down at my left hand. “Where’s your ring?”

“Oh—” I think fast. “It’s being resized,”

“This is amazing!” she claps as she literally jumps up and down on the spot.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

Why the fuck did I say that?

I smile and point back over to the lift. “I'm sorry, but I do really need to get going. Congratulations on your engagement and your flat. Bye.” I practically run to the lift and press the call button repeatedly, as if that will make it come quicker.

I jump in and make my way up to my floor. I glance at myself in the reflection of the doors.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

When the lift reaches the fourth floor, the doors open and I dart out and run over to Austin's door.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I wait a beat and do it again.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I hear a muffled voice from behind the door, and as it opens, Austin's unimpressed face comes into view.

“Fucking hell, Jameson.” He barks. “Where is the fire?”

“I did something bad. I mean, I said something really stupid.”

“Huh? You're not making any sense.”

I shift awkwardly on my feet. “Please promise me something?”

“Mia, what are you talking about?”

“Please, can you not go and speak to Amber while I'm out?”

He furrows his brow. “Who the hell is Amber?”

I roll my eyes at him in frustration. “That bitch downstairs. Please, just promise me that you won't talk to her until I've come back from my date and spoken to you?”

Austin cocks an eyebrow. “Ok, I promise.”

I exhale in a rush. “Thank you.” I turn and face my door. “I'll come back after my date and explain everything.”

“Ok. Have fun.”

I open my door and just before I close it, I say, “yeah, whatever.”