Chapter Eight
Nikki
I finished locking up and sat in the gazebo in the town square for twenty minutes just drinking a soda and thinking about this scheme.
Would this actually work? Mike already thought we were dating, and he would love to be right.
It felt manipulative to pretend to be dating Maeda just to get through Mike’s ridiculous hoops, but it was also manipulative that these hurdles were in front of me at all.
This was to benefit both of us, and since we are two consenting adults, no one would get hurt, right?
I took a deep breath as I walked up Maeda’s steps.
“It’s nothing,” I said to myself. An old mantra.
A reminder that nothing was that big of a deal, a way to take something scary or overwhelming and reduce it to a manageable thing that you could hold in your hand.
I texted Maeda that I was there, and she opened the door.
She was still in her work uniform. The Lucky Lanes shirt tucked into a pair of light wash denim shorts with a bisexual flag embroidered on one of the butt pockets. She had taken off her Converse and socks in favor of some house shoes.
“Come on in,” she said, unbraiding her hair and letting the soft waves hang down her back.
The inside of her apartment was plain. The decor was more reminiscent of an AirBnB instead of a cozy home.
Still, I could see the touches of Maeda and Dolly throughout — the disco ball planters and the soft blanket that looked like a cooked flour tortilla.
I sat on the couch next to a throw pillow that said, “GRL PWR”.
“Do you need a water or anything?” Maeda asked. When I declined, she sat on the furthest seat possible from me, a rusty orange art deco armchair. “So I guess we should talk about, whatever this is.”
“I think they call it Fake Dating.”
“Great, we’re a trope. A devious one at that.” Maeda tucked her legs up and crossed her ankles, resting her elbows on her knees with her hands interlocked. “Ground rules.”
I blew out a puff of air and noticed my leg was bouncing. I thought about stopping it, but it brought me some comfort. “Well, I think we need to establish how long this will go on for.”
“I don’t want us to end up feeling trapped in this. We can end it at any point.”
“How close are you to getting Lucky Lanes?” she asked. Her eyes fixed on a coaster on the coffee table rather than looking at me.
“I think I should be able to make it official around the end of the month. For sure before August. So, a month or two?”
Maeda nodded. “Okay, that works for me. My lease ends in August, and I would like to get Tristan to back off at least until then.”
I wanted to offer her a safety net for the end of her lease, but I held back. My apartment was a studio loft, so I didn’t even have an actual bedroom to offer her. She had a job now, and I would try and give her as many hours as I could.
Maeda started nervously playing with the ends of her hair. “There’s another thing we need to talk about,” she murmured, and, with a rising blush on her cheeks, she said, “like, the physical stuff.”
“Oh.” I felt the heat rise on my face as well. I tried to brush it off. “It’s nothing. We can check in on a regular basis. I mean, consent is king.”
Maeda practically melted with relief. “Okay, good.”
“I don’t think it’s weird for couples to ask for consensual touching and stuff. Just because two people are in a relationship doesn’t mean either is entitled to physical affection at any given time.”
“I agree.” Maeda looked at me then, her big eyes smooth like sea turtle shells, an image of peace and natural beauty.
“Tilly and Danielle are going to tell everyone,” she said, “or at least, Tilly will.”
I barked out a laugh, which caused Maeda to shush me with a smile and a glance toward the hall where I assume Dolly was sleeping. “Tilly does talk a lot. We should probably announce it somehow, get ahead of the rumor mill.”
Maeda nodded. “Oh, I have one boundary I need us to be very careful of.”
“What, ‘don’t fall in love with me?’” I teased, “Because that was going to be my line.”
Maeda shook her head. “I don’t want Dolly to get too attached to you. I don’t want her to get hurt or think that this is a forever thing. She’s too young to keep this a secret but old enough to remember the hurt of this ending if she thought it was real.”
“How do you want to navigate that? She’s a sweet kid and I would never want to cause her any pain.”
“We can’t avoid her finding out,” Maeda thought, twisting the ends of her hair again, “So we should just play it down around her. If she asks, we tell her we are just friends, and.. Oh, I don’t know. I think I’ll have to see how it goes.”
“I’ll follow your lead.”
Then, Maeda came over and sat next to me and pulled her phone out to take a selfie. “Time to get ahead of the gossip.”
She tried to take a selfie of the two of us, but it looked so stiff and uncomfortable, laughed.
“You need to relax.”
“I’m just, nervous, I guess. Can I, um, lean against you?”
“You’re cute when you’re being awkward. Come here.” She nestled her back against me, her head resting on my breast.
“Hand me the phone,” I ordered. She complied, and I took some selfies from different angles. When I handed the phone back to her to pick her favorites, I expected her to move away, but she didn’t.
“What do you think of this one?” she asked. It was a picture taken from above, Maeda looking at me while I’m looking at the camera and making a silly face that includes my tongue sticking out and a wink.
“It’s playful. I like it.” But, I was transfixed on Maeda’s expression. So open, soft, and warm. Was she just playing it up for the camera? Probably.
“Okay, I’ll post it,” Maeda said.
“Hey, I was wondering, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I was just wondering why you came back to Pine Grove instead of moving to your parents? They moved to Nevada, right?”
Maeda swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yeah they did. When I went to college they moved and once I was out of their house I tried to come out to them. It wasn’t, well, it didn’t quite work.
They refused to hear me. Then I got pregnant out of marriage and they said I put shame on their name. I haven’t heard from them since.”
I embraced her, but she was still stiff. “I’m sorry that happened to you,” I whispered. “No one deserves that.”
“Yeah, well, I get by,” she said as she got up. I stood up, too, and made my way to the door.
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I asked.
Maeda shrugged. “Yeah. I’ll text you.”
I wanted to reach out. I wanted to calm the nerves in my stomach telling me that this was a bad idea that I would end up getting hurt. But, this was a road to Lucky Lanes. To owning the business I’ve poured my heart and soul into.
I had lost Maeda before. I wouldn’t lose Lucky Lanes.