Chapter Nine
Maeda
The next morning, my phone screen was a wall of notifications.
It seemed that all of Pine Grove had liked my photo with Nikki.
The caption had been simple: “Stars align.” It was misleading enough that people would assume that we were talking about romance, but really I was commenting on the fact that both of us had problems to be solved through a fake dating ruse. What were the odds?
I had a direct message from Tristan. He had sent me my own post with a question mark. I chose not to respond to that one.
I also had several texts from Tilly that ranged from excitement over Nikki and I going public as well as disappointment that I hadn’t confided in her earlier about the change in relationship status, until finally:
Tilly
Hey, so we made reservations for dinner tonight for the six of us. You and Nikki are not getting out of this! See you then!
Attached was a screenshot of the reservation.
Great. I forwarded it to Nikki and got up to get Dolly ready for the day.
I opened the accordion doors to the large closet in the living room, so I could get out of bed.
There was only one bedroom in this apartment, and it was Dolly’s.
It was her bedroom and playroom all at once and my full-sized bed fit in the inordinately large closet and gave me privacy. I hadn’t needed a whole bedroom.
I knocked on the door to Dolly’s room. “Time to tumble outta bed, sleepyhead!”
She was lying in bed, her hair reminiscent of a tumbleweed, with one foot hanging off the edge.
She gave a slow, lazy stretch as I opened the window blinds.
When we were both dressed and ready for the day, we grabbed our matching tote bags.
We had hand-painted them, so hers had a lumpy heart with a smiley face complete with eyelashes and mine had a green gingham pattern with each of our handprints on top in pink.
We went through her usual summer break routine.
A trip to the library, a walk around town, and a movie after lunch so she could relax.
This was the upgrade since she wouldn’t nap anymore.
During her movie, I sat down to write. I managed to get some words down, but it was hard to focus, my mind constantly wandering to the looming double date.
I felt like I would crack under Tilly and Danielle’s scrutiny, and the facade would crumble.
Nikki’s response to my screenshot was a thumbs-up emoji, and “I’ll pick you both up around 5.” That was it. For hours. I was redoing Dolly’s hair into a bun — her preferred hairstyle since that’s what ballerinas wore — when Nikki knocked on the door.
“Come in,” I said before introductions. “Dolly, this is mama’s friend, Nikki.”
“Hi,” Dolly said. “Do you like to dance or fight?”
Nikki was standing in my doorway still. “Oh, I’ve never been much of a dancer. You’ll have to teach me some moves.”
“There,” I finished Dolly’s hair and went to grab my tote bag. “Ready to go.”
Nikki helped move Dolly’s carseat over to her car, a small black truck with a sunroof, which Dolly was very excited about.
Before I got in, Nikki held the passenger’s side door open for me and asked, “Is it okay if I hold your hand tonight?”
I was flustered. By hand holding? Ridiculous, I thought to myself.
I nodded my consent as I got in the car.
Why was I so nervous? Or, was that the right word?
No, I felt… exhilarated. A date with Nikki was something I dreamt of.
Even if it was pretend, even if I hadn’t envisioned a double date, I was so happy.
When we arrived to the restaurant, Nikki opened the door for me again and then let me unbuckle Dolly from her carseat.
Then, Nikki interlocked her fingers with mine.
Her soft hands felt like a match to my own in shape and size.
We found Tilly, Danielle, and Ben inside along the left wall.
Ben and Dolly quickly got to work playing a card game that he was teaching her.
Thankfully, Tilly waited until we ordered to start her interrogation.
“So, tell us, how did this happen?” She sipped from her Diet Coke, her sharp eyes flicking between us.
I started to panic, we hadn’t come up with a backstory, a lie to get us through these questions. We should have talked about them in the car, at least, but we were playing Dolly’s favorite songs.
“Well, we actually knew each other really well years ago,” Nikki answered. “I guess I never got over her.”
I studied her. She was dragging her thumb through the condensation of her water glass.
“We were at work—” I chimed in. “And, it just sort of… happened.”
“Oh, my stars!” Tilly slapped Danielle’s thigh excitedly. “Babe, they got lucky at Lucky Lanes! I’ve been telling you, it’s not weird to make out in the storage closet. Everyone does it!”
Nikki nearly snorted out the sip of water she was in the middle of taking.
“Actually, yeah, no.” She coughed to clear her throat, “We didn’t do that. And, yes, we find many people making out in the bowling alley.”
“We should totally do that, too.” Tilly waggled her eyebrows at her wife.
“You’re a spectacle waiting to happen, my love.”
“What is life without some risk?” Tilly laughed.
Nikki was shaking her head with a small smile.
“Don’t make me kick you out of Lucky Lanes,” I teased.
“Then, I would have to challenge you to a matchplay!” Danielle said.
“A matchplay?” I asked.
Nikki wrapped an arm around me and explained in my ear. “People use it as a bet, one v. one style game. It’s very much an ‘if I win then, you have to do this’ situation.”
“And, I would do that to regain access to Lucky Lanes,” Danielle said. “Our team needs us.”
“Or, you could just not make out in the supply closet,” Nikki countered.
Tilly shrugged. “It’s not my fault I’m in love. You guys know how it is.”
Heat climbed up my neck, and I was suddenly sweating.
To my surprise, Nikki laughed. “Then, I’m surprised you’d be satisfied with seven minutes in heaven at Lucky Lanes. Nah, if it were us, I would just wait until we were somewhere private with all the time in the world. No amount of taboo thrill could make me want to rush through my devotion.”
Danielle fanned herself with her hand, “Damn, Nikki, that was hot.”
It was. The thought of her, being devoted to me, made my blood warm and speed up.
Nikki and I held eye contact for a moment, and I tried to parse out the emotion in her eyes.
Was it pleading for me to go along with her scam, or was it genuine desire?
How could I ever be sure? In the moment, I wanted so badly to believe that I meant something to her, but this was a sham.
A set-up. I needed stability, Dolly needed stability.
I knew that I could only rely on myself.
So, I would make this work to get Tristan off my back and get myself situated in more permanent housing once my lease was up.
And I would not let my emotions shortcut me into heartbreak.
Because there was no other way this would end if I got my heart involved.
Nikki would get her dream of owning Lucky Lanes.
If I exposed myself to the risk, I would end up being rejected.
Nikki reached over and held my hand under the table.
Game on.