Chapter 11 #2
“Yes, right.” I allow him to lead me away from Garrett and Melissa toward the table where the place cards are set. He leaves his hand on my back, solid and reassuring as we walk.
We’re sitting across from them.
Of course we are. Of course.
Rodriguez pulls out my chair and I sit. He sinks down beside me, instantly reaching for my hand under the table, his fingers intertwining with mine.
“Breathe JuJu, or I’m going to call poodle for you,” he whispers quietly, softly enough for only me to hear.
I do. One breath, then another.
Olivia tells everyone to pay attention and makes a toast to family, to love, and to how happy she is that we’re all here. My dad cracks a joke about finally having both of his daughters settled.
By the time dessert arrives I realize that Rodriguez has a gift for this. He talks with my cousins easily, he makes my Aunt laugh, he gives my Dad details about hockey without being boring.
Garrett keeps watching us. Or rather, watching him.
Every time Rodriguez makes someone laugh, I catch Garrett’s expression tightening.
He’s gripping his fork a little too hard.
Melissa is talking but he’s not really listening, his attention keeps drifting to where Rodriguez’s arm disappears under the table, where it’s planted firmly on my thigh and has barely moved all dinner. Good.
Melissa starts telling a story about their engagement and how Garrett surprised her with a weekend getaway and proposed to her on top of a mountain at sunset. It sounds like a scene from a novel, very dramatic.
“That is so romantic!” Olivia exclaims. “Owen proposed during a thunderstorm in our apartment because the ring had just come and he couldn’t wait.”
Everyone laughs and Owen shrugs, looking pleased with himself.
“What about you two?” Melissa asks, looking at both Rodriguez and me. “How did you meet?”
My mind blanks. We should have done a better job of thinking ahead to this question. I sit there completely frozen but Rodriguez doesn’t miss a beat. “I saw her teaching skating lessons and had to know who she was.”
“That’s sweet.” Melissa says, although it’s not genuine. “And how long have you two been together?”
“Only a month,” I reply quickly. “Not long at all.”
“Oh. So that’s very new.” She looks between me and Rodriguez. “It must be serious if you brought him to a family wedding.”
“It is serious,” Rodriguez replies before I can speak. His hand tightens on mine under the table. “When you know, you know. Right?”
His eyes are locked on mine as he says it. Not on Melissa, or Garrett, or on anybody else at this table. On me. His eyes are dark and intense and completely focused.
For a moment, I forget we’re faking it.
“Right,” I manage to say, my voice nearly a whisper.
The conversation continues but I’m stuck on the look in his eyes, the way he said it like he truly believed it.
Olivia starts explaining the schedule for the brewery tour the next day.
Owen’s making jokes about how many beers his college buddies can drink.
And I’m just trying to focus on anything other than the way Rodriguez’s thumb is drawing these tiny patterns on my thigh under the table.
His touch is light but deliberate and I’m acutely aware of every movement.
Finally, thank goodness, dinner is over. We say our goodbyes, plan to meet up tomorrow, endure hugs from my family and awkward small talk with Garrett and Melissa.
We don’t talk much on the walk back to the hotel.
“You okay?” Rodriguez finally asks.
“I don’t know.” It’s the most honest response I can give right now. “That was…”
“A lot.”
“Yeah.”
“You did great though. Your family adores me, Garrett looked miserable the entire night, and Melissa obviously felt threatened by you.”
“She did not.”
“She totally did. She was fishing.”
“For what?”
“For whether you were over Garrett, and whether bringing me was a desperate move or a power move.”
He opens the hotel door for me and the warm air from the lobby wraps around us.
“And in case you weren’t aware, we nailed power move.”
In the elevator, I lean against the wall and shut my eyes. “One down. Like ten more events to go.”
“We’ve got this.” He’s so confident. “Plus, at least tomorrow is just a brewery tour. Beer makes everything better.”
“How are you so good at this?” I ask, opening my eyes to look at him. “The whole fake boyfriend thing. It’s like you’ve done it before.”
“Actually first time.” The elevator stops and we head to our room. “But it helps that you’re easy to fake-date.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re easy to be around. When you’re not overthinking everything.” He walks into our room and I follow him. “And you look great in blue. That also helps.”
I don’t know how to respond to that, so I just walk into the room and start getting ready for bed because I need to do something with my hands.
Rodriguez gets dressed in the bathroom and I get dressed in the room and then we stand in front of each other in pajamas, trying to figure out how to share the bed. I am wearing an oversized T-shirt and pajama shorts and I’m suddenly extremely aware of how much skin is showing.
“Which side do you want?” he asks.
“I don’t care. You choose.”
“Left side okay?”
“Fine.”
We both get into bed from opposite sides and the mattress is large enough that there’s space between us, however, I’m still aware of him next to me and I can feel the heat radiating from him across the small distance.
I lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, attempting not to think about how bizarre this is, how weirdly intimate. How we just acted perfectly as a couple for hours and now we’re in bed together and I’m unsure where the act ends and reality begins.
“JuJu?” His voice is low in the darkness.
“Yeah?”
“You did a great job tonight. I know that was hard.”
“Thanks for being there. For all of it.”
“Anytime.”
I close my eyes and try to fall asleep but my brain keeps circling back to the fact that I could reach out and touch him if I wanted to.
My fingers even twitch with the urge to.
I curl my hand into a fist under the covers.
Stay on your side, Juliette. This is fake.
Even if he defended you perfectly and held your hand through dinner and looked at you like—stop. Sleep. Now.
Eventually, exhaustion wins and I drift off, while still trying to tell myself this is all just pretend.
Even though tonight it felt dangerously real.
Or maybe that’s exactly the way I want it to feel.