This Isn't Just Pretend

Chapter 3 : Meeting Sebastian

“Oh! Hi,” I said, internally smacking myself as all possible words left my brain. He smiled a smile that was all white teeth and beautiful.

“Elamira, correct?” he smiled.

“Yup! That's me, please sit down,” I said, switching my screen off hoping he didn't see me looking at his profile while waiting for him. He took the seat across from me.

I nervously fiddled with my hands for a moment, smiling nervously. “Sorry, I never imagined myself doing something like this,” I laughed awkwardly.

“You're perfectly fine, Elamira. I never imagined this would be where I ended up, either,” he laughed. His laugh was deep and welcoming and could probably draw anyone in. “Want to explain to me how you came to be in this situation?”

“Yeah, no, I can do that. Alright. So five years ago I got married to my best friend in the entire world. The marriage shouldn't have actually happened and our marriage lasted only a year before we agreed to get divorced. We stayed complete best friends, which throws most people off. We couldn't live a life without each other, and we wouldn't want to. Five months later he met his now Fianceé. Now of course, I put her on edge. I was the ex, and I was still always around. They were friends for a year before becoming officially a thing, and then got engaged a year later. They're getting married in a couple days, it's a destination wedding and we're all flying out tomorrow. I knew that an unspoken rule of me coming to the wedding was me having a date. Which is fair, I am his ex-wife who is attending their wedding which is weird. For the past several months I've led them to believe this guy and I were actually somewhat serious when we really weren't. He agreed to be my date anyway, but when I went to see him earlier today I found out something came up and he ditched town. Obviously I panicked. I found myself online and now here we are,” I explained.

“Did they know the guy's name, or do I get to go by my own?” he asked with a cheeky smile, seeming unphased by the situation.

“I never mentioned much about him. Even his name. You're completely free to be yourself,” I responded.

“Alright. Well, we should spend the night coming up with some details about our ‘relationship’” he said using air quotes. “And, of course, the payment.”

“Yeah, no problem. It was like a thousand fifty, right?” he nodded. I pulled out two thousand in cash that I handed over to him, and when he went to say something about the extra I just shook my head.

“Keep it. This is last minute and you're a total life saver. Plus, it's not like I really need it.”

“Want to go somewhere else to talk? One of our places, perhaps? We will be spending the whole week in the same hotel room together,” he chuckled.

“We should probably let you pack for a Hawaii wedding, if you have clothes for the occasion. If not we could head to the mall and I could get you some,” I offered.

“I have some stuff. We can stop by my apartment and then head to yours. I can leave my car there, too, and we can just take yours to the airport tomorrow,” he said and I agreed. So I followed his car to his apartment where he packed some clothes and we came up with some relationship milestones we'd been through.