Our "Friendly" Matrimony

8-Getting all the Angles

Sophia's POV

I was currently comfortably nestled in Alex's bed, staring and playing with the ring we had bought yesterday. Black diamonds were my personal favorites, so when Alex picked out one that had a huge black diamond glinting in the center. It was an immediate and desperate 'Yes please!!' from me.

I had given him the chance to slide it on and had continued to then look for a similar ring for him. Both of them combined had costed us quite a bit, but since we weren't the one's paying and we were given the credit cards of both my grand father and Alex's father. We decided to have our fun with them and put the money to good use.

And to make up for all the cash we spent buying random things for the babies of the house, we then proceeded to spend some on charity. 'Protection from the evil eye' was our reasoning when we had faced the men in charge with our sheepish expressions.

"What are you doing?"

The door to his en-suite washroom opened to reveal my fiancé. A towel draped over his shoulders as he used one end of it to ruffle the water out of his hair. A fitted black t-shirt with white sweat pants, adorned his body and I whistled lowly while winking in his direction.

His cheeks tinted pink as he rolled his eyes and I cooed in return.

"So, what are you doing?"

I shrugged as best as I could while laying down and cuddling his pillow and eyeing the ring he had given me.

"Dunno."

He sighed in response making his way over to me and taking me from under the arms to shift me as I pouted up at him. Once he had settled himself on the spot I had previously occupied. I turned around to throw an arm and leg over him before nuzzling my head into the area under his chin.

"You're way better than the pillow."

"Hey! Don't talk about Mr.Fluffy like that!"

He responded in fake offense, bringing a laugh out of my lips as I curled around him.

"You're literally a python."

He muttered under his breath while, running his hand through my hair.

"Nah, just flexible."

Chuckling at my response, he sighed as I stifled a yawn.

"You better not fall asleep."

I hummed in response, earning a groan from him. Keeping me from sleeping was practically impossible, since I was basically an insomniac, it would be so rude if anyone decided to keep me awake.

And since I was so comfortably nestled against the warmest body pillow ever. I proceeded to do exactly what he had warned me not to.

____________

"So you just didn't bother to wake her up?"

I heard a familiar voice speak in the background and furrowed my eyebrows when another familiar voice replied.

"No, you know it's hard for her to sleep as it is."

I hummed in agreement, wondering if they could hear me. Where was I? I couldn't feel my body pillow beside me and I definitely couldn't feel a bed underneath me. Had I been kidn*pped? Did they kill Alex?!

"Seriously though, how did you even avoid the paparazzi, they're spiraling over you tw~ She's waking up!"

I winced as sharp white light penetrated my eyes before adjusting myself on the unfamiliar surface. Realizing that Alex was indeed alive and well, I let myself fall back on the turgid and firm couch. Hating the hardness of it all in comparison to the fluffy surface I was resting on a while ago.

"Julian my love, I need a glass of water."

My voice sounded rusty as I called out to the 20 year old who was going to be my future brother-in-law.

"To pour over your head? Or to drink?"

"Ha ha, very funny."

Not caring enough to remove myself from the couch, I laid there till Julian returned with a glass of water and handed it to me. Being the most artistic one in Alex's family Julian- at 20- was currently a photographer in training.

Since his parents were capable of providing him with the perfect facilities, he had an amazing tutor, was interning for one of the most famous photographers known to mankind, and had the opportunity to branch out professionally whenever he wanted.

It was always good to see him, his lame jokes were never ending and he kind of reminded me of myself back in middle school. Looking back at myself, I still cringe.

Anywho, it seemed that today's photo shoot would be with none other than his boss. The positioning and posing always took time. Especially with Juan Vande'r wanting the best possible outcomes.

The fact that we had to first get ready was enough to make me want to fall asleep again. But the voice of the man currently in charge himself had me sitting up straight immediately.

"Good morning! Why aren't you ready yet? Go on, we've got your suit fully prepared!"

After greeting me, he had immediately told Alex to go get ready. Julian followed after his cousin, the camera dangling around his neck as he hopped out of my sight.

"Your skin is practically glowing! But what is this nest? Your hair is a no no, we need to get you started right now."

I didn't have the heart to tell him that the glow was from the face grease I had probably accumulated during my sleep.

"I'll just pee first."

He directed me to the washroom and walked away to talk to a bunch of females that had given me the side eye. Probably my stylists for the shoot.

I peed first, then proceeded to wash my face and gargle water till I was sure there wasn't any sleepy breath involved. Once done with all of that, I made my way back into the room I had woken up in.

"What do you think about this one, Darling?"

The moment I had entered, a dress was basically shoved into my line of sight as Juan mumbled to himself under his breath. Red being a color I didn't want to try on for the day, I brushed the dress away and looked at all the other choices that had been brought in.

"Oh no, today isn't a red day."

I had worked with Juan previously and he had insisted to be called by his first name 'makes me feel younger' was his declaration. Since we knew each other from previous encounters, he understood exactly what I meant by 'not a red day'.

He wanted the pictures real, and expressive, as he had once put it. So making me put on something I wasn't comfortable with was out of the question for both of us. He snapped his fingers and told the female stylists to remove all red items from the clothing racks.

I hummed in thought, stepping up beside him as he analyzed the dresses, skirts, blouses, cardigans, shoes and even undergarments left behind.

"What would you suggest as a good look for an engagement announcement? Arm candy? Trophy wife or well... me?"

He laughed in response to my question.

"The press already know you are no arm candy so we'll go with you."

I chuckled at his playful tone before shuffling through the clothes that hung before me.

"Should we go with a dress or a suit?"

Scratching his chin in thought, he turned to look me up and down.

"Frankly put, it would be a shame to present you as a trophy wife Darling. You're a business woman and both your clothes should represent your current occupations as well as private engagements."

I bit my lip in thought before turning to the racks by the wall.

"What is Alex wearing?"

"A royal Golden slim fit tuxedo."

I let out an interested 'ooh' in return, earning a chuckle and shake of the head from Juan as he positioned himself behind me.

"Let's suppose we make you pose, I don't want to make you cling to him cuz that's clearly not your style but I need a statement. A strong statement given by your stance."

Leading me in front of a mirror, he stood beside me and made silent gestures with his hands for himself.

"Okay so, Whittman is approximately this tall, so we'll need heels for sure and similar colors sounds brilliant."

My head immediately snapped to the jumpsuit hung on a rack I was yet to scan closely.

"What about that one?"

He snapped his fingers and the stylists rushed to bring the suit over to us while grabbing matching heels as well.

He lined the suit against me, tugging around the waist and mumbling something about 'fitting it here'. I think he had forgotten that we weren't models.

It took almost an hour for the fitting to be over and once it was, I had to sit through another hour for makeup and hair. The ring on my finger had caught the attention of my stylists for the day and that became a conversation starter.

"That looks gorgeous."

I smiled in return.

"Alex picked it."

That got them even more interested as they tried to dive into a deeper aspect of the rumors going around.

"Have you two really been dating since high school?"

I chuckled in return and shook my head.

"No, that's just one of the media's many fake rumors about us."

"Ah, so you two got together recently?"

Knowing that this news could be leaked by tomorrow, I decided to just play along with their guesses. Shutting down the false rumors and accusations that came forth.

"Yup, he proposed a while ago but we bought the ring just a few days prior."

The chances of someone having spotted us when we went out shopping for the ring were present, so I had to be careful with everything I said. Since anything could be used as the basis for new rumors.

"Oh my, it must have been very romantic."

They gushed in return and I let a smile play at my lips while remembering the dramatic way Alex had gone down on one knee to 'propose' to me in the jewelry shop.

"It was definitely very cute."

That made them squeal. After a bit more gossip and them attempting to get more information regarding the 'proposal' out of me, my hair and makeup was done and I was perfectly prepared.

"Mr.Whittman wants to put the news of you two on the front page of the magazine. So we got the perfect background set for the occasion and... Julian came up with a pose."

As Juan finished giving me the details, Julian walked in with Alex in tow.

"Why does it look like you tortured him?"

The first thing I noticed was my best friend making sure to keep a distance from people. A very visible distance from people. Almost like the fear of humans had embedded itself into his mind in the hour or two that he was kept in a separate room for.

"Well, we might as well have."

I chuckled in return, gesturing my best friend to come closer and he immediately leaned his head on my shoulder with an exhausted sigh. His arms wrapped around my waist as I patted his back slowly.

"What did you do to my poor baby in there?"

"I don't even have enough energy to argue with you right now."

Alex grumbled under his breath, making me chuckle in response as I leaned back to look at him carefully.

"Did they... wax your cheeks?"

He closed his eyes as if talking about it made him reminisce the pain.

"Why though? Your stubble look was perfect."

Alex had the bubbly facial features of a young man and with the addition of a stubble, he became drool worthy. And the fact that they waxed his soft cheeks to make the stubble pop out more had me on the verge of laughter.

"It reminded me of that time you dragged me to those torture chambers."

"Hey! That Spa was so relaxing."

I replied with a huff and he chuckled.

"For you, yeah."

The cooing of the women in the background had us putting some distance between ourselves and passing them shy smiles...

"Okay! Come on both of you."

A tired sigh left Alex as Juan gestured us towards the screen, this was going to be a long day.