Page 50 of The Sounds of Her
“I was thinking out loud, I’ve had a lot to drink, the sun has baked my brain,” I wave a hand up as if pointing to the sky.
“Bullshit.”
She reminds me of how dad used to look at me when I was a kid and did something stupid.
“You’re in a bind, you need a quick fix, what better way to let the world see your off limits than to be dating a rockstar,” I smirk.
“Don’t think much of yourself, huh?” She drinks her shot in one go and winces at the burn. “And what would you get out of that arrangement?”
I saunter over to her couch and sit down.
“Please, make yourself at home.”
“Thanks,” I grin, trying to hide what’s going on in my head with humour is something I’ve done for a long time. “Okay, maybe I did kind of blurt that out, but it’s not that bad of an idea.”
“Stay out of one fake relationship by going into another? That sounds like a good idea?”
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?”
“Well, maybe, but… Shit, I’ve had too much to drink.”
“We both have, but what’s one more between friends,” Brooke goes to the bar and pours another shot. I down mine and she comes over and tops it up. As she sits and folds her legs up beside her, she regards me. “I’m getting déjà vu.”
“With an indecent proposal this time?”
“Tell me the truth, Archer. You didn’t offer out of the goodness of your heart, or because you’ve been drinking. What is going on in your head? Why do you care?”
Wondering that myself. The logical reason is it will get everyone off my back. Do the constant questions and articles about me not having a girlfriend bother me enough to get a fake one in Brooke? No. If I get that and help her out with her issue? Sure.
How bad could it be?
“No one says it has to be forever or that it even has to involve us being together, because I’m headed to Australia for the last few weeks of our tour. It isn’t like you can come with me. It could all be on paper, in pictures for the press, a couple of interviews. If it’s enough to get your parents off your back, then I’m okay with that.”
“My parents would never believe us.”
“They don’t need to, so long as the public does. You can’t marry someone else if you’re in a high-profile relationship that the actual world is reporting on in the news.”
“Which brings about its own set of problems. You forget, I was around when Jenna and Adam started dating. I saw what the press was like back then. It’s never stopped, they still get hassled.” She downs her second shot and slaps the glass on the table. “No more of those for me. I appreciate you offering but it won’t work. Like you said, we won’t be in the same country. No one is going to buy it. Least of all, my mother.”
“Don’t underestimate the reach of BreakNeck. But,” I hold up a hand to cut off whatever scathing remark she is about to make. “What can she do? Wait till it’s over and then come back at you.”
“By that logic, we’ll be fake dating for a long time.”
“I get it. It’s a bad idea.” I hold up my hands.
Her phone buzzes, Brooke reads the text, then laughs.
“What?”
She tosses it across the coffee table. I read the text and see red. Brooke doesn’t need me getting pissed. I’d like to punch this dick in the face though. More than once.
“He really is a fucking douche.”
“It’s pretty though.”
“I could do better.”