Fake Boyfriend (2 page)

“
You're that happy about working?”

“
Yeah, the sooner I start work the sooner I can get my own
place.” She responds, becoming serious again.

Before I
can ask her anymore questions a waiter comes around, announcing
that the first course will begin in ten minutes. “Let us find our
seats.”

“
I know where I’m sitting, Susan showed me earlier.” She
replies. Turning to me she says, “Thanks, for everything. It was
nice meeting you Mr. Novak.” I nod, watching her walk to the table
in the back of the room where a few interns and some assistants are
sitting. I feel my anger rise as I walk over to her. The Prescott
family is really starting to piss me off. They aren’t even allowing
her to sit at their table. Eva briefly smiles at the people sharing
her table before looking down at her silverware. She is very
bashful in the presence of other people. When I am standing behind
her chair I gently grab Eva’s upper arm, gaining her
attention.

“
Come with me.” I demand.

Her eyes
look up to mine. “Dinner is about to start.” She reminds
me.

I smile.
“I know. Get up, you are sitting at my table.”

“
But Susan told me to sit here, she will get mad.” Eva’s voice
is small, showing her nervousness over her step-mother’s
anger.

“
I will tell her that I insisted.” I state. She finally stands
up, but only after noticing the others looking at us. I take her
hand as we leave the table and head to the center of the room. I
pull out a chair next to mine and she thanks me as she sits down. I
notice that she keeps her head down and her cheeks are flushed. I
can tell Eva doesn’t like the attention and stares from the others
around us.

“
Just ignore them.” I say as I sit down.

“
Easy for you to say.” She replies, glaring a
little.

I laugh.
“Did you really just glare at me?” I am shocked that she glared at
me and even more surprised that it made me laugh.

Her
cheeks become even more red, causing me to laugh again. “Shut up!”
She orders. “You're bringing attention to us!” She whisper yells,
completely horrified and putting her head down further.

I can’t
help but chuckle, I don’t remember the last time someone told me to
shut up. To be completely honest, I don’t think that it has ever
happened. I didn’t expect it to be such a huge turn on. I smile as
she peeks up from under her long lashes. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have
told you to shut up. It was rude of me.” She apologizes,
sheepishly. “I just hate being so uncomfortable.” She admits,
shifting in her seat.

“
Don’t worry, I liked it.” I reassure her, and the huskiness of
my voice isn’t lost on her. She stiffens and then shakes her
head.

"Eva,
what are you doing over here? I did show you to your table, didn’t
I?” Susan’s brittle voice and fake smile interrupt my plans of
getting Eva to tell me to shut up again.

“
I insisted that she sit with me and not the assistants that
are working at this event.” I snap at Susan, letting my
frustrations with the treatment of her step-daughter
show.

Susan
looks taken back, but quickly replaces her shock with a large
smile. “Of course, you are such a gentleman. However, I was just
coming to let her know that William has found a spot for her at our
table, but your generosity is greatly appreciated.”

“
Mother, she is not at the table you said she would be at.”
Cindy calls out, clearly not seeing Eva at my table.

“
Not to worry, I found her.” Susan says, turning to her
daughter.

“
I was just telling Mr. Novak that a spot opened up at our
table. What I didn’t tell him was that you so graciously gave up
your spot for Eva.” She says, sympathetically. “Maybe you could
take Eva’s seat and keep him company, Cindy.”

"I would
be delighted!” She responds enthusiastically, batting her
eyelashes.

“
Keep your seat Cindy. Eva is fine here.” I state, dismissing
them. The dinner bell is rung, cutting off any response from the
two and they sullenly make their way back to their own
table.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eva
Thorpe

I am
rooted to the seat next to Ruxin, my limbs frozen in panic. I’m
going to be punished by Cindy and Susan no matter what choice I
make. They told me to stay in the background, to not approach
anyone, and above all to keep my mouth shut. Ruxin approached me,
and he isn’t the type of person you can ignore.

“
Maybe I should go with them.” I state, standing up. If I stay
here it will only worsen the harassment I’m bound to receive.
“Cindy you can take my seat.” I offer, gaining their attention.
Cindy quickly returns to Ruxin’s table, her mother close behind
her.

“
Sit down Eva.” Ruxin orders, his tone leaving no room for
discussion. He grabs a hold of my arm and gently pulls me down into
the seat. I look up to Susan, her teeth are clenched together and
her eyes are narrowed down at me. Cindy’s face is pinched together
in outrage and I know she is deciding which thing of mine to
destroy first. But neither of them say a word in protest,
apparently Ruxin intimidates even them. 

William
comes up behind Susan, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Eva, I
swear I didn’t know Susan had already booked the table when I
invited you.” He apologizes sincerely, clearly upset that I
couldn’t sit with them.

“
It was a mistake William, I will be fine.” I say. I know Susan
did it on purpose, but I honestly couldn’t be bothered to
care.

“
I have asked her to dine with me.” Ruxin states. My father
looks stunned, only now noticing the intimidating man sitting next
to me. Even my father can’t look him directly in the eyes. What is
it about Ruxin that makes everyone stand at attention?

“
Oh, thank you Ruxin. This is very generous of you.” William
says happily. I swear, this man is as blind as a bat when it comes
to judging character. Just look at who he is married to. I have
known Ruxin Novak for an hour and I can already tell he wants me.
Definitely not in a friendly way, but an ‘I want to lick every inch
of your body repeatedly’ way.

Ruxin
doesn’t bother to respond.

Breaking
the awkward silence, Susan claps her hand on William’s arm. “I feel
so terrible about this! I know how much you wanted to spend time
with Eva tonight.”

“
I have the rest of my life to spend time with my daughter. You
shouldn’t feel bad, like Eva said, it was an honest mistake.”
William tries to council his wife, sympathetically patting her arm.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes.

I hear
Ruxin grunt beside me in disbelief and without thinking I lightly
punch his leg. I give him my deadliest glare and motion for him to
shut up. Ruxin smirks in return and I roll my eyes at him. He is
going to get me in so much trouble with Susan and Cindy. If they
think for even a second that I told him how they treat me, burning
my deceased mother’s things right before my eyes, then I will
definitely be done for. They have already burnt two of my mother’s
pictures all for allegedly flirting with Cindy’s boyfriend, Edward
Kennedy. When he ended things with her she blamed me, which
couldn’t be true because the only time I have ever spoke to the man
was when he introduced himself to me.

“
The first course is being served, please return to your table.
I will take care of Eva, there is no need to worry.” Ruxin states,
tired of the conversation.

I smile
reassuringly at William, “I will see you after dinner. You still
owe me a dance.”

“
You bet kiddo.” He smiles back in relief before walking away
with Susan and Cindy.

“
You punched me!” Ruxin accuses me once they are out of ear
shot.

“
You were going to get me into trouble! Do you always say
whatever you are thinking?” I ask in exasperation.

“
Actually, I very rarely speak my mind. What do you mean,
trouble with Susan and Cindy?” He questions curiously.

“
It’s nothing.” I quickly respond.

“
Answer me.”

I shake
my head desperately, “Please, just leave it alone.”

“
I will find out.” He warns me. The waiter has arrived with our
salad and for the moment he is done interrogating me. Set in front
of me in a small salad arranged in a perfect circle. Why must
people with money do everything with a certain precision? It is a
salad for God’s sake, not a surgery.

"They
have something on you.” Ruxin interrupts my inner monologue. I
choose not answer him, and quickly begin to eat. “Whatever it is it
must be big.” He continues, not giving up. Christ, this man does
not take a hint! Before I can shoot him another one of my deadly
glares I am approached by Stella Mayberry.

Stella is
a friend of Cindy’s and the keeper of my mother’s memories. Susan
didn’t trust that I wouldn’t search for my things and run off with
them. Not that she was wrong, that is exactly what I would have
done. Moving to New York was the biggest mistake I have ever made,
a decision that I have regret for the past two months.

“
Eva, how are you? I wasn’t aware that you came, not until I
talked to Cindy a few minutes ago.” She greets me like she would
any other friend. The idea of Stella and me as friends makes me
want to laugh manically, but I hold my composure.

“
Fine.” I answer curtly.

"Cindy
asked me to remind you that I have a few of your old things you
left at my house. Personally, I think such old things need to be
burned, but she insisted that you would want them.” Stella says
smiling, but it comes out cruel and deformed.

I inhale
sharply at her thinly veiled threat. They weren’t being very
discreet, meaning they must be beyond furious with me.
 “Please, don’t burn them. This wasn’t my fault” I whisper,
begging her to understand. But you can’t reason with the devil. Or,
in my case, devils.

“
Honey, you know what you need to do.” She says, like an adult
reprimanding a child. My fists clench in anger until I am filled
with desperation and hopelessness. Slumping forward in defeat, I
stare blankly at the table.

“
Mr. Novak,” Stella turned to greet him. “You are looking well
as always.” She winks at him before turning and strutting away in
her tall stilettos.

“
Excuse me.” I murmur. My throat is dry and my voice is raspy.
I try to hide my shaking hands in the folds of my dress. Ruxin
doesn’t say a word in response, and I’m too much of a coward to
make eye contact with him. I all but run from the
ballroom.

I
remember the day Cindy and Susan found out about my greatest
weakness and their greatest weapon. While I was unpacking my things
the two women barged into my new room, shouting out insult after
insult about my mother and me. They called my mother a home wrecker
and a whore. They called me an unwanted bastard child. My mother
didn’t know William was married when she fell in love with him. It
wasn’t until after she became pregnant with me that she found out
about Susan. She left William and she never contacted him
again.

My mother
passed away three months ago from ovarian cancer and while I was
sorting through her things I came across a mass of letters bound by
a rubber band. The note attached to them read, ‘Eva, these letters
are from your father. He knew about you, but I couldn’t have him in
my life. It is up to you if you want him in yours. – With all of my
love, mom.’ I still haven’t brought myself to open the letters. I
remember how shocked I was when I found picture of William and my
mom together, happy and in love. But I would give up all of the
letters and pictures in the world if I could just have my mother’s
locket back. Inside of the locket is a picture of a young William
and a picture of myself as a baby. If anything were to happen to
that necklace I would be devastated.

The
doorman opens the door for me and I stumble out of the building.
Nausea churns my stomach and I take deep breaths to prevent myself
from dry heaving. They are pissed, they are going to destroy
something tonight. Something important. The necklace flashes in my
mind and I shut my eyes tight as another wave of nausea washes over
me. I sit down on a bench trying to hold back my sobs. I don’t even
know my way home. Three hours later, I’ve managed to pull myself
together some time ago, William and Susan are leaving the party and
I make my way toward them.

“
I thought you went home Eva!” William exclaims,
worried.

“
No, I was just getting some fresh air, I don’t feel well.” I
try to ease his worries.

The car
pulls up to the curb and the chauffer opens the door for us.
William slides in next to me, acting as a buffer in between Susan
and I. Worn out from tonight’s events, I lay my head on the cold
glass of the window, trying to hold myself together. Cindy is with
Stella I bet. I am about to lose another piece of my mother and
there is nothing I can do to stop it. Another rush of tears fill me
and I struggle to hold them back until I am alone.