The ring.
I froze. The water continued to pound on my skin as I tried to recall just what I had done with the ring. I’d need to return it because there was no way I wanted to keep it as a reminder of my spectacular failings. It was a custom design, and I knew I wouldn’t get all the money back, but something was better than nothing. I just had to find it.
Had I left it at the restaurant?
I vaguely remembered leaving the restaurant in an Uber and I was pretty sure I shoved the ring in my pocket after I tossed the cash for the bill on the table. I’d considered leaving the ring as payment, but I was too responsible for that, even in my drunken state.
So, I got into an Uber and I went…to Drinks. I sighed with relief. I went to Drinks to tell Frankie and to commiserate with her and…
And…
Oh. My. God.
Did I…?
No, I couldn’t have…could I?
I shook my head and turned off the shower. There was no way I would have proposed to Frankie. No way…except…
It all came back in a rush and my knees buckled. I’d asked Frankie to be my fake fiancée.
My heart pounded erratically, and I gasped for breath as the full weight of what I’d done crashed down on me.
I had to fix it. I didn’t know how I would do that, but I just knew I had to. She wouldn’t have taken me seriously, right? She would have understood I was too drunk to know what I was doing, right?
Somehow I didn’t think so. Somehow I knew that Frankie had accepted and knew exactly what she was doing when she did it.
I groaned. What the heck had I done?
I dragged my feet as I made my way downstairs. I would have to break this news to my parents and, quite frankly, I didn’t know how they would take it. I was supposed to propose to Clarissa last night. I did propose to Clarissa, so how would I explain why I was now engaged to Frankie?
I braced myself for the disappointed glares of my mother and father as I stepped into the dining room where I knew they would be eating breakfast. My father would be sitting at the head of the table reading the newspaper and my mother would be sitting on his right scrolling through social media. This was the typical morning routine, and I tried to skip it as often as I could, but not today. Today I had to face the music.
I cleared my throat as I stepped into the room and before I could even understand what was happening, my mother was out of her chair and smothering me in an effusive hug.
“I can’t believe you finally did it,” she gushed as she squeezed me tighter.
“Um…what?” I asked, enduring her affection and trying very hard not to flinch from the contact. My mother did not hug me…ever. I was fine with that and would be fine if she never did it again.
“I can’t say it wasn’t a surprise,” my father said with a rattle of the Financial Times. “I didn’t think you had it in you, boy.”
My mother finally let me go and then dragged me over to the table and forced me to sit next to her.
“Tell me everything,” she said, clutching my hand.
“Um…” I began.
“I mean, I saw the video on TikTok,” she went on, “But I want to know the actual story.”
“TikTok?” I asked, frowning. “What is…TikTok?”
“You haven’t seen it?” she asked, looking at me with surprise.
“Seen what, exactly?” I asked. I didn’t know what she was saying, but I was getting a terrible feeling about it.
“Here, watch,” she said, shoving her phone in front of my face.
My gut clenched and spasmed and my skin broke out in a cold sweat as I watched myself get down on one knee and propose to Frankie. There was no sound, but it wasn’t hard to tell what was going on, especially when I flashed the diamond ring.
I was having an out-of-body experience…or something. As I watched myself and Frankie on the screen of my mother’s smartphone, I was reliving the entire thing. The way Frankie felt in my arms when I picked her up and swung her around. The way her lips felt when I kissed her. I can’t say it was my finest hour. The kiss was…odd and yet…I wanted to do it again.
I cleared my throat and tried to corral my weird reaction. I needed to get through this breakfast with my parents and explain how I went from supposedly proposing to Clarissa to actually proposing to Frankie.
There was no way I could tell them the truth.
“So?” my mother said. “Details.”
I cleared my throat again. “Clarissa and I broke up,” I said, leaving out the bit where I proposed to her and then she dumped me.
“Well, obviously,” Mother said. “So did you finally realize you’ve been in love with Francesca all this time?”
“She isn’t my first choice for a wife,” Father said from behind his newspaper. “But she comes from an excellent family.”
My mind was racing and I couldn’t keep up with the conversation. I had one of those record-scratch moments when my mother asked me if I realized I was in love with Frankie. I did love Frankie, there was no question about that, but being in love with her? That was kind of ridiculous and I had to hold in a snort.
Falling in love with Frankie would be an exercise in frustration and a sure way to experience heartbreak. I might have had a crush on her for years, but I knew it could be no more than that. Frankie and I were just too different. It surprised me we even worked as friends. Turning our friendship into a romantic relationship would be a disaster and Frankie would end up hating me for all eternity.
“Shush, Demetrius,” Mother said. “Francesca is a little headstrong, but no more so than your own daughter. And her family might not be in our usual social circles, but they are well respected. Besides, Lucas needs someone with a bit of fire. Clarissa was lovely and all, but a little bland. Francesca is perfect.”
It appeared I didn’t need to do anything to convince my mother that Frankie and I were the real deal, even if we were just pretending. I also didn’t expect the unwavering support of my mother. I didn’t think she even liked Frankie.
“Um, so Frankie will go to Kalopsia with me,” I blurted out.
“Of course she will,” Mother said with a twinkle in her eye. “She will keep those filthy gold-diggers away from you.”
I rolled my eyes, but I also made sure my mother couldn’t see me do it. I doubted very much that there would be any gold-diggers trying to seduce me. I wasn’t the guy who attracted that sort of attention—thank God. I didn’t think that would change when I went to Kalopsia.
I stood and ran a hand down my shirt. “I need to get to the office.”
“Invite Francesca to dinner next week,” Mother said. “We need to start planning the wedding.”
I nodded and then fled. I swallowed thickly and clenched my fists to stop them from shaking. Why did I think this would be easy? How were Frankie and I going to pretend to be engaged? I was beginning to think I’d made a stupid mistake and untangling us from it would be harder than just standing up to my parents and telling them I didn’t need a fiancée to go to Kalopsia.
Chapter 5
Francesca
My phone beeped yet again with another notification and I sighed. My phone had been blowing up all morning, and I was about ready to throw it through a window. I hadn’t realized somebody was filming Lucas’ fake proposal, and I really didn’t think they would post it on TikTok of all things. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Lucas’ mother hadn’t then tagged me in it. I could have been blissfully unaware of the social media storm and wouldn’t be interrupted every five minutes when I was trying to study.