“Damn, you two are actually very cute,” Julie says, a mischievous glint in her blue eyes. “So am I the only one who knows this isn’t real?”
“Miranda knows.”
“That figures.”
“What do you mean?”
“Miranda’s been the person you’ve gone to for advice for the last five years, why would it be any different with this?” Bianca doesn’t know what to say to that, but thankfully, Julie moves on. “What are you doing tomorrow?”
“In the afternoon, I’ve got Isobel’s gender reveal party.”
“Ugh, you’re kidding me?”
“No, she’s been planning it for, well, for years.”
“Years?”
“She’s been trying to get pregnant for like . . . four years now and it finally happened, and I was kind of rude to her the last time we saw each other, so I definitely have to go.”
“Okay, but after that?”
“Nothing.”
“Whatever, even if you had plans, I was gonna make you cancel them. You’re coming to my show. Full VIP. I’ve already taken care of everything and Mari can’t wait to meet you.”
“Mari . . . Mari Martin?”
“Damn right.”
“Holy shit.”
“I expectboth of youthere.”
Bianca glances over at Xavier, who shrugs.
“Wait, you’re not some kind of music snob who hates Mari on principle or something, are you?” Julie asks. “You kind of look the type.”
Xavier laughs. “No, I’m not a music snob. Mari’s music is great and it’ll be cool to see her live. I’m in.”
“Awesome. And now I’m gonna go crash because I’ve been dreaming about my own bed for weeks now.”
Without another word, she disappears behind the door to her bedroom, dragging her bags with her. The door shuts and the sound of the luggage crashing to the floor follows, before a tense silence.
“Sorry, I . . .” Bianca starts to apologize. “I didn’t realize that being my faux fiancé was going to come with so many . . . commitments?”
Xavier just laughs. “You really forget sometimes that I’ve known you for five years, don’t you?”
“What?”
“There hasn’t been a time since I’ve known you that this isn’t what your life looks like from the outside. You havealwaysbeen running from one thing to another for your friends. I knew what I was signing up for when I suggested it.”
“Okay, but there’s gotta be something you want to do that all of this is interfering with.”
“Nah . . . I didn’t really have any plans,” he says. “I just wanted to sort of chill out for a minute, you know? Before things got crazy again. And now I get to go to see Mari Martin live to celebrate your new job.”
She huffs impatiently. “Nothing? Not one thing?”
He rolls his eyes playfully. “You never let things go. Okay, there’s one thing I always wanted to do, but . . .”
