by Emma Lea
“Mother,” I said with a nod to the woman in question. “Frankie.”
“Pucker up, sweetie,” Frankie slurred, and I frowned.
“Are you drunk?” I hissed at her as I leaned down to brush a kiss on her cheek.
“As a skunk,” she replied.
“I think it’s time for Francesca to go home,” Mother said, disapproval dripping from her words.
“Have you had anything to eat?” I asked, looking at Frankie and ignoring my mother.
“I’ve had fruit,” Frankie replied with a glassy smile. “Grapes specifically.”
“How about we grab some dinner on the way home,” I said, lugging her to her feet.
She swayed alarmingly until I put my arm around her waist and pulled her in tight against my side. She looked up at me dreamily…or that could just be the wine glazing her eyes.
“You’re a cutie, Lukey Schmooky,” she said and then snorted at her own joke.
“And you need food,” I replied, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Frankie could hold her liquor, normally. In the entire time I’d known her, I’d never seen her this inebriated, and we’d done shots of raïda in college. I felt responsible. I should never have let my mother get her hooks into Frankie. I knew it would be a disaster, I just didn’t figure it would be such a public one. The only saving grace was that the club had strict policies regarding phone cameras and social media and the media in general. While Frankie might have created a bit of a scene within the club, thankfully nobody outside the club would find out about it.
“Why did you let her drink so much?” I asked Mother, who stared back at me with a calculating smile.
“Frankie is an adult and quite capable of making her own decisions,” Mother replied.
I didn’t know what Mother’s game was, but the sooner I got Frankie out of the club and sobered up, the better.
“Come on, Frankie,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“Fran-shes-ca,” she said, butchering her own name. “Call me Franshesca.”
“No,” I replied, nudging her toward the exit and trying to ignore the stares from the patrons who watched our every move.
It took some maneuvering, but I managed to get Frankie in my car and her seatbelt on. I took a moment to drag in a breath and run a hand through my hair before rounding the car to slide behind the steering wheel.
“Pizza?” I asked as we drove down the sweeping driveway and out the gates.
“Yeah, pizza,” she agreed. “Ooh, and garlic bread, no! Those little garlic knot thingies. And fried dough for dessert. And wings. They do wings, right?”
“Yeah, they do wings,” I replied with a sigh.
I called in the order using the hands-free device and pointed the car toward the restaurant. She was cute when she was drunk…and hungry, but that was a good thing. I needed to get something in her to soak up all the alcohol. Maybe then she could tell me what happened, because something had to have happened for her to drink so much.
I shot her a quick look. Her eyes were closed, and she’d slid down the seat so she was practically lying down. It had the curious effect of hiking the skirt of her dress up and exposing the smooth skin of her thigh. I tugged my eyes away and swallowed thickly. The next time I looked at her, I made sure to focus on her face. Her makeup was slightly smudged and her hair was a bit wilder than it had been earlier, but she looked more like my Frankie than the woman Mother had brought into the office earlier.
“Frankie?”
“Mmm,” she hummed without opening her eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“‘Course,” she said with a grin, but her eyes were still closed and I wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t believe you,” I replied.
She blinked her lashes open and looked at me. “I’m okay,” she said.
“You got drunk,” I stated.
Frankie rolled her eyes.
“On wine, of all things,” I said. “Tell me why.”
“You need to ask?” she replied, her voice losing the whimsical note from earlier. “Have you ever had ‘drinks with the girls,’ Lucas?”
I sighed. “I’m sure it was difficult.”
Frankie snorted. “It was horrifying. Those women worship your mother. I was convinced one of them would fall on her knees in supplication.”
I squeezed the steering wheel until my knuckles went white. I felt responsible. Frankie was in this position because of me, because of my inability to stand up to my parents. It wasn’t fair on her.
“The woman stole my phone and tampered with my social media apps,” Frankie went on, on a roll now. “She spouted all this crap about how I need to project a certain image and act a certain way, oh and by the way, everyone now has to refer to me as Francesca. And our celebrity couple name is going to be Lucesca, if you can believe it. Lucesca! I voted for Lunkie, but no one thought it was appropriate. So now I’ve not only lost my clothes and my hairstyle, but I’ve also lost my name and my identity. I am no longer an individual but part of a celebrity couple that has one of those stupid blended names like we are somehow now one person instead of two, intelligent people.”
“Frankie—”
“It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut. I couldn’t argue with her if I kept my mouth full with wine, which, by the way, was the only thing I was allowed to drink. Apparently ladies don’t drink hard spirits. Do you know how much wine you have to drink to get this drunk? Do you know how ill I will be in the morning? Do you know how badly I need to go to the restroom? There’s an awful lot of liquid sloshing around inside me and I’m afraid my bladder was just not designed to cope with this volume. It’s touching cotton, Lucas! Or at least satin since your mother dressed me in fancy lingerie and confiscated my comfy cotton underwear. I am literally about to pee my pants.”
I pulled the car into the first available space I could find and turned to her. “I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out to take her hand. “If you want to call everything off, then we can. I understand, I do. I know how my mother can be, I live with her. You don’t have to do this, Frankie.”
Frankie groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. “No, it’s okay. I’m okay. It will be fine.”
“This is not fine, Frankie. My mother driving you to drink is not okay.”
She blinked open her eyes and focused on me. The corner of her mouth tipped up in a gentle smile and her eyes softened as she looked at me. She wove our fingers together and squeezed my hand.
“I’m okay, Lucas. Truly, I am. It was a bit of a culture shock is all. I can do this. I want to do this for you.”
I looked at her for a beat before I sighed and nodded. “You just have to say the word and we’ll call it off, okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed readily. “Now let me out of this car before I have an accident and then feed me. I’m starving.”
Chapter 9
Francesca
“Wow.”
I turned from the mirror to look at mom. She leaned against the doorway of my room, a smile on her face as she looked me over. I smoothed my hands down my dress and bit my lip.
“Do I look all right?”
“Oh, honey, you look beautiful,” she said, coming into the room and taking my hands.
I shot another look at the mirror. I loved the dress, even if Maya picked it out. The off-the-shoulder sheath clung to my body in a blaze of red. It wasn’t something I would normally wear, but I couldn’t deny I loved the way the dress made me feel. There was a deep v in the neckline, exposing just a hint of cleavage, and an off-center slit in the skirt from the knee-length hem to mid-thigh. I wore nude stilettos that I’d had to practice walking in all week, and long drop earrings that sparkled in the light. My hair was tamed into elegant curls and my makeup was professionally applied, complete with smoky eye and red lipstick.
“You look pretty good too,” I said with a nod to the blush-colored cocktail dress Mom wore.
“It’s amazing what a day in the spa can do for a girl,”
she said with a wink.
Maya had insisted we—Mom, me, Maya, and Effie—spend the day at the spa to get ready for tonight. I didn’t know why we were going to so much trouble for an intimate cocktail party, but whatever. Spa treatments and fancy dresses would be my life for the foreseeable future, especially now that my Ph.D. supervisor had approved my dissertation subject, so I needed to get used to it.
Mom looked at me with a soft smile and tucked a curl behind my ear.
“What?” I asked, frowning.
She sighed. “Are you really sure you want to go through with this?” she asked.
Mom hadn’t said anything to me about the fake engagement thing since the night Lucas had come over for dinner. The last few weeks had flown by as I prepared to leave for Kalopsia and although we’d been ships passing in the night, if she had concerns, I knew she would tell me.
“I’m sure,” I replied. “Why?”
She shrugged and looked toward the full-length mirror where we were both reflected in all our engagement party finery.
“You seem different,” she said. “Something has changed in you and I’m not sure it’s a good thing.”
I nodded. It was true; I had changed. Maya had taken it upon herself to educate me in the ways of Kalopsian royalty. I’d attended deportment lessons and makeup lessons and Maya had taken me shopping for all the clothes I would need for the new and improved Francesca Davenport. She’d even insisted on social media training and even a few photograph lessons with a professional photographer for those all-important Instagram pictures she expected me to post regularly. Day by day it felt like I was donning a fancy dress costume and I just went with it. I kept telling myself it was only for a short amount of time in the grand scheme of my entire life and as soon as it was over I could go back to stuffing my face with carbs and wearing my comfy boyfriend jeans and boots.
“I’m doing this for Lucas,” I said, turning to her and squeezing her hands. “This is a big deal for him and I don’t want to embarrass him. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to normal in no time and you’ll be begging me to use some of my new manners again.”
Mom smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Okay,” she said on a sigh. “Just remember not to lose yourself, okay? It’s easy to get swept up in the fairy tale of it all, but that is not your real life, okay?”
I pulled Mom into a hug. “I know,” I whispered.
She squeezed me tight and then let go, dabbing at the corner of her eyes.
“Hey, no crying,” I scolded with a grin. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”
Mom laughed and hooked her arm through mine. “Are you ready?” she asked.
I took a deep breath and nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied as we headed for the door.
“You know,” Mom said, pulling me to a stop before we exited the room. “If you and Lucas decide to make this thing real, your dad and I would approve.”
I scoffed. “Lucas doesn’t see me that way,” I said.
“Are you sure about that?”
I rolled my eyes. “Positive. He’s had years to turn our friendship into something more. If it was going to happen, it would have happened by now.”
“But so have you,” Mom said.
“And I didn’t because I knew he didn’t feel the same way about me.”
“Just…don’t rule it out, okay? You and Lucas have something special and I think—”
I covered Mom’s mouth with my hand. “No,” I said with a grin and a shake of my head. “Do not go making up some romantic fairy tale happily ever after for us,” I said. “Lucas and I are friends. That’s it. That’s all.”
Mom sighed and nodded, and I let my hand drop. “Okay,” she said, “but you can’t blame me for trying.”
“Come on, troublemaker,” I said, tugging her out of the room and toward the stairs. “We can’t be late or Maya would never forgive me.”
“That woman gets on my last nerve,” Mom muttered as we descended the stairs.
“And after tonight you won’t have to deal with her anymore,” I said.
“You might not have to deal with her after tonight, but somehow I doubt she will leave your father and me alone while you and Lucas are away. She’s already planning Sunday brunches and dinner parties so we can discuss the wedding.”
“You’re a busy woman, Mom. I’m sure you can find an unlimited amount of excuses to avoid her. You can literally use ‘sorry, gotta perform brain surgery’ as an excuse to get out of anything. Besides, it’s just a month and then it will be splitsville for me and Lucas and you will be rid of her.”
Mom sighed but didn’t answer. I shrugged off the sadness that wanted to cling to me when I thought about the inevitable break up with Lucas. Tonight was not the night to think about the end of our fake engagement, tonight was all about pretending to be in love and besotted with one another. There was plenty of time to think about the end…even if I silently wished for it to never end.
Lucas
“Ah, here they are,” Adam said.
I turned to look toward the stairs and my mouth went dry at the sight of Frankie. She looked amazing…better than amazing. I didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know where to look. My eyes wanted to look everywhere at once and I had the uncomfortable feeling that I was staring—ogling—my best friend and yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
“Lucas?” she asked hesitantly and then grinned and did a slow spin for me, showing me the back of the dress. “What do you think?”
“It’s uh…you’re…”
I must be having a stroke or something. My brain was a complete blank as I took her in. My heart pounded wildly in my chest and my gut squeezed painfully.
“You look beautiful, honey,” Adam said beside me, and I nodded.
“You look incredible,” I choked out and Frankie’s cheeks flushed as she looked at me.
I cleared my throat and sucked in a breath. I needed to get control of myself. I adjusted my glasses and stepped toward her, holding out my arm. She smiled and tucked her hand through my elbow. God, she smelled incredible and I could feel the warmth of her body through my suit.
“Are you ready?” I murmured, turning my head to look down at her.
Frankie tilted her head up toward me and we were so close I just needed to lower my head a fraction and I could brush my lips against hers. My eyes dropped to the red of her lips and I couldn’t help but wet my own.
“I’m ready,” she whispered and the puff of her breath brushed across my lips making them tingle.
“We’ll meet you there,” Olivia said, breaking the trance between Frankie and me.
I looked up at Frankie’s parents and tried to smile. They were eyeing me strangely, and I didn’t quite know what the look on their faces meant.
“Okay, great,” I said, my voice brusque.
Frankie and I walked out of the house and down the stoop to where my car waited. I opened the door for her and helped her to slide in. Her hand was warm in mine and I may have let my touch linger.
I took a deep breath before I walked around the car and got into the driver’s side. It seemed I did that a lot lately; take a deep breath before looking at Frankie. Seeing the way she was changing, seeing her in a different light, was playing havoc with my mind and sanity. I’d put Frankie very firmly in the friend box years ago, but suddenly—seeing her in that dress—my brain and body could no longer reconcile her as just a friend.
Which was bad.
Very Bad.
Wasn’t it?
“Are you okay?” Frankie asked me as I pulled out of the parking space and headed toward my parent’s estate.
I forced a smile to my lips and looked over at her. God, she looked good in my car…she looked good, full stop. “I’m good,” I replied.
She exhaled slowly and nodded. “Okay, so tell me what to expect tonight,” she said, turning back to the front.
“I honestly have no idea. Mother kicked me out of the house earlier today and
told me to get ready at the office.”
“Your mother was with me all day,” Frankie said, biting the corner of her lip. “Why did she need you out of the house?”
“She had the decorators come in,” I replied.
“Decorators? I thought this was just a cocktail party.”
I huffed out a laugh. “Nothing is ‘just’ a cocktail party when it comes to Mother,” I replied. “You should know that by now.”
“But it’s just going to be the family, right? That’s what you said originally. Just an intimate cocktail party with family.”
“She hasn’t said anything to the contrary,” I replied.
“But that doesn’t mean she didn’t invite five hundred people and not tell you about it,” Frankie replied.
I chuckled, despite the glare Frankie shot in my direction. “She wouldn’t have invited five hundred people,” I assured her.
“Ri-ight,” Frankie drawled. “I’ve spent enough time with your mother over the last month to know she does nothing by half measures.”
“Five hundred people wouldn’t fit in the reception room at the house,” I said.
“That wouldn’t stop your mother,” Frankie replied ruefully. “She would find a way to fit five hundred people into a college dormitory if it somehow benefitted her social media profile.”
I reached over and took Frankie’s hand in mine and squeezed it gently. “It’s not too late to call this off,” I said. “I never expected it to get so out of hand and for Mother to be so bull-headed. You’ve changed so much, all for me, and I never intended for that to be a consequence of you pretending to be my fiancée.”
Frankie dragged in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I really hated it at first,” she said. “But, I don’t know, it’s kind of fun and absolutely fascinating to see how changing the way I dress changes the way people treat me.”
“So this is like one big social experiment?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
