“Then again, I speak German to them, same as I do with her,” Lewis goes on as he leans into me.“Nicht wahr, Bärchen?”His mouth is hot against my ear, the goose bumps on my skin chased by a wave of elation.Isn’t that right, little bear?It’s a cringe-worthy term of endearment, and he butchered it with his American accent, but it gets the job done.
When we finally get out of their place, I’m riding a high, pure enthusiasm flooding my veins. Our first test as a fake couple and we crushed it—especially Lewis’s knockout punch that drew adark look to Jacob’s face and made him leave us alone soon after. Granted, it may also be the wine sloshing through my body, but nothing can ruin my mood. The information screen showing major outages on the subway network due to some signal malfunction? The hot, stagnant air? I don’t care one bit.
“What a nightmare.” Lewis surveys the empty platform and the screen above our heads. The orange LED shows two horizontal bars instead of its usual time estimate.
“I can order us a ride,” I suggest. “You also have to go back uptown, right?”
He runs his palm over the back of his neck. “I wasn’t talking about the subway.”
I stop the search for my phone in my bag and nudge his shoulder. “Come on,” I say. “We weren’ttoobad. You knocked it out of the park when you showed off your German skills.”
“Uh, Frances? We barely scraped by.” Lewis frowns at me. “You do realize that I literally jumped away when you tried to take my hand.”
The smile slides off my face when I mentally review the past hours. That gesture should’ve been normal for a couple. We all but stumbled through Brady’s and Vivienne’s questions, not to mention Jacob’s doubtful expression, as if he was somehow onto us. “Okay, fine, you’re right,” I concede.
In the silence that follows, I worry that Lewis wants out of our deal. But calling it off is not an option, not with our careers on the line.
He peers over my shoulder, bites the inside of his cheek, and hoists his backpack up. Then he utters five magical words: “We need a better plan.”
“Yes,” I breathe, relieved. “Okay. We’re scientists—we’re good at plans.”
“Whatever we did so far is not working,” he continues and holds out his hand. “Come on, let’s walk. We can talk on the way.”
I give him a confused look. “Are you not staying close to campus?”
“I am.”
“We’re on the other end of Manhattan.”
“We have a lot of planning to do,” Lewis retorts and motions for me to follow him up the subway stairs. “So, a plan,” he repeats when we’re back outside, on the busy sidewalk.
This close to Jacob and Vivienne’s house, there might be inadvertent eavesdroppers, but between the man zipping by on a skateboard and the group of students carrying a couch across the street, I don’t spot any familiar faces from the faculty dinner, making it safe for us to talk.
“We should’ve thought about this sooner,” I grumble as we stop at a traffic light and let a car pass by, then cross the street. “Karo warned me. No fake dating without a plan.”
“Karo is your sister, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, so we’re in this madness thanks to your sister.”
“I’m saving my career thanks to my sister,” I correct him. “Well, and thanks to you.” I try to remember the basic ingredients to a fake-dating setup Karo told me about. “Our end-date was kind of implied right? For the duration of the Sawyer’s. Which is next Friday.” I wait for him to nod, then go on, “And to make things less complicated, I guess we should be exclusive for this time, unless…”
“Relax, Frances. I don’t have some high school sweetheart hanging around town.”
“Good. What about back home?”
He huffs out a laugh. “Maybe this is something you should’ve considered before you included me in your plan.”
Ah, here it comes. Another lecture about how I should be more detail-oriented in research and in life.
But Lewis just shrugs. “There have been women. Friendsof friends, colleagues. But nothing in the last couple of months. Nothing serious, just friends with benefits.”
Colleagues. My mind latches on to the word. “Wait, you’re familiar with this whole situation?”
“God, no. The absolute opposite. The benefits I’m referring to are—”
“I know what friends with benefits are,” I interrupt him. We pass a food cart selling churros and breathe in the air that’s heavy with sugar and frying oil. “I meant that you’re used to hanging out with colleagues in your downtime.”
