Sabrina gave him a funny look that turned to a grin. "It's fine. If it comes up they'll think you're mytrophyboyfriend and that I'm the luckiest one of us all."
He was surprisingly grateful she hadn't said 'fake trophy boyfriend,' and ended up smiling smugly at the server who came to take their order. He told the server what they wanted, findingthat it took a remarkable amount of effort to not end with, "I'm her trophy boyfriend!" But he thought it gleefully, and his rabbit started cheering again.
Trophies are great! You're a trophy! Go Luke go! She wants to shine us and polish us! Woo-hoo!
Fortunately, Sabrina turned her phone toward him before he could think too much about her polishing him, and showed him the seat she was buying. "Window or aisle?"
"Either will…thatisbusiness class," he blurted. "Are you sure?"
"You're six five. I'm not forcing you into economy when you're doing me a favor like this. Also I save up for flights so I can be comfortable on them, so, yeah, I'm sure. Window or aisle?"
"Aisle?"
"Okay." She finished the purchase and sat back with a smile. "Now all we have to do is fake it 'till we make it."
CHAPTER 7
Faking it until they made it was easier at six in the evening than six in the morning, at least for Sabrina. Luke—who slept in her bed without arguing, which helped in making it Not Weird—Luke was actually up and cheerful at four-thirty, which caused her to revisit the possibility that even as a fake relationship, this one was doomed. She was barely coherent when she rolled out of bed as late as humanly possible, and communicated mostly in grunts even after a shower.
Luke, aka Mr. Perkypants, carried luggage, juggled ID, bantered with the airline employees, and blissfully did not try to make small talk with Sabrina until they were through security and she'd burned her tongue on a terrible, but caffeinated, airport cafe coffee. Her face propped on one hand, eyes closed, she eventually croaked, "Is this what god-like levels of fitness does to a person? Makes them relentlessly pleasant even at oh god hundred in the morning?"
"God-like?" Luke asked dubiously, which was enough to make Sabrina peel her eyes open to stare at him.
"Youhaveseen yourself, haven't you? You're like the fourth Hemsworth brother."
Luke laughed, which was a relief. If he hadn't seenThe Good Placeshe would have to re-evaluate the fake relationship on entirely different grounds. "I'm going to take that as a compliment. I'm afraid I've always been a morning person, though. Mornings are just so quiet and fresh and full of potential."
"Anyone who can say that after going through airport security is either deranged or the world's most positive persona. And I'm afraid you don't come across as deranged. Although you did agree to this madness, so I might be wrong about that." She was finally starting to wake up, and couldn't help smiling across the table at Luke Jones. He wasawfullyattractive, and obviously incredibly kind. The morning person thing might not be a deal-breaker after all. "Thank you, if I didn't say that before."
"You probably did, but you're welcome. It's an adventure." His gaze was soft on hers, his smile almost wistful, and her eyebrows drew down curiously.
"What's that face for? You look kind of sad."
He shook himself and shrugged, smile strengthening. "No idea. Maybe there are moments of melancholy in early mornings even if you're a morning person?"
"Legit." Sabrina finished the last of her coffee and groaned. "Okay. I think I'm approaching functionality. Are we ready for this? Have we missed any incredibly important topics that we should know about one another in our fake relationship?"
"Probably, but the panic of not knowing is half the fun, right? And it's not like we've been dating all that long, so it's fine if we don't know everything about each other."
"Whathaveyou been doing while you were out of town? Since it seems like it'd be easy to slip up if we say you've been in Virtue the whole time."
"I've been at a bunch of fitness conferences and yoga retreats and things. Mostly in Europe."
"I didn't even know fitness conferences were a thing. Did you jet-set back to Virtue on your long weekends, or something? Is that how we've been hanging out?" Their flight was announced and they both got up, Luke reaching for Sabrina's bag for her, though he lifted his eyebrows to make sure it was okay. She chuckled. "Sure, go ahead. Who am I to refuse when a big handsome man wants to carry my things?"
"A big handsome boyfriend," he reminded her, and she smiled even more widely.
"That's right. Thank you, big handsome boyfriend."
"You're very welcome, petite beautiful girlfriend."
Sabrina, taken aback, felt herself blush and it was Luke's turn to chortle. "You've got to know how gorgeous you are, right? Anyway, some of my conferences have been in the States, so I can have been back and forthing from those, at least."
"Cool. So what do you do at fitness conferences?"
"Oh, you know, talk about lifestyle choices and eating well and the fact that people who haven't spent their entire lives dedicated to staying in shape actually find it a lot harder to get in shape than fitness people think it is."
"That sounds…very reality-based. Weirdly so, even." They were in line by then, trudging along as ID and tickets were checked.
