"It's genuinely a problem," Luke said quite seriously. "One that's hard to explain to the 'just do it' crowd. Social media sells us all these little videos of people my age and in my kind of shape saying 'all you have to do is this simple exercise to open up your hips,' or whatever, and then they do something my fifty year old client literally can't get into position for. One of my big things is breaking all that down and making exercises accessible, but assuming my clients can start where I am is really demoralizingfor them. So much beginner stuff expects a level of fitness a lot of people just don't have, and man, if you can't do thebeginnerstuff, why would you ever imagine you could advance? Might as well quit and go have that burger and milkshake, right?"
"Are yousureyou're a fitness trainer? Because yeah, almost everything I see is, like, 'all you have to do is put your ankle behind your ear and breathe!' and I promise you, if I could get my ankle behind my ear, I would not also be able to breathe. Sounds to me like you should have a real platform," Sabrina said admiringly.
"Well, I'm—" Luke broke off as the line attendant gestured them forward, and the next few minutes were spent getting to the plane and settling in their business-class seats, which made Luke groan and stretch out. "This is the life. I'll be your fake boyfriend as long as you want, if you're going to fly me places in seats I actually fit in."
Sabrina, who was almost swamped by the amount of roomshehad, grinned across the aisle at him. "Never flown business class before?"
"I have, but that doesn't make it any less luxurious. Thank you."
"You're kind of helping me out of a major bind," Sabrina said wryly. "It's the least I can do. Are you a talker or a sleeper on planes?"
"Normally a talker." Luke yawned luxuriously. "In this particular case, though, I might take advantage and snooze. Especially if I'm supposed to charm your friends when we get off the plane."
"I'm pretty sure you can manage that without a nap. Just flex and they'll swoon."
"Yeah?" Luke glanced at her and flexed, apparently to see if she would swoon. Sabrina was only half kidding as she giggled girlishly and fanned herself.
"Yeah, like that. That'll do.I," she said emphatically, "like to nap on planes. Especially when I've had to wake up at a horrible hour to get on said plane. You're not really going to get me up early to work out, are you?"
"Depends on how badly you want to break up with me, I guess."
For some reason the casual comment hit Sabrina like a blow, taking her breath away. She whispered, "Not that badly," and with effort, closed her eyes for a nap rather than think about the bizarre fact that she didn't want to break up with her fake boyfriend atall. It was probably just the desperation to prove herself to her friends, but Luke was a great guy, and it felt like she was doing him a disservice by getting him involved in this insane plot.
But then, of course, that was all it was: an insane plot he'd agreed to because she was Emmy's friend. Sabrina had to keep that in mind, especially over the next few days where they'd be sharing a hotel room. And presumably a hotelbed, because in the unlikely event her room had two beds, the idea of having to make one up to hotel standards every morning before any of her friends showed up at the door was a non-starter. Sabrina rarely made her bedanyway, much less as neatly as hotel staff did.
Of course, it would probably turn out that Luke could make a bed so snugly you could bounce a quarter off the sheets, but she didn't want to put him through that, either.
Unless it was better than sharing a bed with her, which she supposed it might be. Just because of the level of awkwardness, if nothing else. But they were both adults, she told herself firmly. They could spend a few nights in a bed platonically without getting weird about it. That was definitely something she could do with the hottest, kindest, most gorgeous guy she'd met in a long time, possibly ever.
"Doomed," she said under her breath. "I'm doomed."
Luke, apparently attuned to her every murmur, said, "Hmm?" and she opened her eyes to find him smiling at her across the aisle.
Oh, God, he really was just incredibly attractive. Those dark eyes with those dark,darkeyelashes, and that curious tilt to his smile. Those cheekbones, for heaven's sake. That chiseled jaw. The broad shoulders. The whole dang package, in fact. Sabrina had the absurd impulse to lean over and kiss him.
She got hold of herself and shook her head. "Nothing important. I'm going to try to catch some shut-eye, so see you on the other side?"
Luke nodded, and she went to sleep with the memory of his smile haunting her dreams.
Theentirecrew, Girls and their boys alike, were waiting for them at the airport. Sabrina, who had hoped to get to the hotel before having to face them all down, reeled as she and Luke came out of the arrivals doors, both of them juggling enough luggage that they weren't holding hands.
She couldseeThe Girls noting she was alone, and the sly grins and nods that were exchanged. A brief murderous impulse rose in her, although their reaction was fair enough, since she had in fact lied about having a boyfriend. Still, they didn't have to be so snarky about it right off the bat, especially as she could also see them all rearranging their expressions into ones of sympathy so they could go 'aww, your secret boyfriend couldn't make it after all?'
She could alsoseeGina and Jan clocking Luke's extremely gorgeous self just a few steps behind her, and fully losing interest in Sabrina herself as they admired the hottie in her wake. Thenthey pulled themselves back together to squeal and blow kisses and, once Sabrina was past the barrier, to offer hugs and hands to shake.
They all looked great, Mindy at the head of the pack with her red hair swept up like it was already her wedding day, Gina and Jan looking like blonde peas in a pod, which they often did, both wearing full face makeup and shades of pink that Sabrina knew proclaimed their solidarity with Elle Woods, and Keana a statuesque queen whose black curls trailed down her spine in ringlets. Her naturally brown skin made Gina's fake tan look a bit orange by comparison, while Mindy had clearly been staying out of the sun to protect those milky, freckled tones.
In fact, she looked like she'd been using lemon juice to try to fade the freckles, since she insisted that her complexion was justpale, and freckles didn't go with her self-image. Sabrina, who'd been outdoors a lot over the summer, hoped her own tan was more evenly distributed than she thought, because a farmer's tan wouldn't fit with Mindy's wedding aesthetic.
Too late now. She hugged, kissed, and shook hands where appropriate, and finally stepped back to gesture at Luke, who had been waiting patiently through all of the greetings. "Everybody, this is Luke. Luke, this is…everybody. Mindy and Craig, Gina and Tom, Jan and Derek, Keana and Cole."
Luke, beaming like he'd been looking forward to this for weeks instead of slightly more than twenty-four hours, leaned in to shake the first available hand. "Great to meet you. Thanks for letting me tag along. Congratulations to you both, Mindy, Craig."
They were in a busy airport, with hundreds of people making their way past. Luggage was rolling, voices were lifted, phones were ringing, overhead announcements were being made…and despite all that noise, Sabrina was pretty sure she could hear a pin drop amongst her friends group. Every single one of the Girls dropped their jaws. Their menfolk didn't lookassurprised,although a couple of glances were exchanged. Luke let them all stand there gaping just long enough to get uncomfortable, then smiled incredibly brightly. "So! We're not just going to stand around at the airport all weekend, are we? Sabrina and I are ready to go!"
It was like he'd shot a bolt of electricity into them. All at once everybody was talking, explaining plans, saying how nice it was to meet him, and very muchnotsaying 'we didn't think you were real' straight to Luke's face. Craig, who was a fairly decent guy as far as Sabrina could tell, took her suitcase and grinned at her like he knew perfectly well she'd pulled one over on everybody, but that he approved.
He couldn't know, she thought. Not about the pulling one over. Maybe. Probably. Fake boyfriends were romcom tropes, not something that people reallydid.But she'd clearly surprised everybody, and Craig just as clearly approved.
