CHAPTER 11
It was silly to feel like Lukemeantit when he said there was no one he'd rather be with. It was even sillier to feel likeshemeant it when she said she was keeping him. But Sabrina had never felt so sure of herself as she did just then, all nestled up against Luke's side and laughing with her college friends.
This wasn't the time to talk about it. The whole weekend wasn't the time to talk about it. They needed to get back to Virtue, get back to their daily lives, and maybe see whether fake dating could turn into real dating. If Luke was even interested in that, which he might not be.
Which was obviously not the absolute worst thing that could happen in the entire universe, but for a heartbeat or two, Sabrinafeltlike it was.
Fortunately, before she could get too emotional about it, they got back to their hotel and everybody piled out of the minivans to check the time and stand around in the parking garage discussing whether lunch or naps were more important. After about ten minutes of that, Sabrina, decisively, said, "Iam going to go take a nap. The rest of you can do whatever you want, but I'm guessing there'll be enough dinner tonight to justify skippinglunch. Except for maybe you," she said to Luke, who ducked his head with embarrassment.
"I'll probably snack," he admitted. "But I'll save my appetite for dinner."
"I've used all my calories losing a padderbee race," Craig announced. "I'm going with Luke to find food."
"Fine." Mindy threw her hands in the air. "Boys go get food, girls go get naps? Or are any of you starving?"
"Girls go get naps," Keana agreed firmly. "Boys better be awake and charming and functional for the rehearsal dinner, or else."
"I would literally not dare otherwise," Cole said, and after he stole a kiss from her that set off a cascade of boys kissing girls, they split up, though Luke lingered a moment, looking into Sabrina's eyes as if making sure the stolen kiss was still within the boundaries of fake boyfriending. She smiled and stood on her toes to steal the kiss herself, and he left with a smile.
The moment the Boys were gone, the Girls surrounded Sabrina, expressions bright and greedy. "Whatwasthat?" Gina demanded.
Sabrina felt herself blushing. "What was what?"
"Thatlook," Jan said breathlessly. "I thought you were going to burst into flames. The heat! My God! I can't believe you didn't just drag him off to bed!"
"Chemistry in action," Keana agreed. "He kind of seems like a keeper, Sabs."
"Oh." Sabrina put her hands over her hot cheeks. "I didn't know it looked that…intense." It certainly shouldn't have. All they'd been doing was making sure they were on the same page before kissing. But apparently from the outside it had looked?—
"Intense? I've seen dozens of romcoms where the leads didn't have that muchintensity, Sabrina, I mean, God. You're really into him, aren't you?" Mindy put her arm through Sabrina's andgot them walking to the elevators. "Pretty hot stuff for a guy who doesn't exist."
Sabrina pulled back to eye her. "What, you think he's the manifestation of my incredibly powerful imagination? I promise if my imagination was that strong I wouldn't have been losing padderbees all these years. I'd have just conjured up a hot guy to win them for me."
"Well, obviously he's realnow," Mindy said. "I just didn't think he was, before. You wouldn't show us any pictures of him or anything."
"Again," Keana said as they filled the elevator, "I didn't introduce Cole for ayear. You ladies are a lot."
"Yeah, but c'mon, we all said she'd made him up."
Sabrina, both guilty and angry, snapped, "Yes, you're right. I did make him up. And then I just happened to meet an incredibly hot guy two days ago and convinced him to come to Las Vegas with me."
The burst of laughter filled the elevator, and a moment later they all poured out onto their floor. "That was the luckiest meeting of your life, then," Jan said through her laughter. "Nobodyis that lucky."
Sabrina, having told the complete truth—well, maybe not thecompletetruth, since Emmy had convinced Luke to come along, but at least most of the truth—managed a smile. "I guess I am."
Mindy bumped her shoulder against Sabrina's and smiled. "Guess we're going to have to start calling you Lucky Charm, then, or something. I'm glad you've met somebody, Sabs. Sorry for being weird about it."
Sabrina mumbled, "I mean, I don'tblameyou for thinking I'd invented him," and found herself at the center of a group hug that left her feeling even guiltier. Once they let her go, everybody went to their own rooms, and Sabrina again collapsed on the bed, still fully dressed.
It would all work out, she thought. Either she and Luke would somehow actually get together, or they'd break up and she'd tell The Girls after a while. She didn't have to ever confess to the truth, either way. Even if technically she justhad, and nobody had believed her. That wasn'therfault.Shecouldn't be blamed if the truth sounded totally unbelievable.
Heroines in fake dating romantic comedy movies didn't seem to have this level of guilt over the fake dating thing. Sabrina was going to have to watch a few of them and pick up some pointers. Right after a nap.
The rehearsal dinner was at seven. Sabrina set her phone alarm for five, pulled a pillow over her head, and went to sleep. She was very vaguely aware, some time later, that another weight settled on the bed, but aside from noticing that she was now warmer and cozier, she didn't think anything of it until the alarm went off and she reached over, fumbling around until she turned it off and settled back into the warmth.
The warmth eventually sighed, stirring her hair, and mumbled, "How much trouble would we be in if we just slept through the rehearsal dinner?"
It was somehow only then that she realized she was nestled up against Luke, a pillow tucked under her head and his arm across her ribs. She had never actually slept comfortably in someone's arms before, and mostly regarded it as a logistic impossibility: somebody's arm was going to go to sleep, generally speaking. Except Luke was so big that his arm was up there above her head somewhere, propped on a pillow but not awkwardly beneath her head or ribs or anything. There was plenty of room forherpillow, so she didn't have a crick in her neck from sleeping with her head at a weird angle.
