My Pretend Fiancé

Leonard couldn’t quite put a finger on it, but something about Lenina sure caught his attention, and quite honestly, he liked it. Other women has surely deserved his full attention before, but to stare at Lenina and wonder why is another question that he felt would be left unanswered in his lifetime.

The coffee was inevitably hot on his tongue, but he savored the light feeling and taste of burn as he slowly inhaled the sweet morning aroma. Lenina didn’t seem to be up, yet, although he’d already made her a simple breakfast: Eggs and bacon with a glass of juice. Judging from her personality, Lenina didn’t seem at all like the type to ask for much. For a quick moment, he daydreamed about having an actual fiancé who wouldn’t stay in his company or make the marriage work just for the simple reason that she would have easy access to money. However, he didn’t plan on working for his father for the rest of his life—Leonard James Kingsley had better things to do! Striving to be a successful artist through the help of his abstract paintings and simple sketches of women, he had high hopes for himself to be honored with the satisfaction of recognition from the major public. Sadly, his father, Mr. Gregory Kingsley, disapproved of such folly and tried time and time again to sway his son away from this “unrealistic” dream.

His daydreams and slight depression were abruptly interrupted by the demanding knocks on the front door. He placed his mug down on the small table and walked over to see who was causing all the ruckus so early in the morning. From the side windows, Leonard focused his eyes on a tall, brunette woman who anxiously waited outside and tilted her head once every so often into the windows to see if someone was home. She crossed her arms then began to yell. “Lenny! Lenny, open up, it’s Tori!”

Oh, boy, Leonard sighed and unlocked the door to let her in. Tori seemed astounded to see him, and rudely stared him down, then walked through the door slightly brushing past him. “Where is she, you rapist?” she demanded and she swiftly rampaged through his living room, huffing and puffing. Leonard almost thought it was cute. This Tori surely had the potential to be a model, he could tell just by watching her walk on those heels without a single hesitant step. She poked her head briefly into his kitchen but the stairs almost as quickly grabbed her attention. Then she hissed at him before she marched off, “Is that where she is, upstairs? If I find her dead, you bastard—“

“Um, hold on a second there,” Leonard demanded authoritatively, and grabbed Tori’s wrist with an accidental strength more than what was needed. “I know that Lenina told you last night that I’m a rapist, but—“

Tori gasped and pulled her hand away just so it would end up on his face with more force than he did with her wrist. “You pervert! So you admit that you are a rapist! Where is she?” Continuing on with her insisting ways, Tori walked up the wooden stairs, not caring about what else the man behind her had to say.

“Lenny is alright! She could still be sleeping, don’t bother her,” he pleaded, and followed her upstairs. “Are you listening to me?”

“Lenny,” Tori whispered into a room after opening a door. Sure enough, Lenina was safe and sound on the bed with her light snores. Finally, Tori felt calmer and gently closed the door before facing Leonard again. “You’re her landlord,” she stated.

“Yes, I am.”

“What’s all this about you being a rapist, huh?” Her eyes bore deep into his, and it almost made him shudder.

“I-I’m not, I swear,” he replied. “Your friend there just looked up the wrong guy on Google, but as you probably know already, Lenina can be quite, er…”

“Air-headed,” Tori suggested rolling her eyes at the obvious fact.

“Uh, for a lack of a better word, yes,” he agreed. “Air-headed. Anyway, I take it that you are her best friend, and if that’s true, then we may have to speak about the circumstance in which I’ve placed your friend under.”

Tori nodded in agreement, but asked why he needed to sound so serious.

“Sorry, being around my dad for most of my time has made that effect, but you don’t need to worry about that because after I explain everything to you, you’ll soon understand that this is only a temporary setting between your friend and myself. I won’t be needing her emotional intimacy, as I’m sure Lenina won’t need mine.” Tori listened on as Leonard slowly led her away and back into his kitchen downstairs.

--

At 11: 48 a.m., Lenina finally invited herself downstairs and gasped with delight when she saw Tori talking to Leonard. “Tori! You’re here.”

“Yeah, you dummy,” her friend replied sweetly, and took a sip out of her cup. Must have been hot coffee, Lenina concluded because she could already smell it from the doorway. She walked over to Tori and hugged her tightly, telling her how happy she was that she came over.

“But I have to go soon, Lenny, alright?” Tori almost sounded regretful, but knew that Lenina was growing up and sometimes, Tori would just have to stand back and let her do things for herself. She thought that the situation for Lenina was a bit too sudden and possibly even too heavy for her as a responsibility, but Tori realized that she had to do some growing up herself, and that would be to grow out of the fact that she can’t always defend and protect Lenina from everything that came her way. As a friend, she needed to do just that.

“So soon?” Lenina seemed a little bit too tired to even stop her friend, so she walked her out of the house and hugged again for the last time. “I’ll see you again soon, right, Tori?”

She nodded and left without another word, but a quick and discreet glance behind Lenina and into Leonard’s eyes. You take care of her, the glance demanded, and he nodded in response and sipped his coffee.

Sitting back down in the kitchen, Lenina began to eat her breakfast as Leonard watched her behind his mug. Then he set it down on the table and sighed. “Lenina,” he started lazily. “I need to let you know about what’s going to happen between us to make my plan work.”

Lenina nodded with food in her mouth, and tried to speak but quickly put her hand over it, and smiled.

“Uh…right. Well, I wanted for us to wait for some time until my parents start to notice that I’ve been taking up most of my time with a woman. Later on, I’ll let them know that you are, in fact, my fiancé. But it’s going to take some time, do you understand?”

Lenina nodded her head hysterically and swallowed her food. “Anything else? Do you want me to wash your clothes, too? And cook for you? Or, or, um…help you get up in the morning for work, or—“

“Uh, no, that won’t be necessary, thank you.”

“Oh, okay, then. Just let me know if there’s anything I can do, okay? I wanted to thank you for being so generous about the apartment, because it already seems like you don’t want much from me. If there’s anything at all concerning our agreement, just tell me.” She ended that with a smile and went ahead with her breakfast. Getting caught up with the last few spoonfuls of eggs, Leonard smirked at her and leaned closer to her until she looked up.

He pulled a strand of her hair behind her right ear, and smiled handsomely. “So if I asked you to make love to me because you are now my fiancé, would you do it?”

Lenina stared at him blankly for a few moments, and then popped the egg in her mouth with the fork. “I don’t know… first of all, my mom told me to stay away from perverts, and if I say yes to you, Tori might even come back here and kill you. She went to Juvie a long time ago, and she’s really protective of me. But I’m sure if I explain to her—“

Leonard’s hand shot up as he chuckled. “Right, I get it, kid, don’t worry. I can find other women.”

“Wait! You can’t do that, Jimmy—“

“Call me Leo—“

“You can’t sleep with other women! My mom said it’s dishonorable.” She placed her utensils down on the plate and then eased her hands in between her legs, and suddenly looked sullen. “Cheating is not good…”

“I’m not cheating on you, Lenina. It’s just…”

“Just what?” She looked up pitifully and blinked, her hair covering the side of her face.

“We’re not together, this is only an agreement between two people, a mutual agreement. Understand?”

“Fine.”

It bothered Lenina to think that a nice man could be so… horrible. She didn’t hate Leonard, and actually found it hard to, but her parents had taught her well, and she knew better than staying with a man who would only use her. But he explained that he wasn’t, and she simply couldn’t identify what she was feeling. Yes, she felt this emotion many times before because she simply couldn’t grasp ideas too quickly, and that’s why Tori was always around her. For now, she decided to let it go, and look for a job. She would look for a job so she can pay for the rent, because her last logic for the day was that she would not keep to an agreement which a man had set up when even he can’t abide by them.