Cinderella for Hire

Since Nick wasn't going to be home in the next few days, I invited a very-free, very-bored and most of all, an angry Andrea to spend a night at the apartment. Well, angry when I decided to tell her that I cried over a boy. She poured us more wine and sat in front of me in her shorts and olive green tank top.

We were both beginning to get a little bit tipsy.

And I knew I'd regret the decision to tell my best friend about everything that I had been through. Andrea was a lot different than me – she was the center of attention basically while I was the happiest being a wallflower. Over the years, she had dated a lot of guys so I guess she could give me some good advices on this but for the first time in my life, I made her speechless.

"April Bennett," she sighed out, sitting in front of me and shook her head. "So you like those types of guys, huh?" she said, raising her newly, immaculately trimmed eyebrows. I felt my cheeks tingling as I downed another glass of wine and gestured for more.

"I didn't think I have a type," I answered.

"That's because you never even think about these things," Andrea quipped, rolling her eyes as she took a mouthful of chips in. "But honestly, this is some shit you've gotten yourself into. I really don't know what to tell you – frankly, this guy is a little bit intense."

"You're only attracted to men whose job is cutting people open and poking at organs. Nick's a businessman, you can say."

Andrea breathed out. "Intense."

I smiled gratefully for this normality. Andrea was the type of person who didn't click with anything outside of the medical bubble she has been in for years now. She was literally in awe with anyone in the creative industry or the business world because according to her, she could never do what they could do. It was the reason we were friends in the first place. When we were in college, she used to sit there by my side just watching me paint with this huge spark of curiosity twinkling in her hazel eyes.

At the same time, she would ask me a billion questions about what I was doing. At first, I found her really intimidating mainly because I couldn't answer most of the questions she fired at me and it was embarrassing because being an art major, I should know the answers. So whenever I knew she would come over to my dorm and hang out when I was doing my assignment, I would hit the books. In a way, she indirectly motivated me to strive harder and that was one of the reasons why I excelled in my studies in the first place.

"What about a contract?" Andrea asked.

"What about it?"

"Did he make you sign like…a contract that has specific rules on what you should and shouldn't do?"

I shook my head as I munched slowly on my gummy bears (damn, I couldn't have enough of those bears). "It's very informal so I guess maybe it didn't even need a contract."

"I think it's much wiser if you guys did have a formal, legal contract though," she said thoughtfully, hugging her knees. "Things probably wouldn't be as complicated as it is right now if you guys could actually see clearly, in black and white, where the line is drawn."

"He made it very clear where the line is drawn," I said, feeling upset all over again. Andrea pouted and crawled over to me before putting one arm around my shoulder and dragging me close. I rested my head on her shoulder as I sighed and hugged my Hello Kitty plushie harder.

"Well, next time, don't ever accept a job that's this sensitive, feelings-wise. You're acting to be his girlfriend. And from what I could see on…Google image search," she said, waving her smart phone around at my face and suddenly I was staring directly at his eyes again. I pushed the phone away. "He's very hot."

"Should I quit?" I whispered, frightened over how frail my voice was and how serious my thoughts were. "I don't really want to, I mean. I could still be his pretend girlfriend and even if I can't have him for real…" I contemplated.

"I don't know what to say, April," Andrea said, pursing her lips. "You can't have him right now and vice versa. Wouldn't it feel wrong if you guys got to third base, maybe, while you're still being his pretend girlfriend at the same time?"

"Then he should just fire me! Or I should just quit!"

"He told you that that would bring more problems than solutions," she said, looking upset too. "The man's right, April."

I knew that. That was what irked me the most.

"Hey, Andy," I said. "Thanks…for tonight. I haven't seen you in a while and I feel like such a…" I trailed off, sighing heavily and I wanted to cry all over again.

"I'm sorry I've been quite busy lately," she replied, wrinkling her nose. "It's just that, exams and everything. It's crazy."

"I can understand that," I smiled weakly. "By the way, I've told you a very important secret, Andrea," I said, wiggling my finger at her. "I could trust you to zip your lips, right?"

"It's sealed, baby," Andrea said, winking. "Plus, who am I going to tell it to anyway? Like, I'm literally surrounded by stressful med students and doctors and professors and what-nots. If I bring this up, they'd only flip me off for wasting their times," she told me, rolling her eyes as she did.

I giggled. "Just to make sure. Nicholas is very well-known in the business world, I guess."

"Nah, I wouldn't know anyone in that line of work," she said but suddenly blushed. I cocked my eyebrow.

"What's up?"

"Okay, maybe except this one guy," she gushed. "He's really hot and has this mysterious feel to him. But you know, I don't have time to be in a committed relationship right now. He isn't in the business line, per se. Even if he is I think it's just a small company thing so he probably doesn't know about Nicholas, no worries."

I felt as if I was in high school again for some reason as I giggled at the details Andrea gushed over.

"You slept with a guy and you don't even know what his last name is?"

Andrea looked away shyly, hiding behind her golden locks. "Well, I know. It sounds really…naughty. But like, I'm going to blame it on my raging female hormones."

I snorted in laughter.

"We're going to meet again though, you know…in a casual kind of—"

"You're a booty call," I interrupted.

"Yeaaah," she said, shrugging and popping another potato chip in her mouth. "I'm a booty call."

Why on earth I was getting embarrassed by the conversation, I had no idea. As Andrea rambled about the things she had to put up with in med school in great detail, my fingers lingered on my phone – hoping that somehow it would ring up and that Nick would be on the other line, checking if I got back home safely.

He never did.