Hope for Better Weather

“So let me get this straight, you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend and go to your family holiday events with you?”

“Umm…yes?” I said but it came out more as a question than a statement. As soon as John repeated my plan back to me I realized how absurd it truly sounded. I probably should have thought through this plan more before I asked John to get coffee with me because I needed to ask him something. I was at the point of desperation though and time was of the essence.

“Why?” John asked as he ran his hands through his hair which I knew, even though I didn’t know him very well, meant he was trying to think through something, most likely my plan.

I sighed. “It’s a long story but the Sparknotes version is that my family is always on my case for never bringing anyone home with me so I want to get them off my back. There’s no way I’m going to find a boyfriend in two weeks though, and even if I do I’m not going to invite him to meet my family because I’ll seem psycho.”

“Kind of like you do now?” John smirked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I laughed.

“Why did you ask me? Why not ask Tim or any of the other guys? I mean I’m honored you think I’m good enough to be your fake boyfriend but we’re really not that close, at least not as close as you and some of the other guys, Clark.”

“I know. I thought of other people I could ask but no one else really works. Tim, Jared, and Kennedy have girlfriends and probably already have plans to spend the holidays with their girlfriend’s families, Pat and Garrett act like little kids, Joel is really bad at lying, and Austin isn’t really the type of guy you want to bring home to your parents.”

“All valid points,” John laughed. “Do I get anything out of this if I help?”

“I mean I could pay you. Besides that I don’t really know what else I could offer. You’re definitely not getting anything sexual out if this if that’s what you’re asking,” I said.

“I’m not going to take your money, Clark,” John said and then smirked as he continued. “And I wasn’t hinting at any sexual favors. If I want those I’ll just go and find some groupie.”

“You’re disgusting,” I said as I wrinkled my nose to show my distaste for his comment.

John laughed loudly catching the attention of the other customers in the coffee shop. “I was kidding. I’m not that type of guy.”

I rolled my eyes as John looked down at his cup. I stayed silent because I figured he was trying to think everything through. He finally looked up and said, “I’ll make a deal with you… I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend and go to your family events with you if you pretend to be my girlfriend and go to my family events with me.”

“What?”

“I know what you mean about your family always being on your back about not dating anyone. I figured this is the perfect opportunity to help each other out.”

“So we’ll use each other to lie to our families?”

“That’s what it sounds like.”

I smiled. “You have yourself a deal, Mr. O’Callaghan.”

“I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship, Miss Henderson.”

I rolled my eyes at John’s corny line before a thought suddenly struck me. “You know, we should probably tell a few people about our plan such as the band, Tim, Dirk, and Henley. They’ll know something is up if they find out you’re coming with me to see my family and I’m going with you to see your family.”

“Good point. Do you want to tell them all at once? That way we get all of their dramatics out of the way at the same time.”

“That sounds good. Once again, thank you for doing this for me, John.”

“Believe me, you’re doing just as much for me as I am for you.”

I smiled as John and I walked out of the coffee shop and towards our respective cars. This was the best plan ever. John and I would fool our families to get them off our backs, we’d “break-up” after New Year’s, I’d act sad for a while to fool my family, and then everything would go back to normal and I wouldn’t have to hear my family gripe at me anymore. This was absolutely perfect.