Chapter 4

The rehearsal felt like torture because Whitney used it as a way to besmirch everything I did. From the way I walked, to how I was slouching when I was standing, or that I was not smiling enough.

Robbie was no help. While Whitney was focusing on how I was doing things, I noticed that Robbie was doing the same to Whitney, like a controlling stage mom. All in all, my boy Robbie needed to chill. Not that she didn't deserve it. I suppose I was just a bit more sensitive to how he was acting because if Whitney had done what I had asked, I would be in her shoes right now.

Relax, it was just a high school crush I thought to myself. Though he was the last boy I truly liked, maybe because I was naive then. Now I have data to help me make choices, and none of them lead to a boyfriend. 

Just then my phone pinged inside my hand. It's crazy, I know, but bear with me, what if the serial killer of Clown Face is still alive and kicking or killing and the guy they have in prison is innocent? Stephen texted. He needed tranquilizers in his system, stat! 

The other members of the wedding party just seemed bored, especially the groomsmen. Out of the three groomsmen, one of them was a tall gentleman with gorgeous hair who kept checking his phone every five seconds–same buddy, though you're probably not getting messages about serial killers. Another guy looked hungover, and the last fellow was a short man who was awkwardly dressed to the nines with a suit, and dress shoes, and he finished his look with a bow tie. Seemed like he confused the rehearsal with the actual wedding.

This torture finally ended when my aunt announced that it was approaching noon and all the relatives had started arriving at the hall where lunch was going to be served.

As I stepped off the small stage in front of the altar where all the wedding party members had lined up, Whitney stopped me in my tracks.

"Ask him to come to lunch!" She whispered. "I want to meet him before the wedding craziness."

I smiled at her and thankfully before she could harass me further with this, she was called by someone, and her attention was taken off of me and onto a new subject.

Can you get to the West Angeles church at 12? I texted Stephan.

The church was pretty much empty now, so I took a seat in the back row of the pew and decided to check emails.

Even though it was a Saturday, some of my customers were based around the world and companies tended to be open on Saturdays in certain parts of the world so my email was always full of inquiries on tools, dashboards, and data.

"The work never ceases." I heard a voice say.

"Oh yeah for sure, there are always emails that need to be answered!" I agreed.

I looked up and saw a few feet away from me, one of the groomsmen was sitting, also on his phone. He was fully focused on his work so I went back to my phone to continue answering my emails.

"Especially if you're in the technology field like me!" He said.

"Wow, me too! Data specifically, so I am pretty much in the same boat as you," I said as I finished my last email reassuring a nervous customer who needed reports for a presentation to their management.

"Ahh, so you pretty much never stop working! There is a lot of data out there!" He joked

"Thankfully I don't manage all the data in the world, just about 5% of it." I joked back.

We both looked up in unison from our phones and smiled at each other. He shifted his wavy black hair away from his eyes and extended his hand out, "Hello, I am Aaron!"

"Hey, Lauren," I said, taking his hand and giving it a quick shake. "How do you know the bride and groom?"

"Met the groom when I was born, I am his cousin and Whitney worked for me in New York City not too long ago. I am the one who set them up, but it turned out they already knew each other so can't take all the credit." He said.

"Ahh, so you're to blame for ruining this weekend for me?" I joked.

"Yes. I am. Whitney also quit and moved back to LA soon after they met, so I am not so thrilled about this! She was a great assistant!" He explained.

"Sorry about that?" I said unsurely. "And I hope you find some time through the weekend to get some work done!"

He gave me a quick nod and began turning his back to me but stopped and did the full 180 back to face me, "Oh you're that Lauren." He said smiling.

"What Lauren?" I quizzically asked.

"Whit talks about you all the time. I think she is trying to set you up this weekend with one of Robbie's friends. He is the gentleman with the bowtie."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, she said he was just the perfect amount of strange for you." He must have noticed some of my anger, probably transparent on my face, because he continued with, "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I thought she would have mentioned it to you. She just used to talk about you all the time when she worked for me but I have to say, you are nothing like how she described you.”

“And how is that?”

“Like you were helpless and needed her help.” 

I scoffed.  Whit likes being a hero in other people’s life, but I have a boyfriend and no, we are not close." was the only thing I could counter with. I was so furious my hands were shaking and it took everything in my power not to redirect the answer to the cute messenger in front of me!

After a few awkward seconds of silence, he said, "You know my company is always looking for a data analyst! Maybe we can exchange phone numbers?" He suggested.

"Umm, sure. Let me give you my business card. You'll be linked to my secretary and she will schedule a session with me." I said as I grabbed a business card from my pocketbook that was resting next to me on the pew.

"Thanks!" He grabbed the card from my hand. "You will be hearing from me soon."

"What's going on?" I heard a voice say from behind me.

When I turned around I saw Stephan standing behind us. He was beaming like he had caught me in a lie or discovered my secret.

"Oh nothing, glad you got here okay," I said to Stephan. "This is Stephan, my boyfriend," I explained and in the back of my head legitimizing my lie.

“I am your wha–” I pinched him in the back making him squeal but he stopped talking. “Hello!” He winced at Aaron. 

They both shook hands and exchanged niceties. Stephan then stood behind me and whispered, "You know weddings are the best place to meet people, but apparently you already have a boyfriend and his name is also Stephan!"

I nudged him lightly in the stomach with my elbow and I felt him involuntarily shiver. I closed the small gap between us so I could feel his warm chest against my back, it was nice. Shut it Lauren, I thought to myself. I only got closer because it would look more like we were dating if we weren’t standing miles away from each other. Look more like boyfriend and girlfriend rather than strangers–which we in fact are. 

After a few moments of small talk, it was announced by several members of the wedding party that everyone was starting to head over to the rehearsal lunch.

"Do you two need a ride?" Aaron asked.

"Oh no we are good, I rented a car," Stephan stated.

Aaron bid us a goodbye leaving Stephan and me alone.

"Before we head to the wedding, what's our story?" I asked.

"Our story?"

"How we met and got together?"

"What do you mean? I met you yesterday." He said confused.

"Plan A! Pretending to be my boyfriend."

"Boyfriend? I said date.” He asked, confused. “What–what’s going on with her?”He said slowly. "Plus, you said that was a bad idea anyway because it would be too embarrassing for you."

I sighed. He was right of course. It would be even worse if a guy I was actually dating would confess his feelings for Whitney, but I was in the thick of it now. "If you pretend to be my boyfriend until her wedding day, I could at least get two days of fun out of it! If you can just wait till her wedding day to tell her how you feel." I pleaded, now feeling completely embarrassed.

He didn’t contemplate for long before saying, "I can do that! Plus it will be fun to make her jealous, remind her what she is missing."

I wanted to remind him that they broke up because she got a little too jealous last time, but I decided this statement was not very helpful to my current plan. This guy really was not thinking this plan through, but I guess I wasn't either. I had a feeling this was not going to end well, but I felt giddy thinking of her first reaction to seeing me with her ex-boyfriend.

"Met three months ago at a bar. Had a one-night stand and have been in love ever since." Stephen suggested out of nowhere.

“What?”

“We can say that’s how we met!” 

"Gross!" I exclaimed. "And how is this going to help you get her back?" I finally asked since every word he uttered seemed to counter his motives and I wanted to make him aware of that.

"I'll tell her it's all a lie when I confess anyway so it doesn't matter what we say!" He explained. "Fine, we met at a bar. Nothing happened that night, but I asked you to dinner the next day and we have been together ever since."

"Better. And if we don't know something about each other we can say we've only known each other for 3 months, it's perfect!"

"Should we head over and start the show?" He said, holding out his hand. I grabbed it and he led me out of the church.

“What was that text about Clown man?” I asked as we walked. 

“Clown face. He terrorized this area in the late 70s. Killed so many kids.” He ominously said. “I like to find out if there are any serial killers in the areas I visit.”

“Okay, neither of us was alive at that time, and I thought you didn't like to travel.” He poked holes in his stories. 

“A. He could still be alive and killing as I texted. B. This is the first time I am doing this and I hit the jackpot. I mean Clown face? He is a legend.” His eyes glazed over.

“That’s so worrying that you're touting this kid killer as a legend. You know that you're a total stranger to me, right?”

“Why are you afraid of me?” He asked, getting in my way, and hovering over me. I pinched the same side I had to get him to stop taking earlier and he let out a girly squeal.

“Terrified. Just as terrified as you were on the plane.” I laugh, going around him to continue walking. 

He got in my path again, this time I knocked into his chest and stumbled, landing pretty close to his face, “Hey I can be all those things. I am an evolved man. I can be scary but that doesn't me I can't get scared. I can even be angry, mean, loving, sexy.” He got closer somehow. I tried to pinch his sides again, but he grabbed my hand and pulled it slightly, our foreheads bumped. “Sexy, right?” He whispered. By god, it was. At Least my heart thought it was, my head was still buffering. I pulled my hand, but he would not let go, “scary, right?” This time his whisper was haunting, and I left chills behind my neck. While he was distracted, I used my other hand to pinch his other side. He yelped out as usual, and let me go. Let out a howling laughter. “Unfair!” He whined. 

“Let’s go, you dingus!”