The Girlfriend Contract 2 (7 page)

Gwen felt her cheeks burning. Then she realized that B was right. There wasn't anything to be embarrassed about. Or, at least, there wouldn't be if she and Aiden were actually dating. But she couldn't exactly say that to Beatrice. It wasn't like she was a prude or anything. She'd had boyfriends before. She'd had fantasies before (though none quite that vivid). But she'd never pretended to be someone's girlfriend for money.
Someone who apparently didn't at all feel the same way about her as she did about him.

And Gwen also wasn't about to let on that Beatrice might be right about the whole men and women debate.

"I know, it's still just weird though, you know?"

"Uh, no, not really?
So you had a sex dream about him, big deal? Tell me, was it a good one? Inquiring minds want to know."

Gwen threw up her hands, "Yeah, it was great. I can remember everything right until I woke up."

"Oh, that's always a good sign. Maybe you'll have another one tonight. Maybe you'll have one for every night of the week," B said, draining her glass. The woman could drink, all right.

"You think so?" Gwen said, hugging herself and squinting down at the floor. What if she did have more? From the way her body tingled in anticipation, she knew it would be nice on a physical level. But did she really want them?

"So wait, did you really just say you guys seriously haven't done anything yet?"

"We've been together less than a week..."

"...And?" B said.

Gwen couldn't take that look from Beatrice any longer. That look of, "This is the 21st Century; you don't have to wait until you're married anymore." And Gwen knew that. She'd had boyfriends before this, and Beatrice had been there for some of them.

She hated that she couldn't just explain this whole bizarre situation to B and get it over with. It would make things simpler, at least on one level. Probably more complicated on others, but she tried to ignore that. Some simplicity in her life would go over nicely, about now.

But she knew she couldn't tell Beatrice the truth. One, because of that non-disclosure agreement, two, because she still wasn't sure of how B would react, and three, Beatrice kept secrets like a sieve held water.

So, rather than stay under that glare from her friend, Gwen turned and faced the sink. It needed a good scrubbing, what with the cloudy calcium buildup all over the stainless steel. My whole life needs a good scrubbing, Gwen thought.

Setting her glass down, Beatrice came over and put her hand on Gwen's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were so touchy. I didn't mean anything by it..."

Glad for the contact, Gwen nodded, "It's no problem. Trust me; it's definitely me and not you with the hang-ups here."

"What
hang-ups?"

Just because Gwen couldn't tell Beatrice the truth about the nature of the relationship that didn't mean she also had to hide the way she felt about it, did it? No, it couldn't, she thought.

"It's just that... I think I really like him," Gwen said.

Beatrice started to say something. Probably something smart, judging by the way she cocked her eyebrow. Then her filter kicked in and she thought better of it. Finally, she said, "You like the guy you're dating? I'm sorry, Gwen, but I can't really say I'm shocked to hear it."

Gwen tried to put herself in her friend's place. I'd be just as confused, she knew. This was positively maddening! How was she supposed to get through this if she couldn't use her normal channels for getting things off her chest?

She ran her hands along the edge of the counter. The coolness of it against her skin felt nice.

"I... take it that you are, then? Shocked about liking him, that is?" Beatrice said.

"I know it's weird. Trust me, if this were in a movie or a show I'd be laughing. But it's my life, you know?"

Maybe the sound of her fingers running over the counter annoyed B, or maybe B just got frustrated with Gwen's vague statements. In either case, she pulled Gwen's hand off the counter and held it tightly. "Just tell me what's up. I know there's something. So stop dancing around the point and just get right to it. You know I'll help you if I can."

"I know," Gwen said. She took a deep breath through her
nose and let it out slowly through her mouth. It calmed her down a little. Enough to continue, anyway. "It's true, I do think I like him. Maybe even a lot. And no, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just that I don't think it likes me back."

"Like... at all?" Beatrice said, giving Gwen's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"No... I don't know. I don't think so."

"So why are you with him, then? Do you think you can make him like you or something? Because let me tell you, I've tried that
before, and..." Beatrice started, readying another colorful story of some past relationship.

"It's complicated," was all Gwen could say on the matter. That took her aback. Is that what my life is, now, a
Facebook relationship status?

"Then I think I have some good news for you," B said, pausing for effect, "I saw you guys down at Starbucks, and Aiden definitely likes you, too."

Gwen smiled at her friend's attempt to make her feel better. Though she also got the contradictory urge to flinch. All Beatrice saw at Starbucks was an act. It was good that the act was apparently good enough to fool her closest friend, but that didn't change the facts. Of course, she couldn't let Beatrice in on any of that.

"Thanks, but I still don't think so."

Beatrice squeezed her hand in annoyance, digging a long nail into Gwen's palm. "Don't try to tell me what I did or didn't see. Let me tell you. Every time you looked away - Every. Time. - I caught him looking at you. It made me jealous, the way he looked at you."

A lump formed in Gwen's throat. Her first reaction was disbelief. B just made that up to make me feel better, she thought. Her second reaction was hope, delicate and tenuous, but real. "You're kidding!"

"Most of the time, yeah. But not now. Trust me on this, that boy likes you."

A sudden rush of emotion ran through Gwen's body. It overwhelmed her. She
pulled her hand back and leaned against the counter while rubbing at her face.

It took her a moment to figure out how she felt.
Relief. It was relief. And happiness. Followed by just a touch of apprehension. Enough to give her a slight cold sensation, deep in the pit of her stomach. If Aiden really did like her, why was he acting so distant?

And her reaction clearly confused Beatrice, her friend probably wondering how being told that the guy Gwen dated liked her could make her act like she'd just been told that some deadly disease she'd contracted was in remission.

"Is there something else going on here?" B asked, "I've gotta tell you, you're acting weird."

Gwen wiped at her eyes with the heels of her hands and took a few deep breaths, trying to center herself. "No, nothing," she lied. That act instantly washed away most of the happiness and relief she'd been experiencing.

"So what's with all this?" Beatrice said, waving her hand to indicate Gwen.

"Just stress. I have so many things going on at once. There was Janice and the rent thing, a billion things I keep putting off for school, getting involved with Aiden..."

"Okay, okay. I don't need you to write me a book about it."

Gwen considered her friend closely, then. She could tell that B suspected something was up. And frankly, Gwen would be a little upset if Beatrice didn't show some sign that she knew something was off. She liked to think they were good enough friends to be able to sense that sort of thing in the other.

And maybe there was just the tiniest bit of desire (or more) that B might just figure this whole thing out herself spontaneously, so that at least Gwen would have one less person to lie to.

Beatrice interrupted that train of thought. "Can we please just get drunk now? The vodka's getting warm!"

"Only if you give me a chance to catch up; you downed that first glass already," Gwen said.

"Hey, not my fault there are no handicaps in this race," B said, unscrewing the bottle and pouring herself another round. Gwen just shook her head in amusement,
then opened up the cupboard to grab another glass. She intended to make this a good, Aiden-free night.

Then the intercom started buzzing. She nearly dropped the glass in her hand in surprise.

Beatrice was already here. Her dad had come and left. Aiden had also come and gone. It couldn't be him, could it?

"Just a sec," she told Beatrice.

As she went to the door, she found herself hoping it wasn't Aiden. It couldn't be, she kept telling herself. It's probably mom, come to try and one-up dad.

The buzzing sounded somehow more insistent with every step she took towards the panel. Taking a breath, she jammed her thumb against the button.

"Yes?" she said.

"Hi, it's FedEx. Could you open the door, please? I have a delivery for you," the FedEx guy's voice crackled through the speaker.

Gwen took her thumb off the button. A delivery? She wasn't expecting anything. It could possibly be some books she'd ordered off Amazon for school she'd forgotten about. That was the only thing she could think of.

She pushed the button again. "All right; come on up," she said, hitting the button
to unlock the door.

"Is it him?" Beatrice said, poking her head out of the kitchen.

"No. It's a package delivery," Gwen said.

She knew she'd made a poor choice of words when Beatrice winked and said to her, "Oh yeah it is!" This earned her friend an eye roll. B needed to learn that not everything should be turned into a sex joke.

Someone knocked on the door. Sure enough, a guy in a FedEx uniform waited on the other side with a parcel under one arm and one of those electronic signature clipboards in the other hand. She signed for the delivery and took it into the living room, Beatrice in tow.

Grabbing a steak knife from the kitchen, she returned and began cutting the tape holding the parcel paper in place. She opened the lid of the box to find a dress inside. On top of the carefully folded fabric was an envelope with "Gwen" written on it.

She opened it. "Oh, come on," she said.

"What? What is it? This is from Aiden, isn't it?"

"Yes. He's taking me out to some charity gala tonight, and he wants me to wear this." The note also said to be ready and waiting outside her building at nine. That was in under two hours.

Beatrice set her glass of vodka down and pulled the dress out. It was a strapless affair, and a blue so dark that Gwen thought it was black at first. It had a subtle sheen to it in the light. Holding the dress up, Beatrice moved it in her hands. That sheen moved as well. It looked good.
And expensive.

"
There's shoes, too!" B said, nodding down at the box.

So there were, Gwen noted.
Heels. Cute ones, too. Probably super uncomfortable. The cuter the shoe, the more it hurt. The price you paid for looking good, apparently. They went well with the dress. Gwen didn't want to know how Aiden had come across her size.

"Are you
gonna go? Because if you aren't, I demand you let me borrow this dress!" Beatrice said, laying it against herself to check the size.

Gwen extracted it from her friend's unwilling fingers. The material felt soft and smooth, like silk yet somehow different. Gwen checked the size as well, noting how the dress ended just above the knee. She sighed, not looking forward to carefully pulling up pantyhose.

"Yes, I'm going," Gwen said. Not like I have much of a choice, she added silently.

"Don't sound too happy about it," Beatrice said.

Chapter 7

There wasn't a whole lot of time. She needed to start getting ready right away. B followed her to her bedroom, and sat down on her bed. B had also grabbed her glass of vodka, and sipped at it as she watched Gwen rush around.

"I wonder why he didn't tell me earlier?" Gwen said.

It was strange. If he wanted to pull this off, surely he realized that he needed to give her more notice than this?

"Maybe it just came up," B said.

"Maybe..." Gwen replied. However, she felt that in a life like Aiden's, things
rarely ever "just came up." Events like this were planned months in advance, weren't they? No, something was definitely going on.

"Wow!" Beatrice said as Gwen pulled the dress on. Gwen pulled the fell-length mirror out of her closet and then leaned it against the wall. Wow was right. This dress looked great on her, even without being zipped up at the back.

It hugged her waist and hips without being too tight, yet somehow still managing to flatter her figure. And, being strapless, there couldn't be any annoying threads poking out over her shoulders to catch the attention of rich men. Had he done that on purpose? Gwen wondered.

"Will you help me?" Gwen said.

Beatrice came over and helped zip the dress up. It tightened up a bit more around her, but she could still breathe. The bodice exposed just enough of her cleavage, pressing her breasts together, to be suggestive without also being lewd.