A long road to happy

Chapter 2: Pools of green

Danny and I are in the car on the way to the party, I'm rather nervous but trying not to show it. What if I drink too much and forget our 'dating' facts, or worse, what if I drink too much and tell people the truth?! Oh god, maybe I won't drink at all?

"I can hear you thinking Harley, stop spiralling. It's going to be fine." Danny's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"You know, you scrub up well, Danny boy. . . For a guy" I say, smiling at him. He's wearing a tailored navy suit with a waistcoat, red tie, brown leather belt, and brown brogues to finish it off. 

"You don't look so bad yourself Har" he chuckles out, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. I tug the end of my red dress down a little. I'm usually OK with wearing a dress, maybe feeling a little uncomfortable, but this one, this one is a simple red dress (to match Danny's tie, of course), but its short, or at least short for me. If it stops before my knees, I feel uncomfortable wearing it, and this one certainly does. 

As I look up, I see Hyde park as we're about to turn in the opposite direction into the Four Seasons, our hotel for the night.

"Shotgun on the bed!" I shout as we enter the room. 

"What? That's not fair. You're the plus 1, I'm the main guest, you get the sofa, loser." Danny says as he's smirking at me.

"For real? I mean, that could work, I guess. I guess the real question here is, how much do you want a pretend girlfriend tonight? You see, if i know I'm having to sleep on an uncomfortable sofa tonight, I might get distracted from the task at hand, thinking about how cold i could be, or how my back might hurt on it. . . . With all these new, important thoughts taking up valuable space in my head, i may forget I'm your fake girlfriend. Now that would be disastrous, wouldn't it? I'm sure you don't want that? Right?" I say with a small fake pout as I let myself fall backwards onto the bed, knowing I've won this round. 

"OK, are we ready to go, baby?" I cringe at the term of endearment coming out of his mouth. "All ready, sugarplum." I deadpan. He stops halfway out the door and looks at me. "Sugarplum? Are you serious right now?" I giggle at him and push his chest. "I thought we were trying to call each other things that will make us cringe? How about I won't call you sugarplum ever again? If you NEVER call me baby again, it's too much. You can have darling, sweetheart, gorgeous but never baby." 

"Yeah, it felt wrong saying it." He shrugs, a small smile playing on his lips."Shall we darling?" He asks, holding his arm out for me."we shall kind, sir." I reply playfully, taking his arm and squeezing it as we make our way to the car.

We stop by the doors as we enter the room. "Holy shit" I mumble to myself. A cast party he told me, how many people are in the cast? There has to be over 100 people here. What the hell. 

Danny looks over at me with a sheepish grin. "I knew if I told you, you'd freak out." He says, as if reading my mind. "Drinks are on me all night," he smiles, leading me over to the bar. 

"You're damn right they are, honey." I say with a bit of a bite and a sarcastic grin. 

I take a moment to take in the room as he flags the barman over to order some drinks, there are a lot of people here, and I don't do too well with big groups of people. 1 on 1s make me nervous, but so do large group settings. It'll be fine, I decide, you have your 'boyfriend' here, he won't leave you alone. I let a lazy smile grace my face as a chuckle lightly at my own thoughts. "Here you go, sweetheart." Danny says, sliding 2 shots and a kiwi and lime old mout my way. "1 shot to get you prepared to be my girlfriend all night." He says, wiggling his eyebrows. Clinking our glasses together, he throws his head back as his face grimaces as the rosé tequila slides down his throat. I mean, who even buys rosé tequila on purpose?