Just for Now

Chapter Eight

Day Two
Afternoon

The couples massage didn't exactly go to plan.

"Why would you think the masseuse was holding your hand?" Allison questioned with narrowed eyes. "Obviously, it was me."

"You held my hand?" Cole checked unsurely.

Allison groaned, her eyes shutting as she said, "They put our hands together, it was a couples massage!"

"Well, I didn't know!" Cole exclaimed in a high-pitched voice.

"So, instead of just looking, you projected yourself off the table and ran out of the room?" Allison went on harshly. "You nearly ripped my hand off!"

"I'm sorry!" he cried out for the tenth time. She shook her head, walking ahead of him in the direction of their room.

"Are we supposed to wait for Scarlett and Nate?" Allison asked over her shoulder.

"Nah, I saw them head out a bit ago from the window," Cole told her before remembering they had that dinner later with her boss. He picked up his pace a bit to walk in stride alongside her. "Should we go over a game plan for tonight?"

She gave him a questioning look. "What's there to game plan?"

"You know how I am under pressure," Cole reminded her seriously.

"Yeah, I know. But there's no reason to panic, okay? We just act like we're fine," Allison explained in a matter-of-fact voice. "Don't add any details that don't need to be there."

Cole nodded. "Right, no extra details."

When Cole was under any sort of pressure, he tended to... extend the truth, a bit.

But tonight, he would be fine.

This was Allison's boss, he had to make sure to not panic.

Cole was sure he would be fine.

˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Cole was not fine.

"Yeah, it was a hard choice, but it made the most sense in the end," Cole concluded in a strained voice. Allison stared at him blankly in astonishment before blinking herself out of her trance. They both turned towards the couple who were listening to the story, expecting to be caught in the lie.

Cole had just finished telling them about how he went through all those years of med-school just to decide to be an accountant in the end.

Needless to say, that wasn't exactly the case.

But they asked him about how he decided to be an accountant and he didn't just wanna say, "It was the first one on the list of majors and I didn't wanna read anymore." So, what was he supposed to say?

Robert placed his hand on his chest, nodding with a sideways smile. "I respect that, man."

"Thanks, Robert."

"Call me Robby?"

If Cole heard this man ask him to call him by one more nickname... he might just lose his mind. There were certain people that you met in life who you just knew you wouldn't be friends with. Unfortunately for Robert, he was one of those people. They just weren't the kind of people to click, per say. But Robert didn't seem to get that impression.

The dinner had been going... well, "fine" would be an overstatement. A new lie spewed out of Cole's mouth every time he was asked a question. He didn't mean to, but it was just easier for him to make up some story on the spot rather than tell the truth. Because the truth was that they were on the brink of divorce, and he'd rather lie than let the conversation somehow hint at that.