A Perfect Fit

9

Isabelle

The Cherrybrooke High reunion is in four days and I still haven't found a date. In other words, Operation Find a Fake Boyfriend has officially flopped.

As part of my search, I caved in and downloaded dating apps for the first time. In the span of two weeks, I went on five dates but each turned out to be a disaster.

Guy number one looked nothing like his photos, guy number two gave a TED talk about how 'crazy' his ex was the whole time, and guy number three ordered a series of expensive dishes—only to tell me he 'forgot his wallet' when it was time to pay the bill. Dates four and five were equally horrific, and all I'll say is that I promptly deleted the apps after that. Maybe I would have had more luck if I had straight up put 'looking for a fake boyfriend for a high school reunion' in my bio, but alas, I'm not going back now.

If anything, this experience has only further solidified why I'll just happily live vicariously through fictional characters' romance lives instead.

"Which is why I've given up and decided to just rock up to the reunion solo," I conclude to Jen, as the two of us have dinner at our favorite pizza place in Manhattan.

Jen pauses for a moment. "That makes Jackson even more of a stronger candidate."

"Jackson?" I ask with a mouthful. "I'm pretty sure he was only joking."

"He was definitely serious," she replies.

"If he were serious he'd at least ask me why I was looking for a fake boyfriend," I deduce. "He didn't even ask for context and just said something along the lines of 'challenge accepted'. I mean, which sane person does that? That's like the equivalent of jumping off a cliff—I could have been wanting a fake boyfriend to join me in some kind of dodgy or illegal activity for all he knows."

"True," Jen agrees. "But another interpretation is that he doesn't care about the context. He'd do anything to help you, even if it means jumping off a cliff."

"Now that," I say, lifting a finger. "Is a delusional interpretation. After spending many years of my life living in La La Land, I'm back on Planet Earth and I can safely conclude that Jackson Carter was just messing with my head."

"What if he wasn't?" Jen presses.

"Okay, let's say, hypothetically, he was serious," I continue. "As I said at the cafe, it wouldn't work. We'd last for about ten seconds and then we'd just be throwing insults at each other the whole night."

"I reckon that you two would have pretty good chemistry as fake girlfriend and boyfriend," Jen quips.

Yeah right. An ant and a twig would probably have more passion and excitement together.

"Forget the chemistry, it would just be a dangerous explosion that blows up in all our faces," I say. "And I don't even need to have a degree in science to know that."

Jen rolls her eyes. "Okay, I give up. In other news, I may or may not have casually hit Aaron up in his DM's and he invited me to his work drinks tonight. I know it's last minute, but he said you're welcome to come too if you're free."

"That's so exciting, look at you go!" I grin, feeling like a proud mother. "Where does he work again?"

"At...um...a marketing consultancy firm," she carefully says and pauses. "So...did you want to join? Other people will be there too."

"I was just going to stop by my parents' place after this to give them their invitations to my New York Fashion Week event," I reply, taking another bite of my pizza. "I think Ivy will also be there. After that, I think I might just have an early night and—"