Light in the Dark

Five

Michael

I wasn't surprised that a pizza parlor was the best place to take her. Compared to all my other dates who wanted to go to expensive restaurants once they found out who my family was, coming here was like a breath of fresh air.

"Pizza!" Her smile was so bright, I've never seen someone so happy about pizza. I had made a mental note that pizza was probably one of her favorite foods.

"Hi sir how are you?" The hostess greeted, leaning over so that I could get a good look at her cleavage. Not that I'd look anyways with Connie next to me, plus she barely looked legal.

"We're great Janice, can we sit somewhere off in the corner please?" Connie interjected, reading the girls name tag.

Jealous?

Janice scowled but promptly found us a seat that Connie wanted.

"Did you want to kill me or something? Is that why you want us to sit out of view?" She looked down at her lap after she sat down and fiddled with something under her shirt. It was the first time I had ever seen her look nervous.

"No, it's gonna sound stupid but I don't do well with crowds, at least if we're in the corner, I can see everyone."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

And there really wasn't, I know a lot of people who have that problem. She smiled and launched into a story about how Roxie's friend used to make fun of her for it until she punched her in the face.

"Did you break her nose?"

"Yeah, Roxie wasn't too happy about that. She didn't talk to me for weeks."

"Not to sound mean but how did you end up even living with Roxie? You guys are nothing alike."

"Not to sound cliche but when I moved here from California six months ago, she saved me when I hit rock bottom." Sounds like a story for another day.

"So what kind of pizza do you like?"

***

Connie was such an amazing date, even though this isn't really a date. Just a way to get to know her better to solidify the fake relationship. I couldn't help but compare her to every girl I've ever been with or dated. They were all materialistic and annoying and Connie was so down to earth and I hung on her every word. She didn't talk about herself like the rest of them, she seemed to only be interested in getting to know me. She is the probably only person I've been with who wasn't with me for my looks or money. I snapped out of my thoughts when I felt a piece pepperoni hit my forehead.

"Hey!"

"What? I was trying to get your attention."

"Any normal person would've just called my name."

"Too bad I'm not normal."

She's right, she's not. She is literal perfection. She can take my shit and dish it right back at me. I'm glad I didn't have sex with Roxie otherwise I wouldn't have found out how awesome her roommate is. God works in mysterious ways.

After dinner I paid, which really pissed her off we decided to walk around the park.

"So your name is Constance Sanchez-Bonilla, you're 26 and your favorite color is black, which isn't a really color by the way."

"Is it too! A lot of people like the color black. Anyways, how are these questions going to make us seem legit? We should at least come up with a how we met story. Like we met at a coffee shop when you spilled your coffee on me or something."

As we walked the park we practiced what we were going to say about how we met and talked more about ourselves. I noticed that she still didn't give me too much information about her personal life but I guess she could tell me when she's ready.

She stops suddenly and looks up at me. The moonlight highlights her naturally beautiful face. Her eyes glimmered with a new found emotion that I couldn't decipher, I didn't dwell on it much because the next thing I know, she's kissing me. Her lips are better than I've dreamed of, they're soft and they taste faintly of pepperoni. I waste no time pulling her closer and wrapping my arms around her slim waist. Just as I'm about to take this a little further, my phone chimes and the moment is ruined. She jumps away like I'm on fire.

"Fuck"

She's so hot when she speaks Spanish

11:59pm 1 new message from Courtney
Hey bro, I heard you got a gf?

How'd you hear that? I haven't even told anyone yet

My friend Janice works at the pizza place and said she saw you on a date
You're gonna kill me but mom heard me talking about it with Janice and now she wants to meet her next weekend
Ttyl bye

I'm going to kill my sister

"You okay?" I look at her and my dick stands at attention when I see how swollen her lips are from our kiss.

"Yeah..."

"Sorry about kissing you, I just figured that when the time comes for me to meet your family, we should've gotten our first kiss out of the way to make it seem less awkward." Her hand immediately went to something under her shirt again and I realized that that's what she does when she's nervous.

"You don't ever have to apologize sweetheart, I'm yours remember?" I had to say anything to get my mind off the kiss. "But it's funny that you mention my parents... my little sister is friends with Janice from the pizza place and my mom overheard them talking about it so she wants to meet you next weekend."

She froze and gripped what I assumed to be a necklace under her sweater.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." I reassured as I grabbed her hands and rubbed the top of them.

"No, it's fine. That's the reason why we're here right? To prove to them that you're responsible? Let's get this fake relationship on the road then."

Yeah fake relationship