Page 35 of Friends with Benefits

“This is quite the pivot from only Gen and your grandparents needing to know.”

“I know.”

Theo isn’t sure Evelyn fully understands what she’s saying. It’s one thing to sign a paper that says they’re married and another thing to actively pretend tobemarried. And to do it for Jacob? To be an anchor for a man who has been emotionally unavailable for pretty much the entirety of his life? It feels all kinds of fucked-up to let Evelyn do that for him. Forthem. Theo knows he’s just as much the reason. Somehow, Evelyn still believes in the bullshit fantasy that Jacob Cohen is capable of being more than who he has always been.

Theo’s a realist.

But.

Jacob smiled.

Jacob laughed.

Jacob is still his dad.

Gen nods. “You’re in love. Got it! Will pivot accordingly.”

The line moves at a glacial pace and the attempts at small talk upon Jacob’s return from the bathroom are painful. Gen keeps Jacob engaged in conversation because if there’s one thing Imogen Bloom cannot handle, it’s an awkward silence. She asks him if he’s watched anything good lately, and Theo learns that Jacob is extremely into cooking competition shows. The more intense (read: abusive) the environment, the better. It’s so much easier for Jacob Cohen to show Gen the Instagram account he made to follow his favorite chefsthan to ask his son a question as simple asHow’s this school year going?But Theo supposes it’s also easier for him to let Gen entertain his dad than to ask him a question as simple asHow’ve you been?

So.

Finally, they are summoned to fill out the paperwork. His pulse spikes with each signature required on the very official marriage license application. Is this the wedding, elopement, whatever that he pictured for himself? Not at all. He imagined an outdoor ceremony at the Huntington, a chuppah made of flowers, Lori seated in the front row during the ceremony.

So, really, it was never going to be what he imagined.

“Hey. You good?” Evelyn asks, her voice low.

It’s the first time he looks at her,reallylooks at her since she picked him up from school. He’s been fixated on everything but her—the rings, Jacob, not vomiting in her car, the paperwork. Eyes lined in metallic gold meet his and Theo blinks stupidly at the vision that is Evelyn Bloom. Her hair is tied back in a bun. Not a ballet bun, but a messy one, her too-long bangs swept to the side. He recognizes the earrings she chose, simple gold hoops that were a high school graduation gift from his mom. He blinks away the emotion, eyes shifting to full lips coated in clear gloss. Suddenly, Theo doesn’t know where to look—at her shoulders, where the tie straps of her dress are secured with two perfect bows, at the wildflower print with its plunging neckline and fabric that skims her hips, that accentuates the outline of her ass—

Theo swallows hard.

Fuck.

She’s his best friend. She is so gorgeous.

Both things can be—are—true.

“I’m good. You look beautiful,” Theo says. “Objectively.”

She laughs. “You look objectively beautiful, too.”

They return the paperwork, then wait to be called by a county clerk. Seated in the waiting room, Evelyn slides her hand into his. It’s confusing because it’s something she would do even if no one was watching, thanks to a friendship that blossomed out of a dance partnership. Meaning they’ve never shied away from physical touch. As friends. Her feet propped up on his lap. His head on her shoulder. Their hands, constantly entwined. Her freezing fingers squeeze his and… is she pretending? What is and isn’t okay in the name of pretending?

Theo isn’t sure.

He never planned on pretending.

He can’t pretend.

“Dad, I—”

Jacob cuts him off. “You don’t have to apologize. I get it. Your mom and me? We almost eloped, too.”

“What?”

“Nearly got married on a beach in Cabo, just Lor and me.”

“Seriously?”

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