Page 28 of The Fantasy League
“Lovely couple!” Lea’s voice rose an octave while she strutted up to us with a taunting smile. She poked me playfully in the side and I made a mental note to get back at her for that later.
It wasn’t that I’d be mad if Scarlett found out how I felt about her, but when the time came, I wanted her to hear the words from me. Not someone else.
“You know, Scar. Your date here left the biggest donation of the night.” Lea turned to Scarlett with a raised brow.
“You what?” She looked up at me with tears forming in her eyes.
I read about her mom passing away from cervical cancer on her blog a few months ago when she shared a post about how she made her mom’s favorite lasagna dish on her mom’s birthday every year.
Lea had mentioned it in conversation a time or two as well, so Scarlett probably wouldn’t think anything of it.
I debated on whether or not to bring her to the gala tonight when I saw the charity—I didn’t know if it would be too difficult for her—but I wanted to make a donation in her mom’s honor. And in order to do that, I needed to have a date on my arm to adhere to the team’s new protocol.
She wasn’t supposed to find out about the donation though. I never planned on telling her about it. “Yeah. It wasn’t that much. Don’t worry about it.” I shrugged, trying to brush it off.
Scarlett whipped her head to Lea. “How much?”
“A quarter of a million dollars,” Lea piped in.
Fuck. Okay, I lied, it was a lot.
Scarlett threw her hands around my neck and squeezed me so hard I could barely breathe. I wasn’t complaining though. She didn’t let go for a long while and Lea stood there looking at me with a mischievous smile.
I couldn’t be mad at Lea for telling her though, because this moment was worth every single fucking penny.
* * *
After a half hourof chatting with teammates, Scarlett and I made a final round across the room, saying goodbyes and promising other couples to stay in touch, even though both of us and the other couples knew we wouldn’t so much as wave at each other if we ran into each other at the grocery store.
It was just one of those courtesies that all couples had to do to play their part and pretend like they enjoyed getting to know each other.
Scarlett had done better than I had expected tonight. I didn’t realize that she was such a natural at this kind of thing. If I’d known sooner, I wouldn’t have subjected myself to the torture of going to these events alone.
“You’re good at this,” I said matter-of-factly, leading us out of the ballroom.
“I’ve been Mae’s date to plenty of her modeling events and after-parties over the years and it’s always the same song and dance with these kinds of people. Over the years, I’ve just mastered the art of obligatory small talk, I guess.” She shrugged.
We walked toward the coat closet and with no one around but the attendant, I could already feel Scarlett beginning to shy away from me.
“Why are you only shy around me?” I questioned abruptly, grabbing Scarlett’s coat from the attendant and holding it up for her to slip her arms through.
All night she had been a social butterfly and as much as she could chalk it up to her being experienced in small talk, I knew that version of her was the truest version of herself.
It was only after seeing her effortlessly start conversations with people, cracking jokes, and talking to people like she had known them for years that I picked up on it.
Yet, the second we were alone together, a switch flipped inside her and she retreated back into herself.
“You make me nervous,” Scarlett replied timidly after a beat.
My stomach took a nosedive as I processed her words. I made her nervous? That was the last fucking thing that I wanted her to feel around me. She was the one that made me nervous. When did those roles reverse?
“Why?” Deep down I knew why, but I needed to hear the words from her mouth for it to be real.I’d spend hours overanalyzing her statement if she left me without an explanation.
Scarlett smoothed her hands across her dress, keeping her eyes peeled to her shoes as we walked out of the building.
“I mean, we didn’t exactly get off to the best start, and I never really knew how to act around you after that. And until recently, every time you were around me, you hardly spoke and what little conversations we did have were always so formal. Like a boss and an employee. And now that we’re doing this—” She waved a hand between us. “I guess I don’t know how to act whenever we’re not pretending. Even our current arrangement is a business transaction if you think about it.”
Her honesty felt like a blow to the stomach, but I didn’t respond, only furthering her point. I understood where she was coming from, but fuck, it hurt to hear those words said out loud.
