Marley winked. “You don’t really have a choice, do you?”

“Murder is always on the table,” I suggested.

She rolled her eyes. “Dude, you couldn’t murder me if you wanted to. I bet all the weights you lift are pretty little pastel colors and made of soft rubber, right?”

I thought of the set of weights I had in my studio apartment–pink, baby blue, and purple. And yes, they were very soft and easy on the hands. “No,” I said quickly.

Marley laughed and I smiled too. She squeezed my bicep and it squished without more than the suggestion of pressure from her fingers.

“I love you, Pearl. So if you ever need me murdered, ask me for help first, okay? You’d definitely strain something trying to off me. And you’d for sure stress all day about it.”

I smirked. “Got it. If I ever decide to murder you to keep my secrets, I’ll ask you to help me do it.”

“Good. Now I’m going to need you to secure a shirtless picture of your new boyfriend. For research purposes.”

“Um, not happening,” I said.

She laughed. “It was worth a try. By the way, that thing does not look done. Jonas is going to kill you if you don’t hurry and get it finished in…” she checked her phone. “Four hours.”

“Yeah, yeah. I can do it. And if I can’t, I’ll just ask my sister to soften him up for me.”

“Ugh,” Marley said. “I keep forgetting she’s dating him. For the record, having your sister date the boss is definitely a form of cheating. I’m going to HR about this.”

“Say ‘hi’ to whoever replaced Emilia while you’re there for me.”

Marley laughed, waved, and left me to my task.

I took another look at the screen and decided to actually get it done. First, I needed to stop thinking about the picture on my phone of the man I couldn’t afford to have–even if he wanted me, which he probably didn’t.

The whole thing was a mess, but I guessed at least I had a fake boyfriend in my corner to help me navigate it. I considered texting Dean for about a nanosecond, then smiled and pretended I’d shut the idea down in my head.

I couldn’t afford to keep distracting myself with thoughts of him. I had a dumb advert featuring a bulldog sipping one of our client’s Bubble Tea drinks to put together. Right now, all I had was a cute bulldog, so I still had a lot of work to do.

With a sigh, I got back to it.

For some reason, there was a sinking feeling in my gut that this whole fake boyfriend scheme was a lot like popcorn kernels over a hot fire. Right now, the grease was just heating up. I couldn’t stop bracing myself for the first “pop” of disaster. But what was the worst that could happen?

5

PEARL

Here’s a life lesson for all the kids out there. Never ask yourself, “what’s the worst that could happen?” Some greater power out there is listening, and they enjoy a challenge. They can and will step in and mess your shit up.