Chapter 4 - Pretend Dating
A knock on his door awoken the sleeping resident doctor. He wished to sleep in today as it was his day off from the hospital. Plus he needed all the energy he could get to spend time and get to know Riley for the rest of the day. He tried to ignore the knocking and placed a pillow on his face but it continued. He groaned loudly, got out of bed and made his way slowly towards his front door. "Coming!" Lucas yelled.
He turned the knob and opened the door to see his best friend Zay with a box of donuts in one hand and a two iced coffees on a carrying tray in another, "As your best friend I am extremely insulted that I did not know you were dating someone." Zay let himself in and Lucas closed the door behind him.
"How do you know about that?" Lucas rubbed his face with his hands and joined Zay in the kitchen. He sat on a stool just across from his friend.
Zay placed one of the iced coffees in front of Lucas and opened the box of donuts, "Your sweet mother called me interrogating me about your girlfriend."
"What did you say?" Lucas took a bite of a jelly filled donut and washed it down with some coffee. "Why is my mother so nosey?"
"I told her that you've only been dating recently and that she's a really sweet girl," Zay said. "And then I pretended Vanessa was calling me to do the laundry."
"That's it? Nothing else?"
Zay shook his head, "Nothing else. Because you see, I didn't even know you had a girlfriend! Care you explain yourself?"
"I kind of blurted out I already had a girlfriend because she wouldn't get off my back!"
"You lied to your own mother? How could you?"
Lucas threw his head back, "I panicked Zay! And now she wants me to bring her with me to Texas so every one can meet her."
"I'm sorry what?" Zay laughed. "Bro your ass is screwed!"
"Well it's kind of not,"
"Whatchu talking about?"
"I got myself a pretend girlfriend."
"What are you doing today Riles?" Maya asked her best friend while dropping in two slices of bread in the toaster. They had some time to make breakfast because they had a time off work on the same day, which was a very rare occasion for the both of them.
"I have an appointment," She responded while working on the batter for chocolate chip pancakes-their favorite.
Maya raised her eyebrows, "An appointment? With your doctor or something?"
"Yes with a doctor or something," Riley tried her best to hide her laughter. She really was meeting up with a doctor today, Dr. Lucas Friar that is.
"Is everything okay with you? You don't seem sick to me."
"Yes Maya. I'm okay,"
"So what's your doctor's appointment for?"
Riley flipped the pancakes on the griddle, "Uhm just a regular check up."
"I see," Maya took out two glasses and placed it on their dining table. She pour orange juice in them and suddenly had a realization. "Wait a minute, where are you really going?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Riley Matthews we've been best friends for 20 years! I know when you're lying. Now tell me where you really are going."
Riley stacked the pancakes on a plate and brought them to the table, "Just for once I'd really love for you not to know me so well."
"Spill." The two of them grabbed the plates and utensils, along with the toast and scrambled eggs that they have already made earlier, and made their way to their adjoining dining room. They sat down and Maya stared at her best friend, "You gonna tell me or what?"
The brunette took a deep breath. She knew that there was no escaping this. She was her best friend and they can never keep secrets away from each other. Even when Josh, Riley's uncle, asked Maya to keep their relationship a secret for a little while just so they could ease his brother and Riley's father, Cory, slowly into it, Maya didn't last two minutes and immediately blabbed to Riley. "I'm meeting up with Dr. Friar."
"That hot doctor on your floor and in our apartment building in which you woke up in bed with?"
"Yes that doctor,"
Maya stuffed her face with the toast, "Are you going out on a date with him?"
"Not exactly," Riley bit her lip.
"What do you mean not exactly?"
"We just have to talk about something,"
"Talk about what?"
"Talk about each other so we can learn all about each others' lives so we can pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend in front of his entire family,"
Maya started choking on her food so she immediately followed it up with some orange juice, "Excuse me?"
Zay stared at his best friend for a long time. Of all the things that Lucas had done his entire life, this has got to be the craziest. Lucas Friar, moral compass, was lying to his entire family telling them that he has a girlfriend and he had hired someone to pretend to be one. "I'm still trying to process this."
"Believe me I am too,"
"So this Nurse Riley girl, you first met her at the hospital you work at?" Zay asked and Lucas nodded in response. "And then she drunkenly stumbled into your bedroom and you blackmailed her to pretend to be your girlfriend?"
"Well I wouldn't say blackmail..." Zay gave his friend a look. "Okay maybe just a little bit."
"Man if that's not fate then I don't know what is!"
Lucas scoffed, "Pure luck you mean?"
"No my friend, fate. What are the chances that this girl you work with ended up on your bed the next day and you needed someone to pretend to be your girlfriend?"
"Slim to none," Lucas laughed. "I'd still say I'm pretty lucky."
"You said you're meeting with her for lunch again?"
"Yup!"
Zay grinned, "Can I meet her? If I know what she looks like and get to know her a bit, it'll make it look more believable with your mom."
"You're right,"
"Just be careful man," Zay jumped off the stool and walked towards the living room to watch TV. "I've seen these kind of things in the movies and that whole pretending to be together thing? Always end up with the couple falling in love with each other."
"I don't think that's going to be an issue for me and Riley,"
"Riley Matthews!" Maya exclaimed. "Look at you doing something crazy with your life!"
"I've done crazy things with my life before!" Riley responded as she gathered all their dishes and set them in the sink, running the water so she could wash them.
Maya poured herself more orange juice and leaned against the counter waiting to dry the dishes, "That one night where you woke up on his bed doesn't count because I initiated that."
"Well I have jumped on a moving gurney and did CPR until we could reach the operating room,"
"Riles, work stuff doesn't count! I meant crazy in a way that you decided to do it," The blonde grabbed a the dry cloth from the side and began drying the dishes Riley was handing off to her.
"It was either that or I get breaking and entering on my permanent record remember?"
"Whatever," Maya giggled. "This is still so exciting! I feel like I'm in a movie or something."
"Oh shut up and keep drying,"
Noon time rolled around and Riley was standing in front of Lucas' apartment door. The pair had decided to spend most of the day in Lucas' apartment so they could start getting to know each other. Luckily, they both had the same day off too and Lucas offered her lunch and dinner. The more time they spend together, the more they get to know each other and the more that the Friar family will believe their little charade. Riley knocked on his door lightly and was greeted by the doctor himself.
"Hey,"
"Hi,"
"Hey!" Zay exclaimed loudly from behind Lucas. "I'm Zay. His best friend. Nice to meet you!"
Lucas shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I am so sorry." He stepped aside to let Riley in.
"That's okay," She giggled. "I'm Riley. But I'm guessing you already knew that."
"Yup!" Zay nodded excitedly. "Well I'm going to let you two be. I'll just make my way back to the living room and ya'll can have your little lunch date in the kitchen."
Lucas furrowed his eyebrows, "I thought you were leaving after you meet her?"
"I changed my mind. I'm going to wait until after lunch and then I will leave. Just pretend I'm not here though," And with that, Zay left the two and went back to his TV show.
"I'm so sorry about him," Lucas closed the door behind him and led the two of them towards the kitchen, where he motioned for her to sit down as he starts taking out items from the fridge. "He found out about our little thing. My mom called him asking about my girlfriend."
"That's no big deal," Riley set her purse on the kitchen island table. "I'm not going to lie, I thought you were just going to buy take out. I didn't know you can cook."
"Oh he cooks alright!" Zay yelled from the living room. "He makes the best creme brulee for dessert!"
Lucas growled, "I thought you were going to leave us alone."
"Oops, my bad."
"Yes," Lucas turned to Riley. "I do cook and I do make the best creme brulee."
"Where did you learn how to cook? Do you need any help? I'm pretty decent at cooking as well not that I'm bragging," She jumped off her seat and made her way towards Lucas.
"If you want you can julienne the carrots and green beans and slice the cabbage ," Lucas handed her a chopping board and the knife.
She took the vegetables and positioned them near her, "What are you making any ways?"
"I'm making Chow Mein, Lucas Style,"
"Lucas Style?" Riley giggled.
He nodded as he grabbed a pot from the bottom cabinet, "Yup! I love Chinese food but sometimes Chinese take out can be too greasy for me and I'm all about that good healthy eating."
"Same here," Riley responded. "I asked my mom to teach me how to cook before I left for college. I didn't want to eat cafeteria food all the time." She laughed and began to slice the vegetables as Lucas had instructed her to do so. "How about you? Where did you learn to cook?"
He started to sauté the garlic and onion in some vegetable oil, "Self taught." Riley stared at him in shock. "It was my way of dealing with the stress of med school."
"That's really cool," She smiled. "I bet the ladies go crazy when you cook for them huh?"
"Actually, you're the first girl I've ever cooked for," Lucas chuckled. "Well besides my mom."
"I find that hard to believe Dr. Friar,"
"Believe it or not Nurse Riley, you are," He added chicken broth to the pot and increased the flame for it to boil. "I told you I was too busy to date remember?"
"You know if we weren't pretend dating, I would consider this as a date."
Lucas froze for a moment. It did seem like they were on a date! Here they were, two single people having a nice conversation, getting to know each other. But it isn't a date because it was only a game right? Lucas shook away his thoughts and started laughing nervously, "I guess it would huh?"
Back in the living room, Zay was eavesdropping. He couldn't help it. The apartment wasn't that big for him not to hear their conversation. He smiled to himself and whispered, "Pretend dating my ass. We'll see."
And there you have it! What do you guys think of their "pretend date"?
Let me know! Thanks for reading and for your patience! Took me a little while to update. :)
PS. Who watched Girl Meets Ski Lodge Part 2 on demand? I have and BE STILL MY HEART. It was such an amazing episode!