It's true – I am a fan of the fake dating trope. I am trash, I guess.

Fake It 'Till You Make It

Chapter 1: Cookie Dough and Cocktails

"What are you doing? You clearly like her – no, no, no, don't do that! Ugh!" Twenty-one-year-old Teà Gardner slumped her head into her hands, sighing heavily at the scene playing on her television screen.

She was about to throw a tantrum (and by tantrum, she meant throwing popcorn at her tv screen) after seeing the final episode of her favourite rom-com/drama; it was eery how it paralleled her life in so many different ways. Sassy, self-assertive female lead (check, Teà liked to think that she was just as self-assertive), lovable best friends who serve as the comic relief (check), and a boyfriend who worshipped the ground she walked on.

She tried to convince herself that she still had her life together, but granted that two weeks ago, her bae – who was now the classic ex – texted her that things between them were done. It was extremely cliché, and it reminded her of every single romantic comedy she ever watched.

Still, it was upsetting to know that the guy she was dating for two years wanted to live that cliché. Teà hoped that he was living his best life now. But that didn't stop her from crying her heart out for the past few days. That was an understandable reaction right?

Now, she found herself binging her favourite show, wrapped in a fuzzy leopard print blanket and with a tub of cookie dough in her hand. Teà didn't really care that she had crumbs all over her bed, or that she had yet to take a shower (so you could imagine how bad she smelt at this point), or that she had yet to delete the fateful text message.

All she really cared about was whether if her favourite character and her other favourite character were going to get together. This was the number one priority in her life right now.

But before she could yell at her TV once again like a raving lunatic, her cell phone buzzed, which meant that one of her friends had just texted her.

She had a feeling who was messaging her, and she knew that ghosting them was not going to be an option.

So Teà simply pressed pause on her show, and quickly grabbed her phone; her azure eyes widened in surprise, seeing that there were three unread texts from Mai Valentine – one of the few female friends she had these days. Mai Valentine was not one for being put on the back burner, so there would be hell to pay if you did not reply to her texts ASAP.

Sorry, I've been busy. :p was what Teà ended up texting to her, and she was proud to say that it wasn't exactly a lie.

But whether Mai was going to believe that was another story.

Really? So if I come over to your apartment, you wouldn't be in bed, would you?

Damn it. Mai really knew her too well. She met her roughly a year after she moved to New York from Domino City. When Teà was finishing her shift at Burger King, she ended up overhearing an argument between a few of her customers. But before she could even intervene, Mai swooped in like a vulture – or rather, a true feminist icon – and made sure that they wouldn't even come there again. Teà fell in love with her after that, and it wasn't long before they begun hanging out every other weekend.

Mai was someone Teà could count on a thousand times over, in other words.

Since she was two years older than she was, she viewed Mai as the big sister that she never had and the one she always wanted.

No. I'm actually planning on going out. Teà didn't know why she had a tendency to egg Mai on like this, but she knew that it really didn't matter what she told her in the end.

Mai always found a way to get what she wanted. So it wasn't really surprising when she got an instant text back saying:

Good. If you were gonna be in bed, it'd have to be with someone on the same level as Adam Driver. Yeah, Mai liked to embarrass her at every chance she got. But Teà didn't feel like that comment was worth responding to.

Now get yourself ready. I'll treat you to some drinks

It was no secret that Mai knew that Teà's ex-boyfriend broke up with her because she had the misfortune of being around when he did it. Mai was the last person that any insane person would try to mess with. So you could imagine it took all of Teà's strength to convince Mai that her ex was not worth getting beat up over. That was how protective Mai was over her – she would literally try to castrate anyone who broke Teà's heart. Not that she wanted anyone to get hurt because of her, but Teà genuinely appreciated the sentiment.

Just don't make me regret it. I don't need a massive hangover in the morning.

No promises. Now hurry tf up.

Teà sighed, knowing that she would have to have a quick shower before Mai got here. Knowing her, she was probably on her way.

Well, she might as well pull out the new minidress she got the other day.

:3 :3 :3

"Ok, I have to admit, I thought you were gonna watch your K-drama all night in your jammies," Mai snorted good-naturedly, as her purple eyes took in Teà's appearance. "But I was clearly wrong." The blonde even threw in a wolf whistle, and Teà, who just sat down across from her, blushed. She considered herself lucky that there was hardly anyone else in the bar to witness that.

The Social House was a fairly decent place to grab drinks; it was quiet, calm, and just the place for Teà to relax. And it just so happened that Teà liked the hard iced tea that they served. She might as well down a couple of those while she talked about the failure of a relationship she was no longer in.

Wearing her new shoulder light yellow dress was bound to boost her confidence a little bit. Since she paired it with her platform hot pink shoes, Teà looked more confident and ready to take on the world than she did on the inside. Hell, she even put her shoulder length hair up in a small ponytail, a look she rarely went for. But to be fair, it was the first time in a few days that she managed to make herself look presentable.

Mai, on the other hand, seemed to want an excuse to go all out; wearing a lavender mini dress that left little to the imagination and a studded pair of black boots, alongside bangled bracelets, meant that she was in the mood for a party. She was the only one of the two that seemed to enjoy putting herself on display. Not that there was anything wrong with that.

"We both know you would have dragged me here against my will," Teà replied, rolling her blue eyes in the process.

"And you would have thanked me for that," Mai threw her a playful glare in response. "Would you rather be wallowing in self-pity right now?

"It's not self-pity. It's binge watching."

"Same thing. Now tell me, do I need to buy you any more Kleenex?" Mai sure was not the queen of subtlety.

"No, you don't."

"Well, I'm not buying you popcorn, I'm telling you that." Teà had yet to tell her that she bought a whole box only so she could devour it whilst watching her favourite shows. She wasn't proud of it, but she could think of worse ways to cope with her break-up.

Teà snorted. "You don't seem to have a problem buying me drinks." She took a sip of her hard iced tea, not looking away from Mai's inquisitive gaze.

"Drinks do wonders to the soul," Mai explained, though Teà knew better than to trust her on that. Her advice usually hit the mark in terms of effectiveness, but this was not one of those times. "I'm not saying this will solve your problems, but at least you'll be able to forget what that scumbag did to you."

"I thought the whole point of this escapade was that we didn't have to talk about him," Teà replied, with an innocent expression on her face.

"Right. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Can I say though that your Harry Potter references are sorely lacking?" Clearly they do. But before she could get a word in, Mai started humming to the tune of the background music playing – Mary J. Blige's Family Affair.

Teà had to admit that it was a solid song to sing along to. But it was more entertaining to see Mai making a fool of herself singing along to it when she had multiple drinks.

"Let's have fun tonight, no fights…" Yeah, Teà should tell her that she was off-key, but she missed the part where that was her problem.

"So how's work going?" Teà cleared her throat, letting her chin rest on palm of her hand. Underneath the table, her foot was tapping in beat to Family Affair.

"Pfft." Was all what Mai said, as she stuck her tongue out.

"Really? How fascinating."

"Have I ever told you you're a smartass?"

"Multiple times."

Mai sighed, flipping her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. "I've been meaning to tell you that I quit." Teà widened her eyes in shock. Mai worked as a flight attendant for a few years, and as much as she liked the pay, she had talked about quitting for a while. Teà didn't anticipate it would be this soon. "You know, wanting to move on to better pastures, and all that jazz."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know. But I have been thinking about going to Domino. You should come with me," Mai clapped her hands together, as if she had come up with the most brilliant idea. "Before you say anything, I know you have your troupe here in New York. But just spend your break in Domino with me. It'll be fun."

The thought of going back to her hometown in Japan was tempting indeed. It would be good to have a break from all the dancing, but at the same time it was the only life Teà ever knew since moving to New York.

But would it be worth it to stay in the same city as her ex?

"It'll beat jerking off to your celebrity crushes. We can land you a hotty once we're settled in." Teà, who just happened to drink more of her iced tea, swallowed it the wrong way, and ended up in a coughing fit for the ages.

It wasn't hard to tell who was the prude between the two women. Teà appreciated that Mai was a sexually liberated feminist icon, but she would never get used to her talking about her love life like that. Of the two of them, she had less experience. She knew that Mai wanted to do something about it.

"I'm gonna pretend you didn't say that."

Mai just looked amused at this point. "You know you love me, hon. Now, what'll it be?"

"I don't know, Mai," Teà sighed, after she was certain that her coughing was finished. "I'd have to find a place to stay, I'd have to let my group know…"

"Those excuses are for the weak. You're not scared of going back, are you?"

Teà wasn't sure how she'd respond to Mai's accusation. "No, I'm not." She frowned; why would she be scared of going back? Well, she had her reasons; she hadn't visited her friends there since she left to pursue her dance career. They had their own lives and she didn't want to get in the way of that. So, she kept her distance.

"Good. We're leaving on Wednesday, so you better get packed asap."

Teà banged her head against the table a few times. Of course Mai already got the plane tickets.

She could only hope that she knew what she was getting into.