Fake Fiancée

Chapter 16: Tension & Confessions

After Henry had told everything, it had been a bit of a mess. Ok, well that was an understatement. It turned out Arianne knew her husband had been cheating on her. A good friend of hers from Rafferty’s company had heard he had been with his secretary and told Arianne.

Rafferty's face had been priceless when he found out. He had denied everything and accused Henry of trying to ruin his ‘perfect’ marriage. I had snorted at that. He called a perfect marriage based on lies? Talk about deluded.

April had been horrified that her father would have hurt her to keep his secret and now wouldn’t go anywhere near Rafferty, while Arianne had decided she needed some time to think, and had gone up to her bedroom. Steve had said he was going to make sure she was OK, which had made Rafferty turn into a red-faced bull. He ended up driving off somewhere. I had hoped he ended driving off a cliff somewhere.

He had ended up coming back home at three in the morning when we had all been asleep. I remembered how I had woken up – a loud high pitched scream had woke me from my deep slumber. The bed I was sleeping on had shifted and I had realised it was Henry, jumping out of bed and bolting out of the room. I had followed and heard Henry yelling, calling his father a bastard. As I rushed into the room, I saw a beautiful sight: Henry had just socked his father in the nose. Sweet payback.

Rafferty had come back home and Arianne had told him she wanted a divorce, making Rafferty turn into more than just a red-faced bull. Plus, he had been drunk and alcohol always makes things worse. People don't think straight, get depressed, high or aggresive and end up doing something they regret. That was why I never touched alcohol.

Rafferty had punched her in the jaw and that had been when Steve and Henry burst into the room. Steve had comforted a whimpering Arianne while Henry was letting out all of his anger onto his father.

Henry had called the cops to take Rafferty to the station after he had blacked out. The next day, Arianne and Henry had paid a visit to the station to give their statements and take a photo of Arianne’s bruise as evidence of domestic violence. The rest of the day we just spent hanging out at home eating ice cream and watching movies, which was April's idea. Even Henry and Steve participated, although they felt like complete idiots. Henry had said to live life, aka party all night, and not to stay at home watching chick flicks like girls. Well who could blame us? We were girls.

Right now it was Friday morning, the day we were flying out to Curacao for Henry’s filming and the day Rafferty and Arianne were supposed to be celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. Not much of a celebration when the husband is in jail and the wife wants a divorce. I really couldn't believe we were leaving though. It had been such a short stay!

“I can’t believe you get a holiday while I’m stuck at UCLA.” April grumbled as she gave me a hug.

“It’s not exactly a holiday,” Henry said wryly. “For me it’s work.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and then went to give him a hug too. Steve and Arianne then came into view, standing in the doorframe on the other side of the foyer. While April and Henry joked around about something, I tuned into Steve and Arianne’s conversation, feeling a bit shameful that I was eavesdropping.

“Have fun Steve,” Arianne said softly, her smile highlighting the small dimple in her cheek.

“Bye Arianne,” Steve said, giving her a smile too. “And remember, don’t stress yourself out. You have a habit of doing that.”

Arianne’s lips twitched. “Well I seem to remember you being absolutely lazy, so you should make sure you’re working hard. Remember how you practically made me write half of your English essay for you? In junior year?”