"Hey, girly," Troy said after you picked up the phone.
"Oh god," you said.
"What?"
"You only ever call me girly when you need a favour." You sighed. "What is it?"
"Okay, uhm—don't be mad at me," he said.
"Don't give me a reason to be mad."
"Okay." Troy cleared his throat. "You remember that guy from the dating convention?"
"The sexy man?" You said sarcastically.
"Yeah." Troy let out a nervous laugh. "Okay, apparently he's also not out to his parents, so for us to go out on a date he wants me to bring a friend to make it look like it's just a few friends going out together."
"Okay, that doesn't seem too b–"
"He's bringing one of his friends so it's like a double date. Be there at eight tonight. I'll send you the location. Okay, bye."
"Wait, hold on. What?" You exclaimed.
"I know and I'm really sorry, but can you please do this for me?" Troy said. "You know, I can actually see myself committing to this guy."
"That's bullshit," you said. "We both know you're just looking to get fucked."
Troy sighed. "Maybe, but please?"
"If I recall, Troy Buckley, you told me that if you ever decide to talk to a man instead of me, I would get to use your credit card for a day."
"You bitch." Troy laughed.
"It's only fair," you said as you walked into the kitchen.
"So, you're telling me that if I give you my credit card for a whole day, you'll go on a double date with me?"
"Yes," you said. "Although, I do want a picture of the guy."
"I'll send it."
"Okay, I'll be there at eight," you said and sat down at the table next to your mum. "Love you."
"Love you too." He hung up the phone.
You turned to your mother who was scrolling through her phone. It was pretty early in the morning and you had to go to work in thirty minutes, but your parents weren't moving to get to their own jobs. The cafe was a ten minute walk away and they were supposed to open it half an hour ago.
"Okay, mum, you and dad should probably start heading to the–" You stopped as you saw what article your mother was scrolling through. You snatched the phone from her hand and read the title. Kylo Ren spotted exiting his car with a mysterious woman outside Le Bernardin. You zoomed into the picture and sure enough, it was you and Mr Ren. You could've thrown up at that moment. "Why are you reading this?"
"I was just curious," she said.
You had to contain yourself. You couldn't let your mother see how panicked you were. "Well, you shouldn't read nonsense like this when you have work. Now, come on."
"You've never cared about what articles I read," your mum said with a smirk on her face. "You like Kylo Ren. Don't you?"
"What? How did you even reach that conclusion?" You scoffed, but she was still smiling at you. "No. Ew. He's my boss." You helped your mother out of her chair. "I can walk with you to the cafe and then I'll take the bus."
"No wonder why you spend so much time watching his interviews," she said. "It's okay to have a crush, love."
"Mum, I promise you I do not have a crush on my boss. Now, let's get going"
****
"Guess what?" Coraline, your coworker said.
You hummed as you focused on drawing another letter from the new font you were creating. You worked with five people, including your team coordinator, and Coraline was the most popular one out of all the group. Everyone enjoyed her company.
"I was just randomly assigned two tasks that are due in two days." She sat down in her chair. "What company do we work in again?"
You looked up from your tablet. You knew those were supposed to be your tasks, but you did not want your coworker to find out as you knew she would resent you. "Ren Industries," you said with a small smile.
"Exactly," she said. "Never ever in my six years of working at Ren Industries have I ever been given a task on such short notice."
"Maybe Emily forgot about it?"
"Emily's an elephant," she said and you raised an eyebrow. "No, not like that. She never forgets. She's very punctual."
"Then I don't know." You shrugged.
"I think I do." She nodded with an ambitious look on her face.
"Oh?" You were slightly concerned.
"It's that mystery girl Mr Ren is dating." She leaned back in her chair and rested her head on her hands as she raised her arms, impressed with herself.
"W-what girl?" You scratched the back of your neck and directed your attention back to the tablet.
"Oh, she's stunning. She's the girl Mr Ren went out with last Saturday."
"Really?" You said half-assedly.
"What are you two talking about?" Emily walked into the room.
"The new girl Mr Ren is dating," Coraline said. "I think she's the reason work has been so chaotic recently."
"It hasn't been chaotic for me," you said as you drew another letter.
"You know, I actually agree with you," Emily said, nodding at Coraline. "I keep getting assigned random projects that are due for only a few days after. I always panic whenever I get an email now."
"Me too!" Coraline exclaimed. "He's probably been so distracted with his new girlfriend that he can't arrange his projects well."
Or the stress of having to lie to his parents and everyone around him about having a girlfriend is the reason, you thought. You felt your phone buzz only to see that Troy had sent you a photo. You unlocked your phone and you were shocked. It was a picture of the guy you were seeing tonight. He had short black hair and dark skin which complimented each other perfectly, his jawline was sharp and prominent, and his eyes were a beautiful shade of gold. You let out a silent gasp as you ogled his photo. He was laughing as he hugged his golden retriever.
"Who is that?" Emily said as she loomed over you.
"Oh, no one." You were about to turn off your phone, but Emily took the phone out of your hand and ran towards Coraline, showing her the picture.
"Oh my." Coraline gasped. "That's a whole damn snack right there."
"Snack? Honey, that's a meal." Emily laughed.
You ran towards them and snatched your phone out of your team coordinator's hand, turning it off and shoving it into your pocket.
"Are you going out with him?" Emily said.
Coraline scoffed. "Please, there's no way she could go out with a guy like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" You said as you crossed your arms.
"No offence, but I feel like you would go for someone more in your league."
You raised your eyebrows. "I actually am going out with him. Tonight."
"Oh," Coraline said, the sound of shock present in the tone of her voice. "Well, good for you then."
"Well, I think you can get anyone you like," Emily said condescendingly.
You nodded with a fake smile and walked back to your seat, sighing as you collapsed onto your chair.
****
Old man: Our next date will be on Sunday. We're going horseback riding. Be dressed appropriately.
"Fuck," you muttered under your breath. That message had to have been the worst case of rich people's hobbies you'd ever heard.
"Anything wrong?" You looked up from your phone to see your date. You were struggling to form a sentence as you slowly began to realise... he was just as attractive as his picture. Maybe even a little bit more.