Danny and I are in the car on the way to the party, I'm rather nervous but trying not to show it. What if I drink too much and forget our 'dating' facts, or worse, what if I drink too much and tell people the truth?! Oh god, maybe I won't drink at all?
"I can hear you thinking Harley, stop spiralling. It's going to be fine." Danny's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.
"You know, you scrub up well, Danny boy. . . For a guy" I say, smiling at him. He's wearing a tailored navy suit with a waistcoat, red tie, brown leather belt, and brown brogues to finish it off.
"You don't look so bad yourself Har" he chuckles out, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards slightly. I tug the end of my red dress down a little. I'm usually OK with wearing a dress, maybe feeling a little uncomfortable, but this one, this one is a simple red dress (to match Danny's tie, of course), but its short, or at least short for me. If it stops before my knees, I feel uncomfortable wearing it, and this one certainly does.
As I look up, I see Hyde park as we're about to turn in the opposite direction into the Four Seasons, our hotel for the night.
"Shotgun on the bed!" I shout as we enter the room.
"What? That's not fair. You're the plus 1, I'm the main guest, you get the sofa, loser." Danny says as he's smirking at me.
"For real? I mean, that could work, I guess. I guess the real question here is, how much do you want a pretend girlfriend tonight? You see, if i know I'm having to sleep on an uncomfortable sofa tonight, I might get distracted from the task at hand, thinking about how cold i could be, or how my back might hurt on it. . . . With all these new, important thoughts taking up valuable space in my head, i may forget I'm your fake girlfriend. Now that would be disastrous, wouldn't it? I'm sure you don't want that? Right?" I say with a small fake pout as I let myself fall backwards onto the bed, knowing I've won this round.
"OK, are we ready to go, baby?" I cringe at the term of endearment coming out of his mouth. "All ready, sugarplum." I deadpan. He stops halfway out the door and looks at me. "Sugarplum? Are you serious right now?" I giggle at him and push his chest. "I thought we were trying to call each other things that will make us cringe? How about I won't call you sugarplum ever again? If you NEVER call me baby again, it's too much. You can have darling, sweetheart, gorgeous but never baby."
"Yeah, it felt wrong saying it." He shrugs, a small smile playing on his lips."Shall we darling?" He asks, holding his arm out for me."we shall kind, sir." I reply playfully, taking his arm and squeezing it as we make our way to the car.
We stop by the doors as we enter the room. "Holy shit" I mumble to myself. A cast party he told me, how many people are in the cast? There has to be over 100 people here. What the hell.
Danny looks over at me with a sheepish grin. "I knew if I told you, you'd freak out." He says, as if reading my mind. "Drinks are on me all night," he smiles, leading me over to the bar.
"You're damn right they are, honey." I say with a bit of a bite and a sarcastic grin.
I take a moment to take in the room as he flags the barman over to order some drinks, there are a lot of people here, and I don't do too well with big groups of people. 1 on 1s make me nervous, but so do large group settings. It'll be fine, I decide, you have your 'boyfriend' here, he won't leave you alone. I let a lazy smile grace my face as a chuckle lightly at my own thoughts. "Here you go, sweetheart." Danny says, sliding 2 shots and a kiwi and lime old mout my way. "1 shot to get you prepared to be my girlfriend all night." He says, wiggling his eyebrows. Clinking our glasses together, he throws his head back as his face grimaces as the rosé tequila slides down his throat. I mean, who even buys rosé tequila on purpose?
"And 1 shot to calm your nerves, I know there's a lot of people here." He says softly as he wraps his hand around my shoulder in a side hug. I give him a loving smile as we both do the last shot.
"Now that's over with. Here's to a great night, I guess." I say as I clink my cider with his beer bottle and take a swig. Just as I'm about to swallow, I look over Danny's shoulder and lock eyes with a familiar looking face as she makes her way over to us, a soft smile gracing her lips as her eyes dart from me to Danny and back again. I furrow my eyebrows for a second, trying to work out why I recognise her, just as I swallow, my brain catches up and makes the connection as my eyes widen 'Elizabeth Olsen' it screams at me, causing me to take a sharp breath in at the same time as swallowing. If you've ever done this, you know only 1 thing happens from here. . . . the inevitable coughing fit ensues.
"You're meant to swallow it Har, not breathe it in, Jesus christ." He says whilst laughing at me and hitting my back for me, trying to help dislodge the cider from my lungs.
I just about manage to stop coughing and spluttering when I hear a silky voice float over from beside Danny.
"Oh dear, what are you doing to the poor girl Danny? Are you're terrible chat up lines causing her to fake death just to get away from you?" She sasses him whilst eyeing me. The surprise is evident on his face as his eyebrows raise as he takes a nervous glance at me as he turns to his side. "Elizabeth, how nice to see you again!" He says, smiling. "I didn't know you'd be here tonight, you know, as you're not actually part of the cast or crew." He says as he gives her a warm hug. "Well Danny, when my date told me you'd promised to bring your girlfriend tonight, I couldn't turn down the opportunity of meeting her, you know, see if she's real and all." She says as she takes a sip of her drink, the smirk she's trying not so hard to hide very evident on her face as she shoots me a look and a wink.
Oh god, I wish she'd stop looking at me like that. It's making me nervous. It's like she's telling me she knows I'm not really his girlfriend, like she's challenging me to prove her wrong. God, I'm going to need more shots to get through this.
"Oh, of course, how rude of me. Elizabeth, meet my girlfriend Harley, Harley. This is Elizabeth." He says, pointing between us both as he snakes his arm around my waist, pulling me to his side.
"It's nice to meet you, Elizabeth." I say shyly. For God's sake, Harley, what are you doing? Be confident. She's just a woman. Yeah, a woman you're trying to deceive, along with every other person at this party. Oh, shut up, brain. . . . Great, I've been here less than 30 minutes, and I'm arguing with myself already, I huff at myself.
"Oh, please darling, call me Lizzie." She says, extending her hand out to me with a 'butter wouldn't melt' look on her face. I know better though, one look in her eyes and I can see it, she doesn't believe our little story. Why did I, someone with no acting skills, think I could deceive professional actors? What kind of stupid am I? Oh yeah, that's right, drunk stupid.
"Hey, why does she get to call you Lizzie, but I have to call you Elizabeth? That's not fair?" Danny says with a playful glint in his eye.
She scoffs and looks him up and down.
"Life isn't fair, Danny. Get used to it." Her eyes drift back to me, wait, no, they're looking behind me. Before I can turn around to see what she's looking at, I hear somebody chuckle, and a slightly deeper voice raps close to my ear. "So, you're the girlfriend we've been hearing about on set all the time then? This one sounds smitten."
Shivers, thats the only way I can describe it, shivers straight down my spine, I haven't even seen her, I don't even know who she is, but that voice is heaven, and the way i can feel her hot breath on my neck. Oh god, get a hold of yourself, woman. i scold myself. I can feel the blush rush to my cheeks, and by the looks of it, Danny can see it, too. He tilts his head, furrowing his brows with the edge of his mouth tugging upwards slightly. An amused look on his face, he knows what that look means. He's seen it enough times in clubs to understand it. Then suddenly, as if he just remembered i'm supposed to be his girlfriend, he moves towards me, taking my hand. "Oh sweetheart, you know I'm smitten with you, no need to get all embarrassed about it." He coos, saving my blushing ass and his in front of these 2 intimidating women. He steps forward again to kiss my cheek. It takes everything in me not to wipe my cheek where he just kissed it, as I try my best to give him a loving look and a shy smile. I hope I pulled it off.
The owner of the voice that gave me shivers moves from behind me, stepping beside me instead, causing me to tense slightly. I refuse to look around just yet, but I catch Elizabeth giving me a weird look. I try to relax my body as much as possible as I pull Danny to my side.
"Anyway, Scarlett, this is my girlfriend Harley, Harley. This is Scarlett. She actually is a part of the cast, unlike someone." He introduces us whilst side eyeing Elizabeth, who just holds her hands up whilst chuckling.
I finally turn to my side, taking in Scarlett. As my eyes meet hers, I freeze. They're green, beautifully green, forest green. They look so shiny and warm, the deepest pools of green I've ever seen, I could look at them forever and never get bored.
I'm pulled out of my thoughts when I feel a finger poke me in the rib, making me squirm slightly. I snap my head around and glare at Danny, who widens his eyes at me, subtly nodding his head at Scarlett. I just ignored Scarlett completely. . . . Shit.
"Oh, um, hi Scarlett, it's a pleasure to meet you." I say, sticking my hand out as I turn around to look at her again. She's smirking. She's smirking a lot. She looks at me, then Danny, then my hand. As her eyes slowly return to my face, I can feel the heat in my cheeks start to rise again. Not now, cheeks, come on, give me a break here.
"Nonsense darling." She says as she pulls me into a hug. I stand there awkwardly, hand still out straight, going past her waist, my arm slightly brushing her side from where she initiated the hug. I awkwardly pat her back a couple of times as I pull away, mumbling my apologies. "Sorry, I don't really do hugs, I find them very awkward, sorry."
She looks at me with a guilty look across her face, which is quickly replaced with a sheepish grin. "No, I'm sorry, I should've asked first, I'm just a hugger, is all." At least it gives me a believable excuse for the blush, I think.
Danny slides his arm around my waist, pulling me in as the 3 of them start talking and laughing about things they've done on set, nad how Danny and i met. I zone out from their conversation as I scan the room some more.
"I'm going to grab another drink. Would anyone like another?" I ask. Both Lizzie and Scarlett politely decline the offer.
"Can you get me another beer, please, babe? Here, take my card, we agreed that all drinks were on me tonight." He grins, handing me his card, whispering in my ear that I can get some shots for myself if I want. I chuckle at that, I was getting shots regardless. This girlfriend gig was harder than it seemed. I sigh as I make my way back over to the bar.