Michelle
"Yes, we're done," Nate told his mother on the phone.
"We saw one. It has three bedrooms," he continued.
"Yes, it's within my budget," I continued to eavesdrop on one side of his conversation.
His mom continued talking for quite some time.
"Um, sure. I'll ask her," he finally said.
He turned to me and asked, "Do you have plans for dinner?"
I shook my head.
"Dinner with my parents?" he asked.
"Why?" I mouthed.
"I'll explain later," he mouthed in return.
"Sure, why not," I replied.
"Yes, she'd love to," he replied to his mother.
His mother said a few more things.
"Okay, we'll see you later. Bye!" he said before hanging up.
"So why are your parents inviting me to dinner?" I asked.
"Oh, because they still think that you're my girlfriend," he replied casually. "And we just spent the afternoon looking at condos."
Wait, wait, wait. "What?" I reacted quite loudly, luckily we are in his car and nobody else could have heard me.
"My grandmother's thingy?" he reminded.
"That's a one time thing," I replied. "And that's a while ago. I mean haven't you introduced them to Tia since then? You know, as your actual girlfriend?"
"Actually, no," he answered.
"Is this dinner where you'd, I don't know, come clean?" I asked. "And haven't Tia met your parents? Or even your mom?"
He shook his head.
Back when we were in college, Nate's mom was always in the car when he dropped me home. His mother wasn't even the one driving. They have a driver, and Nate would sit in the passenger seat, while his mom and I sat at the back.
And he's saying that Tia never even met his mother? How is that fair?
"But you've been dating officially for a while now. I mean, you are buying a condo near her office. You're one step from asking her to move in with you. Or more..." I trailed as some other thought clicked in my head. "I can't meet your parents. They'd think that I'm the one you plan to..." I am honestly a little freaked out.
While he still look so calm and collected.
"Are they going to evaluate me as see if I check off their future in law requirements list?" I continued.
He just laughed.
"You are actually kind of cute in that freak out state," he said with an eyebrow raised.
"Ha," I replied.
"You don't have to worry about a thing," he claimed. "Because one, you're not my girlfriend. And two, you do check off their... what was it again? Future in law requirements list?"
"But one, I'm not your girlfriend. So why are we continuing this fake relationship thing?"
He considered it for a long while. Too long while, it's seriously unnerving.
"Because I'm not ready to tell them about Tia," he finally said. "And it's not such a big deal, really, Mich."
"Not a big deal?"
"This is not my first rodeo," he added.
"Yah, you're grandmother's thingy was the first time. And we got through that unscathed because I'm so charming with relatives. But this, this dinner is different-"
"That's not the first time," he interrupted me.
"Oh, wow, so it's just something you do, huh," I replied. "Who with? And why?"
"Tia. And Dan," he replied succinctly.
"What?" I exclaimed once again. "I thought you were just unofficial then."
"It was unofficial, because it wasn't real," he answered. "It was just to get Dan off her back."
"It wasn't real?" I asked. Seriously, Nate and Tia are really shocking me. I had no idea they'd be capable of such little deceits. "Fooled me," I replied.
"It was meant to," he replied.
But, wait, wait, wait. Tia had a crush on Nate since forever. So, even though it was pegged as a fake relationship for Nate... But does Nate know that? He must've. I mean, she was pretty obvious... This is too much.
"You guys had couple rings and everything," I said instead.
He just nodded.
"Whose idea was it?" I asked.
"Tia," he replied.
Of course, it was Tia's idea. That little- I suddenly feel like giving her a round of applause. She exceeded my expectations of her.
"And you just went along with it?" I asked.
"It worked, didn't it?" he replied.
"So what game are you playing at now?" I asked instead. "Do we just keep on pretending to be a couple? You do see how wrong this is, right?"
"I do," he replied. "Think of this as the lesser evil," he said.
"Lesser evil? Because I check off your parents list and Tia don't?"
He nodded.
"Is that something you plan to do something about?" I asked.
"Not tonight," he replied, as we neared our destination- his house. "Thank you, Mich, this really means a lot."
"I can't believe I agreed in the first place," I answered.
"Well, you did. And we're here."
Nathaniel
Mich is not taking this confession well. And it's actually kind of funny to watch.
I can see the cogs turning in her head. She's trying to work out a timeline, I'm sure.
She's trying to figure out if I was still in love with her when I was fake dating Tia. I was.
She's trying to figure out if I knew that Tia had a crush on me then. I knew.
She's trying to figure out why I had gone along with it. Despite all those confirmations.
Well, mostly because I thought Dan was a douche. He was our professor for God's sake. He has no business trying to court his student. Especially not Tia.
I may not have loved Tia then in the way I love her now. But I do care about her, and I would have done anything she asked. And I have.
Mich is just trying quite hard to grasp that concept.
I would still do everything for Tia now. And the best thing for Tia right now is to avoid meeting my parents for as long as possible. Because like my relatives, they are just as racist, elitist and tactless about it.
As suspected, Mich is perfect around my parents. My mother have always approved of her, she said as much the first time she met Mich all those years ago.
"You want to meet my parents?" I heard Mich clarify my mother's question. She looked subtly at me, before replying flawlessly, "They're out of the country." I know her father is actually out of the country, so it's not a complete lie.
"When are they coming back?" my mother asked.
"My dad is not really based here," she replied. "And my mom visits him every few months."
"So you've been living alone this whole time?"
"It's ironic actually. I moved back home, yet there's nobody there," she answered honestly.
My mother nodded, then said, "You should have dinner with us more often then. It must be lonely to be in that house all by yourself."
Actually, Mich had been spending a lot of time at our house before Tia and I got together. She just comes after my parents have left and leaves before they come home.
"That's okay, I mostly eat at the office to wait out the traffic," she replied. "Uber surcharge and all," she added.
"Uber?" my mother asked, something is clicking in her head as she looked at me.
I had been coming home promptly for dinner ever since I stopped dropping Mich off.
Mich suddenly realized her mistake.
"Work has also been quite busy lately, so I tend to overtime," she added. "I couldn't make Nate wait for me that long."
"Well, Nate you must get that condo soon then," my mother said. "Then Michelle can just stay there. You mustn't commute so late at night. Even Ubers are not safe."
My parents are actually quite open and accepting about the whole potential live in situation. Well actually, they would probably ask me when I plan to propose to Mich after this dinner. They probably think, why else would I want to buy a condo? If I'm not that serious about this relationship.
I am actually that serious about my relationship. With Tia.
Boy, will they be surprised.
"Yes, of course. ASAP," I replied.
Michelle
I punched Nate's arm as soon as we got in his car. Huh, his biceps are actually quite hard. Tia had joked about him working out for his caterpillar to butterfly moment a few months ago.
"That worked out perfectly," was his reply.
"Really?" I asked.
"Lesser evil," he reminded.
"So what now?" I asked. "Are you that serious about Tia?"
"You mean have I bought an engagement ring?"
"Whoa, not so fast. You haven't been dating that long."
"I can see myself spending the rest of my life with her," he replied. "She's the one," he added.
"That escalated quickly," I commented. "You just told her that you love her. And she didn't even say it back. And then you're buying a condo and planning on proposing... Shouldn't you take a step back and look at the situation a bit more clearly?"
"Are you against it?" he asked.
"You think?" I asked sarcastically.
"Fine, I'll slow down."
"Good, now drive me home," I instructed. "And when you get back home. Tell your parents we broke up, because you realized that it was Tia that you loved the whole time."
"Ha," he replied, imitating me.