Fake It Till We Make It

05

"You need to chill, Ate." My sister Naomi told me later at the reception, during a break in the program. Ian had excused himself to go to the dessert table, and I took that time to do some breathing exercises to calm my nerves.

Naomi was one of two people who knew about the fake relationship, with the second one being our dad. They jumped on the plan as soon as we told them about it, with my sister helping our friends provide proof of the relationship, and my dad talked to Ian as if he was actually dating me.

"You look like you're being caught off guard every time someone talks to the two of you," Naomi continued, lowering her voice so no one would overhear. "Just act natural."

Easy for her to say. I've attended a lot of weddings in our clan, but I've always enjoyed some sort of obscurity then. But today, it felt like I was getting more attention than the newlyweds, thanks to my "relationship status." As soon as I entered the reception, my aunts swooped in and started asking me questions.

Ruth, I heard you have a boyfriend now! Tell me about him!

Where is he? Can we meet him?

How long have you been together?

How did you meet?

Now that you've found him, you should get married soon. We should start planning your wedding before you are out of the calendar!

That last bit was from the mother of the bride.

I had been trying to keep feelings of guilt at bay for lying to my family, and I had briefly considered telling them the truth then and there. Thankfully, Ian appeared a few seconds later and sensing my alarm, he immediately fell into his role. With his arm around me to keep me still, he introduced himself and candidly answered their questions as if they weren't invasive at all. He remembered all the things we talked about and even added a little bit more detail. His grip on my shoulder was gentle and reassuring, his thumb drawing lazy circles on my skin, making me relaxed enough to help him answer. By the time the program was about to start, I could see in my relatives' eyes that they had all fallen in love with Ian.

"But I don't know how to act natural," I whined. "I don't even know how to be a girlfriend!"

"And you think we all knew when we got our first relationships?" she replied with a laugh. "Newsflash – it's different every time, so there's always a relationship learning curve. And this is yours. Kind of. You two look really good together, and everyone believes you. If I didn't know the truth, even I would've thought that you two were the real thing."

A shadow fell over us, and I grabbed Naomi's hand, alarmed. But it was only Ian, carrying another plate with a huge slice of cake.

"Hey, they're serving the wedding cake now," he said, setting the plate on the table. "Tita Ester was there, too, I think she gave me too much so I'll share it with you guys?"

Naomi snorted, then gave me a meaningful look before she shoveled cake into her mouth.

"Hi everyone, break's done. I hope you're all enjoying your cake," the host, our cousin Oliver, was back in front. "We're now almost at the end of the reception, and I know you're all excited about the same-day edit video."

He gestured to the video guys working on the right, one of them our friend Joseph, who I had recommended after doing some work with us recently. The guests applauded, with Phoebe and Ethan, her new husband, raising a glass of wine to them.

"But before that, there's still one more thing in the program," Samantha, the groom's sister, said, with a huge grin. Her eyes scanned the crowd, but Oliver was already looking in our direction. He nudged her, and her grin widened when she looked at us.