“You are wearing that to the movies?” Cade asked and she looked down at her dress and back at him. She could not deny that she was being a bit extra just to see the movies but she was always extra so there was nothing wrong with it.
“What is wrong with what I am wearing?” she asked crossing her arms across her chest and leaning on one leg.
“Too glamorous, are we attending a party or an event? Are you trying to outshine the bride?” he asked leaning on the sports car behind him.
He had taken time off work earlier than usual, the staff watched in awe as he walked away early from work. They were both sacred and joyful, afraid that it was a test and joyful that for the first time in six months since he took over the office they got to go home early. He had gone home and changed out of his usual day-to-day suit and thrown on a t-shirt and chinos. Ophelia could not deny that he looked good in those casual clothes.
“So if I dressed like this I would outshine the bride? These brides should step up their game” she said while checking her nails.
“That is not the point of this conversation, go change into something more comfortable”
“Oh my,” she tsked at him as she narrowed her eyes. “You are already trying to be controlling and commanding and we haven’t married yet,” she said.
“I am not trying to be controlling or commanding, I am just giving you some…”
“Oh please hold onto whatever it is you wanted to give me. I am uninterested in it” she said pushing herself towards the car the tail of the dress following along.
“Ophelia” he let out like it was his last breath.
“Cade don’t make me change my mind about this” she said pointing to the door.
“I only say this out of concern, that dress isn’t something you wear to the movie theatre, maybe a musical theatre but not a movie one” he continued to explain without moving from his position.
“I don’t care what you think or what anyone thinks, I only wear what I feel comfortable in and I feel comfortable in this,” she said and then pointed to the door. “Are you going to get this?”
He pushed himself off the car and walked to her, he pulled the door open and she slid in, he waited for a good second before asking. “Are you not going to take a jacket?”
“And ruin my outfit? No thanks”
He opened his mouth to say something but her expression stopped him, he turned over to the driver’s side opened the door and sat in. He turned to see that she had put on her seatbelt before he proceeded to do the same for himself.
“I already got the seatbelt, no need for you to do all those things when it’s just the two of us”
“But you made me open the door for you”
“That is not because we are pretending but because that is what a gentleman should do”
“Are you sure you don’t want to get a jacket? They said it might rain and it might be cold” he said waiting to start the ignition, she might want to go back and get her jacket just in case it rained.
“Then you give me yours”
“What?”
“If it rains you give me your jacket, boys do these things for girls all the time in the rom-com books and movies, you should at least live up to fifty percent of their standards”
“You are expecting me to act like a man from a book?”
“Yes, you are smart, graduated with honours in two masters degrees, you should be able to pull this off without any troubles”
“You researched me,” Cade asked.
“You didn’t” she countered. Were they not all the same? How was she to just blindly go to him without knowing a bit about him? “You should research me, although more of my life from five years ago is now missing on the internet but at least you might learn a bit” she said when he did not respond.
“I can’t act like the men in books”
“Oh why are you not confident you would do a good job?” she teased.
“Because, I am afraid you might actually fall for me,” he said slowly, his voice sounded serious so she was not sure if he was just trying to pull her legs or if he was serious.
“Oh please, you are not that charming, I have seen better,” she said dismissively. She had seen better but he was amongst the better set, he was truly a different breed, maybe because of his family but he was just different.
“Moreover I thought you did not believe in love”
“I do not”
“Then we have nothing to worry about, if love is truly not real then we can say that you can not woo me”
“I still can not act like your storybook boys” he said and at this point she was worried.
“Why? Can you just say the real reason?” she said getting impatient. She did not mind how he treated her because she knew the terms of their contract but she knew how the public would react to them. They needed to sell the story for both their business.
“I don’t know how they act”
“You haven’t watched romcoms or read the books?”
“Nope”
“What?” she almost screamed as if she had heard something shocking.
“Why is that shocking?”
“I don’t know, I guess it is just shocking,” she said as she tapped the dashboard. “Let’s go”
“Go where?”
“To the bookstore”
“Why?”
“To get you new books, and then to the movies to see a romcom”
“Are you serious right now?”
“Drive now”