I wake up in the morning to my phone ringing. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I sleepily answer, “Hello?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were back in town? I had to hear from one of the cashiers at the grocery store that my favorite cousin was back.” my cousin and best friend, Lila said. Although I normally tell her everything, the real reason for my trip, to find a fake boyfriend, was something that I have hidden from her. I knew that she wouldn’t have agreed to let me go on the trip nor would she approve of any fake boyfriend I bring around. Fortunately she had been out of the country on a trip of her own when I went on mine, although I forgot that she returned today. “Also, where in the world did you find that boyfriend of yours. I saw the pictures and you two look fantastic together. Does he have any brothers or cousins?”

“I got back a few days ago and I’ve been busy with house stuff and getting Chris settled in for the holidays.” I replied.

“Wait! You mean you two are living together!” Lila exclaimed. “Okay then, maybe I should’ve called to give you more of a heads up but I’m on my way to see you. I’ve got probably another 2 hours left and I was planning to stay the night so I don’t have to drive back today. I’ll just take the guest room like usual and I’ll stay out of your way.” Lila said. I could picture her already with her puppy eyes begging me to stay here for the night. 

Realizing that as usual, I was unable to say no, I replied, “You know I could never deny you, but more of a head’s up would be nice. As much as I would love to talk to you until you get here, I have a bunch of cleaning and laundry I should probably catch up on before you get here.”

“Okay, I get it. You want a little alone time before I get there. That’s okay, I’ll see you soon.” Lila says in a teasing voice before hanging up. 

Quickly getting up and getting dressed, I immediately go into the kitchen to find Chris. He was standing there in apron and sweatpants, and I stopped for a second to admire the view. “Everything okay?” he asks as he looks at me. 

“Not really,” I reply before giving him a brief overview of my conversation with my cousin. “She knows that you are staying here with me, but she thinks that we are a real couple and therefore, probably sharing a room. Plus, since she thinks that we are actually dating, we need to be able to put on an act that we are actually a loving couple. In addition to that, we need to get all of your stuff out of the guest room and the sheets cleaned so that there is no evidence that you have been in there.” I could feel myself getting more stressed as I thought of all of the ways that this could go wrong. 

Wrapping his arms around me in a hug, he says, “Let’s eat a quick breakfast first and then I  will help you make sure that we get everything done in time.”

After eating breakfast the two of us go into the guest room. I have him start to move all of his belongings to my room as I work on stripping the linens off of the bed and getting them in the washing machine. I run the vacuum and use some air freshener to cover up his smell. Wiping down the nightstands, I make sure to double check for anything he may have left behind. Finding nothing, I turn to tell him to start on cleaning the dresser as I grab some fresh linens for the bed. With an hour to spare the guest bedroom had been thoroughly cleaned and all evidence of him staying in there was gone. 

Switching the laundry we head into my room to tackle the mess in there. Knowing that my cousin was likely to come into my room at some point while she was here, I realized that it would be best to have his stuff at least somewhat put away. Making some room in the closet, I helped him hang some of his things and then we put away the rest in one of my empty dresser drawers. Storing his empty suitcase in the closet, I turn to him, “Okay, we should probably go over a few things before my cousin gets here. First, as far as she knows we are a real couple living together. We are going to have to make sure that we do everything we can to look like a convincing real couple. She is really good about reading me and will be able to tell that I’m lying much more easily than the rest of the family so if we can convince her, we should be in the clear for the rest of the family. Second, you’ll have to sleep in here with me. If she sees you or me on the couch, she is going to suspect something. Third, she is either going to be very critical of you or she is going to love you, and there is no in between…”

Before I could continue rambling, he interrupts me saying “Everything’s going to be okay. We are in this together and I don’t plan on messing anything up at this point in the game. Besides at this point, neither of us can say that we don’t have feelings for each other, so as far as I’m concerned this is more real now that it is fake, so acting like a couple shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Looking up at him, I take a few steps over to him and wrap my arms around him in a hug. Feeling much better about everything, I decided to let him take the lead for our “fake relationship” and do my best to follow along. Just then, I hear the doorbell ring. Pulling away from him, the two of us head towards the front door. As I open the door, Lila is a blur as she practically throws herself at me. Ever since we were young, she has always greeted me by launching herself at me and she doesn’t seem to plan to stop anytime soon. Fortunately I had braced myself and immediately wrapped my arms around her to keep the two of us from falling on the floor. 

“Are you okay?” I immediately hear Chris ask with worry evident in his tone. At the sound of his voice, Lila immediately slides down to the floor and takes a step back so that she could look up at him more easily. As soon as she had moved away from me, I could feel his presence at my back and I reached back to grab his hand as I made introductions. “Lila this is Chris, my boyfriend and Chris this is Lila, my best friend and cousin.”

Lila looks at the both of us before saying, “It is nice to meet you, although I expected my cousin to tell me about you before I find you in her house.” As she walks past us into the house, she asks, “How long have you guys been together?”

Fortunately as we were cleaning earlier, we came up with a story of how we met, so that if we were asked, we would be able to give the same answer. Chris said, “It hasn’t been long but it was love at first sight. We met when we were both out on trips and we spent a bit of time enjoying restaurants and just being tourists together.”

Noticing the frown that had adorned Lila’s face, I added, “He picked out the best restaurants for us to try out and we went to a fantastic art museum. Plus he makes his own carvings. Anyway, I convinced him to come back with me and he has been cooking some of the best food I have ever had.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Lila says with a stern look on her face. Despite the indifference in her words, her expression was starting to show that she was warming up to Chris. However, realizing that Chris may feel awkward, I decided to give him an opportunity to leave the conversation. 

“Chris, do you mind giving us a chance to catch up for a bit?” I asked, looking up at him. 

Smiling, he gently squeezed my hand before saying, “Sure, I should probably go spend some time at the gym anyway. I haven’t been doing my normal workouts recently. I’m just going to go change clothes and then I’ll be out of your way.”

“Thank you,” I responded before turning back to look at Lila. 

“Wow, I can’t believe you actually found someone you like.” she said with a smile on her face. “Or do you think you love him already?” As a blush covered my face, she continued, “I guess you probably do… he seems to love you too. So, I'll support you guys for now, but if he ever tries anything…” she trails off as her expression darkens. 

“There is no need for any of that. Chris really is a good guy and he treats me well. I just wish you wouldn’t be so hard on him. I’m sure you’ve already scared him.” I finish my sentence just as he enters the room. 

“Thanks for sticking up for me,” he says as a smile makes its way onto his face. He had gotten dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt which is more casual than he normally wears but still looked good on him nonetheless. “I’ll see you soon,” he says as he comes over to me. 

Before I could stand, he bends down and whispers into my ear, “This should be convincing enough. At first I was surprised, but I realized that he purposefully blocked her view with his body so that it would look like we kissed. As he pulled away, I felt a wave of disappointment hit me as I thought about what kissing him would actually be like. 

After he left for the gym, Lila and I resumed our conversations and caught each other up on everything that has happened since we saw each other last. We exchanged stories and pictures from our trips and I was able to answer all of her questions about my relationship with Chris without revealing that it started off fake. By the time that Chris arrived back home, I could tell that I had fully convinced her that he could be good for me. 

As he gets back, I go to the door to greet him. To my surprise, Lila apologizes for the way that she treated him when she first got here. To no one’s surprise, he quickly excuses himself to take a shower since he was still covered in sweat, likely from jogging home. As he showers, I decide to go into the kitchen and start making something for lunch. Lila joins me and we finish making everything just as Chris walks into the kitchen. 

Hearing a small shriek, I turn to Lila to find her staring at the doorway that Chris just walked through. Realizing that I didn’t need to look at the doorway to know it was him, I realized that I could recognize him by his footsteps as well. Turning to see what the fuss was about, I could see that he looked even more handsome than usual and he was shirtless. His hair was still wet and dripping small drops of water down his forehead as I saw him walking towards me. Despite the false smile he had plastered on his face, I could tell that something was wrong. 

Immediately opening my arms, I pulled him close to me and could hear his shallow and ragged breathing in my ear and he buried his face into my neck. Trying not to let Lila see the concern that covers my face, I hid my face in his shoulder. 

“Go get a room!” Lila exclaims before mumbling, “I just wanted to eat my lunch in peace.”

Deciding that going to my room is probably the best idea, I quickly shot Lila a quick smile before saying, “We’re going, do you mind covering ours up for later?” Without waiting for her answer, I quickly lead him to my room and close the door behind us. Once again, he clings to me. 

“Do you want to talk about anything or do you just want to cuddle for a bit?” I ask him.

“Can we just cuddle?” he says emotion evident in his voice. 

Leading him over to the bed, we climb in and get comfortable. Before long, I could hear his breathing even out and knew that he was asleep already. Tucking him in, I head back out into the living room to find Lila on the couch scrolling on the TV. 

“Finally, I was beginning to think that you two would be in there until morning.” she says before looking behind me. “Where is Chris?”

“He hasn’t been feeling well, I think that workout might have done him more harm than good. He seemed to be doing better, but all of a sudden he got worse.” I replied. Although I was bending the truth a little, nothing I said was truly a lie. I couldn’t help the curiosity about what is causing him to struggle so much, but I had promised myself that I wouldn’t pry. 

Lila looks over at me and says, “Cheer up, he won’t be sick forever. What do you say we heat up your lunch, grab some snacks and get a movie going?”

Before I knew it, we had watched several movies and eaten all the snacks we pulled out. I hadn’t even realized how late it was until I heard Chris come into the living room. Looking up, I could see that he was still shirtless, but he looked more disheveled than he had earlier. I immediately went over to him and he once again clung to me. Looking at the time, I saw that it was already 10 PM. I look over at Lila on the couch and say, “Goodnight, I think we are going to head to bed, don’t forget to turn off the TV before you go to sleep.” 

After hearing her goodnight, Chris and I return to my room, where we silently curl up together in bed. Within minutes, he was once again sound asleep. In my case, I was not so lucky and found myself up for several more hours, thinking of the possible reasons that he was acting so differently.