“Can I get a glass of water?” I asked politely. Rachel squeezed me around my waist gently and nodded, then let go.

“Let me show you through to the kitchen” she said to me. We smiled to her family and I followed her through the door, into a white marble kitchen.

As soon as the door was closed I grabbed her shoulder and spun her round, lowering my voice to a whisper-yell.

“What the hell was that?”

“I'm sorry, I panicked” she said, lacing her fingers together in a pleading gesture.

“You just told your family I was your girlfriend! What am I supposed to do about that? I'm not gay!” I squeaked. She bit her lip.

“Just pretend?” I gave her a look. “Okay, I'm sorry, I am. It slipped out, but can you just go along with it, just for this dinner. We can't walk out there and say 'Hey just kidding!'”

“That's exactly what we can do” I said, turning towards the door but Rachel grabbed my wrist and wouldn't let me go.

“Please, Jasey. Please. At some point we can pretend to break up because you realised you're straight. But just for tonight...please. At least this way it'll get my mom off my back about finding someone,” she cupped my hands in hers. Usually this friendly gesture wouldn't have phased me, but suddenly now her family thought I was her girlfriend I became hyper aware of how all our actions would comes across to them. “Just think of it as a character. An acting role.”

I groaned quietly.

“Yes!” Rachel silently cheered. She knew she'd won. I rolled my eyes.

“You're such a dick”

“Yeah, maybe then you'd want me,” she retorted. I tried to keep a straight face, glowering at her, but the corner of my mouth twitched and we couldn't help laughing at that.

“What do I do then?” I asked, deciding I actually did want some water now, so I walked over to the sink. Rachel got a glass out and handed it to me.

“Just be yourself.”

“That sounds so stupid. First it's an acting role and now it's 'be yourself'?”

“No, I swear. We can just be ourselves, maybe I'll put my arm around you occasionally. I'll do all the work I swear, since it's my idea.”

I sighed and took a long swig of my drink. I could feel the nerves creeping up on me, see them in the way my hand starting shaking a little bit. Don't think about it, Jasey. The more you think about it the less natural you'll act. If I can't pull this off, I'll just be setting myself up for a huge embarrassment. Play it cool. I put my empty glass on the side and then Rachel ushered me back into the dining room.

Rachel stood behind a chair on the opposite side of the table to Valerie, and gestured for me to sit. While no one but her was watching me, I rolled my eyes again, but then I smiled and walked to the chair, nodding gratefully at Rachel as she tucked me in, then sat next to me. What a loser.

“So, Jasey” Mrs Woods began speaking. She sat down at the other end of the table. Oh, here it comes. This was no longer a casual inviting-your-friend-over-for-dinner dinner, this was now a girlfriend-meeting-the-parents-and-trying-to-make-a-good-impression dinner.

“What did you study?”

I inwardly sighed with relief. “Theatre and Performing Arts” I replied.

“Oh, an actress, eh?” Rachel's dad piped in. I nodded with an 'mhmm'.

“Was it an interesting course?”

“Oh, yes. I enjoyed it. It was challenging at times of course, but I'm passionate about the area, so it wasn't too bad.”

“Well, that is good to hear. What are your plans now?”

“Well, hopefully our apartment will be ready to move in to soon” I said, nodding my chin in the direction of Rachel. “That's my next plan. After that it'll be job hunting.”

“Oh, you're...moving in together?” Mrs Woods said, smiling, but it was clear she wasn't prepared for this. I looked to Rachel for help.

“Mom, I told you I had found a place and I was moving in with Jasmine,” Rachel replied with a flick of her wrist. Her mother paused, and then slowly nodded, unfreezing.

“Of course, I, I didn't realise Jasmine meant Jasey. I understand now. It's just, is it not too soon?”

I had no idea how to handle this, so I stayed quiet, and sat on my hands. Something I did when I was nervous.

“We made plans to move in ages ago. In fact we found the place before we...became a thing. We're taking it one step at a time, but this is a great opportunity, mom.” Mrs Woods looked liked she needed more convincing.

“We've lived together for the last 2 years for college, we don't see any problem specifically living together now. We understand the complications if anything happened between us, but we decided our friendship is most important,” I chipped in. Rachel looked at me approvingly. I looked back to Mrs Woods, and suddenly felt shy under her gaze. “Do you mind if I use your bathroom?”

She snapped back to reality at my question, grinning like a good hostess and smoothing out her skirt. “Of course. There's a small bathroom just behind the front door.”

I said thank you as I got up, happy to have a moment to myself, as I walked back through the house to the front door. What have I just walked in to? This was not how I pictured the evening going.

There was a light brown wooden door on the wall perpendicular to the front door so I opened it, and just as she said there was a small little bathroom. The toilet was the first thing you saw, with a mirror hanging above it. There was a small cubicle for a shower in one corner and a tiny sink in the other. I shut the door behind me and locked it, then turned and stared at myself in the mirror for a few moments, trying to collect my thoughts, making a game plan for the rest of the evening.

Just then there was a faint knock on the front door. I listened for some shuffling and greeting. Happy voices. And then it was silent for a moment. I took a deep breath and went to leave. I opened the door and bumped into Valerie's back.

“Oh, I'm sorry” I mumbled, quickly slipping out and shutting the bathroom door behind me. I looked up at Valerie and the man she had been making out with in front of the bathroom.

“No, my bad” she gave me a sheepish smile, but she wasn't apologetic at all as she laced her fingers through his and led us all back to the dining room. The man raised his eyebrows at me as a sorry as he went passed. I blew my bangs out of my face as I watched their backs, then followed.

“Come sit, we're all here now” Mrs Woods said in a jolly voice as we filled up the dining table. She stood up and announced she was going to get the salad for the table, and hustled into the kitchen.

“Oh, Jasey, this is Andy. Andy – Jasey” Valerie said in a way of introductions, waving his hand in my direction. I sat opposite Valerie, Andy diagonal to me, Rachel next to me and Mr Woods on my left, at the head of the table.

“Nice to meet you” I said, with a polite nod.

“Andy's my husband” Valerie told me, practically giddy. Rachel shot a side glance at me at the mention of husband.

Andy chuckled shortly. “It's nice to see you all again. Jasey, it's nice to meet you.” Oh he was very polite. Valerie got herself a catch.

Notes

Ayyyyyyy. Let me know what you think! :)