Daisy blinked, raising her eyebrows as Arvil opened the door and stood right in front of her. She hadn’t been expecting him to be so close, so she took a step back.
“Hello, love,” she drawled back sarcastically, fluttering her eyelashes at him. “I brought lunch again. Shall we sit and eat?”
Arvil blinked at her action. Was she truly being serious? He chuckled, reaching over to poke her on the forehead.
“Sarcastic much, sweetheart?” He grinned. “I wasn’t expecting you today. You should have told me beforehand. Do come in, though.”
Daisy shrugged and swept past him into the room. She set the bag down on the table where they had eaten last time and sat down on the couch. If he sat close to her again, she would try not to scoot over. They had a story to maintain, after all. It definitely wasn’t because he actually smelled really good…
“I told you a few days ago that I would be stopping in. Don’t you like it when I surprise you?” she questioned, smirking at him before beginning to pull food out of the bag.
Arvil chuckled, shaking his head and closing the door. He slowly made his way towards her, contemplating whether he should sit next to her or not. He decided to do so. What if someone came in and they weren’t acting like a couple? It would be bad. It totally wasn’t because he wanted to sit next to her, either. Definitely not.
So he sat down, keeping some distance between them but not too much.
“You look pretty today, Daisy darling,” Arvil winked at her. “The hairstyle suits you.”
Daisy glanced up at him and raised her eyebrows. “Thank you,” she murmured, her gaze flicking over him quickly. “You… look nice, too.”
Arvil grinned at her, running a hand through his hair. “Just nice?” He teased, nudging her shoulder. “Well, thank you, Daisy.”
Daisy scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Anyway… I got Mexican this time,” she said as she handed him a plate.
“Ah, thank you, love,” Arvil took the plate she handed him. “I think I’m already getting addicted to your role as my fiancée.”
“Well, you’ll have to keep it up for a while longer, so you should at least enjoy it, I guess,” Daisy mused, shooting him a quick glance as she piled food onto her plate.
“I am enjoying it,” Arvil hummed in agreement as he poured a little food in his plate as well. “I have the list prepared, by the way. I went ahead and looked at marriage halls as well, just for the heck of it, but now that we’re face-to-face, mind telling me everything?”
Daisy sighed and stared down at her plate before leaning back to stare at the ceiling. “I was at my parents’ house the other day for dinner, and when it was over I left. But I forgot something and had to go back. When I walked back in, I overheard them talking in the other room about how they don’t see us together much, and we’re not even in the news very often. Except for that one time, and I didn’t even look happy in that picture, apparently. So they don’t really believe that this is real, or at least that it will last. They think that, if we’re really together, we’ll be breaking up soon. I think they think we got engaged too quickly and should have spent more time dating first.”
Arvil leaned back on the couch, humming in understanding. It was to be expected, after all. He had a notorious dating history. Of course her parents would be suspicious. Thankfully, his father hadn’t commented on their ‘engagement.’
“Go on a date with me, then,” Arvil shrugged. “They want us in the news more often? Let me take you out on dates. Interview me. Whichever works.”
“Probably both, honestly. We could go out to coffee sometime, and I could interview you then,” Daisy mused, shifting her attention to him.
“That works for me,” Arvil shrugged, taking a spoonful of his food. He chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. “This situation is skyrocketing, though, isn’t it?”
Daisy sighed heavily and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it definitely is… I’m not sure how we’re going to get out of this.”
“Let’s go through with the marriage, then,” Arvil said quietly, not knowing where the words were coming from.
Daisy froze, blinking at him as her eyebrows raised in surprise. “You… want to actually marry me. To get my parents off of our trail… I— Why?” she breathed, unbelieving.
Now that was the question, wasn’t it? Why. Really, Arvil didn’t even know it himself.
“You amuse me,” he finally said. “You don’t fall at my feet like countless other women. You aren’t after my money. You’re only tolerating me because of your situation, but I suppose that makes it better. And like I said earlier, Daisy, I won’t let you get married to someone who would make you feel miserable. I’d like to think I can keep you comfortable. It’ll work in our favor. And we can break up after some time if you’d like. And if you’re worried about restrictions, there really won’t be any. I’m not exactly a possessive male. You can move in with me, too. It’s a rather big house. I live alone, so there would be one more company. You can have a room to yourself, too, if that’s what you want.”
“Oh… That— Okay. That, uh, doesn’t actually sound that bad,” Daisy admitted, cheeks turning pink as she chewed on her lip. Living with Arvil, no restrictions, no pressure to share a bed… “Okay. If we end up having to actually get married, then I guess… that would be okay…”
Her cheeks had turned pink. How strange. All he mentioned was marriage. He said nothing about the sexual part of the relationship, so why was she flustered?
“All right,” Arvil nodded. “I’m glad you don’t think badly of it.”
(She’s flustered because you’re attractive and she’ll be living with you!)
Daisy gave him a quick grin before glancing down at her plate. “Anyway… Lets eat, yeah?”
(Don’t tell him that, though! He’s already madly in love with himself. 🤣)
Arvil couldn’t help but grin back at her, nudging her shoulder again. “Yeah, let’s eat. I feel like I’ve made things a bit harder for you by not having a food preference.”
“Actually, it’s been easier. I just order whatever I want,” Daisy chuckled softly as she brought a forkful of food to her mouth. “Cheaper, too, unless I do what I did last week.”
Arvil chuckled, shaking his head as he swallowed his bite of food. “You really are something, aren’t you, love? You never fail to amuse me.”
“Hey, I could totally just find you he most disgusting thing on their menu,” Daisy teased before taking a bite.