"From someone who does not want to settle down, I do think of marriage fondly. I suppose that's because of my parents," Arvil pursed his lips. "It's the union of two people willing to work together, with neither of the parents being tied down. It's about understanding. Silas has grown up in an environment where he has been taught to believe women are the caretakers, and though it is stupid, he's still learning to believe otherwise. It's true that you are young, and you do need to live your life, but don't forget that living your life does not mean you become isolated and completely independent. Find something that you always wish to return home to, like an anchor."
Daisy hummed, nodding slowly as she took in his words. What he said made sense, but she hadn’t meant it like that.
“I’m not saying that I never want to get married, just that I don’t want to be chained to someone who would just weigh me down. That’s what my parents want,” she explained.
Arvil hummed, tapping his fingers against his desk, and then chuckled.
"I'm not sure how we even got to this side of the conversation," he said, eyes crinkling once more. "Shall we eat before the food gets cold?"
Daisy gave him a small smile, realizing he was right. They’d gotten a little off topic…
“Yeah, of course. I hope you like chicken Alfredo.”
"I do, actually," Arvil pushed his keyboard away to make room for his plate. "It was actually a surprise to see you in here. I hope David, the receptionist, didn't give you a hard time?"
“Not at all. He was nice. Jordan must have told him, at least, that I was coming. He said also that they’re already working on a pass for me? Did you set that up, or was that Jordan, too?” Daisy wondered, stuffing a forkful of pasta into her mouth when she finished speaking.
"That, at least, was me," Arvil replied, a little relieved. "I do need a picture for that, though. Do you have one that we could use, or would you prefer having a new one taken?"
“I could look through my photos for one that would work. Otherwise, we could take one,” Daisy said, fishing her phone out of her purse to look for one as she ate.
"That sounds good," Arvil said, biting on his piece and chewing softly. Who knew one day he'd be in his office, eating lunch his fake girlfriend brought him?
Daisy scrolled through her phone for a nice picture of her as she ate. She hummed once she found one, pulling it up on her screen and turning her phone to face Arvil.
“How about this?” she asked as she showed it to him.
Arvil took a sip of his water at the same time he checked the picture Daisy was showing him. He nodded, setting his cup down on the table.
"Yeah, that looks good," he said. "Send it to my through email."
He told her what his email was.
“Sure,” Daisy agreed with a nod. She put his email into her phone, then attached the photo to the message. “You should be getting it any second now.”
A few seconds later, a ping! was heard in the room that had gotten silent. Arvil swiped through his phone and opened his email, nodding at Daisy.
"Perfect," he said. "You'll get your card the next time you drop by."
“Okay. That sounds good,” Daisy said before continuing to eat. She took a sip of her water, then paused. “Oh… I suppose we should discuss just what we plan on doing with this. Like, how long we think it needs to go for, what we tell people if they start to ask questions, etc.”
Arvil nodded at her in agreement. Just because they fooled Silas (for now) didn't mean they were done. They had to put up a show for her parents as well, and then for the rest of the world.
"How long should this go on, then?" he questioned, looking at her. "That's your call."
Daisy chewed on her lip, tapping her fingers on her phone. How long should it go on? There wasn’t exactly a set day when they should stop “dating…”
“Maybe,” she began slowly, still thinking over it, “once we know everyone believes us and has no reason not to, we continue to ‘date’ for about a month or so, just to keep up appearances, and then we can get into some argument or something.”
Arvil chuckled at her response.
"It better be one hell of an argument," he took a bite of his food. "Perhaps involving my intense love for overworking, and little attention towards you provokes it."
Daisy hummed, nodding slowly. “That could work. I am very clingy, after all,” she agreed, joking on the last part.
Arvil cracked a smile at her.
"Perfect," he said. "What else did we need to discuss?"
“The Kinda of questions people might ask us. We already know how we met and when and where. Maybe how you asked me out?” Daisy mused, taking a bite of her food.
"Ah, that type of a question," he muttered, pressing his thumb against his lip. "I took you out for dinner, and then I asked you out at the end of it."
“Okay. Where did we go? What day was it? What time was it? What were we wearing?” Daisy listed questions that came to her mind. If they didn’t know these things and someone asked them, then they could be in trouble. Maybe not the outfit one, but she was likely to remember that kind of thing. “Maybe we could practice with Lilly and Jordan…”
Sometimes the media was a pain in the back, Arvil concluded. A simply lie needed such thorough thinking.
"It was a Tuesday of March, four months ago. It was around six PM. I was wearing a button-up shirt, sleeves pulled to my elbows. The place we went to was a fancy restaurant, we took a reservation."
Daisy sighed, tapping her fingers on her phone again. “Let’s hope no one asks for the name of the restaurant because then they could call and ask if it’s true,” she murmured. “Okay, I wore one of my favorite dresses. It’s pink, lower in the back than the front, and has a floral lace over it.”
"We don't have any reasons to tell them its name," Arvil sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Right, when is your birthday? I suppose I should know."
