Will sighs and rolls his eyes at me.
“I should have known. Is there a hot girl you haven’t already slept with?”
I glower at him quickly.
“She’s my best friend’s little sister. And we haven’t slept together. I mean, we did, but it was a one-off, and we said we’d never talk about so don’t start saying anything to her—”
“Hey!” Jessie smiles, inserting herself between me and Will, effectively cutting off my explanation.
“Jessie! What are you doing here?”
“I was just out for a run and dropped by your office to see you. The receptionist told me you’d be here,” she says, before turning to notice Will. “Hey! You’re the guy who used to be on that goofy kid’s show!”
“That’s not its official name,” Will drones. “But yes.”
“Wow. I think every girl in my high school had your picture up in their locker.”
“Did you?” Will says, leaning in a little.
“No way! Your hair looked like roadkill in that show. I had much better taste than that – no offense.”
I tense up a little, knowing how sensitive he is about his teen idol days. But instead of getting offended, Will just throws his head back and laughs. “None taken. I said the same thing to the set hairdresser.”
Jessie grins. “You look much better now.”
“Thank you. I must say, the ‘hot and sweaty’ look suits you as well.”
“Hold on,” I say, interrupting the exchange before I start cringing too much to talk. “You ran all the way here from my office?”
“Well…” Jessie says, drawing the word out and glancing at Will quickly as if to say ‘let’s talk in private.’
“He’s cool,” I say.
“I’m very cool, you should get to know—” Will says, before I raise a hand to stop him.
“I wanted to pay you back,” Jessie says uncomfortably, pulling out some folded dollars from the arm band that her phone’s attached to, “for the…um…bail money. I got paid, so…”
“Come on,” I say, pushing her hand away. “It’s cool. Forget it.”
“No way, Nate. I don’t work sixteen-hour days to have someone else pay my way. I’m leaving the money here,” she says, putting the money on the bar. “You can take it or leave it.”
“A woman of principle,” Will says. “I like it.”
“Okay,” I sigh, peeling a bill from the crumpled-up and sweaty twenties. “But let me get you a drink at least.”
She smiles but then shakes her head. “I shouldn’t be drinking in the middle of a run.”
“I’ll bet you do a lot of things you shouldn’t do,” Will says, his eyes still scrolling Jessie’s body like he’s reading small print off it.
“What happened to the English being reserved?” I say, as the bartender takes the bill and replaces our beers.
Will grins. “That was always a myth – much like that of Americans being unfit,” he says, looking at Jessie’s toned waist as he does so.
“Anyway,” Jessie says, turning her head towards me. “I just wanted to say thanks a lot, Nate. I owe you one.”
Then, all of a sudden, it clicks. She does owe me one. I turn to Jessie with determined eyes.
“Come with me to a work retreat this weekend. My boss already thinks you’re Tessa.”
There’s a split-second pause.
“Wait. You’re saying this is the same girl?” Will says, incredulous. I nod.
Will starts laughing so hard he has to stop himself from spitting beer all over the place. I clench my jaw and start preparing arguments in my favor.
But Jessie’s already got her arms crossed over her chest, shaking her head no.
“Hear me out, Jessie. My boss invited me to a big gathering this weekend – Hollywood types, decision-makers, that kind of thing. It’s a big deal. Thing is, he wants you – I mean, my girlfriend – I mean, the fake girlfriend I made up – to come along. I need Tessa to be there, and you’re the only one who can do it, Jessie.”
“This is too good!” Will says, raising his bottle like it’s a cup of tea. “Positively Wildean!”
“You want me to pretend to be Tessa for an entire weekend?”
“Don’t think of it as an ‘entire’ weekend, think of it as ‘just’ a weekend. Two days, and it’ll be over before you know it.”
Jessie looks at me with an expression that says she’s wondering if I’m actually crazy, or just plain pitiful.
“Not a chance in hell, Nate. You’ve got plenty of ‘enablers’ around you already,” she says, glancing sideways at Will. “I’m not going to help you maintain whatever scam you’ve got going.”
“It’s not a scam, Jessie. Come on...”
She shakes her head again as she steps backwards away from the bar. “Here’s an idea: Try being honest, Nate. Tell your boss you made the whole thing up. He’ll respect you more for it, and you won’t have to lie anymore. Maybe you guys will even laugh about it together.”