Chapter Text
“By the way, make sure you’re ready for your father’s annual agency Christmas party,” her mother said out of the blue that evening, not looking up as she scrolled through her phone.
Karolina stilled where she was reaching for the bottle of juice in the back of the fridge. “What?”
They were at the Wilder’s for another Pride meeting, and Karolina had been looking forward to leaving her mom with the other parents and hanging out with her friends.
“The Christmas party?” Leslie Dean glanced up, “It’s next week.”
Karolina pulled back and looked at her mom in disbelief. “I didn’t know about that, you never asked me if I was free! What if I had plans, you just expect me to cancel them?”
“Karolina,” she said, lifting her head and regarding her sternly, “We are going. You will be ready at 8 o’clock next Friday, and that is the end of the discussion.” She sighed and spread her hands. “What will everyone think if we aren’t all there?”
Karolina exhaled, shoulders falling in disappointment. “Fine,” she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her fingers to her forehead for a moment. “Fine, alright, whatever.”
The party wouldn’t really be too bad, and at least she knew the food would be good. A couple hours of fake smiles and boredom, she could do that.
“Good,” her mom relaxed her shoulders and lifted her phone again. “Chad Tadson is going to be picking you up, so your father and I will meet you there.”
Karolina’s head shot up and she froze from where she had been turning to rejoin the others in the next room. “No, please,” she said desperately, stumbling backwards to stay in front of her mom with her hands held out imploringly. “Please, Mom, don’t make me go to the party with him.”
Chad was loud, and crass, and the smell of his body spray was overwhelming. Karolina could feel her skin crawling just thinking about it, and she suppressed a shudder. Their parents had set it up so he would escort her to an event last year, and she had hated every second of it. Her plan had been to never see him again after that night.
“Chad is a perfectly nice boy, Karolina,” her mom tried to reason, “Seeing as you aren’t dating anyone, I don’t understand why this would be a problem for you.”
“But – but I am!” Karolina spit out, grasping at the small life preserver her mother had unwittingly tossed out, “I – I am dating someone! So I can’t – go to the party with Chad!” She froze as the words left her mouth, eyes wide and already regretting everything. She definitely wasn’t dating anybody.
This wasn’t going to end well.
“Oh?” Her mother stopped and raised an eyebrow, “And who would that be? Why haven’t you told me about this?”
“I – I was just – I mean, I didn’t…” Karolina fidgeted nervously as she cast her eyes around in desperation, hoping to find an answer hidden in the walls of the Wilder’s kitchen.
“Karolina, what do we say about lying?” her mother rolled her eyes.
“Mom, I’m not lying! I didn’t tell you about it because… because…”
She must have had an extremely panicked look on her face, because her mother’s expression softened and she reached out to brush back a lock of hair from her face.
“Karolina, calm down, it’s alright. Now, you don’t have to tell me who you’re dating here if you’re not ready, but I expect to meet them at the party then, okay?”
“I… okay,” Karolina said weakly, mustering up a tremulous smile when her mom nodded. “Yeah, so… okay.”
She turned away and moved mechanically across the room, despairingly trying to think up a way out of this situation. Thankfully her mother had let it drop for the time being, giving her time to find a fake date, but now she had to actually find a convincing one.
A soft touch on her arm startled her, and she jumped in surprise and whirled around.
“Nico?” she said, unable to stop the burgeoning panic from leaking into her voice.
Nico gave her an apologetic smile and hooked her thumb over her shoulder towards the open courtyard. “Hey, the others are already in the guest house, are you ready to – ”
“Help me,” Karolina whispered, grabbing her arm, “I need to pretend to date somebody for my dad’s Christmas party. I kind of told my mom I was in a relationship, and if I don’t show up with someone I have to go with Chad Tadson, and I will probably die if that happens, so I need your help – ”
“What? Karolina, slow down,” Nico said with a bemused look on her face, but she laid a comforting hand on Karolina’s forearm, and Karolina inhaled sharply at the contact. “Now, start over.”
“Okay," Karolina blew out a breath, "So I need to find a date for Friday, or my mom – ”
“Karolina,” her mom chose that moment to call out again, beckoning her over, “Can you come here for one more second? I just want to tell you something before you kids go off to the guest house for the night.”
“Sure, Mom,” Karolina drifted back over cautiously, shooting Nico one last desperate look over her shoulder. “What’s up?”
“You do know I love you, right honey? Unconditionally, as all mothers should, no matter what?”
“Uh, yeah, thanks, Mom,” Karolina said, furrowing her brow in confusion. On a certain level she knew this, and she’d read this chapter of the Book of Gibborim. “Why, uh… any reason why you’re bringing it up now?”
“Just that – there should never be anything about yourself you’re afraid to tell me, and I’m looking forward to meeting your date at the party.” She nodded at Nico still waiting by the door. “And say hi to Nico for me.”
There was a strange inflection on the words, and seeing the look on her mom’s face, Karolina’s blood ran cold. She didn’t know what she said in answer to that, but her mom gave her a satisfied nod and pushed her gently back towards Nico.
“O–okay,” she managed to get out, eyes wide as she stumbled over her feet on the way. “Sure. Bye, Mom.”
Her mom smiled and moved towards the other adults, and Karolina ran the last couple of steps to Nico as soon as her back was turned.
“It’s you,” she hissed frantically, eyes wide and heart beating out of control, “She thinks I’m dating you!”
God, she should have just said Alex from the beginning, or even Chase. Why hadn’t she thought of that? They would have both gone along with it no problem, not to mention that they were guys. Nico didn’t do anything unless she wanted to.
She swallowed thickly, throat closing up in panic. Nico was Nico, and Nico was also… a girl. She was… Nico.
They had to pretend they were dating each other?
Before her mind could get any more muddled, it turned out she didn’t need to worry, because aside from her lips parting in surprise, Nico only rolled her eyes. “Look, if there’s one thing I understand, it’s overbearing parents, and if your mom has turned out to be half as psycho as mine, I’m not going to throw you under the bus in front of her.”
“You – you mean you’ll actually do it?” Karolina pulled back in surprise, blinking at her dumbly, and Nico shrugged.
“Sure, sounds like fun. I love messing with parents, and if it helps you out then all the better.” She nudged her with her elbow. “Besides, Chad Tadson? Sounds like a douche.”
That startled a surprised laugh out of Karolina, and she let her shoulders drop in relief. “Oh, you have no idea, he’s awful. I remember this one time – ”
Karolina’s mom coming back over to them interrupted her, Karolina jumping in fear when she appeared over her shoulder.
“Why don’t you two go join the others in the guest house and let us get our meeting started?”
“Sure, Mom. We were just going!” Karolina said brightly, wincing internally and hoping she didn’t pick up on how fake it was. Thankfully, she just nodded and patted them both on the shoulder before stepping back, and Karolina grabbed Nico’s arm and pulled her outside, taking her about halfway across the courtyard before slowing and hanging her head.
“I can’t believe this,” she groaned, closing her eyes and covering her face, “This is – this is all just – ”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Nico said soothingly, “We’ve got almost a whole week, and then after the party we can break up for your mom’s sake and things’ll go back to normal.”
“Right,” Karolina breathed out, dropping her hands. “Okay. We can do this.”
Nico nodded in satisfaction. “Exactly. Now come on. Apparently we’ve got a Christmas party to prepare for?”
She gave Karolina a sideways smile, holding out her hand, and Karolina felt her heart flip into her throat.
Shit.