Diana

As I stop the basket, Valentina turns to me, "Could you pass me that glass, Diana?"

The wine glass is on the shelf closer to her, so I shake my head as a woman moves past me. "Val, you're closer to it than me. Grab it yourself."

Val rolls her eyes, "Is it because I'm black?" There are people around us when she says this and they all stare at me.

I shake my head with a hand raised, "I'm not racist guys, don't worry. She's just in a silly, goofy mood." I glare at Val and push the basket away from the glasses. After she grabs it as they go back to what they were doing.

Val follows me and smirks. I roll my eyes and ask, "You just love doing that to me, don't you?"

Val did that to me everytime we went to a grocery store. She liked to see the look of embarrassment on my face when everyone would stare.

"Yep."

Fifteen minutes later, Valentina, Audrey, Lily, Fiona, and I had gotten everything we needed for tonight.

Last night after Dante's Casino opening, in the car, he brought up the dinner we were supposed to be having with our friends and Daniel. After a game of rock paper scissors, I was the one to go first.

As we loaded the bags and got in the car, I knew it was only a matter of time before one of the girls would ask about the mysterious man that had suddenly appeared in my life.

"So... Mama, who's the guy at dinner tonight?" Fiona asks just as I sit down. Lily takes the wheel as the rest of us take the other seats.

"Yeah. One day, you're single and rejecting any man that crosses your path. Now you're engaged?" Says Audrey.

"Okay, but-" Valentina leans down and whispers in my ear, "How's the sex? Is he domina-"

"My kid is sitting right next to you, Val!"

"Yeah, I don't wanna hear about Mama's boyfriend's pickler." Fiona complains, fake vomiting.

"Is he good though?" Audrey asks and I facepalm.

Lily turns down the road as she speaks. "As long as she is happy. That's all that matters. "

"Lily's right. I am happy, so don't ask me anything else."

I only say this because I wouldn't have an answer for anything else. It was already bad enough I felt bad for pretending the relationship between Dante and I was real. I hated lying to my friends. But that was the deal. I needed to keep my end of the deal if I wanted the money.

We talk about other things as Lily drives us to her house. She wanted the dinner to be held at her house and after refusing about three times, I agreed.

Once we arrive, Fiona goes to her room in Lily's house while the rest of us set up the table. I had decided on salad for tonight, since that was about the only thing I could make.

I finish the salad quickly and when I go to the table, I see Lily has ordered pizza and brownies.

"I told you the salad would work, Lily."

"I know, I know, but I figured the pizza would fill them up, you know."

"And the brownies?"

"Everybody loves brownies, Diane." She says, smiling proudly.

I roll my eyes and smile, "Alright fine but I don't want you helping after dinner or I swear I'll hurt you Lily!" I reply just as the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" I shout as I walk to the door.

When I open it and see who it is, I am surprised.

"What are you doing? I told you to be here at six, it's only five thirty."

Dante shrugs as he pushes past me and into the house. "Wanted to see what I had to work with."

"What do you mean, what you had to work with? These are my friends, not one of your Mafia enemies or whatever."

"Right. My bad. Their not one of my mafia friends. " He air quotes, 'Mafia friends' and chuckles lowly, "What were their names again? Lilah, Aidan and Victoria right?"

"Lily, Audrey and Valentina. This is Lily's house. But lis-"

"So this is the guy!" Valentina shouts happily as she sees us in the doorway.

Soon Audrey, Lily and Fiona appear.

"Everyone meet my Fiance, Dante Stone." I cringe at the label.

As soon as Fiona notices Dante her mouth goes wide, "That's the guy th-"

I quickly pull her aside, taking her on the steps before she can say anything else.

"Okay, you're getting older and learning a lot of new things."

"Mama, I'm going to high school in two years.

"Right. Exactly. Which means I can tell you some stuff t-"

"The guy from that night. Y'all are pretending to be together?"

I gasp, "How did you know?'

She only smiles and shrugs.

"Okay well, mamma's friends don't know that we're faking. So I need you to act like you don't know, alright? Just for the night."

I hated how this was going. The most important thing I didn't want was to involve Fiona in this mess and yet, here I was. Encouraging her to lie and pretend to the people she loved. I was no better than my parents.

We go back to the doorway and see everyone has already moved to the kitchen.

When we walk in, I am surprised to see Dante helping Lily set the plates while Valentina and Audrey are already sitting down at the table.

Fiona and I join them. Fiona takes a seat at the end of the table and I take a seat next to her, across from Val. Fiona takes out her phone, and plugs in her headphones and as soon as she does so, Audrey leans forward.

"I don't like him. Not one bit."

Welcome to the club.

"Why?"

"He just rubs me the wrong way. "

"And what about you, Val?"

"Eh, I haven't seen him watch football yet. Then we'll really see his true colors."

Just then, Lily comes with the plates made and Dante follows behind. They sit them down and take a seat, just as the doorbell rings.

"I'll get it!" Lily says cheerfully. Running to the door. A minute later, she returns with Detective Daniel.

"This fine gentleman said he knew you. Is this true Diane?" Lily asks

"Oh crap! I totally forgot you were coming. I'm sorry Lily, I forgot to let you know another person was coming. If you're not alright with him being here, that is totally fine." I lie, trying one more thing to get me out of the nightmare of a dinner I was about to go through.

"Oh no, that would be insane! Of course he can stay. I'll go make you a plate!" She hurriedly runs off to the kitchen. Detective Daniel shakes all of our hands. Dante denies his handshake and sits next to me.

Once we are all sitting and begin eating, Audrey asks, "So, what do you do for a living? You know Diana is a nurse. She makes a lot of money."

I don't know who told you that, but that's a big fat lie.

Daniel grins, "Don't you all know each other?"

"We do!" I quickly reply, "It's just, um, they haven't really sat down like this to learn about each other. So my friends have known him for a while but they don't know him, you know?"

My friends shoot a confused glance at me while Dante covers his mouth to prevent a laugh.

Son of a bitch thinks this is funny.

"Oh, alright." Daniel still doesn't look fully convinced as Audrey continues.

"What do you do, Dante? Are you-"

"I'm a casino owner. Just opened my first one last night. " Dante responds. That stupid grin appears as he takes a sip of his drink.

I play with the ends of my hair as Audrey rolls her eyes.

"You are looking beautiful tonight, Ms. Ambrose."

I am taken aback at Daniel's compliment and turn to him to find him already staring.

I laugh uncomfortably before replying, "Thank you Daniel."

Even though he had probably meant it genuinely, I still felt uncomfortable at his compliment. He was the kind of guy that gave me the creepers. Pale bald head. Tall and lanky body.

Maybe I was being judgemental. I hadn't been with a man since senior year in highschool and that ended horribly. Richard and I had met in freshman year. It was my first time going to regular school as I had been homeschooled the other years. I was still in foster care and was very gullible and naïve. He was a junior and popular and he promised me a wonderful life. Marriage, houses, cars, all of that crap. By my senior year, I found out he had been cheating on me the whole time.

I've been hit on, asked out countless times since then, but I just don't believe someone could actually be truly in love and happy. I wasn't in love with Richard, just lonely.

"You are very welcome." Daniel says.

I take a bite of my brownie as Dante speaks.

"That she is. She was looking absolutely gorgeous on my lap last night too."

I nearly choke on my brownie. Is he actually serious or is he just playing his part?

Of course he's just playing his part, you dingbat.

"Oh my God!" Valentina screeches loudly, standing up from the table.

"What happened?" We all ask.

She points to the table and her dress and I see she has spilled her red wine all over the table. Thankfully, only a little has gotten on her black dress.

"Here we go again." Audrey and I say as Valentina continues to yell, wiping at her dress aggressively. Lily gets up to help.

I loved Val, but she was very dramatic.

"Val, stop being so dramatic, it's just a little stain. Most of it got on the table." I say.

"Yeah, stop being dramatic. No one can even tell and it's just us."

Val balls her fists, "If one more person calls me dramatic again, I'm going to light myself on fire." She yells before walking away.

Once the mess is cleaned and everyone is seated again, Audrey asks, "So how did you guys meet?"

I laugh uncomfortably again, "Oh we've never told you guys the story of how we met, have we? "

The girls give me another confused glance as I am about to speak. Detective Daniel leans in closer.

"Well, it's pretty romantic, actually. " Dante says before I can make up a lie. When I turn to him, he is grinning.

"It is?" We ask, surprised.

"Yes, of course. Your friend Diana is quite the romantic."

"She is?" We all ask in surprise again.

"Yup. We met one day at the bus stop. I was waiting for the bus to come for about fifteen minutes before she arrived."

I catch on to what he is doing and smile evilly.

Two can play that game.

"Oh yes, now I remember! When I sat down, he had the most awful expression. Almost as if he had just seen someone bleed out to death."

"Oh my." Lily says, sympathetically. "You poor thing." I nod

Dante turns to me, figuring I had caught on, and smiles at me. I blink rapidly in shock.

Did he just smile?

I had never seen him smile before, and as much as I hated to admit it, it wasn't a bad sight. His shiny white teeth showed as his eyes brightened. I was able to see his grey eyes turn lighter in some way. And the most distracting thing was the dimple on his cheek as he smiled. It was just one, but it stuck out. It was mesmerizing. So much that I lost my train of thought.

"Diana?" Daniel questions.

I clear my throat."Right, right, yes. We sat and talked. The bus came, and we talked some more and it was instantly love at first sight. Boom. Bow. That's it." I say

"Now, now, I think you forgot a few parts baby."

I resist the urge to correct him for calling me that. Through gritted teeth I respond, "What did I forget darling?"

It takes every bone in my body not to cringe at the name.

"You weren't so easy to get Diana. With your impeccable need to not let anyone help you. Or the way you just can't accept a compliment. Oh and let's not forget how fucking stubborn you are, baby. "

I nod, smiling on the outside but becoming angry at his words on the inside.

"You weren't so easy yourself, Dante. Especially how you like to take things without asking. Or your nonchalant-ness. Oh and my favorite, how you seem to not give a single fuck about anyone but yourself."

We laugh as everyone stares at us awkwardly.

Dante smiles and pinches my cheek. "But that's why I love you, sweetheart."

I fake a smile and give him a 'light' slap back. "Right back at you darling."

"I've seen enough." Daniel says abruptly, getting up from the table.

"I'll walk you out." I respond, rushing after him to the door.

"I will see you tomorrow." Is all he says before leaving and before I am able to decide whether I was going to overthink about if we were believable or not.

When I return, Dante is on the phone with someone and the girls are not at the table anymore. When I check the kitchen, I flinch back at seeing Val and Audrey standing with their arms folded. Lily smiles and waves at me.

"The jigs up, Diana. Tell us what's really going on."

I laugh nervously, "What? Nothing's really going on.

"Oh please, your voice goes higher every time you're hiding something. Spill it."

I sigh. "Alright, fine. My daughter already knows. Why not." They unfold their arms." Dante and I are pretending to be engaged. I'm not telling you why, so don't ask." I was already going against most of the rules tonight. I could at least keep a few things hidden.

Dante dips his head into the kitchen, "I'm about to leave, you need a ride?"

"I can take the bus."

"Then let me take you to the bus stop."

"No, I don't need your h-"

"Diana." He says irritatedly. Whoever he had talked to on the phone had said something wrong. But making people mad was one of my specialities.

"Dante." I replied in the same tone.

"Just come on."

I promise Audrey, Lily and Val I would talk to them tomorrow and saying goodbye before getting Fiona and following him.

He makes another call as he walks to the driver's seat and I pause. Making Fiona and I stand on the sidewalk.

"I told you we can take the bus. I don't need your help, Dante. Just go home."

He moves the phone away from his ear and stares at me angrily and I bite back my smile.

"Get in the car, Diana." He says before getting in.

I roll my eyes and tell Fiona to get in. I get in the front and she gets in the back. It isn't long before he is driving. Deep down, I am actually relieved Fiona and I don't have to walk all the way to the bus stop but no way was I going to tell him that.

He talks on the phone the whole way there. The little bits I hear, being about his casino.

When we arrive at our apartment, after Fiona and I begin to get out and shut the doors he says,

"I'll pick you up at seven tomorrow night for dinner with my friends and detective Daniel." He drives off before I am able to protest.

•••

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