GUY

"What do you want from me?" I asked, looking at Daisy.

Unlike me, she looked fine that morning.

Her brown hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders. The dark circles under her eyes were gone. She even wore a pink lipstick and a light eyeshadow on her eyelids.

She didn't wear her glasses, so you could see the real color of her eyes. Luckily, she was wearing old sweatpants that blocked the view of her legs. Or that would've been the end of me.

"Kneel."

"I refuse myself to do that, Lynton."

"It's the least you can do. It's my first wedding!"

"It's also mine." I said, raising my voice. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

Daisy didn't move.

I huffed and went into the living room, looking for something in the drawers.

When I came back, Daisy had put her glasses back on and was looking at her laptoplike a sexy business woman.

She looked at me with confusion. So I went to her and knelt down. A smile broke across her face. Lynton was clearly making fun of me, but that didn't stop me from going ahead with the order.

If it was what she wanted, she would get it. I was committed to the idea and I wish she was too.

"Daisy Lynton, will you marry me?"

I offered a plastic bracelet with a glowing fluorescent liquid inside. Strangely, they always showed up at my parties. Someone must have a stock of them at home.

"Oh, Guy, yes! A million times yes!" She exclaimed exaggeratedly and I picked the bracelet to put on her wrist. "I thought you would never ask. But deep down, I knew that inside this body damaged by alcohol and cigarettes, there is a small space for me..."

"Enough."

I got up and left the kitchen, but I was smiling.

"Good morning, I'm a passionate guy and I came here to marry the love of my life!" I said to the receptionist at Malibu's City Hall, putting an arm around Daisy's shoulders.

"Oh, yes and we need to be quick. Our families are mortal enemies and against our love" Daisy added, hugging me sideways.

The receptionist smiled at both of us and asked us to wait while she checked out our documents.

"Are we Romeo and Juliet?" I asked when I saw the woman walk away.

"I got confused." Daisy shrugged.

"My dear" The receptionist returned with a warm smile for both of us. "Normally, this process would be faster, however, Mr. Carver is not an American citizen and has a deportation request in progress, so it may appear to the Court that you're getting married to get a visa" she said, looking at us through his huge glasses as if asking, 'you're not, are you?'

"It's absurd that the American State thinks that our love is not true!" Daisy exclaimed, loud enough to attract the attention of other people passing by.

"Chill out" I whispered to her "What should we do?" I addressed the receptionist with my best innocent smile.

"You can get married, however I will need to ask some questions and in a few months, you will be summoned again for another series of questions, and if everything goes well, they will grant you citizenship on the same day" she smiled pleasantly.

I noticed that Daisy's posture changed.

"And if it doesn't work?"

" It'll work, darling, don't worry" I said, lightly squeezing her arm.

"I don't think it will be a problem for you. Anyone can see that you are a couple in love," the receptionist told us.

"How wonderful" Daisy murmured.

She escorted us to a small, white, claustrophobic room at the end of the hallway. We didn't need to wait in a line because no one was up to getting married on a Monday morning.

Inside the room, I saw two sad vases of flowers that were supposed to be there to give some mood. I looked at Daisy. It certainly wasn't the place a girl would dream of getting married. I felt a little bad for taking that away from her, but maybe one day she would find someone good enough for her who wouldn't spare the money to have the wedding of her dreams.

I wondered if we would still be in contact by then. Probably not. We weren't even friends. I was terrible at making friends.

"Let's start. Mr. Carver, where was Miss Lynton born?" she asked, adjusting her glasses on her face.

"This is easy. Oakland" I shrugged, sprawling my legs out on the chair.

"No..." the receptionist said worriedly "It was in Sacramento."

I looked at Daisy indignantly.

How did she not tell me that?

We went over most of the basic information about the two of us on the way here and she forgot to mention that she wasn't from Oakland? Was it too early to consider intentional homicide?

"I've lived in Oakland since I was two, that's why Guy got confused" she replied and as an emotional appeal, Daisy took my hand.

I smiled and confirmed her answer, but I squeezed Daisy's hand a little tighter.

"Ouch" Daisy blurted out.

"Sorry, Miss Lynton, did you say something?"

"No, it's fine" Daisy smiled, and I felt a sharp pain in my right foot as Daisy stepped on it under the table.

"Could you just confirm your husband's name?"

"Guy Carver" she replied with some level of disdain.

"Hmm, no."

"NO?" Daisy practically screamed.

Yes, I probably should've mentioned that. I just didn't think this would be a question on the marriage quiz.

"It's my stage name. I think you've heard it" I explained to the woman. She nodded with an excited smile. Ah, the perks of being famous.

There were another four or six questions about how we met and why we decided to get married. We practiced all of this on the way here. Since Daisy was a filmmaker (born to create lies) and I was an actor (born to interpret lies), our answers were almost perfect. We could convince the Pope that we were in love.

"You did well, apart from a few mistakes that won't influence the final paperwork" she explained "Just sign the paper now."

The receptionist offered us a piece of paper with two spaces for signatures at the end. I signed quickly, eager to get it over with. It would be less of a problem on my shoulders.

Daisy lingered over my signature with her eyes half-closed and her lips pursed, and then she signed her own name next to mine.

"Congratulations, you're now officially married" she declared, looking at us with the same expectation on her face as Stacker's when he asked me if I was sober.

I didn't quite understand what she was expecting until I noticed that Daisy was also staring at me with her eyebrows raised.

Right. She wanted a kiss.

"Won't you kiss me, darling?" Daisy teased.

I looked at her.

That was pretty embarrassing.

I couldn't tell if it was the steady look in the woman's eyes behind the table or the fact that I would have to kiss Daisy. I considered sleeping with her, it's true, but when she said it would never happen, I just put that idea out of my head.

I cleared my throat twice. I lifted my body from the chair with more effort than necessary and smiled at my wife.

Daisy returned the smile wryly. We moved closer until our lips lightly touched for less than two seconds. I could barely taste Daisy and she returned to her place in the chair.

"That was beautiful" The woman sighed "Now, Daisy, if you want to change your last name, you can make an appointment for tomorrow."

"I'm fine." she said. "Because of our parents..." she explained and the woman nodded, looking at us with compassion.

"What's wrong with Daisy Carver? It's a great combination" I teased, as we walked out of the building toward my white Range Rover.

"In your dreams" she countered, opening the passenger door "And why can't you be Guy Lynton? Men can also take the women's names."

"Or we could be Daisy and Guy Carver-Lynton. Like Jolie-Pitt" I said inside the car.

"Carver-Lynton is ridiculous" she said, resting her head on the glass "And that couple didn't end very well from what I recall. Do you really want to set our marriage up for failure?"

"I'd hate to do that, wife."

"You know, I thought being someone's wife would be more interesting" she commented "The one time I imagined myself married to someone, I thought it would have an extra feeling of excitement, maybe...?"

"Were you and Cliff engaged?" I asked, trying not to sound too insensitive because she clearly wasn't over the breakup.

"No. We dated for almost seven years... I always thought he would ask one day. Do you think I waited too long?"

"Do you really care for my opinion?"

I felt her gaze on me.

"Anyway, let's get to the real topic here: What's your name? I saw you signed as F. Carver. What is F? Frederick, Frank, Fabian, Florencio?"

I laughed. Daisy changed her mood quickly.

But, okay, I get it. She didn't want to talk about her ex-boyfriend, especially with a stranger like me. I wouldn't insist on the matter, even though I was curious to know more about it.

"Who the hell's name is Florencio?"

I knew this topic would come up at some point. Daisy could be incredibly annoying when she wanted to figure something out.

I had learned this the hard way—when she discovered a switch in the house that apparently didn't work and even called the architect who planned the mansion to ask about the switch.

That same night, I saw her with the blueprint of my house, studying it closely. I have no idea where she got that.

"You?!" She squinted her eyes at me.

I ignored her and sped the car onto the main avenue.

"Why did you change your name?"

"Thatcher told me my name wasn't artistic enough for Hollywood" I said, heading towards the beach "So his assistant suggested Harry. I thought it would be too cliché, another English Harry in the world of fame."

"So you chose Guy?"

I nodded.

"But your real one is..." she let me finish.

It was obvious that I wasn't going to fall for that. Except Thatcher and those who knew me before I became an actor, no one knew my real name. I would prefer it to remain a secret.

That name belonged to my old self, a person I stopped being many years ago.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Daisy" I smiled.

"Just give me a tip. Is it the name of someone famous?"

"Maybe..."

"It's a thing?"

"A thing?"

"Yes, like mine. Like Flower, Light, Ocean... Dick..."

"Dick," I repeated, holding back a laugh.

"It's not your name, right?"

"My name is..."

I looked at her. Daisy was smiling, showing all her teeth. I noticed that the first two were slightly separated. I take back what I said about her having an ordinary look. Daisy was pretty, very pretty.

"I want a divorce" she said.

I laughed.

In a few minutes, we arrived at the Hearts on Fire studio. We left the car in the parking lot and walked to the building together. The producers were still arranging the set — a huge ballroom, which would witness the English soldiers' ball.

"Hey, what should we eat later? I was thinking about ordering some japanese."

I looked at her from the corner of my eye.

Daisy had this incredible ease in approaching people, which made me a little nervous. In less than two days of living with me, she was already arranging our lunches as if we were... married.

I pulled the collar of my shirt to let the air inside. I tried to find a way to avoid that conversation. Thank God my cell phone rang in my pocket. It was a new message from Maya.

Maya: Can I come to your house tonight?

I had been seeing this girl for longer than usual. I didn't like that, because eventually she would think I was falling in love with her and that would never happen. But I wasn't going to refuse the invitation, because she knew how to have fun and I needed to have fun.

I asked her to reserve a hotel in the area. I had to respect Daisy's rules if I wanted her to stay married to me until I got the visa.

"Ask whatever you want. I'll spend the night out."

Daisy looked up.

"Where?" She asked, then raised her hand as if interrupting herself. "Sorry. It's none of my business. I think I play the role of wife too well." Daisy smiled and put her name badge around her neck.

"I'm going to look for a way to celebrate my marriage since my wife refuses to sleep with me."

"You know, I think we can really do this, Carver." She stopped suddenly, turning to face me.

"Sleep together?"

"No" she rolled her eyes "We can do this wedding thing. I thought it would be a huge problem and we would end up on Alcatraz Island, but we're getting along just fine, right?"

"We're not going to Alcatraz just because we married" I said, shaking my head "But I think you're right. It's not that bad."

Daisy winked at me and walked off toward Jenn, Stacker's assistant.

She was right. Still, I had a bad feeling. Something always went wrong in the life I lived, how could that crazy idea be an exception to that rule?