Emily POV
Silently, I stare at him stunned by his confusing words. Although the man was a work of art, I would not let him take me for an innocent.
"Offer? Are you trying to pull my leg?" I mumbled back, but this time with hints of aggression in my tone: "You heard the part about me being on scholarship too, didn't you? I'm someone smart dude."
Hearing me, he closes his eyes and moves his lips as if he is mumbling things but it is inaudible to him. He inhales and exhales deeply, opens his eyes, and looks at me again.
"It seems that neither of us here has been sincere from the start, doesn't it?" He speaks, looking more frustrated and less pleasant than before: "I already listened to you, now take a seat and listen to me. I know you'll be interested."
I look at Lana, who unlike Michael stands next to us dumbfounded listening to every word we exchange. I search her eyes, seeking her approval and she nods.
Without another word, I walk past her straight to the couch with Lana following me. For his part, Nathan runs to Michael's side and they start mumbling once again.
"Can you guys stop mumbling and share with everyone in the room what is going on here?" Tensely I demand of them.
Nathan then turns away from Michael and with his hands in his pockets stops right in front of me. He looked uneasy, restless, and seeing him in that attitude made me anxious.
"What I'm about to tell you, Emily is going to sound strange and a little fucked up." He mentions, takes one of his hands out of his pocket and puts it on the back of his neck: "I need you."
My eyes widen like saucers, I look at Lana to rectify that she has heard the same thing as me, and from the expression on her face I can determine that she has.
"You need me? What do you mean you need me? You just saw me for the first time in your life." I answer exalted, as this conversation evolved I felt more and more taken for a fool: "I swear I'm a civilized person, but take me out of my mind and I'll slap you." I say and keep silent.
Nathan can't seem to get his thoughts to connect with his mouth, so Michael steps in: "Emily, hey" The blond takes a seat next to me and after a brief sigh is the one who takes the floor: "What my friend here is trying to say is that he badly needs a fake girlfriend and you seem like the ideal girl."
His words explode in my face like an atomic bomb, I look at Nathan to confirm that what his friend is saying is true and he just nods. I feel my cheeks flare-up, my knuckles start to ache and I suddenly have a huge urge to yell at someone.
"Emily, calm down." Nathan says in a hurry, probably because of the angry expression already planted on his face. He makes Michael stand up and takes his place on the couch: "I told you I was going to sound fucked up, but not the way you think."
He assures me, but still, his words failed to make my mind understand what he was up to.
"Do you want to buy me, Nathan? Like a service?" Bravely, I finally say what's crossing my mind" Is that what rich people think? That they can buy people?"
"No!" He quickly denies. He grabs a cushion from the couch and buries his face in it, gasps, and with reddened cheeks looks back at me: "Believe me I don't feel comfortable doing this, but if it wasn't so vital to me I wouldn't ask you."
In a few minutes, he picks up the story from the beginning. He tells me about himself and his family with special emphasis on his brother Harry, whom he apparently didn't like very much and with whom the rivalry was notorious. Then very energetically, he touches on the inheritance and the conditions for accessing his share of the inheritance, which evidently included a woman.
I see him energized and excited to talk about beating his brother, yet the whole proposition still had me disturbed.
"...For my family, a woman is synonymous with a stable life. At the moment I'm out of good options and obviously, I couldn't put an ad on the internet saying 'Wanted girlfriend of lies' or that stuff" He complements. I lower my gaze to her hands and see that they are shaking as if in a nervous twitch: "That's why we came up with this whole idea of the leasing ad, we've posted it on many pages, many people have come and so far the only person who seems like a good candidate is you."
The unsheltered puppy dog eyes you look at me with, turn my stomach a little. Still, I continue to feel objectified.
"I'm still a little lost, this feels almost like a fiction novel." Lana interjects: "You're proposing to my friend to pretend to be your girlfriend, aren't you?"
Nathan nods.
"So what? What else? How would it all work? What's in it for Emily here?" Lolo attacks him with questions, to which Nathan straightens up ready to answer: "You need to explain yourself a little better, buddy."
Nathan nods and takes back the floor: "I just need you to pretend to be my girlfriend for six months, and only in front of my family. If you accept my proposal, I'll offer you my place without charging you a single dollar during that time."
There was an awkward silence in the room, everyone waiting for my answer. Then in a touching act, Nathan puts his hand on my wrist and with pleading, eyes speak again: "I swear by the most sacred thing in my life, which is my mother, that this is no joke. I just need your help Emily, and if you trust me I promise you that you won't have any problems in the future because of this. If it's not you Emily, it won't be anyone else and then I will have ruined the possibility of a better future for my life." He says sounding honest and urgent for my help, but I'm still not convinced.
I recount how strange this day has become in a single second and remain silent for a few moments, meditating with myself.
"You don't know me." I say, evidencing the obviousness of the situation. Nathan's gaze then leaves my face and travels to Michael's, looking suspicious. "You don't know me, do you?"