Emily's POV
That day when I got home, I went straight to my room with the computer in hand ready to lock myself in for hours. To my surprise, for the first time in a long time, I didn't feel like listening to Lana's opinion on this topic as I already thought I knew what she would tell me. If someone were to ask me how I felt, I would say that I felt completely overwhelmed. In itself, remembering everything that had happened in that apartment made me sick to my stomach and to make matters worse, the different voices in my head were trying to bring me to the brink of collapse. They all disagreed with each other, they had different opinions but they all had a common goal: to drive me crazy.
On more than one occasion, I had to get out of bed to look at myself in the mirror. Pinch my arm and verify that all this was not just a strange dream, and I said strange because I still didn't know if it was something bad or good.
Apparently the guy with the pretty eyes, Nathan Vandenn already knew all about me thanks to a nice investigator. Well, now it was my time to investigate who this man was with the world's most skilled and effective investigator.
The web.
When I typed Nathan Vandenn into the search engine, I got a whole page full of pictures of the guy taken by third parties and some pretty juicy news with compromising headlines like: "Businessman Nathan Vandenn arrested for nightclub disturbance" "Nathan Vandenn spotted in Bali, with the supermodel" "Nathan Vandenn beats photographer".
OMG, the guy was quite the scandal superstar. Although I was quite attracted to the flashy headlines, I preferred to start looking for more decent and useful information such as his personal details, family, and company.
Absorbed between the computer and my notes, I ignore the fact that Lana knocks on the door entering with a small box in her hand.
"Hey." She murmurs, distracting my attention from the computer to her: "Guess what came in.W
She whips the small box in the air, causing the aroma to hit my pits.
"Chicken." I smile at her, make a space on my bed for her to sit next to me and she does. She leaves the box of chicken in the center, opens it and a delicious aroma of buffalo sauce pervades the air: "You don't know how much I appreciate you Lolo."
I put my notes aside, and reach out my hand grabbing prey from the tasty box. I bring the little chicken leg to my mouth, and my neurons explode in ecstasy from the exquisite taste.
"Wow, you're doing your own research." Mentions Lana glancing at my notes and the computer screen: "Well, what do you have so far?" She asks, as much as I wanted to handle this alone, Lana wouldn't let me.
"Everything he said in the apartment is true. Everything about his family, his right brother, the company..." I reply while going over my notebook: "The only thing he forgot to mention, is his penchant for good women and trouble."
Maneuvering so as not to stain the computer, I go back to the main page of the search engine and show Lana all the headers of the various news items. She walks over, reads, and recoils in surprise.
"Who the fuck do you have to be to appear on the web?"
"I ask myself the exact same question." I taste a piece of protein in my mouth. "Did you know that the guy is only 23 years old, already a college graduate, has an MBI, and already works for the family business? Idol."
Lana nods taking in all the information I'm giving her, however it doesn't take long for her to ask the important question.
"So, what do you plan to do Emi?" She asks, causing the chicken in my hand to stop tasting.
I set the food aside and uncomfortably answer honestly: "I am not sure" I shrug my shoulders, highlighting the feeling that had been invading me for the last two hours: Uncertainty, total uncertainty: "I don't want to earn problems that are not mine, besides all this is still very crazy."
My best friend remains silent for a few moments, empties her hands, and speaks.
"Do you want me to tell you my opinion?" She questions me but with sincerity, I refuse "I'll tell you anyway."
I already knew what she was going to say.
"Our life is reduced to this, Emily. We study, we work for a salary, we pay some bills and with what's leftover we eat chicken." She laughs, but everything in her words is truthful: "This kid is offering you a whole new life."
"One of the lies, Lana."
"So, what is Emily asking you to do? Move into her super luxurious apartment, pretend to be the girlfriend for six months of a man who is hotter than this chicken and all you have to worry about is studying?" She points out, looking somewhat frustrated by my refusal. Thank goodness she didn't know about the money part. "I know I'm the one who got you into this mess but Emily this here is a good opportunity, plus if you don't accept you're out of options."
The answer seemed obvious, but the conflict in my head was still present. My moral side was screaming that this was a bad idea and that nothing good would come of it, but my adolescent side wanted me to take the plunge.
The truth is that my impulsive side was dying to accept this proposal.
"Girl, it's not such a hard decision, is it?" Lana's presence is damned, that's why I didn't want to hear her opinion as all this would happen. At this point, I was only two more words away from jumping into the ravine: "Please, think about it for a second…"
Fuck your morals, God knows I have no choice.
"What could go wrong, right?" I say, and Lana's face lights up with pure happiness. She reaches out her arms and with haste, she clasps me between them flapping me back and forth: "Lolo, my hair doesn't smear like..."
I push her away from me with laughter, she was really excited that this body was embarking on all this madness.
"I will visit you a lot, really a lot. I still haven't fallen in love with the place." She confesses: "Can you imagine my baby Lolo running across that beautiful marble floor?"
"It's only six months Lana, the baby is barely born" I remind her, amused by her childish excitement. "By the way, since when did the baby have a name?"