Free Semblance by Logan Patricks

annoyance in his feelings towards Calisto’s personal life? It was probably best I didn’t delve too much into family matters. It wasn’t any of my business anyways. In fact, his sex life really wasn’t any of my business—though watching Shadow navigate out of my twenty questions minefield was kind of fun. It was good knowing I could hold my own with one of the aristocrats.
    “So why not have a relationship then?”
    “Too busy,” he replied.
    “Too busy with what?”
    I could tell he was getting annoyed with me. Perhaps I had pushed things too far? I had a tendency to be oblivious to situations at times.
    “We need to go on a few dates,” he said.
    “Excuse me?” I asked, surprised. That certainly came out of the blue. He went from ‘I don’t want any relationships this lifetime’ to ‘let’s have dinner and a movie.’ Maybe on top of being an arrogant, rich prick, he was schizophrenic as well—a mentally unstable heartthrob.
    “Look, I selected you as my woman in front of the entire Midnight Society,” he said, “So it’s expected that we’re seen together at least a few times.”
    “You want to go on pretend dates?”
    “Yeah,” he said. “Exactly.”
    “Why should I do this for you?”
    “Because I can give you everything you want--a career for starters.”
    Tempting. But I was still skeptical. “And then what? We get engaged and at the last second I call off the wedding because I got cold feet?” I asked.
    “No,” he replied. “After the second date I’ll tell everyone that I made a mistake in choosing you and I’d rather have you as a close friend.”
    “Why am I the one who gets dumped? How come I can’t dump you?” 
    “It’ll look bad on my family name,” he said.
    “What about me? It’ll look bad on me too,” I said. “I have to think about my illustrious career too you know.”
    “People will sympathize with a heart broken woman,” he said. “Use that to your advantage.”
    “Ugh. You’re such a dick.”
    “A flaccid one according to you,” he smiled. “Apparently I’m hanging around low and lazy.”
    I couldn’t help but snicker also, but I scrunched up my face quickly after, showing him that I was displeased at the prospect of being dumped by a guy I wasn’t interested in, despite his hotness.
    “Two public dates,” Shadow said. “We’ll put on a show and when it’s all over, I’ll give you everything you need to kick-start your music career. And then I can have my life back to normal.”
    “What’s normal?”
    “You’re very inquisitive.”
    “All part of my beautiful personality,” I said.
    “It’s annoying.”
    I shot him a dirty look.
    “So do we have an agreement?” Shadow asked.
    “How do I know that after two dates, you won’t become infatuated with me and then force me to marry you?”
    “I’ll draft up a contract, if that will make you feel any better.”
    I eyed him suspiciously.
    “A contract?”
    “Yes, those pieces of paper with written agreements on them that we both have to sign afterwards.”
    “I know what a contract is,” I said. “It just seems so…business-like.”
    “I do run a business empire in my spare time,” Shadow said. “A contract will protect both of us.”
    After giving it some thought, I finally agreed. “Draft it up,” I said.
    We headed back into the estate in silence, which was good. It gave me time to process all the strange events that had occurred overnight.
    My music was a sensational hit amongst the rich and powerful, I was chosen to be the bride of some ‘Lord of the Midnight Society,’ I was going to go on two dates with him only to be dumped afterwards, but it would result in a blossoming music career.
    “Wait,” I said. “You’re going to help me with my career because you like my music, and not because I’m going to go on two dates with you, right?”
    “Yes,” Shadow replied. “You’re very talented. I believe that you can do great things with those fingers of yours.