*two nights later*

after cleaning my place in preparation for dan visiting tonight for the movie marathon, i look through my kitchen to check whether or not i have enough snacks at home.

as i have everything ready and set for tonight, i make myself comfortable on my couch and switch on the tv. after about half an hour of me mostly zapping through most of the channels before watching the last ten minutes of a kitchen nightmares' episode, my phone rings and i grab it from on top of the table. 

i answer the call without looking at the id and am greeted with harry's voice. 

"hi phil!" she says and from her tone of voice i can tell that she is smiling. 

"hi! what's up, harry?" i ask. 

"well, nothing much, luna's just asked me to phone you because of tonight. she said you didn't answer her texts and she's in 'a meeting with another client' so she couldn't call."

"oh! tonight? i thought she would tell us more in advance." i say, still hopeful that the date is scheduled in a way so that i won't be home too late and still be able to do the marathon with dan. 

"what does she have planned for us?" i ask, eager to find out. 

"she said there's a reservation at the restaurant we had our first date in, you know that one near that one fountain."

"right."

"it's at 9 pm and we should be there till 11 at least, also she said you should come to mine afterwards and stay the night."

"oh." i say, a bit disappointed at myself to have to cancel on dan yet again. 

"is that alright with you? i mean, i could try to phone luna again and maybe we will be able to convince her this time around to do it tomorrow night? i know you had plans with dan, i actually had someone to meet today as well and i'm pretty bummed that i won't be able to." harriette says, sparking my interest.

"really? harry you have to tell me everything!" i say but sigh, "however, you know how luna is -once she has made reservations there's no way of avoiding it except you want your name end up written in red in her notebook. " 

"yeah, i guess so. i thought it would still be worth a shot but you're right." she says, now in a sad tone. 

"by the way, how do you know i had plans with dan today?"i wonder, we never talked about a specific date as harry was around the other night. 

"dan told me, he was really excited and stuff. anyway,  so i'll see you at 9, right?" she asks and i shake my head before realizing she can't see.

"i'll come fetch you at quarter to, i mean we might as well save some fuel. and it would make more sense since i'll come to yours after, right?"

"yay! pyjama party! we better grab some stupid magazines just like we used to!"

"don't worry! luna left a buch of them chez moi the other day so i'll leave them in the car." i smile halfheartedly. 

we say our 'bye-bye' and 'see-you-in-a-few''s before hanging up and i shoot dan a few messages again. 

dan?

hi!

please don't hit me the next time you see me

harry and i have a date tonight 

i promise tomorrow evening i'm free 

phil.

it's okay, i get the message. we don't have to do it anymore at all. 

have fun on your date. 

dan! come on

i still want to do it 

please don't be like that 

i really want to spend time with you, it's just 

okay- you are permitted to hit me hard, i deserve it i know this is very annoying and please trust me, normally i am not cancelling all the time 

no. i get it, phil. 

as i said, it's o.k. 

i'll ttyl

my hands hover over the keyboard of my phone for at least a minute as i can't make my mind up on what to reply. there's no more text coming from dan. if only i could tell him that this isn't even real, that my relationship is staged. 

he said he'd talk to me later, so i decide to wait it out. he will message me, right? 

****

having reached the restaurant, me and harriette now sat down opposite each other, conversing over dinner.

"i met someone." harriette tells me, after dabbing her mouth with her napkin. 

"the one you were to meet today? as i said- fill me in!" i speak quickly and quietly, though the restaurant is pretty vacant. i don't intend anyone to overhear our conversation.

"well," harriette teases, "you're going to find this really stupid."

"why so?" i ask, taking a few sips of my water. 

"it's warren horace." she spills in a heartbeat. 

"what?!" i accidentally spit out some of my water and the residue now hangs on my chin. i take my napkin and wipe my chin, "of lifestyle digest?" 

harriette nods slowly, before covering her face with her hands, "i know! phil, i know!"

"how? where did you meet him? what happened? don't leave me with just that! come on, harry! tell me!"

she sets her hands down onto the table as i shove a fork fully loaded with food into my mouth, impatient to hear the whole story behind this. 

"we met in a café near the set where i went to grab a coffee and it was so cliché! i accidentally tripped over because luna was stressing me out over the phone and spilt my whole cup with boiling hot contents on him and he apologised! he bought me a new cup and i felt so bad because of his ruined shirt but he was so nice about everything! we ended up talking and time went by fast. he asked me about you and i didn't know what to say!" harriette stutters and my eyes widen.

"please tell me you didn't tell him about-"

"no! no, no,"  harriette pouts, " it hurts me that you'd even for a split second think that i would spill the beans and ruin your career!"

"okay, but what did you tell him then? what did you say?"

"nothing!" she says and i furrow my brows, not believing her.

"i swear!" she takes my free hand in hers, "i told him everything is well between the both of us and he said 'that's good to hear'. then he gave me his number so that we could go and buy him a shirt someday because i insisted on it." 

"alright," i sigh, deciding to believe her, "and that was what you would have been doing now?"

"yes. and phil, i really do promise i didn't say anything else about the two of us, only that we've known each other for long, which didn't surprise him and that everything is well. we talked about small stuff like our favourite plants and such." 

"really?" i question. 

"yes! he was so sweet," harriette presses her lips together, "but i guess i'll never see him again and go back to being forced to read his articles about us by luna." 

"i am really sorry, harriette. but maybe it's for the best, i mean, if he would get to know that we're faking this-" i motion in between her and me, " it would turn out to be really ugly."

"but we don't have to tell anyone about faking it!" harriette whisper-shouts,  hopeful to get out of this situation. i listen carefully, "i thought about it and you know what? why don't we go back to our initial plan? i don't care about any more publicity. let's stage our break-up like we had wanted to!"

"that sounds great, but-" i start, sad that i have to decline even though it's the same thing i want. luna would never allow it, not now. 

"no buts! what about dan?" luna asks out of the blue. 

"what? what about him?" i say perplexed.

"oh! don't you act like that, philip! i saw the way you looked at him and how excited you were to meet him." 

"so what? we're good friends." i shrug and let go of harriette's hand. 

"oh? really now?" she rolls her eyes, "maybe you are now but you won't be just that forever, trust me." 

i laugh at what she just said, "do you want to read his latest texts to me? you're right, we might not even be friends by tomorrow."

she scoffs, "well, do you want to hear what he told me on the phone today?"

"what did he tell you?" i press urgently and harriette just folds up her arms in front of her chests.

"alright, alright, i do like him, like really like, so now tell me, please, harriette!" 

"okay, but only because you finally admitted it, well- somewhat at least." 

"and?" i question impatiently. 

"keep in mind that i am your 'girlfriend', okay?" she reminds me and i nod, " he was gushing about you! telling me all about how excited he is about seeing what your favourite movies are and what you would think about his and how he could've never imagined just how nice you are and so on and so forth."

"you're kidding me." i say, shaking my head disbelievingly. 

"am not!" she says, looking down at her watch, " hey phil it's nearly midnight- should we go?"

i nod. we pay for our food and drinks and leave the restaurant to walk to my car. 

on the way to the parking garage, we see a paparazzo taking pictures from his car so i lean in and spin harriette around to kiss her by which she is taken aback. 

she is about to ask me why i did that when she realises a few flashes going off. 

"sorry," i apologise, my hand still resting on her back. she brushes me off. 

****

in harriette's house, we have a few glasses of wine and read out a few articles by none other than warren horace whilst laughing out loudly at things we normally wouldn't even think of as funny. 

we talk a bit more about his way of writing and i give in. 

"we should address what you said at the next meeting, let's break up!" i smile and harriette looks up from one of the countless magazines scattered all around her bedroom.

"phil, oh my! thank you so much!" she grins, engulfing me in a very tight embrace.