Or not. Whatever.
“Sure!”
“We covered a lot of stuff over the last few weeks–favorite foods, favorite movies, music, and TV shows…”
“Right…”
“But I feel like there’s still a lot of stuff we didn’t cover.”
“Really? Like what? We’ve talked so much that I feel like I know everything about you!” She smiled at him like she was impressed with herself. Should he really crush that feeling?
“Let’s be real, Willow, there’s no way to know everything about someone in only an hour a day for two weeks.”
She straightened a bit in her seat and seemed to consider what he said. “Maybe. But I think we learned a lot.”
“Oh, we definitely did! But you never told me what hobbies you have or anything particularly silly about yourself. Little things that I might know if we were dating for real. And definitely nothing that someone who’s in love with you would know.”
“Whoa…we’re just dating. Well…not really dating, but you know…in the fake way. And even if it was real, would we really be in love so soon?”
“You don’t believe in love at first sight?”
She snorted and then laughed nervously. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Oh, well…I don’t know. No one I know has ever had it happen, and I know it’s never happened to me, so…”
“That doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
“I guess.” She chewed on her bottom lip and went quiet.
They drove in companionable silence for several minutes and Levi took the exit to get onto the Belt Parkway. It was a stretch of road he wasn’t particularly fond of, and every pothole and bump had him cringing and worrying about his car.
It was a stupid thing to worry about, but it was a good distraction from the conversation he and Willow had left hanging.
So she didn’t believe in love at first sight. Did he? It wasn’t something he’d ever really thought about, but he certainly believed in attraction at first sight. The moment he picked Willow up in his arms that fateful day, he was drawn to her. While their relationship had been along the lines of friendship, it didn’t stop Levi from acknowledging that he thought she was beautiful and that his feelings weren’t all based on them being friends.
Not that he’d admit that to Willow.
Not yet, anyway.
But fake-relationship Levi might…
They drove on for several more minutes until they approached the Verrazano Bridge, and he released her hand–not because he wanted to, but because there was more traffic at the bridge entrance and he needed both hands on the wheel to maneuver his way through it.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Willow bend forward and start looking for something in her purse. It didn’t take long for her to pull out her phone and sit back up. He figured she was looking for a way to pass the time–maybe check her emails or text someone–so he focused on driving and left her to it.
They crossed the bridge, and within minutes, they were in New Jersey.
One state down.
They had at least two hours before they crossed into Maryland and could stop for lunch, but he had no idea how to kill time between now and then. Obviously they were going to talk, but…about what? Willow had gone quiet on him and now was studying her phone.
How long was he supposed to wait before he tried to get her to talk to him again? And should he even push or just wait her out?
Or maybe…
“Yay! I found it!” she said excitedly.
“Found what?”
“The perfect way for us to learn more about each other and sound like we’re more in love.”
“Um…and how is that?”
“There’s this set of questions you and your significant other can ask each other and it’s supposed to make you fall in love.”
Levi swallowed hard. “Um…what?”
Beside him, Willow was looking down at her phone, nodding. “Yup. The article says there are 36 questions you can ask someone if you want to fall in love, or make your love even stronger if you’re already in love.” She looked over at him and smiled. “What do you say? Ready to fall in love with me?”
4
Oh, God…why would I ask that?
“I mean…fake fall in love,” Willow quickly amended. “This is all for the sake of us sounding more realistic, right?”
Levi had both hands on the steering wheel in a white-knuckled grip, and she didn’t take it as a good sign.
Way to go, Willow. He’s probably trying to come up with an excuse to turn the car around and bow out of this trip.
“So you just ask me questions and that’s it?” he asked.
“Well, they recommend taking turns asking the questions, but since you’re driving–and this isn’t really real–I figured I’ll ask the questions. But we both have to answer them.”
“And…how personal are they? Like is this going to be embarrassing stuff about sex and all that?”
She gasped. “Oh, my goodness! I hope not! I don’t think so. It didn’t say anything about sex, so…”
“Okay, how about this–you start asking the questions, and if any of them make us feel uncomfortable, we skip them. How does that sound?”
“Hmm…that seems fair.” Swiping the screen, she scanned the instructions and cleared her throat. “You ready for this? It says it should take about an hour.”
He laughed softly.
“What’s so funny?”
“I was just thinking about what we were going to talk about for the next two hours, and now I know.”
“Oh, well…that’s convenient.” She did her best to get comfortable and felt a little giddy. “Here we go. Question number one. If you could invite anyone in the world to dinner, who would it be?”
“Easy. Wayne Gretzky.”
“The hockey player?”
Nodding, Levi replied, “Yup. The Great One. I’m a huge hockey fan.”
“See? This is extremely helpful information!” Willow exclaimed, hopeful the rest of the questions would go as easily.
“What about you? Who would you invite?”
“Hmm…Anna Kendrick.”
“Who?”
“Anna Kendrick. The actress.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, why?”
“I don’t know. I just didn’t think you’d pick a celebrity.”
“Oh, um…I guess then I would pick…”
“No, no, no…,” he said, quickly interrupting her. “That’s not how this works.
