Kid Games

Having decided that she did not feel like going on the date, Eve was now dead set on making sure that she did not go anywhere. Some people would call it cowardice of the highest degree.

But Eve was a more kind-hearted person, especially towards herself. So she was calling her intent not to go on the blind date that she had promised her friend she would, an act of self-love. After all, what was the point of her putting herself through something that she just knew was not going to help her in any way shape or form. She had not been on a date in years. Why change things now? Her life was great the way that it currently was. She had absolutely no reason to try and mix things up. What was the point of trying to go out there in the world again?

Why mess with a good thing? Unfortunately for her, just because she was on her own side when it came to the whole blind date thing. It did not mean that she actually had the courage to tell Stella that she was no longer going. The other woman had been bringing up the blind date in every conversation, that they'd had throughout the week.

While it was sweet to know that her friend was worried that much about her, there was still a downside. 

It felt as though Stella was overreacting. Two years was not that long to have not been on a date. It did not mean that she was still obsessing over her ex.

She was so done with that man that it was not even funny. Eve did not need to get back on or under the horse like Stella had said to prove that. When the time came for her to date, she would simply do it. 

No blind dates needed. 

That was the way she saw things. But unfortunately, Stella believed that in order to get back out there, Eve needed to jump right back into the dating pool.

But Eve really, really,really did not want to, which was why even as she had been getting things ready for the blind date throughout the week, she had also been planning ways of getting out of the whole arrangement. At first she had not even taken it seriously, just thinking of random things like maybe moving to a foreign country and changing her name. Or maybe she could run away, and start a bee farm in the middle of nowhere. 

Maybe she could be abducted by an alien race that was completely against dating and she never had to worry about it ever again. Those had been the nearly impossible things that Eve had been thinking of when it came to avoiding going on her date.

But even as she had convinced herself that she was just playing around. There had also been a part of her that had not been thinking of random, far-fetched things at all. Instead, that part of her brain had been going over the logical things that she could do without having to pack up her entire life and leave. Her first thought had been to fake a headache. 

Sure it was something that even ten year olds faked on occasion, but it was a legitimate excuse. Everyone got headaches. Stella would never force her to go out when she was not feeling a hundred percent. But she had quickly dismissed the idea of a headache. Her friend would have been able to see through that one from a mile away.

Then she had thought of buying a brace of some sort, and faking an injury. But Eve had tossed that theoretical idea aside as well. Stella would have left her boyfriend back home, and moved in with Eve in an effort to nurse her back to health. Her lie would have been discovered very quickly, so she had dismissed that.

Those had been some of the crazy ideas that Eve had immediately dismissed. But now that she had decided that she was not going, she was going to stick to the one idea that had not sounded too ridiculous.

Back when she had just been coming up with possible reasons not to go on the blind date. There had been one idea that had stood out. 

There was one illness that she could fake, and be able to get away with, without worrying her friend too much, or risking getting caught as soon as possible. 

A sore throat.

Simple, elegant, all she had to do was talk in a hoarse whisper for a little while in Stella's presence. In a day or two, she could miraculously be cured. A fast recovery that she would attribute to all of the honey and lozenges that she would down. It was a great plan. One so magnificent in its simplicity that she was not even struggling to stay in character as she put it into action.

Sitting in her living room, trembling just the right amount, and looking respectably miserable Eve wanted to clap hands for herself, but had managed to control the urge. Focusing her energy on putting up one heck of a performance. In keeping with the idea of having a sore throat, rather than call. Eve texted her friend, getting comfortable on the couch as she did so.

'I don't think I'm going to be able to make it to the blind date. I have a sore throat.' She wrote, getting straight to the point, and not adding any unnecessary words. Keeping up the act even though Stella was not there was a bit much, but it helped her stay in character.' Alright, I am just closing up the salon, I will come and check on you right now. Stella responded.

Eve's brow furrowed at that. Her friend really was something else. She could have just said, 'get well soon, and left it at that', but instead she was coming to see Eve. It was a gesture that was greatly appreciated, but it was also one that annoyed Eve to no end. She no longer had to just say she had a sore throat. She had to look it too, not just for herself like she was currently doing, but she had to make sure that Stella bought the act.

That realization had her dashing upstairs and getting under the covers. A few minutes after that, Stella arrived.

Which was why Eve was currently in bed, sucking on a lozenge and pretending to be miserable, her friend sitting on the corner of the bed looking at her worriedly.

"Are you sure I can go? I feel bad about leaving you here," Eve stared at her friend, and pushed away the guilt that she could feel deep within. Making sure to look as miserable as possible, she nodded slowly. The movement highly exaggerated, she gave Stella a pained look for good measure. She might have been over doing it, but Stella really seemed to be buying the act, so she kept it up. All the while feeling like an awful person for taking advantage of someone as trusting as Stella.

Eye on the prize! She reminded herself. All of the faking was for a good cause. In thirty minutes she would have had to be at her blind date, but thanks to her flawless acting she no longer had to worry about such a thing.

"All right, I'll go. See you tomorrow, get well soon," There was a gentle pat on her hand, and Stella got off the bed.

Watching as her friend left, Eve gave a few pitiful coughs and lay back down. Waiting until she heard the door downstairs open and close before she threw off the bed covers and let out a gleeful shout, 

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" She sing-songed as she got to her feet. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is done," Spinning in place, she turned to the bedroom door and opened it, taking the steps two at a time, she sprinted downstairs. There was a tub of ice cream in the kitchen that had her name on it.

"Freedommmmmm!" She sang at the top of her lungs, dragging the last bit as she jumped over the final two steps. Then her good mood evaporated, the words dying in her mouth, her eyes going wide in shock.

The house should have been empty, she had thought that she'd heard her best friend leave. But instead Stella was in the living room, staring right at her, her brow raised. 

"Stella...what...are you doing... here?" She clutched her chest dramatically and tried coughing into her hand. Only able to manage a few unconvincing coughs, she cut the act and straightened.

Looking at her friend's frowning face, she realized that it would not be enough to just apologize. So she might as well just stick to her guns about not going on the blind date.

"It's not like I can go anymore. You've already cancelled the date," She said, crossing her arms over her chest in an effort to seem bigger. But Stella just shook her head, looking at Eve like she was an annoying younger sibling. Which was very unfair, both of them were twenty-eight.

"You must really think that I have not known you for most of your life. Did you really think I would fall for that awful act you were putting on upstairs? I've seen you sick before, Eve. And that, whatever it was that you were doing was not it. You sounded like a duck choking on a hot rock," 

"Hey!" Eve took offense to that. She had put great effort into her acting. She would not be demeaned in such a way.

"Anyway, it's too late. You've already cancelled the date thanks to my acting. So there," She said, but rather than looking put out. Her friend seemed to become happier.

Why was Stella smiling like that? She should not have been smiling. She should have been sighing and saying, "You are right. Let's just spend the evening watching movies and eating ice cream. But instead, her friend was grinning like a villain in a bad movie. 

"Funny you should say that. I had a feeling if I waited long enough. You would prove yourself to be perfectly healthy. So as far as your date knows, you're still coming," Suddenly feeling panicked, Eve looked around for something, anything to rescue herself with. 

"Wait. I can't go like this. There are only twenty minutes left now," Stella smiled, then she reached down, and for the first time. Eve noticed the bag by her feet. 

"It is funny you should say that. I came prepared. Let's do the fastest makeover ever," Eve swallowed at her friend's too wide grin. Great, just great. Stella owned her own hair salon, with her equipment, she would be able to get Eve looking like a million bucks in no time.

Head hanging in defeat, Eve headed back upstairs and with the help of her friend she got ready in record time.

She really hoped that the date would be worth it.