One of my favorite old movies to rewatch is “Wedding Date” and when I was pondering what romantic tropes to use for this year’s Intergalactic Dating Agency novellas, I wondered if there was a way to write a fake date situation revolving around a wedding. I thought it would be amusing to have a fake date unfolding in the middle of this highly organized dating experience the Ardannan government had set up for their eligible men.
(As I’ve mentioned before in these “Why I Wrote” posts, I try to center each Intergalactic Dating Agency story around one romance trope and build my story from there.)
I always like to refresh my mind on what the reader expectations are for a story featuring a specific trope and so I read four or five of the best reviewed, top ranked fake dating romances, with emphasis on wedding dates. That doesn’t make me an expert on the subgenre by any means but I could test my plot against the various stories and feel confident I wasn’t missing a key element.
Then I launched into writing my story and had so much fun. I decided this would be a big interstellar celebrity wedding, with the Female Main Character being a childhood friend of the bride and serving as a bridesmaid. Her nasty ex is the Best Man of course and there’s about a week’s worth of events the bride has planned to amuse her guests at this destination wedding, leading up to the main event. Elodie, the FMC, had created a fictional hot boyfriend after the breakup with her cheating ex to save face, especially with her family, but now people expect to meet him. Lucky for her Braden’s date never showed up for the Ardannan contract and he’s free to step in and support her.
I gave them fun events to attend together and separately. For Braden it’s the thrill of a lifetime getting to play tisba (the highest ranked sport in the Sectors, which I’ve referenced before but never really got into any details of) with professional players since the groom is the most famous player in the league. For Elodie it’s a not-quite-so-happy bachelorette party where she becomes the awkward center of attention against her will.
Years ago I read an account of a group of ‘civilians’ who got to attend one of the cinematic award events and it always stayed with me how they expected, as I would have too, being at a table with celebrities and having a chance to chat with them and maybe make the start of a few friendships. Instead to the great disappointment of the group I was reading about, the movie stars and movers and shakers at the table basically ignored them the entire time and talked and laughed among themselves about people they knew and shared experiences they had which these Cinderella-like civilians were totally outside of. (I think maybe they had a documentary in the running for an award.) When the evening ended the celebrities got up and left, still never having engaged in any conversation with the civilians. As if they hadn’t been there at all.
I used that for Elodie, who isn’t a part of her celebrity friend’s life except on occasions when she’s invited to a special event. So as the week goes on she realizes what an outsider she truly is, despite her old friend’s efforts, and the high flying people in whose circles the bride now moves don’t make much, if any effort to include Elodie. They don’t know her, she isn’t part of their world and won’t ever be, as it’s a fluke she’s even at the wedding.
But then there’s Braden, who stands up for Elodie and helps her deal with various setbacks and issues. And when danger seems to be stalking her, of course he steps in to help. (And since he’s a Soldier of the Ardannan, he’s also a shifter…)
And fake turns to real, as it always does in the best romances! HEA achieved.
Here’s an awkward situation where Braden saves the day (although I’m cutting the excerpt off before the details of how that happens – sorry!).
Depositphotos
Tamarind, the bride, wants to have her bridesmaids, of which there are many, do a dance routine with her at the reception…
When Elodie walked into the dressing room, it was empty and she heard music and laughter from the studio adjoining so she rushed to shove her things into an empty locker and join the others.
The two women who were professional dancers were performing a routine together, having fun, showing off their high kicks and seductive hip shimmies and even while she was enjoying the show, Elodie felt dread creeping over her. Surely they weren’t going to expect to teach the other bridesmaids to do anything similar? The precision of the moves and the skill on display was daunting. Elodie checked the faces of the other bridesmaids and was dismayed at how cheerful everyone looked. But after all they were models, actresses, influencers and even one of Tamarind’s own backup dancers. Probably none of them were going to have a hard time learning the moves.
Elodie never knew left from right, had never been on a dance team and wasn’t the most limber person in the room.
The music ended and the two women took a bow as the rest applauded. Then they were all business, lining the bridesmaids up in two lines, with Tamarind in the center. Elodie ended up on the end in the back, which was actually fine with her. The pros demonstrated the dance they’d created and a few tweaks were made in real time before they began teaching the steps to the women.
Elodie was lost from the third step. She did her best to keep up. She whirled and twirled and shimmied and tossed her hair (really? With the elaborate hairdos we’ll be wearing?) but was always behind the others and missed steps in between. Eventually one of the teachers took her aside and did one on one coaching during the break while everyone else was gossiping and practicing steps. She was embarrassed beyond belief, hot, flushed and sweating. Trying to imagine herself going through a performance of this routine, let alone in her bridesmaid dress and heels was a nightmare.
After the break, the bridesmaids and the bride lined up and ran through it three more times before the teachers were satisfied and told them all to clap for themselves because of a job well done. Elodie was positive they weren’t talking to her and she made a break for the dressing room before anyone else moved.
***************
Braden arrived at the dance studio gritting his teeth. This wasn’t his idea of how to spend a beautiful day on a resort planet, not when he had the ocean and a gorgeous girl to share it with. But he’d signed up for this mission when he’d agreed to be Elodie’s date and that meant all of it, not just the fun parts like playing tisba with sports idols. He walked into the studio with a group of the other dates, some of whom he recognized from the tisba match, to find the bride and her bridesmaids gathered in the studio, chatting happily.
Elodie was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, he asked the nearest woman where she might be. The bridesmaid gave him a seductive smile and eyed him up and down. “She’ll be back. In the meantime—”
“I think she went outside to cool off,” said another girl, frowning at the one speaking to him. “She uh she had a hard time with the routine.”
“Thanks.” Whatever that meant, Braden had a feeling things hadn’t gone well for his plucky lady so he hastened outside to search for her.
She was sitting on a bench under a nearby tree and even from a distance he could see she was crying.
Kneeling beside her, he said, “Hey, what’s this? Are you okay?”
Elodie shook her head and turned away from him. “I just spent the worst two hours of my life in that room. I can’t go back. I won’t. I’m going home.” She hiccupped and ended on another huge sob. He could tell she was having trouble breathing.
Never one to hesitate, Braden rose, picked her up and sat on the bench with her curled in his lap. “Tell me and we’ll figure out a way to fix it.”
BRADEN (INTERGALACTIC DATING AGENCY) SOLDIERS OF THE ARDANNAN BOOK FIVE by Veronica Scott
Braden Hartwell’s five day date on the Intergalactic Dating Agency’s Resort Planet has crashed and burned already. His date failed to show up, having gotten married on her home planet. While he’s absorbing this setback he receives a surprising offer. Elodie Farantson is on Resort Planet to be a bridesmaid for her childhood friend. Her cheating ex-boyfriend is the best man and Elodie has been telling everyone about her wonderful new boyfriend to save face. Except he doesn’t exist. Panicking she takes refuge in a noisy club before going to the first wedding party. Upon seeing Braden all alone at the club, she strikes up an acquaintance over drinks, inviting him to be her fake date to the wedding and all the activities for the week. With nothing better to do and all his friends matched up with IDA dates, Braden agrees. The situation turns out to be much more complicated than Elodie explained. The bride and groom are famous interstellar celebrities, the events are nonstop and he soon realizes he wants something real with Elodie. For her part, Elodie is falling head over heels for Braden but after her last relationship disaster she’s reluctant to take a risk. When danger from an unknown source stalks her Braden has to step up and do whatever is necessary to save her life.
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