Ellie had been single for a long time, not for lack of trying of course. However, her family was starting to tease her about it at holidays when her cousins would bring their boyfriends and girlfriends home, and she made the mistake of saying she had someone she’d been hiding away until the right time.

Why? Probably spite, just to prove her family wrong. The issue now stood- she needed a fake date to bring to Christmas. That’s where you came in with a favor you owed her from covering your work shifts from time to time.