"We can pretend that there's a flame, between us." "between us?" Fake relationship OxO! Open :))

Yelling was heard from the inside of the house, and then silence when the knocking happened. Then footsteps were heard inside coming closer to the door. The door opened and the same gentlemen from the ball was seen. Only this time his hair was a mess, and he wasn't wearing very fancy clothing. He cleared his throat, "Who are you, boy?" he raised a brow at Lars. Through a small crack in the door, you could see the tinge of Rachels's ginger hair.

“Oh, forgive me, sir.” Lars nodded politely. “Is this the right address to find a Ms. Rachel Watson? She said I could call on her today when we talked at the ball last night.”

He looked Lars up and down, before smirking a bit. "How'd she talk someone like you into courting her huh? She show you anything. I doubt it was her personality…" He snickered. "Well, You seem like a respectable young gentleman. Let me get her for you, it'll only be a moment." He shut the door and more yelling happened before the door opened again. A very frazzled Rachel opened the door, bags under her eyes and some bruises on her that were barely visible. "Just..give me a moment."

Lars blinked, taken aback by the man’s crude suggestion, but didn't have a chance to rebuke the man before the door was closed. Though he scowled at the thought that he could have been her father, finding that even worse. He may not have gotten along with his family very well but they all had more class and respect than that.
“Of course.” he nodded understandingly when Rachel came to the door… and looking even more miserable than she did last night. “I can wait.”

Rachel nodded, seeming exhausted even though it was early in the day. She sighed softly, "sorry you have to deal with him." She spoke, before shutting the door again. More time passes..and she opens the door, closing it behind her as she leaves. She has a freshly red cheek, seeming as if she may have been slapped…but at least her eye bags are less visible and her hair is more orderly.

Lars shook his head. “You don't have to apologize. I was expecting to have to charm him but… that was… not your fault.” he assured, deciding not to mention what her father had said. “Are you alright?”

she looked away from him, clearing her throat as she spoke. She didn't want to show weakness..even if it was Lars. This was all an act anyway, it's not like she needed to show him every part of her and she wouldn't. He didn't have anywhere near the trust needed for that. " I'm fine, where are we going?"

Lars nodded, skeptical of her answer but not pushing it. “I was thinking of just going to the park. It’s a casual place where we can be seen together by a lot of people.” he suggested, holding out the bouquet of flowers to her. “I thought these would help give the more curious people get the idea we want them to have… but I hope you do like them.”

She nodded, arms crossed against her chest like it was some kind of safety net..she didn't know what to do with her hands otherwise. She glanced at the bouquet of flowers and realized he actually bought them for her and not for show.
"Oh, I just assumed you bought them for show and didn't really care about keeping them around." She spoke, shrugging. Her voice was a little rough.
"They are nice flowers I suppose."

“Well, partly. I thought it would be more convincing if you accepted them.” Lars admitted with a slight shrug, noticing her tense posture. “Relax. We're never going to fool anyone if we don't look comfortable with each other.” he reminded gently, not knowing what else to say or do. He knew there had been a fight, much worse than what happened at the ball, but it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it… “I'm not going to hurt you.”

She hated this idea, but at least it has gotten her out of the house…and as much as she wanted to yell at him about how she hated this, and how she couldn't even be comfortable alone…she knew he was right. She exhaled, trying to detense her shoulders…moving to grab the flowers from him and sniff them.

Well then she heard his comments.
"I'll make one thing clear…I'm not worried about my safety around you. If you even attempted to hurt me, I would put you in a world of pain." She spoke, glaring at him. The glare just as quickly went away as soon as it appeared. She sighed.
"I'll…try and be less tense."

Lars didn't mind her glare, even smirking a little at it, and chuckled. “There's the girl I met last night. But I'm glad you're not worried about me hurting you, because I won't. “ he nodded.

Rachel just rolled her eyes at him, "Yeah, well words mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. What matters is actions, what you do to back up your words." she spoke, looking down as they walked.

Lars raised a brow at the intelligent reply. It wasn't that he doubted her intelligence but it was honestly refreshing to talk to someone who didn't swoon at his carefully crafted smiles. “You have a good point.” he nodded. “Considering our little arrangement, I do want you to be able to trust me… At least as a friend.”

"Well you are mistaken If you think I'm trusting you right from the start than you are sorely mistaken." She spoke, staring at him. "I dont do friends, we are acquaintances at best."

“Right from the start? Of course not. That would be absurd, even in our situation.” Lars agreed, hoping to assure her. “I'm fine with acquaintance between us. But… may I ask why you don't do friends?” he said instead of mentioning the obvious about making everyone else think they were closer than friends.

"Good, you at least have some sense in that head of yours." She muttered, looking around as they walked next to each other. She stopped short, looking at him with an intense gaze. "You don't have the right to ask that. So no, you may not ask why," she spoke, continuing to walk on again.

“I resent that. I have more than some sense in my head.” Lars teased with a playful smirk. Though his attitude quickly dropped at her cold answer. “I apologize if that was too personal a question. I was… curious and hoping to get to know you better.” he explained.

"Oh really now? I couldn't hardly tell you had any to begin with." She spoke, hard to tell if she was being serious, or sarcastic as she walked ahead of him. She hated this already, oh my gosh did she hate this. This boy was already trying to pry into her personal life…and she wanted nothing to do with it.

"Well, if you truly want to get to know me better..then you will have to give me space to tell you things about me if I deem you gained my trust."

Lars chuckled, choosing to believe her comment was sarcastic teasing much like his had been. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been serious though. But that was something for another time.

“Rachel.” he sighed, turning to face her. “If we are going to convince our families that we like each other as more than friends, we need to work together. At the risk of… sounding indelicate, I have my suspicions about why you want to get away from your family. If I’m right then I don't blame you, if I’m wrong then I apologize again.”

She bit her lip as he spoke, turning to face her. She looked away from him as he spoke. She could hear the disappointment laced in his voice, and it just reminded her of her father. She knew she would have relinquish things about herself…but she wasn't ready. Maybe this whole thing was a mistake, she didn't want to reveal anything about herself to anyone. At least he was trying…and yet she was just being brazen with him.

"What are you suspicions then? Go on, tell me what you think it is I want to get away from. I'll correct you if your wrong."

“Well… to put it bluntly, if I may, your father is a bastard. Not necessarily in the literal sense but…” Lars shrugged feeling any additional explanation would be unnecessary. “I hope that he doesn't hurt you but I can't say I would be surprised if I’m wrong. I don't know you and I know my reputation but I don't believe anyone deserves to be treated that way.”

She snorted a bit, not expecting him to use that to describe his father, though she can say she disagreed with him at all about it. "wouldn't be surprised if he was in a literal sense." She muttered under her breath in response.

She sighed, "Yeah well…your not wrong. I hate my father…and I wish to get away from him. In more ways than one…and that's all I will about that matter. Now, why exactly do you want to get away so badly?"

Lars smirked a little at Rachel’s initial reaction, finding it surprisingly cute (not that he would tell her), but nodded at her reply.

“Of course.” he agreed, respecting her decision to stop talking about her unpleasant father. “It may seem petty compared to what you are trying to escape from. And I suppose you wouldn't be wrong but… I just want to be free from all the expectations everyone has on me. I don't hate my life and I know my family cares for me, though they do consider me a disappointment. I just want to be able to live my life in my own way.”

She was a bit irritated about how he wanted to get away from a genuinely loving family that had both a mother and a father, and that the two of them weren't constantly butting heads with each other. She didn't talk about her irration, but her face betrayed her.
"right, I guess I understand that. Though I will say…if your family calls you a disappointment…I would hate to think what other names they might have called you in the past."

Lars raised a brow at her brief expression before remembering that she hadn't met his family. He would admit that his family wasn't as bad as what he had seen from Rachel's but… it was still not great, in his opinion. “They don't really call me much… in public. They do everything to better their reputation and don't care about much else.” he explained.

She nodded, yeah that made sense. "Yeah, no wonder. They probably wouldn't do anything in public to mess up their perfect reputation. My father is more or less the same…though I can imagine all his attempts of trying to be perfect would go out the door if he had enough to drink." She sighed, looking down at the ground as she spoke.

“No, they don't.” Lars admitted, not wanting to turn this conversation into a pity party about his family life. “I didn't want to seem rude but… I did get that impression from him. Both last night and just now when I was at your house.” he nodded.

"Oh, I don't care if your rude towards him. You can talk bad about him all you want and I wouldn't bat an eye." She sighed softly, clutching her arms as she spoke about him.

"he wasn't always like that though, it just got worse when..my mother died. He can't cope with the fact that she's gone."

“Well, you are certainly the first woman I’ve ever heard say that. Normally a lady would slap me for even thinking something rude.” he chuckled.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Lars said sincerely. “But that does not excuse your father’s behavior.” he added plainly.