Pretend

"You're the best!" Judy exclaims, grateful. "It shouldn't be too bad. It will be fun, and all you have to do is pretend you find me attractive," she says with a wink.Laughter immediately bursts out of Jen, at the absolute absurdity of that statement, at the absurdity that anyone with the gift of eyesight would have to pretend to find Judy Hale attractive. She's having trouble controlling her laughter and Judy quirks an eyebrow at her, smiling but quizzical. Jen pulls it together. "Sorry. Yeah, Jude, I'll try to take some acting classes in the next week."Judy gives her a playful shove on the shoulder, and it's all fun, all light-hearted, but Jen feels a sense of unease creeping in, and she knows when she's alone with her thoughts she'll be asking herself if this is a good idea. The truth is, she has to think way, way back- almost to when they first met- to remember a time she wasn't doing some level of pretending with Judy.