Tumblr Prompt: Fake Married

"You don't have to do this. I mean, I can talk to her by myself."

Jem looked down at Tessa's pinched, pale face and plastered on a smile that he hoped looked self-assured and confident. He didn't feel self-assured or confident, but he wanted to be for her sake.

"It's okay. In and out and you're taken care of for grad school and as soon as you're done, we file for divorce and everything goes back to normal," he said. "Just don't take more than two years to finish you thesis, okay?"

He didn't mean it. He'd stay married to Tessa if it took her five years to finish her thesis and then decided to get her doctrate. When she smiled up at him, it was only a little uncertain and his heart fluttered. "It's the least I can do."

Tax forms were a funny thing, he thought. So were financial aid forms. In some states, they blended together into a benevolent benefactor willing to bestow those with the proper combinations of numbers thousands of dollars, allowing a lucky student to attend classes for a full year without worrying about financial woes. In other states, combining taxes and financial aid was the monetary equivilant of a death knell in one's academic dreams. And in Tessa's case, the difference between academic euphoria and financial dispare lay in whether or not she was married.

They'd been best friends since middle school, when they'd found out they were both orphans and taken care of each other like family. Even though they'd spent four years at different colleges, they hadn't grown apart. In fact, binge watching every season of Lost on Netflix together while Facetiming and encouraging each other through their midterms and final papers and spending Christmas breaks together in their hometown and road tripping to visit each other's schools during spring break had actually reinforced their bond. She'd slept in his bed wearing his t-shirts and he'd used her toothbrush for a week and he'd helped her study for the GRE and she'd listened to him practice piece after piece as he auditioned for orchestras.

When they'd both ended up in New York after graduation, him to play for Orchestra of St. Luke's and her to pursue and advanced degree in Victorian lit at Columbia, it had been natural for them to move in together. Their apartment wasn't too small, but it was definitely cozy. Over the summer, Jem had gotten used to her constant presence in his life. He got used to making her breakfast while she got ready for work at the NYPL branch closest to their apartment. He got used to her humming bits of whatever piece he'd been practicing most recently while she washed dishes and tripping over her stacks of books.

When he'd come home from orchestra practice to find her crying on their small blue couch, when he'd found out that she hadn't gotten the scholarship she'd been counting on, when he'd done the math and discovered that their tax bracket would change enough if they were married to allow her to qualify for more financial aid, he'd been the one who brought up the idea that they should get married rather than see her leave.

It had been absurdly easy to go into a courthouse and stand in front of a judge to sign the papers. She'd worn a yellow dress and a pink flower in her hair and when the judge said they were man and wife they'd shared a chaste kiss that had lit him on fire. That night they went out for Indian food and gotten a little drunk on cheap wine and ended up passing out in the same bed. He'd woke up with her head on his chest and his fingers tangled in her hair.

The three hours at the Social Security office had been a little more taxing for both of them, but they'd gotten through it, trying to act like newlyweds who'd only been able to afford a trip to Niagra Falls for a honeymoon while they'd shown the marriage liscense to the woman behind the glass. Tessa hadn't changed her last name, so her driver's liscense hadn't been changed and they hadn't told what was left of their families. Now they just had to speak with her financial advisor at Columbia and she'd be set for the year.

He took her hand and tried to ignore how the warmth of his skin made his skin tingle.

"Let's get this over with."