Not Dating, Obviously

NightfallProse 25 stories

Story Notes

Summary

Rowan Ellis didn’t plan to fake-date her coworker. Lucas Reed didn’t plan to agree. But when a high-stakes promotion, a very opinionated family, and a destination wedding collide, pretending to be together suddenly feels like the most professional solution available. The problem? They’re a little too good at it. At a chaotic media startup where one office group chat knows far too much, fake dating turns into shared coffees, instinctive touches, and arguments that sound suspiciously like long-term relationship banter. Meanwhile, Creative Director Sloane Parker and Head of Design Theo Bennett can’t agree on anything—except how much they hate working together. Forced collaboration turns irritation into tension, tension into chemistry, and fights into something dangerously personal. With no villains, no toxic games, and plenty of emotionally honest chaos, Not Dating, Obviously is a romantic comedy about adulthood, ambition, and the quiet realization that love doesn’t have to be dramatic to be real—it just has to be chosen. Two couples. One destination wedding. Too much banter. And absolutely no one acting like a normal adult.