Elsie Hannaway

Elsie Hannaway is twenty-seven years old. She is an adjunct professor of theoretical physics at several university campuses in Boston. She also works part-time as a fake-girlfriend for a service called Faux. Her current fake boyfriend is Greg Smith, who is a closeted asexual. His brother, Jack, is an experimental physicist at MIT, where Elsie is applying to work.

Elsie got into fake dating when her friend and roommate, J.J., asked her to be his fake girlfriend in college. Elsie did her best to be J.J.’s ideal woman, but he still ultimately went back to his ex. Since then, Elsie has felt unworthy of romantic love.

Elsie’s insecurities stem from her childhood. Her parents made her feel like a burden for being diabetic. Elsie serves as her family’s principal emotional caregiver, often stepping in to solve disputes between her elder brothers, Lucas...