I disagree with taking an alcoholic drink in hand to pretend you're drinking. It's easy for it to be topped up .At the end of the day there is no shame in NOT drinking and no shame in saying you are not drinking. you don't need to tell everyone your business, just say no
Pretending to drink, lying -to me it's just lying to yourself and pretending to be someone you're not. For me getting sober wasn't just stopping drinking but learning how to be honest and true with myself and stopping pretending to be someone I wasn't