I made a cock-and-bull story for you. ¿

не придумать лапшу, а вешать лапшу. - так звучит это выражение. Pull someone's leg
http://audiorazgovornik.ru/anglijskaya-frazeologiya/anglijskij-sleng-i-idiomy/44-pull-my-leg-perevod-idiomy

Почему нет? Как вариант звучит неплохо. С юмором или самоиронией.)

«Я вообще-то тогда не собиралась на свидание с Вами идти. Даже успела лапшу Вам на уши придумать. Но потом случайно увидела, как Вы пытаетесь пристроить котёнка, которого нашли возле нашего офиса, и поняла: это мой мужчина!»

Хотелось бы контекст, но Hanna у нас - ещё тот партизан. ()

Actually, I had no intention of going out with you at that time and even managed to weasel my way out of it with some bullshit story/excuse. But then I happened to see you trying to find a home for a stray kitten you found near the office and I thought, yep - that’s my man!

Uly, just making sure. In my snippet, успела придумать means that she made up a bullshit story as an excuse but she didn't tell it to him because she changed her mind. Does "managed to weasel my way out of it" say it?

No, thank you for the clarification. In that case: I had even COME UP with some bullshit story/excuse to weasel my way out of going out with you.

Thank YOU for your translation! The translation on here seems to be a two-way street.

It sure is!

But I didn't meant you should've deleted your previous translations. My snippet was only my guess.

I think this translation covers it nicely, regardless of the situation))

Aha! Cool🙏👍