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It’s all I’ve ever wanted, that kind of recognition. This is my chance to earn it, the real deal too, and not just as an “influencer”—because let’s face it, social media influencer is barely even a trend. A full-time hosting gig on a reputable network, on the other hand, now that’s the start of a real career.
So I let…Mila, thank God, that’s her name, drag me along and don’t mention that I’m already more acquainted with Andrew Hicks than I ever wanted to be.
More or less. A ten-minute college crush doesn’t count. I’m old enough to know he’s a twatwaffle. And twatwaffles are not attractive, not even the ones built like a goddamn action movie hero.
“Drew!” cries Mila far too loudly. Half the room turns our way. “Look who I found loitering by the bar all by himself. Have you met our charming host?”
Mila’s drawing a blank waiting for me to introduce myself and I let her hang. She wanted a scene, looks like she’s going to get it.
I steel myself for whatever wave of condescension is headed my way.
“We’ve met,” Hicks says blandly.
“Oh, of course,” says Mila, giggling. I get the impression little miss razor claws knows the exact nature of my relationship with Hicks and is prepared to let us costar in whatever drama she’s looking to play out.
Sorry, sweetheart. You got the wrong guy.
“This is my girlfriend,” Drew says, his voice thawing substantially. “Bailey, this is Mila Hague, a colleague at the network. And this is Cooper Lawson.”
“Cooper?” Drew’s date is eyeballing me hard and a sudden wave of recognition almost knocks me off my feet.
“Bailey Ross. Jesus, is that you?”
An instant later my arms are full up, squeezing the breath out of a girl I never thought I’d see again in my life.
“Holy shit,” she says, squeezing me just as hard. “Coop. Seriously. I can’t believe it’s you! What are you even doing here?”
“I was invited,” I say, breathing her in, flooded by decade-old memories. “Damn, it’s good to see you.”
“You too,” she says, pushing me back a little to look me in the eye. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her, but then it’s been ten years at least since we last saw each other.
She made my heart pound back then, too.
“Look at you,” I murmur. “You look amazing. How are you? How have you been? What are you doing here?”
Bailey beams up at me and the silence around us starts to register, louder than Mila’s shrieking just a minute ago.
“We’re making a scene,” whispers Bailey.
“Yeah,” I whisper back. “Fuck ‘em.” She giggles just like I hoped she would and Christ does that sound bring back memories… swapping whispered jokes in the back of the lab while an ancient professor droned on about lab etiquette.
Hicks clears his throat loudly and Bailey pulls away, bringing me back to the here and now.
“I take it you two have met,” says Hicks, looking like he just swallowed a whole truckload of lemons. For a minute I consider downplaying my satisfaction at having a surprise connection to his date.
Nah. Sorry not sorry, dickbag.
“Bailey and I go way back,” I say, beaming at him.
“Hang on,” she says, wrapping a delicate hand around my bicep. “How do you two know each other? Do you work for Sizzle too, Coop?”
“Actually—”
“Lawson here is hosting the cooking competition next week,” says Hicks. He didn’t say anything strange, but Bailey must have heard something I didn’t. Her eyes go wide as dinner plates and her mouth drops open.
“You’re kidding me,” she says. The disbelief chafes, especially coming from her.
Bailey Ross was my lab partner freshman year at State. It took me all goddamn year to work up the nerve to ask her out, and when she said yes I knew I was using up all the luck of a lifetime in one fell swoop. That night was… definitely not something I need to be thinking about right now. Not with all these cameras around to witness a potentially embarrassing and highly personal reaction.
