She holds back her smile. “No official word yet, but I’m pretty sure I’ve got it in the bag. Now, stop trying to change the subject.”
“Shush, you are brilliant and beautiful and perfect. And you all are the best friends a girl could have.” I purposefully make the words sound over-the-top, but I spot no lies among them.
“Don’t think you can distract us with compliments.” Corey pushes her wine aside, signaling she means business. “As the only witness to the live shitacular from yesterday, I need to know only one thing.” She pauses dramatically. “What the hell happened at your reunion?”
I exchange a heavy glance with May, the only person I told about the experience.
Tessa catches the pained look on my face. “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”
Shaking my head, I steel myself to relive that night. “No, it’s fine. It was going to come up sooner or later.” I take in a deep breath. “Basically, I may have drunk too much and confessed my still-kind-of-there feelings for Seth.”
“And by that she means she propositioned him,” May interjects.
I glare at her. “Okay, yes, so I propositioned him and he turned me down. And not in a nice,I recognize you were once the love of my lifekind of way. In a brutal, stab-me-in-the-heart way. It went beyond just embarrassment. It was cruel.”
There’s silence for a full minute.
“Wait, wasn’t your reunion two years ago?” Corey asks.
I nod, already knowing where this is going.
“Weren’t you with Evan then?” She’s trying not to sound super judgmental, but it doesn’t work.
“In my defense, Seth didn’t know I was dating someone. And Evan wasn’t there.”
May leans across the table and pats my hand. “Not the defense you think it is, sweetie.”
“Okay, fine. It was a dick move on my part. But he was a complete asshole about it and I haven’t seen him since. And now, thank Thor, I don’t ever have to see him again.”
—
The next day,Natasha calls me into her office as soon as I step through the door. It’s been two days since the disaster video, my first article is due in a week, and I haven’t even figured out which task I want to do first. The only bright spot is I haven’t seen Seth since we exchanged lists, and I’m intending to keep it that way. A quick glance around the open space reassures me he’s not there, but I duck into the safety of Natasha’s office with my head down, just in case.
“Sit down,” she commands, pushing the door closed behind me.
I sink into one of the soft chairs, the apology already on my lips. “I know how unprofessional that whole live video was and I’m so sorry, Natasha. You know I never do anything like that, I don’t know what came over me.”
She sinks into her chair and levels her stare at me. “You think I called you in here to ream you out?”
“Yes?”
An almost-smile cracks her face. “Lana, that video has brought in more likes and views and new followers than anything we’ve posted in the past five years.”
Well, shit. On the surface that seems like a good thing, but it doesn’t help the nausea stirring at the thought of people actually watching our implosion. “Great,” I manage to choke out.
She raises one perfect eyebrow. “I take it that means you haven’t watched the playback? Or read the comments?”
“Never read the comments.” It’s always been my policy, but even more so when I know I embarrassed the hell out of myself.
“The comments made it pretty clear that the readers want to see more of you and Seth together. Whatever happened years ago, your chemistry is still off the charts.”
I laugh hollowly. “Well, too bad for the readers. We already exchanged lists. Now we’re just working on our tasks and articles. Separately.”
“Or, you work on your assignments together.”
My brow furrows, scrunching up in confusion. “The whole point of my list is that I do things on my own. I’m supposed to be focusing on learning to love myself. Can’t really do that when I’m hanging out with my ex.” Whom I hate.
“The whole point of your list is to bring in clicks, Lana. It would be stupid not to take advantage of this viral videoand bring in new readers. If they want to see the two of you together, then that’s what we’re going to give them.”
