“God.” Madeline put her hand against her forehead. “Even when you’ve told me about your weekend, Ricki gets much more airtime than Blythe. Seventy-five percent, maybe?”
“Well, Blythe is pretty focused on the social media stuff, and I know that’s not your thing.”
“That’s not it. Your eyes light up when you talk about Ricki. Girl, you’ve got a crush on your girlfriend’s best friend.”
Abby groaned. “Oh, fuck!”
CHAPTER 37
Blythe sat at thekitchen table, scrolling through her feed. Things were going great. Winnie had released another video they’d shot together, and Blythe’s followers were growing. A few more brands had expressed their interest, and she was waiting for their offers. She was monetizing her content, and actual cash was rolling in.
And with success came more. Two bigger influencers had reached out to her, wanting to shoot content with her, and she’d teamed up with several mid-level creators. She was building her network. People who she’d promote and who would promote her. It was the way the game was played, and she was winning at it.
Ricki hurried into the kitchen carrying an overstuffed bag.
Blythe looked up from her phone. “So you’re really going to blow us off this weekend?”
“I told you, I have a pickleball tournament.” Ricki rummaged in the refrigerator and pulled out a handful of grapes.
“So you’ve fallen in love?”
Ricki stopped with a grape inches from her mouth. “What?”
“Pickleball. You’ve fallen in love with pickleball. I never thought I’d see the day. Didn’t you once say it was the stupidest fad on the planet?”
Ricki tossed the grape into her mouth and nodded. “It’s grown on me.”
“Abby’s going to be sad.”
Ricki shrugged. “I’m sure she’ll survive.”
“It’ll be weird without you.”
Ricki was searching through the cabinets and hadn’t responded to Blythe, so Blythe said, “Did you hear me? It’ll be weird without you.”
Ricki set potato chips and a few canned goods on the countertop. “It’s weird with me here, too.”
“That’s because you’re weird,” Blythe teased.
“Yeah.” Ricki nodded but didn’t take the bait. She pulled a plastic grocery bag from the pantry and shoved the food into it.
“Don’t they have restaurants?” Blythe asked.
“Well, yeah, but I like having food with, just in case.”
Their inane conversations were getting old, so Blythe decided to kick down the door. “Are we ever going to talk about it?”
Ricki met Blythe’s gaze. Blythe braced herself for Ricki to play dumb and askwhat. Ricki surprised her by sayingno.
“No. That’s it? Just no?”
“Yep. That about covers it.”
“Damn it, Ricki. I never would have suggested it if I’d known it was going to freak you out. You’re making it a bigger deal than it is.”
“Who says I’m making a big deal out of it?” Ricki shrugged. “It was fun. A stress relief. That’s all.”
“Then why are you running away again this weekend?”
