“No, not at all, it’s not like that,” I said, my face burning red as I looked away. I wasnotexplaining this well. “She’d pretend online like she’d done the big hikes, but it was all a lie. It felt like she just didn’t want to do it withme. But really we had a lot of problems, and her lack of interest in hiking with me was small potatoes compared to the rest.”
I looked up at Morgan to find her eyes glued on my face, her mouth turned down and forehead creased in a look I knew all too well from talking about my ex: sympathy.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “It was a while ago now.”
“How long?”
“Four years.”
She shrugged. “That’s not that long. Not if it was a bad breakup.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” I said. “It was over a long time before we actually ended it.”
“What’s her name?” Morgan asked suddenly.
“What? Why?”
Morgan shrugged. “You said she’s a content creator. I consume a lot of content. Maybe I know who she is.”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“Oh come on,” Morgan said, clasping her hands together in front of her as if she were praying to me, jutting her lower lip out in a pout. “Pleeeease?”
I rolled my eyes. “Okay, fine, but I’m telling you, you’ve not heard of her. Her name’s Aria. Aria Mar?—”
“You dated Aria Markham?!” Morgan asked, gasping.Ah, fuck.
“Yes I did.”Play it cool, play it cool.
Morgan punched me playfully on the arm. “You said I wouldn’t know who she is, but she has like five million followers. Including me.”
“Does she?” I asked, trying to sound nonchalant, but that was impressive. It hadn’t even been half a million when we’d split up.
“Uh, yeah,” Morgan said. “She’s basically a celebrity. I’m pretty sure she was at the Grammys last year with her boyf—” Morgan must have seen how glazed over I’d gone, because she had the sense to stop. She actually clamped her hand over her mouth. “Sorry,” she said through it. “You probably don’t want to know about that.”
“It’s fine,” I lied. I really didn’t want to hear about her, but I didn’t want Morgan to know that. “Like I said, it was a long time ago.”
“That sucks,” she said. “She really does act like she’s the queen of the outdoors. She even used to post those hiking guides.”
That made me laugh, which startled Morgan. “Yeah, well, she’s not. I wrote most of those.”
“Sorry she was a dick to you.” Her face went soft, and she offered a sympathetic smile.
“I was a dick sometimes, too,” I said, but for some reason, having Morgan take my side meant something. Not that it should have.
“More drinks!” Chloe called from the dining room, rescuing me from my little stumble down memory lane.
“Coming!” Morgan called, but as she stood up to leave, she looked over at me and gave me that sympathetic look again. But I made myself meet and hold her gaze this time, and I could tell that there was no pity there.
“I know we don’t know each other that well,” Morgan said, “but you seem like a good guy, Jack. I’m sorry things haven’t always been great for you.”
I just muttered a quiet “thanks”. But then she smiled and leaned in, stepping slightly between my legs to wrap her arms around my shoulders, and I went stock still. Her chest was pressed against mine in a way that made my breath hitch. And as she nocked her chin over my shoulder, her cascade of curls was directly in my face, smelling of citrus and bergamot. I wasn’t sure I’d ever touched her before, and certainly not like this. It was paralysingly novel.
I knew what a normal person would do: accept the hug, wrap their arms around her, and then move on. But I just froze. She was clearly tipsy, and I doubted she would have gone from zero to hugging on a normal day. But even if she would, why did that freak me out so much?
I wasn’t super touchy-feely, but I was fine with hugs, and I didn’t shy away from affection when it felt right. Hell, I’d only known Fatima for a week before we’d walked down her street arm-in-arm belting “Rest in Peace” from the musical episode ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer. So why were Morgan’s arms around me, and her words about me being a good guy, making me clam all the way up?
By the time I mustered the wherewithal to respond appropriately, she was already stepping back, and all I could do was watch her walk away as I kicked myself internally.
