Page 65 of While You Were Trending

“Who wouldn’t?”

“People who are allergic to chickens.”

Dammit.

He just made me snort-laugh.

Declan Fox.

Life is so fucking weird.

“I never forgave her for missing your birthday party,” he adds softly.

My stupid heart spills warmth over my belly all over again.

Alex laughed it off.

That’s your mom, babe.

I thought I was supposed to laugh it off too.

And here’s Declan, a guy that I thought hated me, telling me my mother made him mad for something she did to me.

And my body’s falling for it, when my mind knows I still need to be cautious.

People played me my entire life.

Until I moved here.

I haven’t had to keep my guard up here, but now—now, I clearly do.

“My mother had a hard life,” I say. “Rough childhood, lost her husband young, got corrupted by Hollywood, all of it.”

“Everyone has something hard in their life.”

“Not everyone can handle it.”

“But she owed it to you to be a parent. She owed it to you to handle her shit so that you could be a kid. Not a publicity stunt.”

There he goes again.

Saying the right things.

Everything I wanted my mother to realize on her own.

He suddenly grips my arm, and everything inside me turns upside down. “Did you see it?” he whispers.

“See what?” I whisper back, my voice wavering while tingles spread up my arm from where he’s gripping it.

“The shooting star.”

I look up.

Tonight’s one of those nights when the Milky Way is in full view. The kind of night that, if I were alone, I’d take comfort in how vast and fathomless the universe is.

In all of existence, my problems are small.

Even the worst moments of my life.