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“It’s an Instagram notification,” I told them.
“What does it say?” Layla asked.
I cleared my throat, re-reading it to myself before saying it out loud, just in case I was misreading it. Finally, I shook my head. “It says, ‘@therealpaigewalkerwants to send you a message.’”
The girls all looked at each other, and Aria leaned forward farther so she could read my phone. “Like, the movie star Paige Walker?”
“Maybe? That’s her handle, I think.” I swiped open the notification, and it took me to the message within the Instagram app. Sure enough, it appeared to bethePaige Walker’s actual profile. “Holy crap, it is her.”
“What does it say?” Lyndi asked, jumping up and coming around so she could see my phone.
“It says, ‘Hi, Shelby! Hope you don’t mind me dropping into your DMs out of the blue, but I happened to see the viral proposal rejection video from that flash mob you did, and I wanted to chat with you about it. Do you think you could give me a call if I gave you my number?’” I looked around at my friends with wide eyes when I finished reading the message. “What in the world?”
“Hello, tell her yes,” Aria said.
I typed out a quick reply that I would love to call her, wondering if she’d give me her real number or if she used some kind of throwaway phone to talk to randos. Not that it mattered or anything, but it crossed my mind. Paige Walker wasn’t just a movie star. She was like a mega movie star. She’d gotten her start as a teenager on a medical drama that became one of the biggest and longest-running shows in the world. Then, she branched out into movies thanks to getting a shot with an awesome female director, and it’s been blockbuster after blockbuster ever since.
Not even a minute later, Paige replied with a number and told me to call her now if I had time. I looked up at my friends. “Should I call her now?”
“Duh.”
“Yes.”
“Go.”
I laughed at all of their reactions and stood from the couch, stepping over to the window so I could call a famous actress real quick. No biggie. She answered after the second ring and my heart rate kicked up a notch when she answered with a musicalhello.
“Hi, is this Paige?”
“Yes,” she replied. “Hi, Shelby, thank you so much for calling.”
“You’re welcome. So, um, you said you wanted to ask about the proposal video?”
“Yes. First of all, I want to start by saying that I promise I’m not a creepy stalker.”
I giggled. “Uh, okay.”
“So, it all started with that video. When I saw it, ugh, my heart just broke for that poor guy. What an amazing show of love only to be rejected in front of all those people. I couldn’t believe it.”
I bit my lip. Paul and I hadn’t posted many pictures of us on social media since we’d started dating because his video was still making the rounds online, and we didn’t want to add fuel to the fire about him moving on so fast. Sure, all of our friends and family in Bluffton knew it was fine because it wasus, but people online were cruel. Should I tell her we were together, or would that be weird?
“Actually, um, he’s fine,” I said, not sure how to word it. “He was my best friend growing up, and um, eventually… we actually got together.”
“I know, that’s what I meant about the creepy stalker thing.”
“What?”
“Well, I’m a writer on my show now, and after I saw that video, I got inspired to do a scene where one of our guys plans this big elaborate flash mob proposal and then gets shut down. He’ll get a happily ever after too, but I was actually thinking it would be a girl in the crowd who rides in on a Vespa and whisks him away for an adventure of a lifetime.”
“Oh, wow,” I said with a laugh. “That sounds awesome.”
“Yes. So, of course since Paul’s situation inspired it, I had my assistant do a little social media digging and she found out he’s a Marine. You know my husband, Noah, was a Marine right?”
“Yeah, I remember seeing all of that stuff when you went to his ball and everything.”
She let out a short laugh. “Yes, ah, good times. Anyway, I have a ton of people that I could hire to help me choreograph this scene, but then Molly—she’s my assistant—found out that the Marine in the video wound up falling in love with the choreographer of the flash mob, and it was all over from there.”
I looked from side to side as I tried to figure out where she was going with this. “Okay…”
