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“Well, what?”
“The kiss? How was it? Amazing? Life changing? Or was he bad at it.” Rachel’s expression turns dreamy. “I bet he wasn’t bad. Not even close.”
No. Not even close. “It was... nice.”
“Nice? That’s it? There was tongue, right?”
“Um, yeah.” This is vaguely embarrassing to admit, even though it’s just Rachel and we’ve shared lots of secrets together over the years.
“Lovethat for you. Seriously, I do.” Rachel grabs her phone and starts tapping away at the screen. “Should you send him a DM?”
“I am not reaching out to him. Not at all.” I shake my head. “This entire situation has sort of backfired for me.”
“Backfired how? You have like a million more followers. Everyone is talking about you, and your dad’s name isn’t attached to the conversation whatsoever.”
Rachel is one of the only people who know how I feel about our family dynamic. “He’s mentioned sometimes.”
“That can’t be helped. He is your father. But Fitzy can’t say he made out with Tate, so you have one up on him.” Rachel laughs.
I don’t laugh at all. It’s like I can’t. I can only think about Ian and how he believes he doesn’t have a chance with me anymore because of Tate. “That photo of me kissing Tate has ruined my every chance with Ian.”
“Oh, thank God. I was worried you’d end up marrying the guy.” Rachel smiles brightly. “This is a good thing, Scarlett! You’ll get over him once and for all, since he’s not interested in you anymore.”
Her words hurt. More than I care to admit. “It’s not that he’s not interested. Ian truly believes he doesn’t have a chance because of me kissing Tate. He thinks we’re actually together. He told me that we make a great couple.”
“Really? He said that?”
I nod. “And he told me he was always interested in me. He just couldn’t do anything about it because of my age.”
Rachel makes a dismissive noise. “Please. I don’t believe that. If he wanted to make a move, he could’ve done something about it a while ago.”
“He said I was too young.”
“You really think your parents would’ve cared if you were seventeen, dating Mr. Perfect despite him being two years older than you? Your dad probably would’ve loved that.” Rachel shakes her head. “Though I don’t recall Fitzy loving the idea of you and Ian together.”
“He didn’t. Though my father loves that I kissed Tate and the photos are everywhere,” I admit. “He told me he didn’t think I had it in me.”
“What, being scandalous?” When I nod, Rachel continues, “Why does everyone think you’re so boring?”
Ouch. “Gee, thanks, best friend.”
“You know what I mean.” Her eyes fill with sympathy. “I didn’t mean to insult you. You’re not boring. Not even close.”
“Nice try, but no. I’m pretty boring.”
“No, you’re definitely not. You’ re just... repressed. No, that’s not the word for it either. You just haven’t been given a chance yet to be your true self. Now’s the time for you to break free and do whatever you want. You’re eighteen, you just had an epic birthday party that people are still talking about, and you’re the darling of the internet. You need to capitalize on that shit, stat.”
My phone dings, and I check it to see I have another text from Ian. Completely unprovoked, which means he double texted me for the first time.
Giddy, I open the text to read it.
Ian: Are you saying I still have a shot? Because if that’s the case...
Ian: Challenge accepted.
“Oh my God,” I gasp.
“What? What’s wrong?” Rachel asks.
