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“And I haven’t!”
“Then why are your pictures all over the internet?”
I feel the blood drain from my face. Yes, the paparazzi have been following us around. But when we’re on excursions, we still have to put up a front so that the people with us don’t suspect we’ve been pretending. Even though we’re not pretending anymore. My head is spinning just thinking about how complicated Stella and I have made this. “What pictures?”
“I’m sending them.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and wait for a text to come through from Colin. Only a few seconds later, a picture appears in our chat.
It’s a grainy photo of Stella and me on the bow of the boat. We’re in the same position we were just in before Colin interrupted with his phone call. Stella draped over my chest, a big smile on her face. My hand is in her hair, playing with her curls. She’s wearing the sunglasses I purchased for her before the trip. She’s been playing with the wardrobe I promised to provide for her, always adding her funky accessories to go along with it.
Around her neck, I can see the outline of her bird necklace. She hasn’t taken it off since I gave it to her.
“Flynn!” I hear Colin shout through the phone. It’s not on speakerphone, but it might as well be, given the volume of his voice.
“Y-yeah!” I shout in reply.
“What the fuck is –”
“Colin, the point was –” I glance back at Stella. She’s been joined by Cash, Gregory, and Brandy, but their eyes are all focused on me. I clear my throat and lower my voice. “You know what the point of this was.”
“Yes, and you promised you wouldn’t –”
“Wehave to pretend,” I say. “All the time. You have no idea how exhausting it is. That’s just acting.”
Colin is quiet. “It doesn’t look like acting.”
I swallow. I should have prepared him better for this. “I promise, Colin. We always have eyes on us. And Adelaide is always sniffing around. She knows me so well she can see right through me.”
As soon as I say that I realize how untrue it is. Adelaide has never known me well. I’m not sure if that was her fault or mine. We chased after the idea of each other, me the baby genius billionaire, her the international supermodel. Did we ever really meet in the middle? Did we ever really know each other?
“Dammit, Flynn, I want to believe you but –”
“Trust me. Nothing is going on between me and Stella.” I break my own heart saying that. “I promise. You can ask her too.”
Colin hesitates, but finally sighs. Yielding. “No. I believe you. I just – I knew you had to pretend, but actually seeing it is –”
“Trust me, Stella still hates my guts. When we got to sleep at night, she puts a line of pillows between us on the bed.”
Colin chuckles. “Okay. That’s good. As long as you’re still enemies.”
“Yeah… totally.”
“Anyway. Sorry I interrupted you, I –”
“I get it. You had to. I can’t blame you. If it was my sister, I’d do the same.”
“Thanks for understanding, Flynn.”
A lump of shame manifests in my throat.
“How are things at the office?” I ask.
“You don’t want to hear about that. Just enjoy your last few days before you get back to the grind, okay?”
I can’t respond before Colin hangs up the phone, retreating sheepishly from his accusation. I hate gaslighting people. But I must protect him from the truth. Besides, it won’t be true in a couple of days. It will have been a blip. An anomaly.
“Everything okay?” Stella calls out.
