I typed and erased a bunch of words.
Then, he called.
I jumped, then answered.
<
I heard his breath on the other end.
My throat felt tight. I opened my mouth to
speak, but I didn’t know what to say.
“Ginny…” He was practically growling. “Say
something.”
“What do you mean by typing for that long?”
I took a deep breath, and said, “Are you…
okay?”
The breath on the other end hitched.
I’d imagined our reunion so many times.
Instead, I got him on the phone, his voice cold.
“I’m great, thanks to you,” he said.
After a long pause, I said, “Well, I hope you
keen doing great and become suner
67
5
<
keep doing great and become super
successful.”
Beep- He hung up.
I stared at the screen, half laughing, half crying.
And he did get super successful.
My hidden crush had come to an end.
The dinner was pretty lively.
Chloe kept giving me knowing looks, but I just
ignored her.
I knew Liam wasn’t really a forgetful idiot.
Out of forty classmates, he remembered
everyone else. His cold shoulder was on
purpose.
<
As the party was winding down, I went to the bathroom.
On my way back, I ran into Liam on the patio. He looked like he was there to get some air.
He saw me, rolled up his sleeves, showing off his arm muscles, and pulled out a cigarette. He put the cigarette in his mouth, then glanced at
- me. “You mind?”
I shook my head.
It was super warm inside, so I didn’t have a
jacket on.
The cold made me sneeze.
Liam put his lighter away.
I stared at him, confused.
He wasn’t going to light up now?
<
It was kinda hot when he had that cigarette in
his mouth and looked at me.
I’d never seen Liam act like this before.
I rubbed my arms, ready to go inside.
“Ginny.” He said.
“Yeah?” I looked back at him.
And there he was. The cool guy from earlier,
eyes full of anger.
He said through gritted teeth, “If I didn’t try to
find you, you wouldn’t even have looked for me,
right?”
What?
I blinked at him. “But you’re the one who
pretended like he didn’t know me…”
く
“Shut up,” he said.
“Okay…” I looked down.
That made Liam laugh.
“Ginny, do you have a heart?”
That was a messed–up thing to say.
I opened my mouth to complain, then I just let it
- go.
“You’re a star, whatever you say.”
Liam sighed.
“Ugh!” He ran his hands through his hair, then
turned and walked back inside.
I followed him.
Г
The party was over when I got there. Chloe was looking for me, and when she saw that I’d come
back with Liam, she raised her eyebrows.
“So, you two caught up? Did Liam remember
you?”
I nodded.
It was a weird kind of remembering.
Liam scoffed.
Before we left, the organizer tried to create a
new group chat, so we could all stay in touch.
Liam had a new phone number. The organizer
asked Chloe to add him. But Chloe was busy
chatting, so she turned to me and said, “Ginny,
add Liam’s second account to the chat.”
“Okay.” I took out my phone. I had added both
of his accounts way back when, but I wasn’t
sure if he still used them.
I opened his second account and sent a random
emoji.
Right then, the phone next to me beeped.
Liam looked like he was ready to smash his
phone, but I saw the little “Special Notification” text at the top of his screen.
Liam: “…
Me:
Should I pretend I didn’t see it?
Before I could figure out how to help him out,
Chloe got in on the action.
“Hey, Liam, isn’t your manager here to pick you
up? Can you give Ginny a ride?”
<
8:41
“What?” Liam frowned, “Why would I….”
“She also drank. Are you going to make her
take a cab all the way home at night? That’s
terrible.”
11
Liam glanced at me.
I had my jacket on, but I’d been so focused on seeing him, I forgot it might snow. I buttoned
the top button, but some of my neck was still
visible.
I thought about whether or not I should hunch
over. But Liam was still mad.
Then, Liam grabbed the scarf that was sitting
on Chloe’s chair, wrapped it around my neck,
and tied it up until my face was almost
completely hidden.
<
“There,” Liam said.
I blinked at him. The scarf was so tight, I had to
huff a bit to get some air.
I could tell that he was holding back a smile.
“Don’t get any ideas,” he said.
“I’m just doing this because I don’t want the
paparazzi to find you and make up some story.”
I tried to act like one of those gossip accounts.
“Breaking News! Liam spotted with mysterious
girl, is it a new romance?”
“…Where do you get your news from?”
He spun around and walked away.
“Come on.”
“Okay.”
<
6
We walked into the parking lot, and Liam’s
manager was waiting.
When he saw Liam walking toward the car, he
rolled down the window. He was ready to talk
when he saw me, walking behind Liam like I was
sneaking out.
Manager: “…What the heck?”
“Old classmate, just giving her a ride home.”
Liam got into the car.
I pulled the passenger door open.
On the way home, the manager kept trying to
look under the scarf, but he didn’t succeed.
“Aren’t you hot?” he finally asked. “It’s pretty
warm in the car.”
<
“I’m scared of getting yelled at and seen
online,” I said honestly.
The manager chuckled.
“You and Liam are old classmates? Was he
always such a jerk?”
Liam sighed loudly.
I thought about it and said, “No, he was really
nice back then.”
To me, anyway.
“So, how did he become like this?”
Liam snorted.
I went quiet, feeling guilty.
That’s when the manager noticed that
something was off.
<
“What’s up with you, man? If your back hurts,
say something! And I’m having a conversation
with our old classmate, so stop sighing!”
“Just drop her off already. You talk too much,”
Liam said, frowning again.
The manager stopped talking and gave me a
look.
When we got to my apartment, I thanked him
and was about to get out.
The cold hit me as soon as I opened the door. I
felt the snowflakes on my fingertips.
“Oh, it’s snowing.”
Chapter 2
“Cough, cough…” Liam coughed violently in the
back seat. “Close the door!”
<
8:41
His manager, Mike, didn’t even bat an eye, just
said to me, “Sorry, he had a bad illness once.
He’s a bit sensitive in the winter.”
I was taken aback. “Oh,” I said quietly, looking
into the back seat. “It’s been cold out lately. Maybe you should try to cut back on the smoking if your throat hurts.”
I saw Mike stare at me with this puzzled look on
his face.
“Smoking? Liam doesn’t smoke.”
“He’s a public figure. He couldn’t smoke if he
wanted to. He’d get destroyed if he was seen.”
Liam kicked the back of the front seat,
coughing and turning red.
“Shut up, dude! I could smoke if I want!”
CLAMAL The oor door algond
く
SLAM! The car door closed.
I stared at the car as it drove away.
Then, I pulled out my phone and texted Chloe.
Me: How do you cheer up an angry guy?
Chloe texted back almost instantly.
Chloe: Did you piss off Liam?
Me: Not really, he just outed himself then got all huffy about it.
Chloe: Outed himself? How?
That he’s got a crush on me.
I couldn’t tell Chloe that directly. So I changed
the subject.
Me: You know, I decided not to go on that trip.
<
8:42
95
If I didn’t go searching for inspiration, I wouldn’t
accidentally die.
It took Chloe a while to reply to that.
Chloe: That’s cool. That works for me.
7
The next day, I learned what Chloe meant by
“that works for me“.
She showed up at my place bright and early,
telling me to pack up my cat.
“Liam’s got this movie thing going on, and they
need a cat actor. I know the producer, and
when I saw his Insta post last night, I knew your
kitty was perfect! I already signed you up.”
“If Liam’s still mad, it means he still cares about
you. Maybe if you’re around him enough, he’ll
get over it!”
<
Before I knew it, she had me at the movie
studio.
“Alright, I’ve got some stuff to do. I’ll pick you
up tonight!”
I didn’t even get a chance to say no.
“Meow.” My cat snuggled into me, living up to
the Ragdoll breed’s reputation.
“Aw, what a cutie! The director’s gonna love
him!” One of the staff members said.
I smiled when they said that.
But as soon as we got to the set, my cat
jumped out of my arms.
I freaked out and ran after him with the staff.
It was time for a break, and some actors were
hanging out in lounge chairs looking at corinte
<
hanging out in lounge chairs looking at scripts.
They all started smiling when they saw the cat.
“What a cute cat!”
