“Say hi to Myra for me.”
BamBam nodded, then headed off toward her friend, leaving me to try to find mine. I was about to go check over by the bar, when I spotted a group of people about my age huddled around one corner of the pool. A few feet from the larger group was Nittha, talking about a mile a minute to Gabby.
“Hey,” I said as soon as I was within earshot.
“You look gorg.” Nittha gestured at me.
“All cutesy in that dress.” Gabby grinned.
“Thanks, it has pockets, and it’s stretchy.” I smiled and jumped into a split stance so they could see what I meant. The dress hugged my body, but it felt more like sweats than something I couldn’t sit down in. “It’s basically the only fancy-ish thing I brought.”
“Love a dress with pockets.” Nittha giggled, then added, “There are more parties, by the way, so if you seriously didn’t bring anything else, get ready to go shopping in Gabby’s suitcase. She packed enough for three weeks.”
“Only enough for two and a half weeks.” Gabby laughed as if the convention being six days had been a minor consideration in her packing plans. “And it’s good you look stunning, because the boyfriend Nittha insists you have just walked in.”
“I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Tell Ethan that.” Nittha nodded toward the elevators. “He and his grandma are right there.”
I shifted in the direction of the elevator bank in time to see Ethan and Buzzy entering the party. My heart stopped.
Ethan wasn’t wearing anything particularly special, just jeans and a plain black collared shirt. In fact, the outfit wouldn’t have been remarkable at all if it didn’t fit him so well. Unfortunately, Ethan wasn’t why I was breaking out into a sweat right now.
Buzzy was wearing the same dress as BamBam.
“Oh no.”
“Don’t want to see him?” Gabby teased.
“No, that’s not why—” I shook my head, then tried again when Gabby raised an eyebrow. “His grandma and my grandma are wearing the same dress. How did she even get that dress? It was supposed to be for BamBam. It’s next season.”
“Oh, that is bad.” Nittha’s eyes went wide.
“What’s the deal with them anyway?” Gabby furrowed her brow as she tried to keep up with the glances Nittha and I were exchanging.
“They used to be part of a shared channel when they were first starting out. I think it was just poorly organized, but basically my grandma and Buzzy seemed to have too similar of content. Since BamBam posted on Tuesdays and Buzzy on Fridays, BamBam decided Buzzy was a no-talent copycat who pretended to be her friend but was actually re-creating all her videos for her white-lady, sweater-sets-and-pearls crowd. I’ve never asked her personally, but based on what her followers sayin BamBam’s comments, Buzzy probably thinks my grandma is a bougie bossy-pants who has deluded herself into thinking she invented fashion.”
“That is a very specific feud.” Gabby snort-laughed.
“It sounds funny, but you didn’t see them on the plane.” I frowned.
“And then there is you and Ethan. He’s a handsome grandson pining away for the granddaughter of a rival family and trying to find ways to be with her, like Romeo did Juliet,” Nittha added unhelpfully.
“None of that is true. He only wants to be friends.”
“Why, if your grandmas are beefing like that?” Gabby asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, throwing Nittha a don’t-try-it look.
Nittha smirked. “Doesn’t matter now—your friend is walking toward us.”
“What?” I tried to position myself behind Gabby. “Maybe he won’t see us.”
Nittha waved at him, then smiled at me as he waved back. “Bad news. He sees you.”
“Because you signaled him,” I hissed, heat creeping up the back of my neck as he got closer.
“Pretty sure he saw you before.” Nittha laughed.
