“Ethan’s not saying what happened, and obviously Emmiekeeps apologizing for letting her fans down, but people are not letting it go. Then you know how the responses get.” Gabby shuddered. “And not like unhinged comments. Full-blown conspiracy-theory style response videos where people are combing through everything she’s ever posted for proof that she is evil, fake, and messy, and should never have been trusted.”
“Oh no,” I breathed, thinking about how awful both of them must have felt. I’d seen BamBam’s replies when she posted a controversial use for cotton swabs. People were truly nasty over a beauty tool. I couldn’t imagine what something like this would make fans do. “That must have been miserable.”
“Yeah. And since she is way more popular than him, she had a lot more people get upset with her because she got dumped for cheating on a golden retriever,” Gabby said, her words coming faster as she got into the story.
“When did this happen?” My heart sank as I asked the question. If Ethan and Emmie had gone through all this recently, then no wonder she wanted to talk to him, and of course he was being weird about it. Hell, I’d want new friends, too, if basically everyone I knew only wanted to know me because of my ex-girlfriend. It crossed my mind that Sterling was truly trying to be nice and warn me. How could I not be a rebound for Ethan after all that?
“Like two or three months ago.” Gabby shrugged. “I’m sure there are fan timelines out there somewhere, but honestly, there’s a lot of super creepy misogyny around it, so I haven’t gone that far down this particular rabbit hole.”
“Oh yuck.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Now I feelbad for both of them. I can’t even imagine breaking up in front of the whole world.”
“Then, of course, there is the die-hard E-and-E-Forever camp, hoping that the two of them will reconcile at TrendCon, then move in together after high school to build some sort of online-couple empire. There was also that picture of them talking at the VIP Party,” Nittha added with a shrug.
“It was supposed to be a closed party. Who posted?” I asked, my chest tightening. Was everyone watching them all the time?
“Emmie and Sterling James did a series together, plus they have that eyeshadow palette with bookish shade names like Cinnamon Roll and Book Boyfriend. So they are basically internet besties now. Only Sterling loves to insert himself on the periphery of drama, so of course, he posted a ‘selfie’ at the pool that ‘accidentally’ had the two of them in the background,” Nittha said, making it clear that she thought Sterling’s behavior was very much intentional.
I laughed, the tightness in my chest easing. Sterling might like to stir the pot, but seeing as I wasn’t even a little bit famous or recognizable, I didn’t need to worry about him. Even if he thought Ethan and I were getting married tomorrow, he wouldn’t post about me. There was nothing to gain from it. “See this is why I don’t have socials. I want zero part in whatever this kind of nonsense is.”
“You should probably get used to it, given who your boyfriend is.” Nittha giggled.
“Again, we are not a thing. And don’t joke about it online, or you know my parents will lose it and—”
A knock on the door cut me off, surprising all three of us. Too late, Cricket jumped out of my lap and started barking at the door, as if the delayed warning that someone was approaching were helpful to us now.
“Cricket. Shhh,” Nittha said, scooping up her dog and snuggling the still-barking pup to her chin. Glancing from me to Gabby, she called, “Coming.”
She sauntered toward the door, peeked through the peephole, then whipped her head around. To me, she whisper-shouted, “Holy shit. It’s him.”
Who?I mouthed.
At the same time Gabby whisper-shouted back, “Ethan?”
Nittha nodded, a delirious grin spreading across her face.
“Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back on my arms, swinging my feet around on the edge of the bed.
“Not joking,” Nittha hissed. I stopped fidgeting. Studying her, I realized this wasn’t a prank. Still grinning her face off, she said, “I’m gonna open it.”
“Don’t.” My heartbeat stilled while all the heat in my body rushed to my armpits, and I started to sweat.
“I thought you said nothing was going on?” Gabby cackled, and I wondered why my friends were so bad at whispering.
I tugged down my shirt, nervous energy crashing through my veins. “There isn’t.”
“Then why do you care?” Gabby asked, her smile mirroring Nittha’s.
“I don’t—”
“Y’all, he knows we’re in here. I have to answer,” Nitthasaid, using her hand to give us the pipe-down gesture. She gave her shoulders a shake, practiced her most winning smile, then turned back toward the door. Meanwhile, Gabby grinned and adjusted herself in her chair so she could better see the door.
My hand immediately flew to my hair, and I tried to smooth a few of my more renegade curls back into my braid. Too soon, Nittha opened the door. I fully froze in panic like an animal caught in an automatic driveway sensor light.
“Hey, Ethan.” Nittha’s voice sounded like she was still smiling too big to be casual.
“Hey, Nittha. How are you?” Ethan asked, his eyes flicking over her shoulder to where I sat on the bed. One of my hands was still hovering over my hair like some kind of dorky statue. I slowly lowered it to my braid, like maybe that would make the fact that my hand was weirdly hanging in midair normal.
“Good. Filming a vid with Cricket.” Nittha held Cricket out to him so the little Yorkie could get a good sniff.
