I pulled on the edge of my dress and gestured to the door, hoping I could sneak by. Instead, Buzzy held out a hand to stopme. Giving me a once-over, she said, “Let me take this off you before you go. Despite what your grandma might say, we’re not monsters in this family.”
It took everything in me not to flinch when she reached toward my face. Instead of mauling me, she gently peeled the loose eyelash off, then set it on the bathroom counter before saying, “I have to hand it to you, Ethan. It was clever to use the Vaseline to loosen up the glue like that.”
“It works on goo stuck to car windows,” Ethan mumbled, as if he was worried that his response could trigger a full meltdown on Buzzy’s part.
“That’s my sweet boy. Always so helpful,” Buzzy crooned, and it took everything in me not to laugh. Clearly, Ethan could do no wrong in his grandmother’s eyes. To me, she said, “Let the Vaseline sit on the other one for a few more minutes. It’ll be ready to come off soon.”
“Thank you.” I nodded and finally slipped past her, feeling safer now that I was out of her reach. “And thank you, Ethan. I appreciate the help.”
Ethan nodded and gave me a tentative smile, as if he didn’t trust himself to speak.
“And, sweetheart, if your grandma doesn’t have any Pond’s, come back here. That product would be faster, but what Ethan has here will work eventually.” Buzzy started to walk toward the door, so I picked up my pace, careful to keep an extra foot of distance between us, in case she decided to take a swing at me with her cane. As I reached for the door, she added, “And if you don’t know how to use Pond’s, I have a video up on my account.Search ‘ten things grannie knows about makeup’ plus my name and it should come up.”
“I will.” I pulled the door open. In reality, there was no way I was watching that if BamBam was in the room, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Stepping through the doorway, I caught sight of Ethan standing outside of the bathroom. “Thanks again.”
“Anytime,” he called.
Buzzy looked likeanytimewas a stretch for her, but she put on her best smile and said, “Night, sweetheart.”
With that, the door closed, and I took off down the hall, careful to make sure I was yards away before slowing down. I’d take my chances being seen with a greasy, half-glittered face in the elevator over Buzzy coming back to try to finish the removal job. By the time I’d reached the elevator, the survival adrenaline had worn off, and I’d started to think clearly again.
What had just happened? I’d started the night with a plan. Film the DJ party and get home before either of our grandmothers knew we were gone. Instead, Buzzy now knew that Ethan and I knew each other well enough that he let me in their room. A rookie mistake. Thinking about their room made my cheeks hot for an entirely different reason. While it wasn’t great that his grandmother knew that I was in her orbit, that wasn’t the only mistake I’d made tonight.
Ethan Wyatt had almost kissed me.
And I’d almost let him. That could never happen again. Even if I really wanted it to.
Day 4: Going All In
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sleep had not helped mycrush on Ethan disappear. Neither had sitting through an early coffee with BamBam and Sterling—both of whom could best be described as aggressively morning people—while they debriefed last night’s class and brainstormed what they might like to do next. Even trying to organize BamBam’s panel footage into the start of a video didn’t take my mind off Ethan. At one point, I’d almost deleted a draft instead of hitting Save.
This crush was officially turning into a distracting mess, so when BamBam asked if I would go back to the convention floor to film her saying hi to fans spontaneously, I agreed without thinking twice.
“This is so sweet,” BamBam said, posing with a thirtysomething fan for a picture as they handed her a homemade beaded friendship bracelet.
“Thank you, honey.” BamBam smiled warmly and tilted herhead in the way that meant she was ready for the next fan in line to walk over.
“Can I get a video of you saying your line?” the next fan asked, their voice shaking as they held up their phone.
“Of course you can,” BamBam said, smoothing the pleats on her fuchsia jumpsuit to get herself ready. Around her the crowd of people who had gathered to get a picture while she “browsed the convention floor” took out their phones for their chance to get BamBam on video saying her catchphrase. Nodding to the nervous fan she asked, “Ready?”
When the fan nodded, BamBam busted out her most winning grin, her Southern accent a little thicker as she looked at the camera and said, “I’m here at TrendCon, still cute as the day I was born and having fun with all of y’all.” Gesturing at the fans gathered around, she added, “Stay bad, baby.”
Blowing the camera a kiss, she laughed and then dropped her pose.
“Thank you so much. My sister won’t believe this. You totally made our day,” the fan said, bouncing a little to the side, ostensibly so that another person could have a turn, while still basking in BamBam’s glow.
My stomach growled. I had more than enough footage of BamBam doing these little meet-and-greets to cut together about fifty event recaps, and I was starting to get hungry. Logically, I understood why BamBam had agreed to drop into the exhibitor hall before breakfast—fewer fans made it easier for her to move and pretend this wasn’t staged—but now that we’d been doing this for forty-five minutes, I was ready for a break. I could only hope BamBam would be ready soon, too.
“Alright, Ms. Mini. I have a controversial question for you. Are you ready?” the latest fan said.
“Oh, Mini loves a good controversy. Lay it on me.” My grandma chuckled at the camera this new fan’s partner was holding for them. These kinds of surprise interviews always made me nervous, since the person filming was likely trying to become a creator in their own right, which meant the odds that the question was designed to be a gotcha moment were much higher.
“Color combination, pink and baby blue. Do or don’t?”
A little bit of the tension in my chest eased. This truly was a fashion question.
