Page 138 of While You Were Trending

“What if I’m very confused about if…other things…make me happy?”

There’s something in her voice that has the teeniest shard of hope sneaking into my heart, but I shut it down. “Lovely place to be.”

“Confusion is a lovely place to be?”

“Means you get to try all kinds of different things while you’re looking for what makes you happy.”

She’s watching me closely.

Possibly closer than I’ve ever seen her watch me before.

Like she’s seeing me for the first time.

Recognizing me as a separate person beyond being her ex’s best friend.

And I need to not go there.

“I want to go to Zander’s show,” she says in a rush.

I nod like my pulse isn’t dancing at the idea of her seeing my brother. “Sure. Want his phone number?

“With you,” she adds. “I want to go to his show with you.”

That teeny shard of hope wiggles bigger and deeper in my chest.

“But I don’t want it to be complicated,” she continues. “For you. Because—because I’d never ask someone to pick between me and their best friend. Or to give the appearance that I think I want you to.”

Flow whines and whimpers harder and tries to climb Ginny’s shoulders too.

“It’s okay, girl,” Ginny whispers, and I wonder if she’s talking to herself as well as Flow. “It’s okay.”

I help myself to the other half of the bench, mostly because I suddenly don’t trust my knees.

She wants to gowith me.

“It’s not your job to make my life less complicated,” I tell her.

She blinks at me, then drops her head against my dog with a heavy sigh. “How do you keep doing that?”

“Doing what?”

“Saying all of the right things.”

“It’s the curse of growing up in a mentally, physically, and emotionally stable environment.”

“How terrible for you.”

“Completely awful. No unnecessary drama. No question how much my parents loved me. No film crews recording my every move.”

“No passive-aggressive manipulation?”

“Nope.”

“No siblings who left you behind with a narcissistic mother?”

“Or who tormented me with spiders.”

She shivers and inches closer to me like she’s remembering theOn the Rhodesepisode where Ten kept leaving fake spiders all around the camper for Ginny to find. “My mom and the director made him. And then Ten took me out for ice cream to apologize after the cameras were off every time.”