Page 40 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

This time, Devon smacked Charlie on the back of the head. “I’m telling Sam you said that.”

“Go ahead. I said it to his face.”

I placed the last cupcake on the top tier, and this time I licked my fingers.

“Well, for our purposes, that relationship is the real deal—my job depends on it.”

“Then you’d better kiss your job goodbye.”

I jerked my head around as Poppy reached over my shoulder and snatched a cupcake, ruining our aesthetic. She handed one to her sidekick before grabbing another and running her tongue through the frosting.

“Poppy, what are you talking about?” Devon tossed a towel over her shoulder and crossed her arms.

“This.” Chelsea tapped her phone screen, her sparkly case catching the pendulum lights over the kitchen island. She turned her screen to face me, a dab of frosting on the corner.

“What is that.” I took the phone from her, and my eyes bugged out when I saw the picture. “No way. That’s not what it looks like. That’s one moment.”

“What? What?” Devon bumped my hip to peer over my arm. She covered her mouth, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Ooh, that looks pretty clear to me.”

Charlie wedged a shoulder against the wall. “What are you girls cackling about?”

Poppy straddled a stool at the island. “Just that if Conor is supposed to be hooking up with Ashley Bennett, why is he on stage simping Noelle?”

“Simping?”

Charlie lifted his shoulders to his ears, and his sister punched him in the arm. I’d feel sorry about all the abuse Charlie was getting if I didn’t have my own problems right now.

Poppy set him straight. “Heart eyes. He’s totally crushing on Noelle while he’s singing. There are loads of pictures of him staring off stage.”

“Loads?” I gave a fake, hearty laugh that hurt my chest. “Nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense, Noelle.” Chelsea snatched her phone out of my hand and started scrolling through post after post of Conor looking at me offstage—just the way I remembered him looking at me...with longing and regret, making me uncomfortable and nervous.

“It’s not just the pics. People are commenting about it. Some have put two and two together that you’re the girl at In-N-Out.”

I smacked my forehead with the heel of my hand. “Conor and I are friends. That’s it.”

Charlie and Devon exchanged looks and little smiles.

I opened my mouth to point out that everyone always knew those two were destined for each other, but a commotion at the door cut me off.

Chelsea and Poppy nearly took each other out trying to get to the door first. Once they opened it, any chance I had for explanations or excuses vanished with the stream of guests stampeding into the house.

A few well-placed serving staff kept the food and drink flowing, but in typical Charlie fashion, you really couldn’t tell the guests from the servers as he invited the servers to eat, drink, and mingle with the guests as long as everyone got what they needed.

Most of the party spilled onto the patio and collected around the shimmering pool as the waves crashed onto the beach in the background.

I spotted Ashley, flirting with most of the guys and a few of the girls. Either she’d seen the pictures circulating on social media and was trying to give the appearance that she didn’t care, or she knew she didn’t have to keep up the pretense at this party.

Either way, my carefully constructed narrative for this tour was crumbling faster than a scone from Sweet Devon. I’d been trying to avoid Conor most of the night and as he and Charlie seemed joined at the hip reminiscing, it wasn’t difficult.

The crowd thinned out, and I wandered into the kitchen to stuff another cupcake in my mouth. I almost ran into Devon, bent over, separating recyclables from the trash.

“Don’t you have a catering company to take care of all that?”

Straightening to her full height, she blew a lock of hair from her eyes. “You’d think, except most of them are on the beach smoking weed. Charlie has no concept of the separation between guest and worker. He’ll probably allow all of them to crash here tonight, so they don’t drive home impaired.”

“That’s Charlie.”