Page 73 of Famous for a Living

So yes, when Zaiah stood next to his truck and offered to take us to the tiny, nearly nonexistent downtown, my own convertible beside his beneath a foot of snow, I jumped at the chance. Of course I wanted to get out.

Any sane person would want to get out.

Frankly, if Jax had asked me, I just might have taken him up on the offer.

These woods are the air Zaiah breathes, and in the past month I’ve realized what my air is. People.

Total strangers. Blocks of people. I need to see them. I need to be near them. I don’t even need to talk to them. I just need to know they know I exist.

“Well, I’m proud of you for starting to get out there again. And to think, all it took was locking you up in the wilderness thousands of miles away for you to remember your social roots. This is progress.”

“For the record,” I say, “him teaming up with me at the polar bear plunge was only because somebody had to go with the first-timers and I was holding up the line. Apparently they want to ensure people don’t die trying and blacklist the town.”

“Not really,” Mina interjects, inspecting a tube of lip gloss. “The town doesn’t really care if tourists live or die. If you haven’t noticed, everything’s kind of go-at-your-own-risk out here.”

I stop and turn, the final piece of my hair in midcurl. “Zaiah said someone had to go with me.”

Mina shrugs. “I heard that. I think he just didn’t want you to feel bad about being scared.”

“He lied?”

Serena and I say this in unison, although she sounds absolutely giddy.

“Wait, so he did that just to make her feel better? Do you hear this, Cat?”

I frown.

My cheeks are beginning to match the color of my blush sweatshirt again. It’s too hot in here with Mina and me crammed in like sardines.

I’m having trouble processing this.

“Mina, what does Cat look like? Is she blushing? How red? Out of ten?”

Mina scrutinizes me. “I’m going to go with seven.”

“Cat, you liar. Mina, pay attention now.” Serena’s next words come with a sense of urgency, as if she’s giving a super-secret combination to a lock. “Is she putting on the lipstick with the 007 on it?”

“It doesn’t matter what lipstick I put on!” I protest. Okay, 007 is my lucky lipstick, and yes, coincidentally, I did happen to put it on tonight.

“I . . . I’m not sure.” Mina looks uncertainly at the dozen tubes lying around. “There’s a lot of lipstick here. Oh, this one?” She lifts the only tube without a top. She inspects the label. “Yep.”

“I knew it!” Serena cries triumphantly.

“Really, Serena. This is nothing. I’m just excited to go out—”

“Excuse me, Cat. I’m in the middle of a conversation with Mina.”

Mina’s mouth opens, but I snap the phone off the vanity before she can say another word. Or worse, hear another word from Serena and get any ideas. “We-gotta-go, it’s-getting-time, I’ll-call-you-later, have-fun-at-hot-yoga, bye,” I say, all in one swift blend of words before Serena can get another word in edgewise.

“Mina! Call me! My number is—!” Serena cries, just as I hang up and swiftly turn my phone to silent.

Mina’s mouth is drooping slightly as she watches me pocket my phone.

After several seconds, she points to it. “So. How do we want to play this? My role is to . . .”

“Ignore everything you heard and pretend it never happened.”

Mina nods. “But you do know I . . .” Her words trail off with a meaningful look.