He doesn’t look convinced. “You’ve been watching Miranda like a hawk for ten minutes.”
I shrug. “Was I? Oh, I’m just zoning out, I guess.”
I want to tell him about the weird run-in at the bar earlier and how some woman she used to know rattled her, but I can’t. I made a promise to Miranda. Anything I say to Jaden would get back to Anna, and Miranda would be crushed that I betrayed her. I could never do that.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asks again.
“Yeah, man. I think I’m crashing from a daylong adrenaline rush. Did I tell you that I met Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep? Oh, and I got a selfie with Jack Nicholson. Isn’t that insane?”
Jaden chuckles. “Yeah, heard all about it. And I get it…It’s been a long day.”
I glance back toward the dance floor. Miranda’s laughing again, head tipped back, Anna’s arm slung over her shoulders. They’re glowing with joy. Not a shadow of discomfort remains from the earlier incident. It’s strange. Apparently, Anna isn’t the only brilliant actor among us. Miranda could be holding one of those golden statues with this performance.
“Yeah,” I say.
Jaden nods, distracted by someone calling his name, and I’m left alone again with my thoughts.
I watch Miranda toss her head back and spin around in her glittering gown, her laughter swallowed by the music. She looks effortless. Untouched. And it messes with me more than it should.
How can someone switch off their pain so easily? How can someone break down one minute and beam like sunshine the next?
I want to help her. God, Iwantto. But she made it clear—she doesn’t want my help, doesn’t want my questions, doesn’t want me digging into the shadows she’s hiding.
So I won’t.
But as I sit here, watching her smile like nothing happened, I realize something else. I don’t just care because we’re friends.
It’s more than that.
It’s the way my chest tightens when she laughs. The way I can still feel her shaking in my arms. The way I’d do anything to keep her from ever looking that scared again.
She might think she’s fine. She might think she can outrun whatever’s haunting her.
But I saw it tonight. The ghosts are still there.
And whether she wants me to or not, I’m not letting them get anywhere near her again.
Exhausted from the day, the four of us leave the Oscar party a little after two in the morning.
As we make our way out, we stop every few feet for selfies. Anna insists on capturing every moment.
“I want to remember everything about this perfect night,” she says. “Let’s take a couple more—one where we look silly and one where we look hot.”
“You’ve looked hot in every picture we’ve taken tonight,” Jaden declares.
Miranda shoots Anna a smile. “He’s not wrong.”
I hold my phone out for one last picture. “Okay, one more. Say cheese.”
I take the picture, and Anna reminds me to send it to her.
Outside, the cool night air hits us, and Anna shivers dramatically. “I want to say I’m freezing, but now that I live in Michigan, I’m very aware that this isn’t that cold.”
“Right?” Miranda agrees. “It changes one’s perspective, that’s for sure.”
“I’m starving,” Anna says, wrapping her arms around her middle as Jaden drapes his tux jacket over her shoulders. “I’ve barely eaten all day.”
“Same.” Miranda nods. “What’s open?”
