My phone buzzes on the table, and I glance down to see a new message.
GlowStick
Hope you slept well. Did you dream about me?
My smile spreads across my face as I type back. I’d wondered whether they would message me today. If after what we did, they had gotten what they wanted and would ghost me.
Kane
Wouldn’t you like to know?
GlowStick
I would. In vivid detail
My cheeks flush, and I quickly lock my phone, but not before Abigail notices my expression.
“Okay, spill,” she says, abandoning her coffee to lean across the table. “You’ve been grinning at your phone like an idiot a lot lately. Who’s making Leila Kane smile like that?”
“It’s nothing,” I say, though I can’t wipe the stupid grin off my face.
“Bullshit. I know that look.” She narrows her eyes. “Are you seeing someone? Is that why you’ve been so distracted?”
I fidget with my coffee cup, debating how much to tell her. Abigail is a close friend, but how do I explain that I’ve been texting three masked strangers who may or may not be my brothers’ teammates?
“It’s complicated,” I finally say.
“Complicated how? Like, ‘he’s dating someone else’ complicated, or he’s your professor, or...?” She gasps dramatically. “Oh my god, is it Knox—your project partner? I knew there was chemistry there!”
“It’s not Knox,” I hiss quickly, though the idea makes me blush for an entirely different reason. In a different life, I would definitely be interested in him.
“Then who?” She reaches across and grabs my phone before I can stop her. “Let me see these messages.”
“Abby, no!” I lunge for my phone, but she’s already swiping it open using my code.
“Who the hell is GlowStick?” she squeaks, reading the contact name. “And why is he asking about masked strangers?”
I slump back in my seat, realizing there’s no way out of this now. “Okay, fine. But you have to promise not to judge me.”
“When have I ever done that?” She pauses. “Okay, don’t answer that. But seriously, what’s going on?”
I take a deep breath and launch into the story—starting with the party and ending with last night at the quarry. Abigail’s eyes get progressively wider with each detail, and by the time I finish, her mouth is hanging open.
“So let me get this straight,” she says slowly. “You’ve been texting with strangers and last night you drove to an abandoned quarry to let them chase you?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds insane.”
“Because it is!” She throws her hands in the air. “Leila, this is literally how every Bailey Sarian video starts. A woman meets mysterious strangers online, then she agrees to meet them in an isolated location and is never seen again!”
“But they didn’t murder me,” I point out. “They gave me a necklace.”
“A necklace?” Her voice rises. “Show me.”
I pull the collar of my sweater down and pull out the silver chain and red heart pendant.
Abigail stares at it for a long moment. “Okay, that’s actually really pretty.”
“That’s what I thought too.”
