“Sorry. You were on your way out, huh?”
“No, of course not,” I lied.
My phone dinged with an incoming text. I grinned when I saw it.
MONTE: Are you okay?
ME: Everything’s fine. Stop worrying.
MONTE: Can’t help it. This is weird.
ME: Totally weird.
“Who are you texting? I’ve never seen that look on your face before.”
I sighed and put my phone away. “It’s no one.”
“Liar. There used to be a time we told each other everything. What happened to us?”
There had never been a time I told her everything, but we had been a lot closer than lately.
“I don’t know. I think with all the fame I started pulling away from everyone. It’s nothing personal. It’s just a lot to deal with.”
“Which is when you should be leaning on your friends the most.”
“Sorry, Chloe. I guess I never really thought about it like that.”
She shrugged. “Probably easier said than done. I know a lot of people were jealous of you when things took off, but not me. I see the pressure you’re under and the constant need to perform. It sucks. I think that’s why that teaser video hit so hard. You weren’t pretending to be Zoey Unboxed. You were just Zoey Rey, and I miss her.”
I hugged my sorority sister. “I miss her sometimes too,” I confessed. “But that’s not who I am on social media. I got really upset when I saw that teaser. Bryan didn’t even blur the background, he just threw it out there raw without my opinion. People were able to find the place really fast and the lodge gotswarmed. They camped out for four days waiting to catch a glimpse of me.”
“You mean us, right? Because your followers cannot wait to see more of Monte. It’s funny, I remember him freshman and early sophomore year. He was always tagging along with Remy and the guys. He’s cute.”
He was way more than cute, but I didn’t say that and let her continue her ramble.
“Tia had the biggest crush on him, and he wouldn’t give her the time of day.”
I bit back a growl, hating hearing any other woman’s name with his.
“And then he just sort of faded into the background. I’m not even sure why. Last year I only saw him at D.O.G. parties. Oh, and English. We had Briggs together. Oh wait. Are you still having trouble with her? Maybe Monte can help. He was a total teacher’s pet. Could be worth a try. Maybe it’ll get you on her good side.”
“Why do you think he’d help me like that?”
She gave me a knowing look. “Because I’ve never seen you look at any guy the way you looked at him in that video.”
I groaned. “I hate that video. I’m going to murder Bryan for it the next time I see him.”
My phone dinged again, but this time it was an email confirming the link to the video shoot. It was like he knew I was cursing his name or something.
“Definitely not Monte. Must be Bryan. Back to work time?”
I looked up at her and shook my head. “It is, but I think it can wait another day.”
She lit up. And a part of me felt bad for having shut out so many people in my life when my popularity spiked, especially those that had been my friends all along. I had my reasons for it, and there had been a lot of jealousy and mean things said back then, but Chloe hadn’t been one of them as far as I knew. Maybe it was time to stop lumping everyone together and give people the benefit of the doubt.
We hung out in our pajamas just talking, laughing, and catching up for much of the night. It was fun. I’d needed that more than I ever imagined. But once she called it a night and went to bed, I was left sitting there all alone and then remembered why I’d left my room in the first place—Monte.
Monte
