As my mom got everyone’s attention, I sat with my cousins at their table, not even noticing her until she sat next to me. And when I turned my eyes to her, I didn’t recognize her at first. Her hair was blonde now, assembled into a dramatic updo, but those brown eyes…I’d looked in them for answers and love like a lost puppy dog for years.
Ava.
“Hi, Dani!”
“Ava…so nice to see you. I had no idea you were coming.” I’d had no idea she’d been invited, but I stopped myself from being rude enough to say so.
“I was surprised to be invited—but I couldn’t say no to this. My mom came too.”
“Thank you for being here.” I introduced her to my cousins at the table, now wishing more than ever that Roxy could have been here, but she’d already agreed to spend a week on tour with MAIMD, a band promoting their sophomore release on something like the tenth leg of their unending trip around theU.S. They were also filming a movie-length video and wanted as much publicity as possible, so they’d offered to pay all expenses for my dear friend.
Looking around at this crowd, I was glad forhersake that she wasn’t here. Not another soul had as many visible tattoos as my friend. Not even Ava.
Not wanting to be rude, I turned to Ava. “It’s been a bit. What have you been up to since graduation?”
Her smile looked practiced, as if she’d perfected it in front of the mirror for years. Although it reached her eyes, it felt…fake somehow. “I’m a TikTok and Instagram influencer and social media personality. And YouTube too, but my growth there is slow.”
My cousin Claire, the one who was trying to grow her own audience on Instagram, immediately tuned in. “Oh, my God. IthoughtI recognized you: ‘Glam with Ava,’ right?”
When Ava’s smile turned smug and she cocked her head ever so slightly, I knew she hadn’t changed a bit. Life had obviously been good to her and she’d had no reason to be anything other than the person she’d been back in school. “Yes, that’s me! Where do you follow me?”
“On Instagram. Don’t you have, like, a hundred thousand followers there?”
“300K. Well, slightly over.”
Of course, she knew her numbers.
Claire said, “Oh, my God. I’m trying so hard to grow and I’m kind of stuck. Do you have any tips?”
“My best advice? Be authentic.”
I had to stifle a laugh—because, even though I wasn’t positive, Ava didn’t feel like she was being any more genuine than she’d been our senior year in high school. But what did I know? Maybe in front of the camera she was different.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before,” Claire said. “I’m totally doingthat, but it’s, like, crickets. I mean…I have about seven-hundred followers, but—”
“Do you respond to their comments?”
“Yeah, when they bother saying anything.”
Ava leaned over the table as if she were divulging a secret. “You gotta give them a CTA.”
“Awhat?”
“Acall to action. If you’re not telling them to check something out, ask them to leave a comment. Like this.” Ava slightly turned in her chair and tilted her head, holding her phone out in front of her as if she were taking a video selfie. Then she said, “Ifyou’veused this concealer, tell me in the comments. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? Link in bio.”
“Oh.”
Natalie, Claire’s pregnant older sister, said, “Claire, today is supposed to be about Dani.”
“Oh, sorry.”
I said, “No problem.” And I’d meant it. Their conversation had allowed me to eat a finger sandwich while determining that Ava was the same person, just a few years older.
“Just one more thing,” Ava said. “If you’re not on TikTok, you need to be there. Insta’s nice, but TikTok’s where it’s at.”
“Ohhhhhhh,” Claire said again. “I was on there for a while but everybody kept telling me it was gonna be banned, so I figuredwhy bother?”
“Get on it now. You’re already behind.”
