“I don’t know. I don’t know, Bastian. But I do know that I might never forgive them for doing this to us.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. “Yeah.”
“At least we’ve got each other, little brother.”
“Yeah. At least we’ve got each other.”
“So … how are you planning to apologize to this mysterious girl who you only want to be friends with?”
I ignored her snort at the end. “I do just want to be friends with her. When have I ever wanted to be more?”
“Hmm … well?”
“She’s a psychology student. I think I might start there.”
Juno cackled down the line.
I frowned. “What?”
Her laughter filled her words. “Trust you to pick … afriendwho is studying how to psychoanalyze people. Good luck with that.”
“She’s not like that.” And Lily wasn’t. Yes, I knew she planned on becoming a psychotherapist, but I never felt under a microscope with her. Which was probably why she’d make a damn good one.
“No need to get defensive,” Juno teased.
“I’m not defensive.”
“You really like this girl, don’t you?”
“As a friend,” I bit out between clenched teeth. “I’m hanging up now,Mother.”
“Ugh, that was just rude.” Juno hung up before I could.
CHAPTER THREE
LILY
Last Semester
When Beth first started the podcastSeek and You Shall Find,she ran it out of her student accommodation with very basic equipment. Now that it had gone from a uni podcast to a national show, the university provided us with the use of their recording studio at the campus radio station. The caveat was that we had to stick to a strict schedule.
It was a professional setup, much like you’d find in any professional radio station. A large booth for recording and all the recording equipment in a room separated by soundproof glass. Kenny, one of the station producers, managed the sound and recording for us for a fee. We all took turns editing, but Sierra did the final production.
“Ready?” Kenny asked into his mic. We heard his question through our headsets and gave him our go-ahead to start recording.
I always got a wee case of butterflies before we started a show. While I did the outreach to listeners who wanted to call infor advice and had a general idea of what they were going to ask, listeners often went off on tangents. Sometimes we never knew where the discussion would take us. Today the butterflies were for something else entirely.
For weeks, a rival podcast,Potterrow Blokes, had been encroaching on our territory with a deliberate spitefulness that was driving us bonkers. After a lot of back-and-forth, we’d finally gotten them to agree to speak on the podcast. A laptop sat in the center of the table and Madison was getting ready to connect to the Zoom call with them. I didn’t want it to turn into a national argument, but I also wanted to know who the arseholes were behind the denigration and mocking of a show I’d worked extremely hard on.
With a small smile at Sierra and Maddie, I leaned into the mic. “Welcome toSeek and You Shall Find.”
Maddie hit the button on the Zoom call. It connected as I continued, “I’m Lily, and both SierraandMaddie are joining me because we have a special episode today. After weeks of our podcast being used as fodder in thePotterrow Blokes’ attempt to profit off our success, I called them out last week and dared them to come on the show. While it turns out they’re too cowardly to come into the studio,oneof them has agreed to chat with us via Zoom. And for the folks listening at home, we’re not staring at one of thePotterrow Blokes’ faces right now. We’re staring at a screensaver of the Hulk taking Thor up the arse. If the expression on the Asgardian’s face is anything to go by … he’s actually really into it.”
Maddie and Sierra gave a bark of laughter. I could even hear Kenny chuckling in my ears.
Good. I wanted to set the exact right tone for this.
A deep, American accented male voice spoke from the laptop. “I’d like to say that the screensaver is not mine and I have no idea how to change it.”
