Mia: omg you’re such a perfectionist. Just look at it.
She double-skipped the steps to her apartment and checked her Instagram — her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. There were over thirty thousand views, and the post had only been up for ten hours. Julian must have seen it . . .Oh, God.
Cierra watched the video, and to her shock, it was a pretty good first attempt. Mia had been right, though — there’s no way she would’ve posted it herself; Cierra could point out a thousand things she could’ve done differently.
Despite this, many comments expressed encouragement, admiration of the career, and curiosity about the lifestyle. And it wasn’t just the views that were staggering. She had gained a little over one thousand followers.
Scrolling through the reactions, she was digging to see anyone familiar. Mid like-stalking, the app prompted her to follow others she knew based on the contacts in her phone, and suddenly another aspect of that morning made sense — if she could follow people based on the contacts onherphone, thenthat meant that other people she knew were probably being fed her videos, not just Julian.
A long, vulnerable breath escaped her lungs. This was not how she had planned on making her influencing debut, but at least the post was high-performing.
Accounting for the advice received from Viktor and Mia, she knew she’d have to be open about her social media pursuits at some point. But this level of self-consciousness was reaching adolescent heights.
What if Harry saw the video?Cierra hated that she cared about what her ex thought of her, but she still did.
Maybe it was because they hadn’t seen each other in a few months, and she knew they were going to be in the same place soon. Amber, the wife of Harry’s best friend, James, was throwing a birthday party. Until now, Cierra had been avoiding most of the social events hosted by shared friends. But the job and apartment had her feeling more confident, and she appreciated people were still reaching out. Mia had hinted that Harry might be seeing someone new, but Cierra had played it off like she didn’t care. It’s not like she was still heartbroken. Besides, she was proud of the way her life had been going. If this were a reunion, she was ready to walk into the event with her head held high, with her 2,046 followers and counting.
The birthday party was held at a vintage-themed bowling alley in a trendier part of Brooklyn. Half of the men were wearing colorful beanies rolled a little too high, with overalls and patent leather boots. Neon beer signs and other items reminiscent of an Oklahoma Cracker Barrel covered the walls and ceiling, even though the alley had only opened post-pandemic. When Mia and Cierra arrived, they found several mutual friends already at the event, including a familiar man with endearing freckles and a receding hairline. Cierra waved to Amber on the other side of thebowling alley’s bar area, who waved back with a cheery smile, before getting back to hosting duties.
“Feeling okay?” Mia asked as they entered a dimly lit hallway that smelled like beer and stale sweat. She must have clocked Harry as well.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. What about you?”
“Me? Can’t wait.” Mia had been part of a bowling league for years as a kid, so she loved any opportunity to put her impressive strike skills on display.
Cierra had gone over to Mia’s place ahead of the event, partially to catch up, since her job had been consuming a lot of her time lately, and partially to get her mind straight going into the lion’s den. Knowing that Harry was seeing someone, and actually meeting the new woman, were two very different things.
In a stroke of good fortune, Cierra had discovered an old jumper she had previously out-grown now fit again. The garment hugged her curves subtly, hinting at her figure without being overtly revealing. And while at first she was going to pair it with a pair of flat white sneakers, she’d decided on wearing heeled sandals. Was she a little overdressed? Sure. Was she actually going to be bowling? No. Did her legs look five inches longer? Yes.
Walking over to the bar, Cierra could feel a few eyes on her, which made her feel self-conscious at first but quickly morphed into an ego boost. Harry was only ten feet away when their eyes met; they both awkwardly grinned at each other from across the lacquered bar. He looked virtually the same, just with a beard and what looked like a new jacket. Other than that, it was as if she had seen him yesterday. She could see him pat the arm of the guy he was talking to and realized that he was wrapping up whatever conversation he was having to approach her.
“I think I’ll go say hi to the birthday girl,” Mia said with a wink.
Cierra ordered a light beer, knowing she’d be taking it easy on any booze for this event. It would be hard enough to navigate with all her faculties, and she didn’t want to be the slurry-sad ex at the party. And also, she wasn’t actuallythatsad. Her next date with Julian was the following day, so at least there was a reward at the end of this tunnel.
As soon as she had handed the bartender cash for her drink, she found herself face-to-face with Harry. Instead of anger or resentment or embarrassment, the primary feeling that came over her once she saw those blue eyes was a calm gratitude for their reunion. They embraced, maybe too tightly, before either of them spoke. There weren’t any sparks, but a warm afterglow. The kind a fire pit gives long after the flames have burnt out.
“It’s nice to see you, Cee.” He said it a little timidly, but it seemed honest.
“It’s nice to see you, too, Harry. I like the beard. It’s very distinguished. Suits you.”
He stroked it like a pet. “Oh, yeah, ha, just trying something new.” An awkward silence fell between them. “How have you been?”
What could she say?
Oh, hey, Harry. I’m doing so much better after you dumped me. At first it was tough, because I realized I actually had nothing to my name and the things you said about me might actually be true, and I was seriously dreading the possibility I was going to have to move out of the city because I hadn’t realized how dependent I had grown to be on you. Not just emotionally, but financially, too! But no worries, I’m dating and have a new job I love. Ha ha. Remember how tight this jumper used to be??
So she just said, “I’m doing good. Better. Not that I was doing poorly . . .” She shook her head, trying not to get flustered. “What about you? Doing okay?”
“Yeah, yeah I am.”
“Good.”
A beat passed, and they both took unnecessary sips from their drinks.
“So, this is weird.”
“Yeah . . .” she replied, and they both chuckled. Cierra cocked her head to one side and looked at him. “For what it’s worth, I think we’re handling this all pretty well, don’t you?”
