“Don’t feel sympathetic toward him. It wasn’t some tragedy, like he had learning difficulties that went unaddressed. He literally didn’twantto know how to read. He told me his theory was that consuming someone else’s thoughts shuts off your own intuition about the world.”
“Is it really that bad out there on the dating scene?” Maddie asks.
“Single men are getting worse on a month-to-month basis, trust me,” Jasmine confirms.
“You’re not wrong,” Harper echoes. I’m pretty sure she and Sebastian only started dating a couple months ago.
Jasmine shrugs. “Playing the field is still fun, though. There are a couple of decent ones out there if you’re looking. And I’m not interested in settling down yet.”
The conversation turns to another topic for a while as we sip our drinks. When there’s another lull, Harper turns to me and asks, “You’re not studying at Brumehill, right? Just working at the café?”
“That’s right,” I answer. Even though I’m used to keeping things close to my chest, I feel unusually talkative today. MaybeI’m still riding high on the endorphins from my first good writing day in ages. Because I continue, “I’m working on a book, actually.”
Maddie’s eyes pop with excitement. “Like, writing a book?”
I nod.
The girls suck in gasps, all their attention on me.
“What kind of book?” Scarlett asks.
“A mystery-slash-thriller.”
Maddie squeals. “That’s so cool! Oh my gosh! I’ve never met a writer before.”
“How much have you written?” Harper asks.
“A little over fifty thousand words.”
They all look impressed. A twinge of embarrassment curls through me, but at the same time, their reaction feels good. Getting that far into writing an entire novel of my own is at least a little impressive, isn’t it? Maybe Ishouldbe proud of myself.
They pepper me with questions, and I answer most of them. I refuse Jasmine’s pleas to give up the big twist, though, telling her she’ll have to read it eventually if she wants to find out.
“I’m going to buy the paperback, the hardcover, the e-book, and the audiobook when it comes out,” Maddie says. “First day.”
I laugh. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I hope itdoescome out, somewhere. Right now, I just want to finish it. For myself.”
“It’ll get published,” Scarlett says with a decisive nod. “I guarantee it.”
I chuckle and roll my eyes. “Thank you for your confidence, even if it is unfounded.”
“You’re part of the group now,” Harper says with a coy nudge to my arm. “We manifest for each other.”
“Oh! You should come out to Starlite with us next weekend!” Maddie says.
“Right! It’ll be just the girls. We’re leaving the guys at home even though they’ll be here that weekend,” Harper says.
“They can sit around at their house doing whatever weird guy stuff they do while we look hot and cool and go dancing,” Scarlett says, drawing more laughter.
I’m about to sleep with Jamie, and I’m being inducted into a new friend group. It’s certainly an unexpected start to the year.
25
JAMIE
Dartmouth’s center forward rockets a wicked slapshot toward our goal, but Felix snags it in his glove.
This game has been an onslaught. We’re down 3-1, and we should probably be down even more. Both Felix and Veikko are playing like shit.
