Like Molly really wants you scaring off every hot guy she meets
Luke
You mean keeping her safe?
Paisley
She means what she said. You tried to scare off Hudson for heaven’s sake and he’s harmless
Luke
*GIF of the Hulk flinging Loki around*
Guess which one is me?
Paisley
If you’re trying to imply that you can take my boyfriend, you haven’t seen him in the gym
Luke
Except when we worked out together yesterday
As always, they’ve gotten away from the point of the conversation. I skim through all the messages before typing out my own.
Dorian
Congrats Molls. I’m so happy for you. I think you’re going to kill it in NYC and now we all have a reason to come visit.
I see the notification that Molly loved my text before I shut off my phone and slide it into my pocket. The bookstore smells faintly of paper and warm amber. Piper must have some sort of fragrance wafting through the building to give it this scent. It’s soothing, and I love it. The empty space where my signing table was set up is now filled with rows of six-foot folding tables. People have already claimed most of the seats, their laptops or notebooks out and drinks marking the spots in front of some of the empty chairs.
Anxiety begins to crawl up my body, tightening my muscles and cinching my stomach like a vise. I’m glad I skipped dinner because it would probably be greeting me again right now.
I’m an imposter. I’m not one of the greats. Why do I believe I should be up here teaching anyone like I know what I’m doing?
“Hey there, stranger,” Piper says, popping out of nowhere and giving my heart a jump scare. She notices my flinch, her eyes narrowing in response. “You okay?”
“I don’t know why I agreed to this. I’m not a teacher, Piper. I just write books.”
She stares at me. Her green eyes are thoughtful, taking all of me in as they glide down my arms and settle on my fidgeting hands. “Oh-kay, then,” she says, dragging out the word like it’s two.
Piper takes my hand and tugs, pulling me around the bookshelves with fantasy covers toward a corner that looks like self-help and cookbooks. It makes me think of my siblings, but only briefly. Honestly, every nerve ending in my body went hot the moment Piper’s skin touched mine. I’m on red alert, and I don’t know how to react.
So apparently, stunned silence is the chosen response.
“You’re choosingright nowto feel imposter syndrome?” she hisses, still holding my hand. I want to look down at it, but just in case she’s forgotten, I don’t want to draw attention to it.
“Those whocan, do. Those whocan’t, teach?”
“No way. You can’t pull that on me. Did you know that my mom is a retired English teacher? I come by my love of literature honestly. And she’s also an incredible poet in her spare time. So try again.”
I didn’t really believe it anyway, so I don’t feel bad that she called me on it. “I’m supposed to inspire twenty-five people to go out there and write a novel, but this job can be really hard. You have to have thick skin against critics, and who knows whetheranyone will even be reading human-made books for much longer at the rate AI is trying to flood us out of the market.”
“Well, that’s bleak.”
“Yeah.” My eyes drift shut. “I’m not the man for the job.”
Piper’s hand tightens on mine, dragging my attention back to her. “Excuse me, but did you see the line of people out the door waiting for you to sign their books the other night?” She doesn’t wait for a response before continuing. “You know story. You understand the important things in writing and the things you can let go. These people signed up for this class because they have a dream. You are the perfect person to inspire them because you are the embodiment of accomplishing that dream. You’ve already done it.”
