“Hello?”
“Cassie!” George’s voice booms through the line. “I love it. You’re an early riser too?”
I blink. “Uh—yeah. I guess so.”
“I’ve been watching the numbers,” he says. “This thing is exploding. Such great content. We need to capitalize—more posts, more engagement, behind-the-scenes if you’ve got it?—”
I set my phone on the counter, and put him on speaker while I wipe down the countertop.
“Yeah,” I say, distracted, “I mean, he was great…”
Just then, I hear footsteps.
I turn and see Logan standing in the hallway with a bag slung over his shoulder.
He heard that.
“…content,” I finish, my voice quieter now.
Logan stares, tilting his head just a little.
George keeps talking.
“…this is exactly what we want, this is how you build momentum…”
“Hey,” Logan says.
Not forcefully, but not friendly.
I reach for my phone, fumbling. “George, hang on—give me a moment. I’ll call you back.”
“Alright. Call me back in ten,” he says. “We’ll map this out.”
The line clicks dead, and now it’s just Logan standing there, looking at me like something just clicked into place.
“So that’s what I was?” he says.
My chest tightens.
“Just content?”
This is it. This is the moment.
I could fix it. I could just say it.
You’re not. You weren’t. You were so much more.
But if I do, he leaves anyway. And I’m the one left standing here. Figuring out…what, exactly? What this whole thing between us is? Was?
I swallow, and force my shoulders back.
“Logan, that didn’t come out how I…” The words sound all wrong the second they leave my mouth. Like I’m pleading.
Something in his expression shuts down.
It’s not anger; it’s worse. He’s just got this blank expression that I can’t really read.
And after Evan, I promised myself I’d never plead again.
