So this whole thingcouldget worse.
But then Lou turned things around for me. “Do you want to go say hello?”
“Yes!” I said, without thinking.
I could not,wouldnot, answer Laila’s question. Best pretend I hadn’t heard it at all.
We all headed in that direction, despite the fact that Tyler hated me right now. My heart knocked around my chest as we wiggled our way across the crowd. Mercifully, when we were about halfway through, a woman in a pink boater hat intercepted Laila, who stopped to talk to her, promising to catch up to us in a minute.
“Take your time,” I said.
And I meant it.
As Lou, Marnie, and I kept walking, I ran through all the possible scenarios. Tyler was swarmed with attention already; we might not be able to approach him. Too bad! Or I’d find an excuse to get away as soon as Lou started talking to him. The look on his face during our last interaction was still haunting me, and I’d spent the last few days praying I’d never see him again.
But Tylerdidnotice us coming toward him. His gaze caught Lou first but soon landed on me. I sensed the girls’ inquiring looks, waiting for me to do something. I was the connection to Tyler Charles; it was on me to make a move.
Lou and Marnie straightened up, like people did when they were in the presence of a celebrity. My mind was clouded with the memory of our last conversation. I hated myself for how we’d left things. Or maybe I hated that I only felt bad because Dorian had disappeared. If he hadn’t, I might not care so much about Tyler. If Dorian filled my days, my world, I wouldn’t have the brain space to think about anyone else.
“Hi,” Tyler said eventually, his brown eyes narrowing on me.
“Hi,” I responded numbly.
“I…didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.
Lou didn’t seem to sense the awkwardness.
“Hi, I’m Lou Ocean Utley. I’m an actor,” she said, batting her eyelashes at Tyler. “Constance is my stylist.”
If she had been anyone else, Lou’s attitude would have seemed childish or maybe even slightly unhinged, but Lou was so enthused at meeting Tyler that it was kind of charming. Her feelings were out in the open, like she had nothing to hide. How did she do it?
“Constance is a hard one to get,” Tyler said. “And to keep.”
The weight of his words crushed me. This rising-above attitude made me feel ten times worse about what had happened.
“I’m very lucky,” Lou said.
How could someone like her put her trust in me? At what point would my new friends realize that I appeared like a functioning human being on the outside but was, in fact, completely obsessed with Dorian Fisher? To the point of doing anything he asked, even when he didn’t actually ask. Because that was how he did it. He was a silent puppet master, expertly pulling invisible strings. And what did that make me?
Tyler glanced in my direction. He was being courteous, letting me lead the conversation away, to change the topic as I chose. But I couldn’t. Seeing him like this, it was too much.
I didn’t think. I just stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Tyler’s neck. He was much taller than me, which meant I was on my tiptoes, but he helped me by holding my waist.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered in his neck.
“So am I,” Tyler said, sadly. “I wish you well, Constance. I hope you do, too.”
My eyes welled up; I couldn’t let him go. Tyler had always been so genuine with me. Eventually he pulled back a little, and that’s when I saw them: the photographers, snapping this private moment away.
Tyler was still holding me. We weresoclose.
That’s how I got the idea. There was one way to find out how Dorian really felt about me, if there was still a chance for us.
So I tried it.
I leaned forward and smacked my lips against Tyler’s, long enough for the photographers to capture it.
Just enough to alter the course of our lives.
