She didn’t say any of that out loud. They all knew it anyway.
"Here’s what I’m going to do," she said, pressing her palms into the table to assist as she scooted back her chair.
"I hope she says, ‘log into my Nocturnal Cupid account,’" Renata said with a sigh because she knew Darla well enough to know that was not where Darla was going with this.
"I’m going back to work. I’m going to do my very best to save a few lives. And then I’m going to ask Dr. Anthony for a Frontline reference." This put a little skip in her step. As long as she focused on how great this would be, she wouldn’t start drifting into what-ifs about running water or where she’d buy toiletries. And she definitely would not have her mind wandering toward Mach.
She saved the application, closed her laptop, tossed her trash into the receptacle, and—
"Hey, Darla?" Patrice asked, flipping through her phone.
Darla didn’t even blink before she said, "If you are swiping right for me on any more dates, I’m going to lose—"
"Darla." Patrice looked up, her expression totally unreadable.
Patrice never looked concerned or pained. This was the mask she slid into place instead. The one only her good friends could decipher. The look that got Darla to stop in her tracks and made gravity feel stronger.
"Have you checked your messages?" Patrice asked, the question squeaking a touch at the end.
"No. I haven’t looked. Why?" Darla asked
"Oh hell," Mario said, glancing at his phone, too. His eyebrows drew together. "Darla…"
Darla glanced at Renata, who looked like she sucked on lemons for lunch.
Whatever it was, it was something. She scooted back to Patrice and glanced at the screen.
A grainy video played as a reel on repeat. A grainy video of Darla on her date with Mach. There was commentary. Loads of commentary.
Her stomach sank.
"It seems the publicity from your publicity stunt seems to have gotten a lot of publicity," Mario said, eyes wide.
Yep, gravity was definitely working overtime. The nerve endings in her fingertips weren’t though, they’d gone off duty seeing how her fingers lost all feeling.
This was at the point when Mach had asked her to spend the night with him. The subtitles made that much clear. Also, it was only two days ago, so she remembered.
"Oh." Darla braced her hand against the back of Patrice’s chair. She tried for a no-big-deal exterior, but inside she was a crumbling hot mess.
"There’s more." Mario held up his screen so she could watch as she checked off how the evening would go with Mach while predicting the future on their date.
"How did this even happen?" Numb fingers notwithstanding, she reached for Mario’s cell. There were so many comments. Like, a lot of comments. Cold reality was setting in past her fingers all throughout her body.
No, she wouldn’t look at the comments. She could set a boundary there.
Shit. She was one hundred percent going to look.
As the video ran on a loop, she pressed the comments icon, but before she could read anything, Mario snatched his phone back. He shook his head. "That’s a bad idea."
"Maybe don’t read the comments." Renata pursed her lips. "Nothing good ever comes from the comments section."
"Except you are very popular for standing your ground," Patrice added, apparently reading the comments. "Verypopular."
Darla caught herself clenching her front teeth together. She stopped. Took a deep inhale.
"This is going to be a big deal, isn’t it?" Darla asked, resigned because this was obvious, of course. But saying it out loud seemed to make it more real. When it became real, she could work on accepting it.
Patrice nodded. "Apparently."
