prologue
NOIA
“I need another month.”Balancing my coffee in one hand, I press my phone against my ear with the other as I deftly dodge a puddle in the middle of the sidewalk.
Portland in October shouldn’t be this hot, but I’m already starting to sweat through the pits of my blouse. “It’s not like I’m asking for an effing kidney, Amanda.”
“We can’t push the deadline again, Noia. Your readers have been waiting long enough.”
“You know I have a wedding coming up. I know it’s last minute, but…” I sidestep a tourist who has stopped right in the middle of the sidewalk to take a photo of a massive mural painted on the side of the building across the street.
Fuck’s sake.
“Noia, we’ve already pushed this deadline twice.” My agent’s voice has that clipped, I’m-trying-not-to-lose-my-shit tone that I’ve become all too familiar with over the past few years. “Besides, the release date is set in stone. The publisher has already?—”
Something slams into my back and my coffee goes flying. My phone slips out of my hand, clattering to the sidewalk as myankles wobble in a pair of ridiculous four-inch heels Sasha convinced me would “make a statement” at today’s meeting.
I pinwheel my arms, but it’s no use. Unable to catch myself, I fall backward, my head slamming against the concrete.
Gravity is such a bitch.
ONE
noia
The one thingno one tells you about weddings is how goddamn itchy and traumatic everything is.
The dress. The fake eyelashes. Not to mention the ridiculous expectations.
“Are you sure about this?” my mom asks again, her smile not quite reaching her eyes as she hands me a flute of champagne. “How’s your head feeling? It’s been a week and you still have a bump.”
“Tish,” Sasha cuts in sharply. “It’s her wedding day. Maybe don’t interrogate her while she’s being stuffed into a straight jacket made of statin and lace.”
I smirk. My best friend Sasha is a badass. We’ve known each other since we were in the sixth grade, and she’s always had my back. Shit, we even got our periods the same fucking week.
We first met when I was twelve. I was sitting on a bench, nose buried in a book, trying to blend into my surroundings over by the basketball court, when Lexi Carter and her crew cornered me.
Keeping my nose in my book, I hoped if I ignored them, they’d get bored and just go away.
But Lexi was having none of it. She snatched my book out of my hands, dangling it just out of reach.
“Give it back,” I mumbled, wishing I had the courage to punch her in her smug little upturned nose.
“Or what, freak?” Lexi sneered, flipping through the pages. “God, this is so lame.”
It was at that moment when a blur of red hair and righteous fury showed up out of nowhere. Sasha—a girl I barely knew from math class—stormed over like a pint-sized hurricane and stepped between us.
“Back off, Lexi, or I swear to god I’ll tell everyone about what happened at camp last summer,” Sasha growled, green eyes flashing.
All the color drained from Lexi’s face before she dropped the book on the ground and she and her posse scattered.
Then Sasha sat down next to me, handed me half her smashed PB&J, and said, “You like books? Cool. Me too.” And from that day forward? Best friends for life.
“Earth to Noia,” Sasha grins, snapping her fingers in front of my face.
I grab the glass from my mother’s hand and down half of it in one gulp.
“I’m fine,” I murmur, mostly to myself. “Eric is a good guy. A little narcissistic, but he doesn’t snore and he gets along with Goonie. That’s gotta count for something, right?”
