Page 76 of Holding On To Good

She nudged Bella. “Do you mind? You’re squishing me.”

Bella lifted her head. Yawned. Then snuggled in deeper.

Bella, it seemed, did not mind.

Verity wiggled and pushed until Bella got the hint and, with a doggy sigh, rose up enough so Verity could slide her legs free.

“Thanks so much,” Verity said, but sarcasm was lost on every living member of her family, including her dog.

Settling back against her pillow, she scrolled through Instagram, double tapping pictures with abandon and not thinking about a certain tatted-up boy who obviously was clueless about the whole give-and-take of texting with someone.

Tap tap.

Nope.

Tap tap.

Not thinking about him.

Tap tap.

At. All.

“Crap,” she muttered.

Verity: I stalked you.

Reed: What?

At least that got his attention. And it only took him ten seconds to respond.

Almost as if he was sitting somewhere staring at his phone, too.

Almost as if he was waiting for her to text him again.

Sitting cross-legged, she tugged the pillow out from behind her back and set it in her lap, using it as a cushion for her forearms as she typed, deleted what she’d typed then tried again.

Turned out humiliating confessions weren’t any easier given via text.

Who knew?

Verity: You asked how I got your number. You were right. It wasn’t my brother. I sort of…

Verity: stalked you.

Verity: Not, like, crazy person stalking. Just your normal, average, everyday, innocent stalking.

Reed: Your one scary chick.

Verity: Ha. No, really. It was all very innocent and could have been done much quicker and easier if you had even one social media account.

Verity: Also it’s you’re one scary chick.

Verity: And since I’ve never seen you with any friends—which makes sense as you’re about the least friendly person I’ve ever met—I couldn’t ask one of them for it. I almost just gave up.

Reed: Why didn’t you?

She frowned.

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