Page 7 of Faking with Three

“Ethan?” She stops dead in her tracks, clearly just as caught off-guard as I am. “Wow. It’s… been a while.”

For a second, we both just stand there, taking each other in. I try to hide the fact that I’ve been staring, but she must notice, because a little smirk curls up at the edge of her mouth. I notice her gaze travel over me, lingering just long enough to be obvious before snapping back up to my face.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Her eyes flash, that quick, appraising look again, and it’s almost surreal. “You still look… well, you look the same. But more… grown up?”

“Is that a compliment?” I ask, chuckling, and I’m rewarded by another flash of her smile.

“Definitely,” she says, her tone playful.

“Well, look at you,” I say, trying to sound casual even though I’m still reeling a little. “You look… I mean, wow. Are you in Iversteen for a visit or…?”

Her cheeks color slightly, a soft pink that makes her even more striking. “I’m actually… moving back. Just for a while, though. Needed a change of scenery. Thought I’d get out of Austin for a bit, you know?”

“Good choice. And this is—wait, you’re staying here?” I gesture up at our building.

“Apparently,” she says with a laugh. “Heather’s letting me crash at her place while she’s out of town for work.”

“That’s wild,” I say, running a hand through my hair, trying to shake the shock. “Guess we’re neighbors now.”

“Seems like it.” Her eyes sparkle a bit, and she tilts her head to one side, clearly amused. “Small world, huh?”

“You can say that again,” I reply, then, catching myself, I add, “Hey, do you wanna grab a coffee? There’s a place just around the corner. Seems like it’s time we caught up.”

“Sure, why not?” she says, and there’s that smirk again, a little playful, a little curious. She adjusts her bag and follows me as we head toward the café.

We settle into a corner booth at the café, Olivia sliding her laptop onto the table between us as she pulls it open. She looks up, flashing a quick, apologetic smile. “Mind if I take care of a few things while we wait? It’s been a day already.”

“By all means,” I say, watching her fingers fly over the keyboard. Her eyes are glued to the screen, brows slightly furrowed. Whatever she’s working on, it’s got her attention.

After a minute of quiet, I lean forward. “You’ve got me curious. What’s going on?”

She sighs, sitting back as if she’s trying to shake off the weight of whatever’s on her mind. “So… you know I run a game company?”

“Yeah, Death Crunch, right?” I remember reading about it a while back. I hadn’t realized she was still running the whole thing, but then again, it’s Olivia. She’s always been ambitious.

She smiles, surprised. “You remember.”

“Hard to forget. So what’s got you looking like the weight of the world’s on your shoulders? Big project?”

“Big mess, more like,” she mutters with a sigh, then leans back, as if deciding she might as well share. “We’re actually trying to launch a dating simulator soon, but production’s been rocky. Alpha testing didn’t exactly go over well. We’re talking, like, some of the worst reviews we’ve ever gotten.”

I wince. “Ouch. That bad?”

“Let’s just say the reviews were honest. Which means our timeline’s shot, and the investors are on my case. It’s… well, a lot.” She sighs again, her expression softening as she looks over at me. “Sorry, didn’t mean to dump all of that on you.”

“No, not at all. Dating simulators, huh?” I laugh, shaking my head. “Funny coincidence, actually. I run this WeTube channel with a couple of friends. It’s calledLove Lab.We do these… uh, social experiments, mostly around dating. Trying to figure out what people look for, what they hate, why they do what they do.”

Her interest piqued, she tilts her head. “Love Lab, huh?” She types it into her search bar, and I feel a slight pang of embarrassment as the channel pops up. We’ve had some highs and lows, and right now, we’re sitting pretty low.

“Yeah, well, we’re not exactly pulling in millions of views,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck. “But it’s fun. Well, it was fun until recently. Our channel’s been tanking. We’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to stick. We’re basically down to our last idea—and, surprise, surprise, it’s another dating angle.”

“This is actually pretty clever,” she says, leaning back as she continues to watch. “So you and your friends just… dissect people’s dating moves?”

“More or less. We thought we could get viewers with, you know, funny and awkward moments while adding a touch of insight. But…” I trail off.

“Low budget?” she guesses, smiling.

“Oh,waylow. We’re talking shoestrings and pocket change.” I shrug. “We’re definitely not doing as well as you did with Death Crunch. Jax is our main sponsor for now.” And even he’s running out of money.

---