Page 94 of What I Like About You

“You don’t have to, like, know what this means,” I say.

“If you give me one more ‘sexuality is fluid’ spiel—”

“It is!”

“Iknow. It’s still confusing, though.”

“Fair,” I say.

“Talia is super cool, I just never thought of her like—likethat. But now that it happened, I can’t stop thinking about it,” Ollie says.

“Theory: You’re attracted to Davidsons. Exclusively.”

Ollie laughs. “Shut up.”

“At least one of the Levitt siblings got some action last night.”

Ollie launches a pillow at my face and everything else in my life is a mess, but we are okay again. We watch a couple of episodes ofThe Officetogether, quoting the lines of our favorite characters in real time. Ollie is a Dwight stan. I’m Pam forever. It feels good, just hanging out with Ollie. It feels like I need to do this more.

After one too manythat’s what she saidjokes, I head upstairs to OTP and midterms. Ever since theFireflies and Youdrama resurfaced, I’ve turned off my social media and email notifications. It’s easier to conquer the trolls when I’m in the right headspace rather than letting them sneak up on me whenever. It’s always the worst in the twelve hours following a new post. I’m trying to stay neutral for Grams—but it’shard.

First, I check my email, scanning the fifty-four unread messages for anything important, not really expecting to find anything. Until I see it.Re: BookCon Bloggers IRL Panel Application!

I stare at the subject line, unsure I’m reading it correctly. It’s fromtwo days ago. The BookCon gods popped into my inbox and … I didn’t even know it? How is this possible? I should’ve beenobsessingover this email, like I did when I was waiting for theRead Between the Liescover reveal. Now it’s just here and my brain is not prepared. My heart hammers against my chest, anxiety coursing through my veins.

Oh my God.

I click.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Re: BookCon Bloggers IRL Panel Application!

Dear Kels,

Congratulations! We are so excited to formally invite you to be on the Bloggers IRL panel to represent your blog, One True Pastry.

This panel brings together the most popular young adult book bloggers for a Q&A moderated by

Bustle’sStella McQueen. Blogger panels have been in demand for years, and we’re so excited to offer you a spot on our very first one!

A much more detailed email regarding the panel and BookCon itself will be emailed to all confirmed panelists this spring! To confirm your spot, please followthis linkand RVSP via the Google form by no later than January 15th.

All the best,

Rebecca Holloway

BookCon Panel Coordinator

Congratulations.

BookCon.

RSVP.

I stare at the email for five minutes, overwhelmed by the validation. One True Pastry is good.I’mgood. As far as the BookCon gods know, I’m just a teen who loves pairing cupcakes with books—and they still decided One True Pastry is worthy of being featured on a panel, that Kels is worthy of being aBlogger IRL.

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