Page 1 of Press Play

Chapter One

Wren

“Wren,that hot ass better be up!” Brandy, my best friend since community college, says as she bursts into my room. “Damn girl,” she whistles. “You look good.”

“Who, me?” I ask with a playful smirk.

I take one last glance at myself in the mirror. My cheeks aren’t sunken, my lips aren’t dry, and my skin isn’t as pale as it used to be. Still, my reflection isn’t exactly what I’d like it to be, but I shake those thoughts away.

“Who are you trying to impress?”

I chuckle before turning around to meet her piercing light brown eyes. “Please, we both know no one will be looking at me. Not with a literal queen walking by my side.”

She tosses her tight curls, and a gleaming smile brightens her sepia skin. “I’d like to see a man try!”

We both laugh as we walk out of my room.

“When will Mia be here?” I ask while gathering my bag and phone.

“Knowing her, just as we’re about to walk out the door.”

Brandy and Mia have been dating since college, about five years now. They are the definition of a match made in the stars.Two nerds who met in advanced mathematics, striving to take over the world with bold new perspectives and outlooks.

And then there’s me, struggling through day-to-day life.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my job as an HR rep. I get to work from home and help people better their work environment. Deep in my gut, there’s a visceral need telling me I’m meant for more. I just haven’t stumbled into it yet.

“Will it just be the three of us this evening?” I ask while adjusting my cross-body bag over my shoulder.

“Unless a certain best friend of yours decides to crash our bookstore date again.” She chuckles while swinging her keys around her pointer finger.

“That wasn’t my fault. You and I both know I have no control over Theodore Torres. Never have, never will.”

“I still can’t wrap my head around it,” Brandy sighs in wonder while she opens the front door.

“What’s that?” I ask as I step into the hall.

“How you’re friends with a cam star.”

Most women our age don’t go to bookstores on Friday nights. Brandy, Mia, and I may only be twenty-seven, but our bodies believe they are at the ripe age of seventy, especially mine. Chronic illness will do that to you. Every week, we go to the bookstore to get a book to read over the weekend.

Following our routine, I order a hot chocolate while they order iced matchas. Brandy deviates from Mia and me to head toward the mathematics section.

“After all these years, I still don’t understand how she can read math for fun.” I almost gag.

“She’s an odd woman,” Mia sighs. “But I love her.”

Love like theirs is hard to come by. I once thought my parents had a great love, but that was before I discovered my mom’sinfidelity. Or rather, before she told me. . . You wouldn’t cheat on your partner with their best friends if you loved them.

“Wren, look! It’s the book we’ve been waiting for.”

I turn and meet her excitement. We jump up and down, trying to stifle our squeals of glee. Mia’s short light blue hair bounces, and her greenish-brown eyes sparkle while she looks at me.

“Finally!” I exclaim. “Can we buddy read it this weekend? Pretty please?”

“Duh,” she chuckles, and I pump my free hand in my air.

“Wait, don’t you have to go out with Theo tomorrow?”

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