Page 17 of Crossing Lines

“Annoying in a hot way?” Aria asks.

“Is that a thing?” Elodie asks.

“Definitely,” she says.

“No, not in a hot way,” I lie. “Nothing about Evren is hot.”

“Babe,” Aria says, “you’d have to be blind to not notice how hot he is.”

Elodie laughs. “True story.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I grab a shot and down it before grabbing another and downing that.

Both of them cackle, and I ignore it. Thankfully, the conversation moves on, and I don’t have to be in the spotlight anymore. That is, until about thirty minutes later when a teenager comes up to our table.

“Um, hi, sorry to interrupt,” she says, staring at me. “But you’re my favorite designer and I’d love your autograph.” She shoves a piece of paper and marker in my hands.

“Oh, sure.” I quickly sign my name and hand it back to her. No one has asked me for an autograph before now, and I’m not sure if I’m happy or terrified that someone recognized me.

“When will you start selling your designs?” she asks. “I’d kill to wear something you’ve made.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, and I’ll be sure to post on Insta when I have an update.”

She looks so hopeful as she fades back into the crowd that I’m glad I didn’t tell her the truth. I glance at myfriends and they’re staring at me in various shades of shock.

“You’ll post on Insta?” Elodie asks slowly. “Did I miss something, or do you have a date set to launch the jacket? Wait, are you finally going to sell it?”

“I have no plans to launch anything, especially not the jacket. I just didn’t know what else to tell her.”

“Wait,” Aria says. “Why especially not the jacket? You could easily be capitalizing off all the attention you’re getting.”

“I could, but I don’t want to.”

“Is Evren still holding out on giving you the franchising deal?” Elodie asks. “Because if so, I can talk to him and?—”

“No,” I say. “He offered to give it to me recently. And so did Stella…”

“And then, of course you accepted it,” Aria says. “Right?”

“Wrong. I don’t want him to make money off me.” Blaming Evren is an easy out. They wouldn’t understand the issues with my mom, not even Elodie.

“Why not?” Aria asks. “It’s not like his cut would be huge.”

“It’s the principle of the matter.” The excuse sounds lame, even to me. Shit, I should’ve sold it better because Elodie’s looking at me like she knows I’m lying.

“Uh-huh,” Elodie says. “What’s really going on?”

“Nothing.” I sigh, not wanting to get into it. “Can wenot talk about this anymore? It’s ruining the mood, and I want to have fun tonight.”

“Yeah, sure,” Aria says, frowning at me and handing me a shot.

“To a fun night,” I say, forcing a smile, and desperately needing more alcohol to handle everything.

“I dare you to photobomb a stranger,” I say to Elodie, the last one to be dared since we started this game a little bit ago. I went first and was dared to convince a stranger that they knew me. Aria went next and got a piggyback from a random person in the bar not even caring that she’s wearing a dress. And now Elodie has to do this.

“With pleasure.” Elodie giggles and almost falls over when she gets to her feet. Aria and I watch as she sneaks up to an unsuspecting couple, jumping into the shot at the perfect moment, stuffing her face between theirs and smiling widely. Elodie runs back to our table, laughing the entire way, as the couple look at her in shock. Aria and I break out into a chorus of giggles.

“That was epic,” Aria says. “And now back to you.” Aria grins and whispers something into Elodie’s ear before Elodie whispers back.

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