Page 6 of Fan Favorite

“That’s perfect!” Edie squealed. And before Bennett Charles could finish his interview, Edie and Lauren had tracked down aKeyproducer on Twitter, taken a photo of a picture of Edie and Charlie in their dorky marching band uniforms from the yearbook, and tweeted it at @jessa.johnson with the caption, “Hey, Jessa, why you stealing my boyfriend??? I want him back, DM me!!!”

Edie fell back on the couch and sighed. Her journey to true love was about to begin. Again.

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The first thing Edie remembered when she woke up the next morning was tweeting at thatKeyproducer. She shot up in bed, startling Nacho Bell Grande, who jumped three feet into the air and took off yowling down the hall. What kind of person sends mortifying high school photos across the internet to some glamorous Hollywood producer? What the hell was wrong with her? Why would Lauren let herdothat?

Edie’s yearbook was splayed open on the bed, a Sharpied heart freshly drawn around Charlie Bennett’s senior pic. She was so stupid! Obviously there was no way Edie Pepper could reclaim the new and improved Charlie Bennett. The wretched unfairness of not being born a supermodel or exceptional in any way really pissed her off, so she kicked the yearbook off the bed and it slammed to the floor. Why-oh-why was it that every single time Edie thought she’d suffered enough, endured the ultimate embarrassment,there was more.

Edie looked at her phone warily, racking her brain-catalog ofSuper Soulepisodes to guide her through this moment. Therewas something about everything in your life being a teacher. Sigh. Edie picked up the phone and began to cycle through her notifications.

Holy shit!

She had a DM.

“We’re talking at two,” Edie squealed over the phone to Lauren. “What do you think she wants?”

“I mean… probably she wants to talk about you joining the show?”

Edie almost passed out on the kitchen floor.

“But, Edie, seriously, don’t you think this is going too far? You’ve watched enough reality TV to know they probably just want to put you on for shock value, like ‘wocka-wocka, here’s your ex-girlfriend!’”

“You’re so cynical!” Edie was already envisioning her spring nuptials to Charlie Bennett. She would carry a bouquet of calla lilies and wear her hair down because wasn’t it true that her neck was too short and calla lilies were the most elegant wedding flower?

“They’ll make you look stupid. You know the kinds of girls who go on these shows, Edie.”

“Lauren! Why would they do that?The Keyis all about love!”

“Alice will never approve.”

Well, that was definitely true. But Alice could be managed. “If I end up married, Alice won’t care how I got there. You think Alice is clinging to life to play bridge? She’s waiting for me to get married.”

“But what about your job? You have an actual life, Edie. You’re just gonna drop everything to date Charlie Bennett? On TV?”

“Drop everything? What’s there to drop?” Edie’s life suddenly slid into focus and she felt incredibly clear. “You’ve got a career, Lolo. I’ve gota job.And I couldn’t care less about being a copywriter for an insurance company—all these years I’ve just been going to work, waiting for my actual life to start. Even this apartment, all the boxes. It’s like, here I am, ready togo. Don’t you think it’s a sign? All I want is for my big love—for mylife—to begin. And if Charlie Bennett can transform himself into a Hemsworth brother on prime-time TV, why can’t I?”

The more Edie thought about it, the more she realized this was exactly right. She’d always understood Charlie, understood that they both had that thrumming thing inside, that constantnot enough not enough, but he had battled it andwon. Edie felt a surge of confidence—maybe she would never be a model, or a fitness instructor, or a manic pixie dream girl, but adorable blast from the past ex-girlfriend, the one you were supposed to be with all along? That she could do.

She might even be great at it.

“Edie, you’re super talented in all sorts of ways. What about investing in yourself instead?”

“Love doesn’t just disappear. Charlie and I were in love before; why can’t we be in love again? And get engaged!”

“Marriage is oppression,” Lauren said with authority.

“You’re ridiculous. Who even says that?”

“Literally every feminist thinker ever.”

“Well, Nora Ephron didn’t say that, and I worship at the altar of Nora Ephron.”

“It might be helpful to stop internalizing fiction like it’s a template for real life.”

“Instead ofWhen Harry Met Sally, it’ll beWhen Charlie Met Edie. Again!”

“I read this article that theorized that our mothers told us we could do anything,” Lauren continued, as if she hadn’t heardEdie. “That we could have it all—careers, husbands, children. And then they told their sons to go out and find a nice girl to take care of them. It made me so grateful to be a lesbian. And unlocked why all the hetero marrieds we know can’t figure out who should unload the dishwasher.”

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