Page 32 of The Pieces We've Lost

I was fucked. And once Isa heard about what happened, I would be in even more trouble. I paced my room, trying to come up with a solution. I could move back to Austin where I went to college. I could change my name again. Anything that would save me from facing the consequences of my actions.Or, you know, you could just text him.

I grabbed my phone and typed out a message.

Hey, I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I was being weird. I didn’t mean that it was a mistake, I just have a lot of trauma from, you know, having a dead father

Oh, good lord.I choked out a laugh because if I didn’t, I would cry instead.Scrap that immediately. That sounds awful.

Hi. I’m sure you hate me right now but

What the fuck is wrong with you?

I’m an idiot

Well, at least that one is true.

I groaned and deleted my last pathetic attempt at typing out a text.

I had never had such conflicting feelings for a person. Other people were easy to forget. They always did something that immediately turned me off, or they didn’t understand me and why I was the way I was. Colter Carson was not easy to forget. In fact, lately I had trouble getting him out of my mind. And that was terrifying.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

colter

Ihad a plan. It was not a solid plan, but it was a plan nonetheless. It involved some…questionable research, but I was sure that could be looked past in the name of romance. After all, Ellison did say her best friend, Isabelle, was a hopeless romantic.

A few days had come and gone since I had last seen her, which meant I didn’t have a lot of time left. It had killed me not to text her, to ask her to let me make it up to her somehow, but I felt like there was a greater chance she would have outright rejected me again if I had done that. I had to be patient about this because I believed it would be worth it in the end. I just had to find a way to contact Isabelle first.

Trying to find the right Isabelle with no last name or any knowledge of her appearance proved to be nearly impossible. I had spent the last forty-two minutes looking through different profiles on social media. A Google search did me no good either. You wouldn’t believe how many Isabelles there were in Houston.

I was about to throw in the towel and give up on mygrand gesture when it came to me.How much of an idiot am I? Why didn’t I think of this forty-two minutes ago?I already knew Ellison’s last name and exactly what she looked like. It was almost a guarantee that she was following her best friend on social media.

It still took me a couple of minutes to find the profile, there were a few more accounts with the name Ellison Wilson than I thought there would be, but eventually I found her and—by the grace of God—her profile was public.

She didn’t post often. It was evident she kept her personal life private in all aspects. There were only a few photos of her, but I could have looked at them all day. I had a mission to accomplish, though. I went to her following list and typed in “Isabelle.” Only two profiles came up. What a relief.I have a fifty-fifty shot here.I clicked on the first profile, Isabelle Ramirez, hoping for the best. It was a private account.Fuck, okay, hopefully the second one is public. At least help me narrow it down here.The second profile was Isabelle Bennett.Fuck.They were both private.

You are a fucking idiot, Colter. But you’re in too deep to back out now.There was no way I was going to get it right on the first try, so why not kill two birds with one stone? I opened my messages and typed both of their usernames into a group chat.

isa.bennett, bellaramirez

Hi. I know this is weird that you’re getting a message from a guy you don’t know, but my name is Colter and I know one of you is Ellison’s best friend.

She talked about you but she didn’t tell me your last name. After 42 minutes of searching I found you two but now I’m at a deadlock and I need help. Sorry.

Also, please don’t tell Ellison.

isa.bennett

ah the famous colter carson

bellaramirez

I have no idea who you are.

bellaramirez left the chat.

Well, that was easier than I thought. Not the greatest method, but it got the job done.

I need your help.

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