Page 12 of The Hampton Beach Café 5
“That's a great idea!” Lucinda said. “You can all dress up and have a fun night out together.”
Frances glanced at Alex, feeling a little guilty for involving him in all of this. As she opened her mouth to disagree and lay out all of the reasons why it wasn’t a good plan at all and they should wait, Alex spoke.
He smiled at her and shrugged, “It could be fun,” he said, “to get dressed up and go people-watching together.”
Oh yeah, sure,Frances thought to herself, fun and definitely not weird or awkward or making her stomach all confusing and topsy turvy at all...
She swallowed hard. She was being ridiculous––this was Alex, for Pete’s sake!
“Yeah…” she said, “I mean if you’re alright with it?”
Alex nodded. “Sure, do we want more coffee before the rush starts?”
Kennedy was already scrolling through her phone, looking for the perfect outfit to wear to the event.
“No, I have to go, so does he. You know, I know some of the other influencers who will be there,” she said. “It'll be a great opportunity to network and maybe even drum up some business for the café.”
Since when did Kennedy ‘know some of the influencers?’She and Clarkson had only been dating for ten minutes,Frances thought.
Frances felt a small sense of excitement at the thought of promoting her business and making new connections… To be fair, the influencers Clarkson had brought to the café so far had been incredible for business. Maybe this fake double date wasn't such a bad idea after all, she thought, turning to see Alex rolling his shirt sleeves up past his elbow in preparation to roll out the croissants for the day.
She swallowed hard again and turned quickly away.
“Get a grip,” she whispered. They’re just forearms.
Really, really nice forearms.
As she watched Kennedy and Clarkson giggle between themselves as they left the café, Frances couldn't help but feel like things were moving too quickly. She was willing to go along with it, at least for now, anyway.
She just hoped that it wouldn't backfire and make things even more complicated in the long run.
SEVEN
Frances didn’t love the anxious thrill of her heartbeat as she got ready for the influencer party. She was kind of excited to get out and have some fun, but the thought of all those fans and followers scrutinizing every move documented on lord only knew how many people’s timelines was making her nervous.
As she applied her makeup, her mind drifted back to the strange visit they'd had from Lauren Daniels a few days ago. The woman had seemed so off, almost as if she was trying to dig up dirt––but she didn’t know Frances at all. Why would she care? It was all so strange.
She decided to text Lucinda, who was downstairs in the café with Vincent, to see if she had any thoughts on the matter.
Do you think Lauren Daniels could be behind all this fan drama?
She typed, hoping for some reassurance.
Lucinda's reply was sarcastic as ever:
Because she has nothing better to do than meddle in your love life, and the best way to do that is by *checks notes* an elaborate scheme involving purchasing thousands of dollars worth of art from your resident artist and friend?
Frances rolled her eyes, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about the whole situation.
Her phone beeped again; Lucinda’s follow-up response.
From Lucinda:Lauren is kind of slimy in general and I don’t like her. But I can’t lie. She’s been really beneficial for Vincent.
A picture appeared on the screen––it was a screenshot of a third-party social media profile analyzer.
Frances scanned the image, it looked like Lucinda had set social media profiles for Vincent's art, and she gasped. Not that he didn’t deserve the following, but she was amazed to see that he'd gained over twenty thousand followers since Lauren had started promoting his work.
Tapping the screen and adding a row of heart-eyed emojis, Frances replied.
