Page 69 of Plot Twist
“And I hope you don’t regret what you’re doing right now, because I won’t be here the next time you realize you’ve fucked up.” Carla gestured toward her office door with a flourish.
Sophie hesitated, unsure if they should hug or...
“That hand motion was for you to get out, please,” Carla said with emphasis.
“Yes, okay.” Sophie began to walk out the door, then turned back. “Do you want it closed or...”
Carla’s salad bowl unexpectedly flew toward the door, and Sophie ducked out of the way to avoid being hit.
“Out!” Carla shouted after her.
As Sophie walked down the narrow hallway toward the exit, past the waiting room, and toward the elevator, a tremor of dread went through her. She shouldn’t be worried about what Carla thought of her. If anything, there was a sense of relief at the truth being out there. She was no longer hiding in the shadows.
But still, there was something Carla had said that gave her pause.I won’t be here the next time you realize you’ve fucked up. Sophie had fucked up plenty of times in her life, multiple within the last twenty-four hours, and she didn’t have a great track record when it came to making the right choices.
While she knew in her core that being with Dash was where she was supposed to be, she also knew that what Carla told her had a grain of truth. She was, more than likely, going to get her heart broken.
She took out her phone to distract herself as she rode the elevator down to the lobby. There were no new texts, but when she opened her TikTok app, she had a new message from a user called @craftycindy.
@craftycindyyour boyfriend has been naughty...
There were screenshots of conversations between @craftycindy and another user called @tokcrafty2me. There was clearly a lot of flirtation and innuendo happening, but Sophie wasn’t sure what any of this had to do with her. Who was @tokcrafty2me or @craftycindy, for that matter?
@sophiewritesI’m so sorry, but I think you have the wrong person
Sophie was about to put her phone away, when she noticed the user she’d just messaged was typing back. She stared at the screen and waited for the response, which didn’t take long.
@craftycindyno, I don’t. ?? You’re Dash’s girlfriend.
“Uhh,” Sophie said, nearly dropping the phone. There was a woman messaging her who knew Dash and knew they were kind of together (sometimes). What was happening here? Sophie’s fingers started to tremble, and she brought them to her pacemaker to steady herself. She stepped out of the elevator, then typed.
@sophiewritesDash?
@craftycindyomg please. He comments on all your videos, you’re one of twenty accounts he follows—and you’re his most recent add, you both uploaded vids from Ojai on the same day, and I recognized his yard from your posts. I know about Dash’s secret TikTok account. You can stop playing innocent.
@craftycindyLook, we even had lunch together last week.
There was a blurry photo of Dash standing next to a table and a wad of money in front of him. He wasn’t looking at the camera because his sunglasses were on, but it was definitely Dash.
@craftycindyhe tried to give me hush money to cover our relationship up. But I didn’t want to mess with girl code. Sorry to be the one to tell you he’s cheating, but you deserve to know...
Sophie was still wrapping her head around everything this woman was telling her—that Dash was in a secret relationship and that he’d paid the woman hush money. What did all this mean? She looked at the username @tokcrafty2me and clicked into the profile. The avatar was of an oddly familiar vase.
As she stared at the vase, she realized she’d seen the same one in Dash’s room. She clicked into a video that had a thumbnail of a ceramic dish, and as she watched she covered her mouth with her own hand at the realization that this was Dash’s secret account.
She went back to her own feed and clicked into each video. He’d left a comment on every single one.
@tokcrafty2megood vibes only
@tokcrafty2meNothing changes if nothing changes
@tokcrafty2meI’m Team Sophie
@tokcrafty2mebe kind to yourself, change is hard
@tokcrafty2meyou are perfect.
@tokcrafty2mejust be yourself, Soph
