Page 19 of Christmas Crisis
“I suppose it’s fine,” he grunted.
“The one of us at Marley and James’s wedding counterbalances it,” I argued. “You always look amazing in a suit.”
He blushed—just a little. “Thank you.” Picking up his phone, he sat down next to me on the couch. “I have an account, but I don’t post on it. I only use it to follow people. Do I need to?”
“I talked to Lauren about that. She said no. If anyone asks, we’ll just say you’re not on social media. With your obscure handle and profile pic, no one would guess it’s you following me.”
Leo’s profile picture was the fruit-bowl-apocalypse painting in his hallway.
“Out of curiosity, what do you plan to say if anyone asks about the Hawaii picture?”
“The idea is to not address it directly. I’m not going to answer any questions. No need for me to linger as part of the story. We want to keep reminding people that Stone and Naomi arethe famous ones here. If Stone gets asked, he’s supposed to just say we were in Hawaii at the same time and watched the sunset together. Basically, say as little as possible and hope that all the other stuff makes his holding me look less sus. My feed during that time is shots of me body surfing and hiking in the jungle, so it’s easy enough to make the argument that it wasn’t some romantic watch-the-sunset trip.”
“It’s not a perfect plan, but I think you’re right. It’ll fade.”
“Definitely not perfect. But probably easier to manage than trying to pretend the people in the picture aren’t us, or that someone manipulated the photo.”
“It’s crazy how we can’t trust pictures anymore.”
“No idea what you’re talking about, Leo-Bear. Sabrina Carpenter definitely has six fingers on her left hand and wanted to be the face of the cannabis shop on the corner.”
Chuckling, he opened the app on his phone to confirm that my statement popped up on his feed. “Is Stone going to repost this?”
“Hopefully, he won’t have to. He’s releasing his own version, essentially confirming what I say here.”
Leo rubbed his thighs. “So what do we do now?”
“Lauren will monitor the responses. She suggested I stay off the internet for at least a day, and I think that’s good advice. Until this blows over, Shoshanna wants us to be seen together as often as possible. Now that the public is watching, we should go places and hopefully get noticed.”
“I’m assuming that means you want to go out tonight?”
I nodded. “I’m in town until Sunday afternoon. Since you’re doing me the favor, you can decide what we do. As long as it’s somewhere people might see us.”
“Great. Because I have an idea.”
My cheeks lifted. “That was fast.”
“Because it’s obvious. Early birthday celebration for you.”
I startled. I’d practically forgotten my twenty-seventh birthday was on Monday. But of course Leo remembered. He grinned, and I wondered what he had up his sleeve.
Whatever it was, I didn’t care. He’d already given me the greatest birthday gift by sharing this burden with me.
“What should I wear?” I asked.
His expression brightened. “You know Seattle embraces the full hoodie-to-tuxedo range of acceptable attire pretty much anyplace. And you look beautiful no matter what. Just put on whatever you’d normally wear on a date.”
“Date, huh? Really committing to the role?”
“I’m really trying to.”
20 MONTHS AGO - MARCH
Leo was visiting Los Angelesduring the break between school quarters. It would be the first time I’d seen him in person since New Year’s. My apartment didn’t have a second bedroom, but I’d bought a pull-out couch for the living room and some cozy blankets so he could stay with me. He’d offered to get a hotel, but with our time already limited, I wanted to spend as much of it together as possible.
Over the past three months, I’d tucked away bits of intel about what Leo liked. I’d stocked the pantry with spicy wasabi peas and Hawaiian coffee. There were extra-large towels in the bathroom. A basket of paperbacks I’d finished that I knew he’denjoy sat on the coffee table. He could take those back to his apartment.
We’d texted every day, and video called once or twice a week. Sometimes our conversations were ridiculous, with stupid GIFs or me complaining about my classes. Other times, they felt like therapy.
