Plot Twist(38)

As she walked, her phone pinged. She swallowed down the apprehension that it might be Nina texting to inform her they were no longer sisters. But when she checked the screen there was a text from Carla.

Free Wednesday? I can have my schedule cleared.

Sophie’s jaw clenched. She was free that night, but how could she see Carla after the weekend she’d spent with Dash? Then again, Dash was meant to be a casual thing. He explicitly told her that he couldn’t be in a real relationship. And wasn’t finding love the whole point of everything she was doing right now? She couldn’t just ignore the fact that all Dash was available for was a friendship with the occasional hookup. She couldn’t prioritize him over Carla, who might want to give their relationship another chance.

Sophie took out her keys and unlocked her door, not bothering to see if Dash was still there. She couldn’t look at him while holding her phone with a text from Carla without her brain overheating. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

If she started something back up with Carla, then she couldn’t see Dash, physically at least. There had to be rules if she were going to juggle two people at once...right?

Absolutely ??

Sophie typed back to Carla. When she hit Send, there was a knot in the pit of her stomach. She should be happy that there was a potential second chance on the horizon, but she couldn’t stop herself from glancing out her window toward Dash’s place.



TEXT CHAIN BETWEEN SOPHIE AND NINA


Nina: Hey, could you call me back?

Sophie: I’m so sorry, Nina. It all just slipped out.
Nina: We need to actually talk about this. No text apologies.
Nina: Hello?
Nina: How am I the one begging you to talk to me?


TEXT CHAIN BETWEEN SOPHIE AND POPPY


Poppy: I saw the article about your sister...you okay?

Sophie: Nina’s going to kill me. I feel like I can’t talk to her right now. She’s too pissed off.
Poppy: She just needs time. Your sister loves you.
Sophie: I know. I’m going to give her a minute to cool off.
Poppy: Is your writing thing fixed yet?
Sophie: Oh, you mean my failing career? No, I still have writer’s block ??
Poppy: I keep telling you to sage the house...
Poppy: whispers :::sage the block away:::
Sophie: Are the sage growers paying you for this product placement?
Poppy: it’s called being a visionary, look it up


SOPHIE’S TIKTOK


High-School Sweetheart Recap


Weeks until book is due: 4 (and a few days)




“You might notice that I’m wearing a face mask.” Sophie pointed to the green mask covering her entire face. She wore a blush-pink robe and tightened the wrap around her waist. “I’m needing a bit of self-care today, because after the last few days, I feel like I’m about to truly explode.”

“My ex-boyfriend from high school, as it turns out, is an actual piece of trash and sold something I told him in confidence to the tabloids. So now my sister—” Sophie stopped herself. “No, I’m not going to talk about her any more than I already have. But let’s just say, my life is a mess. Messier than usual.

“And to top it all off, I’m starting to realize that I might have some real issues. Like, fear of rejection and low self-esteem... It’s just a lot. Like, I have all of this data coming in from meeting up with my exes, and now I have to actually figure out what it all means. But I’m afraid that what it means is that I probably need a lot of expensive therapy, with money I don’t have.”

Sophie sat on the lip of her tub and sighed. She tapped a finger against her now-dry mask and continued, “So, anyways, yeah. I’m just taking this afternoon to decompress and try to mask-away all the pain because I’ll be meeting up with my next ex soon. Drop some self-care tips in the comments.”



COMMENTS

@bookishatwell I read friends-to-lovers for self-care. Out loud. To my cat. Don’t judge me.

@bookrecsbymel Have you ever sniffed a book for self-care? Because that shit WORKS.

@tokcrafty2me be kind to yourself, change is hard



16

DASH

Dash had made the clay too wet, again. It slipped through his fingers and slumped in a heap on the wheel, exhausted from being overworked. His phone was propped against the opposite wall to capture a time-lapse video for a TikTok post—all standard routine when he had a crafting day. But he wasn’t focused on any of those things, really.

He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since his weekend away with Sophie, and his brain was short-circuiting from the two cups of coffee with extra sugar he’d had to compensate.

He had to be borderline delirious. How else to explain that Sophie’s perverse little canine tooth kept flashing through his thoughts? Or how the peach-colored freckles that dotted her shoulders seemed like they’d make an interesting pattern for his mug? And then there was the way she’d said his name—Dash—all breathy. Why could he still hear her saying it, even now? He hadn’t seen her in a few days, but she was haunting his thoughts.

He was clearly on edge from the change in his routine and the new surge of feelings, or something. And now he was attempting to craft those feelings away. Even though he certainly didn’t need another coffee mug—he had a gorgeous set he’d made earlier that year—he’d taken out the clay and added water, because that’s what had come to him.