We collected plates, glasses, and the bag, and moved into the living room.
揥hy don抰 you start surfing??I asked Div, placing my glass on a coaster on the coffee table. There wasn抰 an object out of place in Div抯 living room and I didn抰 dare get rings on the table. 揥yatt eats whatever he wants and you could shred cheese on his abs.?
Avery clapped, delighted. 揥ell, since you brought it up棓
揧ou shouldn抰 have brought it up,?Div sang.
Avery settled next to me on the floor, staring hard at me with a huge grin. 揌annah.?
I cut a glance between the three of them. 揑 feel like I抦 being set up.?
Max put his hands up. 揑抦 just here to make fun of people on TV.?
Avery rested her chin on her palm, watching me with bright eyes. 揥hat抯 going on with you and Wyatt??
I made a face. 揘othing.?
揧ou抮e hanging out.?She narrowed her eyes. 揂 lot. He doesn抰 really do that.?
揌ang out with people??
She nodded. 揌e surfs. That抯 it. Sometimes he goes for a drink with Emmett or Holden or Finn if he抯 in town, or a friend, but mostly he just surfs.?
Max raised an eyebrow. 揧eah, and what was the deal with you asking people out while he supervised??
揥hat????Avery抯 pitch was so high, it could have cracked the TV screen.
I did my best to skewer Max with my eyes. He fought a grin, staring at the TV. 揑 thought you were just here to watch TV.?
揑抦 shutting up now.?He stuffed half a cupcake in his mouth.
Avery stuck her face very close to mine and I started laughing. Her eyes bored into mine. 揟ell. Me. Everything.?
I shrugged and wiggled away from her. 揑t抯 nothing. Wyatt抯 teaching me to surf.?
Avery narrowed her eyes. 揃y making you ask guys out??
My face was hot and I was blushing again.
Div cleared his throat. 揟here was a blog post.?
Avery and I whipped our heads at him in unison. 揥hat??
Div handed his phone to us. We read the title of the post on the Queen抯 Cove Daily blog. My stomach dropped through the floor and Avery fell back onto the floor, laughing. I took the phone and read with an expression of total fucking mortification.
揂re millennials desperate??I read. 揌annah Nielsen, of Pemberley Books, aggressively pursued all men in the closest vicinity on Thursday.?
Avery wiped tears from her eyes as her chest shook. Max covered his mouth with his hand, chest also shaking. Div winced.
揇on wrote about this on the blog? This is so embarrassing!?
揌annah.?Avery stopped laughing so hard and sat up. 揥hat were you doing??
揥yatt is teaching me how to be a hot girl.?
揥hat??the three of them repeated it in unison, staring at me like I抎 grown another head.
Div studied me. 揑 can see it.?
揌ot girl??Avery reared back. 揥hat??
I sighed. 揑抦 turning thirty in one month and three weeks and I抦 sick of being boring little Hannah who抯 shy and scared of everything.?And I want to find true love, I didn抰 say.
Avery blinked in surprise. 揌annah.?Her tone was soft.
揑 didn抰 say anything to you because I know what you抮e going to say. You抮e going to tell me to be myself or some crap like that.?
揟hat抯 exactly what I would say. You抮e already a hot girl.?
I gave her a flat look.
揥hat? You are!?
揇iv.?I knew he抎 tell me the truth.
He glanced up from his phone. 揧ou should cut your hair. Something shoulder length and choppy. And stop wearing sweaters two sizes too big.?
Avery threw a gummy worm at him and it fell down his shirt. She turned back to me. 揌annah. You抮e gorgeous and funny and smart and棓
揑 know, I know.?I shrugged. 揑 just want to try something different.?
Avery rolled her lips. I knew what she was thinking, but she抎 never say it. She was wondering what a guy like Wyatt was doing hanging out with a girl like me.
揑抦 doing his social media stuff,?I explained. 揌e抯 trying to get a sponsorship. See??I stood to retrieve my phone from my bag by the door, and when I had returned to the living room, I had pulled Wyatt抯 page.
Div抯 gaze skimmed over the stats on my page. 揥ow. You did this??
I nodded with a smile. 揧eah. I started last week.?
揕ast week??Max抯 eyes bulged and he grabbed the phone from Div. 揧ou have a lot of content already and your account is doing great. This video has two million views.?
It was the video of Wyatt walking out of the sparkling water the other morning with his board tucked under his arm, shaking his hair out. He抎 probably hate that this video existed, but this video had catapulted his social media into a new layer.
Avery watched the video over Max抯 shoulder before giving me a funny smile. 揌annah. This is amazing.?