Kassie’s lived an interesting life, compared to me. Not that I expected anything less. Right after high school, her feeds are filled with party photos. Glamorously posing behind a bar, modeling, and doing TikTok routines with gorgeous friends I don’t recognize.
She lives in the city now, though she’s done a lot of traveling too. Backpacking in South America and Europe. Her content has changed a bit since her travels. She’s wearing less makeup, and her hair is naturally wavy—she never wore it that way before. It was always purposefully styled with a wand or flat iron. It seems she’s now interested in a holistic lifestyle. She owns a yoga studio, something I never knew she was even vaguely interested in.
It feels like I’m creeping the profile of a complete stranger, not my best friend in the entire world. And it gets me no closer to my biggest question: Why aren’t we friends anymore?
Finding the address for her yoga studio is easy enough. According to her online schedule, she’s teaching a class today at four thirty. My fingers buzz, pleased with discovery. Maybe I should have been a spy instead of a school counselor. I’d be a good one. Maybe that’s one plus side of being average. No one would ever suspect me.
As I research trains to the city, Renner tentatively pokes his head into my office. “Miss, I’d like to request an appointment.”
I straighten my posture and feign professionalism. “You’ve come to the right place. I’m highly qualified.”
I hear a soft chuckle as he settles into the chair across from my desk and stretches his long legs.
“What can I help you with today, Joshua?”
He coughs violently. “Did you really just call me by my proper birth name?”
When I nod, he proceeds to slide off the chair, hand over heart like the drama queen he is. “I’m floored. And a little touched.”
I level him with an eyeroll. “Don’t get used to it.”
“Come on. Say it again,” he pleads.
“No.”
“Just once and I’ll never ask again.”
I shake my head. “Why?”
“I dunno. It’s hot,” he says with a shrug.
That catches me off guard. “Are you trying to flirt with me right now, Joshua?” I ask with a scrutinizing eye. Is it just me, or is this room suddenly ten degrees hotter?
“If I were flirting with you, you’d know it.” He maintains strong eye contact, and I feel like the walls are contracting. Something pulses between us, like an elastic band being pulled tighter and tighter from either end.
“I’m immune to your charms, remember?” I twitch when those words slip out. Why did that feel like a lie?
Renner waves me off and reaches for the yellow stress ball near the base of my monitor, seemingly unbothered. “Yeah, yeah. So you keep telling me.”
“I think I’m skipping prom-chaperone duty tonight,” I tell him, desperate to rid the room of this weird tension. It might require some ceremonial sage burning.
He covers his mouth, scandalized. “You’re skipping prom? What for?”
“I’m gonna go see Kassie. Right now.”
Renner’s flirty disposition quickly turns serious. “Really? Right now?”
“Yeah. She has a yoga studio in the city. If I catch the train in half an hour, I can make it to her class at four thirty.”
He looks concerned. “Do you . . . need me to go with you?”
I contemplate the offer. Truthfully, having someone with me for moral support might be nice. But what if Kassie turns me away? Yells at me? I don’t need anyone there to witness that. And if I’m being truthful, I want to talk to her about Renner, which I can’t do if he’s tagging along. “No, it’s okay. Besides, one of us has to chaperone.”
He dips his head back and groans. “Ugh.” I’d forgotten too until I received a calendar reminder （from myself） a couple minutes ago. My adult self is really on the ball. “But it’s only noon. You’d be back on time, right?”
“Oh, come on. Mr. Former President surely has it covered,” I tease, just to get a rise out of him.
He shakes his head, eyes wide with fear. “Nope. I absolutely do not. I need you.”
That admission shouldn’t make me smile so hard. But it does. And I don’t like it one bit. “Okay, fine. I’ll make sure I’m back on time.”
TWENTY-ONE
I never thought I’d find myself hiding behind a potted monstera plant, creeping my best friend in her yoga studio. But here I am. Horribly out of place.