Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

CHAPTER 38

Lily walked into the high school gymnasium like she was walking through a time portal. There were bunches of Mylar balloons and streamers in their school colors of blue and gold, and tables set up here and there with candles. There was a podium on the stage, and even space for a dance floor, although the music was muted enough that you could hear conversations. She figured as drinking progressed, they’d probably crank up the music, and then there would be more of a party atmosphere. As it was, it felt a lot like a high school dance—or maybe even a middle school dance. People collected in little knots and crowds. She could recognize some of the cliques: the drama squad were enthusing over each other, the football team was cheering raucously about something, even the dance team had reconnected. She looked for her crew, the Nerd Herd. That’s where Tobin would be—and that was who she wanted to see the most. She was wearing a flirty dress, sort of like Baby in Dirty Dancing, a pair of wedge heels, and her most devastating seductive makeup.

The man would not know what hit him, she thought with a mischievous grin. Then, it’d just be a matter of dragging him back to his house, making love to him until his eyes rolled back in his head, then asking . . .

Asking what? “Will you be my boyfriend?”

She winced. Well, they’d get to his house and then figure things out from there.

Someone bumped her on the shoulder, drink sloshing from his cup. Fortunately, thanks to years of influencer parties, she was good at dodging, so the offending liquid simply fell to the floor.

“Ah, shit,” the man said, frowning at it, then at her. Then his eyes widened. “Lily? Lily Wang? Is that you?”

She studied him. He did look kind of familiar. He had brown hair and blue eyes that were a little bloodshot. His face was puffy, and he was wearing what looked like a respectable suit, except for the fact that the buttons strained around his midsection. He had broad shoulders, a decent if somewhat smarmy smile, and a hairline that receded at the temples. She blinked. “Um . . .”

“You really saying you don’t recognize me?” he teased, but his eyes were sharp. “It’s Travis.”

She goggled. “Travis? Football guy Travis? Kylee’s Travis?”

“Hell, I haven’t been Kylee’s Travis since the summer after we graduated,” he said with a guffaw. She tried to smile, but really, how was she supposed to know that? “You are looking good.”

“Thanks,” she said, her eyes scanning the crowd. She thought she could see Asad in the corner, but there was a different crowd of people in the way, and she was short.

“No, I mean it,” Travis said, stepping into her line of vision. “You look hot.”

She couldn’t help but feel amused. “Dude. You used to call me Big Wang.”

He didn’t even look embarrassed. “Hey, I was just teasing, you know that. You didn’t need to be sensitive about it.”

She shook her head. Apparently some things didn’t change.

“But if you want, I can apologize properly,” he said, and she realized that he was pitching his voice lower, leaning toward her. “I could buy you a drink.”

“I didn’t think they had a bar set up here, just, like, a punch bowl or something,” she said, thinking there was no way in hell she was drinking anything this guy handed her. That might be unkind but . . . tough shit. She knew better.

He let out that donkey laugh again. “Not here, obviously,” he said. “I was thinking somewhere a little more . . . private?”

Before she could say, “No chance in hell,” a woman’s voice cut in. “Travis? Where is my punch?”

He straightened reflexively, startled, and managed to slosh even more of what was in the cup out of it. He glared at it like it was at fault. “Uh, Betty. I just ran into Lily Wang here. Literally.” Cue braying laughter.

The woman he was referring to was blonde, though apparently dyed, judging by her too-obvious symmetrical highlights. Her face looked tight, and her eyes looked pissed. “Lily?”

“Lily Wang,” a new female voice chimed in. “Don’t worry—we know her, Betty. I mean, obviously, she graduated with us.”

Lily froze for a second. She hadn’t heard that voice in a decade, but funny how the sound was like an ice pick in her ear.

Kylee Somers walked up. She was still blonde, too—still natural, and it looked better on her than Betty’s dye job. She still had those high cheekbones, and her makeup was . . . all right. Lily might’ve suggested a slightly different foundation since her skin looked a little sallow, but that might be the lights, Lily thought charitably. Betty still looked upset.

“Why don’t you go get me that drink, Trav,” Betty said, then stopped him with a hand on his arm before he could head back to the refreshment table. “No more for you, though. Dad expects you in early for inventory.”

Lily saw the bitterness in his expression, just the flash of it, before he nodded, brushing a kiss against the woman’s cheek. Then he walked away with one last look at Lily—something that Betty apparently did not miss.

“I’m Travis’s wife,” Betty said sharply. “In case you were wondering.”

Lily nodded, suppressing her gag reflex. Of course married Travis hit on her. Ewwww.

“Betty’s one of my best friends,” Kylee said. “I actually introduced her to Travis in college, if you can believe that.”

Lily couldn’t, actually, but she couldn’t bring herself to ask Betty how she felt about getting Kylee’s leftovers. She figured Betty had her hands full with Travis as it was. “Well, it’s great to see you.” She tried to extricate herself.

“Vanessa couldn’t make it, because her husband’s got a big case this week in New York,” Kylee continued, as if Lily had asked something. “She’s staying at the Waldorf Astoria. Her husband’s a great lawyer, and really a great guy.”

Great guy like Travis?Lily thought.

“So what are you doing these days?” Kylee asked, smiling. Betty looked curious, too, if still a bit wary.

This was Lily’s moment, the one she’d waited for. She wanted to prove to Kylee and all the other popular kids that she was worth it . . . that they’d be sorry they didn’t want to hang out with her.

“I’m a beauty YouTuber,” she said. “I suppose an influencer is the better term, though—I mean, I post content on Instagram and TikTok too.”

Kylee raised an eyebrow. “And that’s . . . a job?”

Lily flinched. “Yes, it’s a job.”

“Wow. You make money doing, like, makeup tutorials and things?” She sounded almost admiring.

Almost.

“I had no idea you could make a living doing that!” Kylee continued with a cheerful smile. “You always did like makeup, so I guess that’s kind of perfect. I just . . . I don’t know, I thought you’d be doing more. You always got great grades. And didn’t you graduate from UCLA?”

“I got my degree in business economics,” Lily said, hating that her teeth were starting to clench. She forced herself to relax. She was too used to living in the YouTuber bubble—where people knew what she did and gave her respect for it. They knew the work, the struggle. The rewards.

“Well, I’d love to do something like that, you know, in my free time,” Kylee said. “But with Kevin turning three, and then having baby Caroline a few months ago, I have not had a moment, you know?” She laughed, a trilling sound. “I mean, Chad does try to help out where he can, but he has his own construction company, and he works a lot. I can’t expect him to be changing dirty diapers when he’s spent the day fighting with contractors and architects, can I?”

Lily blinked. Her whole career, dismissed in a second.

“Are you married?” Kylee added the final blow, glancing at Lily’s left hand.

Lily shook her head. “No.”

“Seeing anyone?” Betty asked, no doubt thinking of Travis.

“It’s complicated,” Lily said.

“Isn’t it always,” Kylee replied.

“I’m seeing Tobin Bui, actually,” Lily said. She didn’t want to pretend that she wasn’t. She was proud to be with him, if he was interested. She wanted to make that clear. Sure, it might be embarrassing if he rejected her, but she had to stick her neck out.

Kylee’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding me? You’re really seeing Tobin?” She shook her head. “I thought that whole thing was just a joke. You can’t seriously be dating that guy. He just yells and plays video games all the time, for God’s sake!”

Lily was about to rush to his defense when she realized . . .

How the hell would Kylee know about the “whole thing” being a joke? And how would she know that Tobin was a YouTuber?

Unless . . .

Kylee had lied. She did know about Lily, the videos . . . everything. And she was deliberately trying to put Lily in her place.

Lily shook her head. All this time, she’d wanted to stride into the reunion, walk up to Kylee and Vanessa and Travis and whoever thought she wasn’t good enough, and point to her accomplishments. Her fame, her money, her popularity.

The thing was, it wouldn’t have mattered. It never would have mattered.

“Gotta go,” Lily said. “Sorry. My friends are waiting for me.” With that, she walked away from Kylee and Betty. They were whispering, and they laughed. Only this time, Lily didn’t give a good goddamn if they were laughing at her. It was like Tobin had told her: they didn’t matter. She never should have given them that much power.

She walked over to where Asad stood. The whole Herd was there. Keith was telling Melanie a story about parasailing. Asad was taunting Freddie with what looked like a very sad crudité. Russell was laughing with Josh, who sent her a chin-up nod. Emily rushed to her, giving her a hug.

This was what home felt like, Lily thought absently, and for the first time since she’d hit the reunion, she felt relieved. She felt happy.

“You are going gangbusters!” Emily said. “I saw that last video, and I swear, I laughed my ass off. Although you two were hot, oh my God! That’s not fair . . . you can’t do that to a single woman!”

Lily burst out laughing. “Thank you, thank you. We worked hard for that.”

“Yeah, you did,” Hayden said, wiggling his eyebrows. Josh smacked him on the shoulder, but he was smiling too.

“You did a great job,” Josh said, quietly. He was always quiet, thoughtful. He’d been joined at the hip with her good friend Tam, back in the day—not like a couple, but just best friends, so Lily had gotten to know him a bit better. She knew how hard he worked now, though, so she knew he didn’t get to hang out with the Herd very often.

“You’re going to have to make it down here more,” Emily said. “If you and Tobin are really together, I mean. Do you think you’ll be back in Ponto more often?”

“I . . . um.” Lily felt her cheeks heat with a blush. “It’s complicated,” she repeated.

“Aw, boo,” Emily said. “I miss you, sweetie. It’d be great to have you back. No pressure, though!”

“I do have a special spot in my heart for Ponto,” Lily said with a wry smile.

“So do I,” a new voice chimed in.

She glanced over to see Vinh. He was wearing a thousand-dollar bespoke suit in black, way more dressed up than anyone else there. It went with his black hair and nearly ebony eyes. He was looking at Emily when he said that, and now he was still looking at her like she was the only person in the room.

“Vinh,” Emily breathed, going pale as a sheet. “I didn’t think . . . what are you doing here?”

He smiled, something Lily doubted happened often. Vinh was always the serious one, unless he was with Emily. “I came to the reunion, same as you,” he said with a tone of wry amusement. Then, again as if no one else was there, he added, “I wanted to see how you were. You look good, Emily.”

“I would’ve thought you were too busy to come to something like this,” Emily said. “Big job, big money, and all.”

He sighed. “I took some time off,” he said. “There are some things more important than money, Em.”

Emily stared at him for a long moment. Lily saw the other Nerd Herd members squirming a little in the uncomfortable silence.

“Some things are more important than money?” Emily echoed weakly.

Vinh was staring at her with more intensity than Lily had ever seen. He nodded and took a step closer to her.

“Really, Vinh? Now? Really?” Emily snarled. “You can fuck all the way off.”

Then she turned on her heel and left.

Vinh was a step behind her, his face anguished. “Emily . . .”

Lily watched as Vinh quickly followed Emily out of the building.

“Well. That happened,” Josh said, shaking his head. “I figure they’ll work it out, or she’ll kill him. Kind of like your dynamic with Tobin. Only less fun.”

“Where is Tobin, anyway?” she asked.

She felt an arm snake around her waist, and she squeaked, before she recognized his scent and smiled.

“Miss me?” Tobin whispered in her ear.

She turned to face him . . . and he was close, like, face-to-face close.

She took a deep breath. Then she smiled. Then she closed her eyes, and pursed her lips. If they were going to be something, then she might as well give it a shot.

She was rewarded with a kiss that started out gentle and then rather quickly escalated to absolutely blistering. She only pulled away, panting, when she finally heard the cheering and applause of the Herd around her.

“Wanna go get some air?” Tobin said, stroking her cheek.

Unable to speak, she just smiled, nodded, and then followed him, her arm in his.