Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley

EPILOGUE

One year later . . .

“Lily, have you seen my dice box?”

Lily smiled at Tobin, who was looking around, disgruntled. She took his hand, tugging him into the now spotless and organized spare bedroom. It had an actual bed in it, so guests could stay over, and the thousand rubber ducks had been distributed to kids at a local festival. It had been a lot of fun. Lily had made letting her help get the house a little more organized one of the conditions of her moving into Tobin’s house. They’d been together for a year, but she’d just moved in a few months ago. Tobin was still getting used to the changes, and he grumbled about them, but he appreciated a lot, too, which made Lily feel nice. It still felt like Tobin’s house, though . . . something they were going to rectify by looking for another house, one that better suited both of them, by the end of the year.

She went straight to the new bookshelves, where she grabbed the dice box and then handed it to him.

“Thanks, babe,” he said, kissing her cheek. “D and D night is not the same without my special dice, you know that.”

“I know,” she said. Her phone started buzzing in her pocket, and she grabbed it as Tobin disappeared back to the living room. She saw it was Mikki texting. She grinned.

MIKKI: So how is living with the Goofy guy?

LILY: We are making it work, and he’s wonderful.

MIKKI: I still can’t believe you live back in your old hometown. Who does that?

Lily laughed. She did miss Mikki, but he was so busy with his classes it wasn’t like they would’ve been able to hang out much anyway. Besides, she was doing work with the makeup brand, and she still had the occasional meeting with Maria, so she could catch up with him for dinner when she was in town. She also was still collabing with YouTubers—even Chrysalis, which was amazing. It was one of Lily’s new “just living” videos, where she hung out and did normal or silly or fun things. She and Chrysalis had tried cooking a soufflé, with unintentionally funny results that viewers had loved. Even better, Lily and Chrysalis had become friends.

After a full month in Australia and a week in New Zealand, Tobin had come back refreshed and raring to go on his channel. He’d asked, politely but firmly, for Jeffrey to be removed as his coagent, and the agency had complied, which was a big win. Bastian had gotten him a voice-acting gig on top of his videos, but it was usually short assignments for a sketch-comedy thing, and he could record on an ISDN line out of his house.

Tobin had spent a lot of time in Lily’s apartment in LA, but she had missed not only him but also the Nerd Herd. With all the time she was spending in Ponto Beach, she’d been able to catch up with Emily, as well as get closer to their other friends. Their renewed friendship had meant the world to her.

So it was a no-brainer that she moved back to Ponto Beach.

Now it was a Friday night, and most of the crew were going to come over to play Dungeons and Dragons. She wasn’t completely on board with the game, but she loved spending time with all of them. Most of all, she loved, loved, loved being so happy with Tobin.

LILY: You’re just jelly. Come visit, I’ll show you.

MIKKI: Ugh. Winter break, probably, if I keep my grades up. And of course, I’m going to the launch party.

MIKKI: Although are you sure about doing the launch party for your palette in Ponto Beach? No big influencer-packed party? It would make Daisy nuts.

Lily bit her lip, then kept typing.

LILY: I thought about it, but I’m happier doing a launch with actual fans, as well as my crew here. I don’t want this to be some unapproachable, envy-inducing, exclusivity thing. I want it to be for the people who get me.

MIKKI: Well, you must know what you’re doing, since your channels are kicking unholy ass.

Lily smiled. He wasn’t kidding—EverLily on TikTok was outperforming her YouTube channel, and between all that, a few new sponsorships, and her upcoming makeup launch, she was doing very, very well. But more importantly, she couldn’t remember feeling this relaxed ever . . . not even when she was in grade school. It was freeing, and almost an adrenaline buzz, to take the risks and then to do “aggressive self-care” as Tobin said. He’d helped her learn to enjoy exercising, something she’d never thought would happen. Most importantly, she had fun with him. She helped him stay on track when he wanted it; he helped her shake loose when she was taking herself too seriously.

They were a good match. They still had disagreements, but they were getting better about talking things out. They’d even taken to playing video games to help settle things down. She was getting pretty good at killing him in Call of Duty, it turned out.

LILY: Gotta run, guests going to be here soon.

MIKKI: If you told anyone I was playing DnD, I would shoot myself.

She could almost hear Mikki laughing. He didn’t mean it, obviously, but she knew that was an outcropping of who they hung out with in LA. She’d thought like that—cared about that. It was great not to.

LILY: Hey. Joe Manganiello plays DnD. With like Vince Vaughn or someone.

MIKKI: Okay. I would play DnD with a hot guy. That’s acceptable.

LILY: LMAO. As long as you have standards.

MIKKI: Have fun with your Nerd Herd, sweetie.

LILY: Talk soon!

She shut off her phone and saw Tobin standing in the doorframe, his eyes twinkling.

“What?” she asked, suspicious.

“I was just thinking . . .” He sat next to her on the guest room bed, sidling closer. “We’ve got about twenty minutes . . .”

She burst out laughing, half shoving him away. “Are you kidding?” She got up, heading for the hallway, Tobin hot on her heels, reaching for her hips and gently tugging her to what was an obvious hardness. “Oh my God, Tobin! People are going to be here any minute! We can’t just . . .”

He kissed her. Hard, and slow, and serious. Until she was out of breath when he pulled away.

“I mean, we can’t just . . .” She lost her train of thought when he nipped his way down her throat. “They’re going to be . . .”

He kissed that spot right on the back of her neck, the one that made her shiver every damned time.

“Twenty minutes, you say?” she heard herself rasp.

He laughed against her skin, his breath hot. “I can do a lot in twenty minutes,” he said.

She shook her head. This was life with Tobin. And it was awesome.

“Race you,” she said, and they grinned at each other as they both sprinted for the bed.