Page 91 of Fight For Me

“That’s awesome,” he says. “Congratulations, you guys. Next step, huh? So cool.”

“Bodhi,” Leo says softly.

“It’s cool,” Bodhi insists. “I’m not sure where I’ll be teaching next year, so this way I can be sure to find a place close to work.”

River doesn’t try as hard to seem fine with the new arrangement. “You’re ditching me?” he asks his older sister.

She winces. “You still have Will.”

“Will spends every night at Eva’s place.”

“Uh, actually,” Will says, casting a glance at his fiancée. “We’ve been talking about making that living arrangement official.”

River’s mouth drops open. “Seriously? You’re both moving out?”

“We’re getting married in a few months, Riv,” Will says gently. “You didn’t think I’d be moving out soon?”

A muscle in River’s jaw clenches. I can tell he doesn’t want to let on that’s he’s upset.

“This doesn’t have to be a bad thing!” Everly cuts in. “There are four people in this room currently without an apartment. Well, five if you count Wyatt.” She looks curiously at him. “But you’re going back to Seattle soon, right?”

My stomach bottoms out. We haven’t talked about his move back to Seattle. I know he still has several weeks of therapy left. Does he plan to go back as soon as he’s done?

“Uh,” he says, finally looking at me. He must worry about how obvious he’s being, though, because he looks away immediately.

“Anyhow,” Everly continues, too caught up in her idea to worry about Wyatt. “The three of us aren’t going to want to stay at our parents for long. Bodhi needs a roommate.” She points at River. “And so do you.”

“This place is only three bedrooms,” Fox points out.

“We could find something bigger. Ooh, we could rent a house! That would be so much fun!” She turns her smiling face to me. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Yeah,” I say, even though I’m not sure I completely agree. The truth is, this conversation is making me feel a little nauseated. Two of my best friends are in healthy, grown up, totally committed relationships and taking the next step. I can’t help but wonder what that would feel like. It’s obvious Wyatt and I aren’t in that place yet. And from the way he’s carefully avoiding my eyes, I have a bad feeling that we never will be.

“That might be kind of cool,” River agrees. “Not sure I can handle the combined energy of you and Bodhi.” He grins at me. “But maybe Alex will help keep things chill.”

I force a laugh. “Maybe.”

An alarm sounds from Everly’s phone. “Ooh,” she says lunging for the TV remote. “Let’s table this until the episode is over.”

My stomach sinks even further, and I push my unfinished dumplings away. I have yet to get used to seeing myself on TV. I’ve found the two viewings we’ve had so far to be majorly uncomfortable.

The episode opens with me and Everly packing in her room. She’s bouncing around in excitement while we talk about Miami.

“What’s this?” Bodhi asks. “I thought the producers were pretending the Miami trip happened after the store opening?”

“I thought so, too,” Everly says, forehead creased. “I guess they changed their minds? I don’t know why, though—we taped tons of interviews where we talked about how nice it would be to celebrate the opening.”

The first half of the episode is pretty benign. We hang out in the villa. We spend time at the resort pool. We shop. Lots of flashy, slick scenes of rich kids living the high life. Then Everly, Fox, River, and Will stand around the villa’s kitchen, arguing about where to go out for the night. Everly gets her way and there’s a whole montage of us getting ready and taking a limo to a club.

But something is off once we get there. The club in Miami had a minimalist vibe, with stark white walls and streamlined Nordic furniture. The place we’re seeing on the screen is much darker. Several of us are crowded into purple velvet booths and Eva, Will, Rose, and Leo are nowhere to be seen.

“That’s not Miami,” River says, eyes narrowed on the TV. “That’s the club downtown.”

Sure enough, the people on the screen play Most Likely, laughing our heads off as we get more and more drunk. Whoever does the editing for the show is damn good—when the camera shifts to Eva and Will dancing, you wouldn’t know it was a different location unless you were looking really closely. Same thing with our outfits, though it probably helps that the LA club was dark as hell.

The scene shifts again, the group from the booth now on the dance floor. I realize what’s about to happen a moment before it does. “Fuck,” I breathe.

“Ooh, Alex,” River says gleefully. “Think they got footage of you doing your Backstreet Boys choreography?”