Page 77 of Seeking Stars
"— but then I was posting about the project on my social media so I decided to text you—"
"— you owe us some juicy news and I guess your dating life counts."
Ely snickered to her side. Ana did not look her way. The waiter came with a big plate of loaded nachos and they all waited until he left.
"How did you meet him?" Maggie sipped from her drink. "The guy you're dating, not Liam Mc-Frigging-Millan. It must have just happened; you were on this latest project for a while and you were single before that, right?"
"Why do you have to call Liam that?" Ana complained.
"Because he's one of the top actors of the world, looks as amazing as a love-fool as he does in a space suit catching bad guys in zero gravity; because youworkedwith him and have shared nothing. The shock will come out somehow." Christina cheered with her glass as if her explanation had been bullet proof.
"Not all of us are friends with him, you know," Maggie added.
"You should share more about the experience." Ely arched an eyebrow and Ana fought the temptation to kick her leg under the table. "Maybe then they wouldn't call him anything other than Liam."
Ana shook her head, ignoring her best friend.
"Or," Christina insisted, "you could take our extremely generous offer and tell us about this person you're dating instead."
"Right." Ana gulped. "To be honest we haven't labeled it yet so I'm technically in limbo, I guess?"
"I don't think so," Ely argued. "I'd say you're closer to labels than limbo. You're trying even if you're long distance and I think that's a sign of actually making an effort. Although if you haven't talked about exclusivity, maybe you should. Define the structure you two want, so you know what to expect."
Ana cringed. Ely didn't give anything identifiable away, but still managed to challenge her. So very typical of her best friend.
"Oooh." Maggie's eyes opened wide. "Long distance? Did you meet him while away, then?"
"Yes."
Christina got a serving of nachos onto her plate. "Long distance can be romantic or it can be the death of a romance. How's it working?"
"It's tough. He's traveling a lot right now so even if we lived in the same city, we'd have to contend with that."
"Where was he calling you from, now?" Maggie took some nachos for herself as well.
"Edinburgh."
"It's really late there. It must be love, then," Maggie added.
"Do you have any pictures of him?" Christina sipped from her drink before digging into her food.
Ana froze. She should have expected the question. Somehow she had forgotten quite how curious her friends were.
"We could find some," Ely said and Ana, knowing her friend well, knew she meant it as a tease. Ana glared at Ely with a minor scowl.
"Does he have an Instagram?" Maggie asked.
"I don't know about that." Ana reached out for her glass. Her gin and tonic cooled her throat, even as warmth rushed to her face. "I'm not sure how he'd feel about me showing you pictures of him."
"Is he super private then? Or is he hiding the relationship? That's such a red flag."
"Look, all we've said is that we want to see where this goes. That's it. I don't think it means we're in a serious relationship—"
"But you're in a relationship of some kind. Don't treat it otherwise or it's destined to fail," Ely insisted.
"You're acting weird, Ana," Christina said. "Are you embarrassed by him? Is that it?"
Ely laughed hard and Ana couldn't help but chuckle. She couldn't imagine who'd be embarrassed by dating Liam. She could hate all the risks involved, but shame over Liam was not the problem.
