Page 35 of March

Bryce laughed and said, “Kels is right: I don’t know forsurethat it’s her. It could be anyone. The story has kind of gone wild, and I’ve had other people message me, too.”

“You messaged them back and figured it out. Time to do that with this one, right? Thesetwo, technically, since shemessaged you twice. That’s cute, huh? She was so excited that she hit send too fast,” Megan noted.

“It might actually be her,” Kelsey added. “Megs has a point about the two messages. The others didn’t do that.”

They’d gone to dinner, and after Sean dropped them back off at Bryce’s, Megan and Kelsey had come inside, but Sean had opted out of the friend hangout session with beer and popcorn while they watched a movie. Bryce understood why. Dinner had been awkward enough. On top of that, for the first time ever, Bryce thought their foursome felt more like an old couple that had been arguing before dinner but hadn’t wanted to cancel and a new couple who were still totally into one another, and that made dinner a double date. That was ridiculous because Sean and Bryce hadn’t been together in years, and Kelsey was straight.

While Bryce was starting to wonder about the last part of that statement, she had too much on her plate to try to discern if something had changed for Kelsey, given how much more time she had been spending with Megan recently; and not just how much but what they’d seemed to be doing with that time.

She’d instantly checked the analytics when she got home, and she’d gotten an additional eight hundred subscribers to her blog since she’d left for dinner. That was crazy enough to her, but even crazier was that people were clicking on the ads and going to the affiliate pages, which earned her money. While Megan had made them popcorn and Kelsey had pulled beers out of the fridge, Bryce had checked her notifications. The last thing she’d expected to see were two messages, both from the same person claiming to be her Sophie.

Kelsey had had a point: Bryce had gotten fake Sophies already, which had been awful. She’d gotten them all while they’d been at dinner, nearly one right after the other, and she had sent them both the same question, ‘What are the names of my three friends who were there that night?’ None of the fakeshad gotten it right. One of them had actually made up three names as if they would magically, somehow, guess them all correctly, but no, her three friends were not named Jack, Alex, and Sarah. Seeing the first message come in, though, had given her such hope. Her heart had raced. Her breathing had stopped altogether for a minute. She had thought she’d found her, and it had been level-headed Kelsey who had convinced her to test them first. And thank God for that because they’d just turned out to be terrible people who wanted to play on her emotions.

This one felt different, though. It felt important. It felt like shecouldget her hopes up. But she knew she shouldn’t. So, instead, as Kelsey and Megan both talked amongst themselves behind her, Bryce typed a message.

Sophie,

Forgive me if it’s really you, but I’ve had a few impersonators try to convince me that they were at the bar that night. Can you do something for me to prove that you’re really her? Can you tell me the names of the three friends that were there with me that night? Hell, if you can get one of them right and tell me the name of your friend who was there, I’ll believe you. I just have to make sure because I’ve gotten my hopes up before now, and it’s just too hard.

Bryce

“That’s good,” Megan told her as she read it over her shoulder. “Simple, but to the point. Still telling her that you’re crazy about her.”

“What if it’s not her again?” Kelsey asked.

“Don’t put that out there into the world,” Megan replied.

“Sorry. I was just curious,” she said.

“I guess I’d just write a post tomorrow, asking people to stop it, and hope that does it. It’s too big to shut it down now. Peoplewould still try to help me find her, which means fakes will be part of it.”

“Why can’t people just get their rocks off by having sex, like the rest of us?” Kelsey asked before she took a drink.

“You’re having sex?” Megan asked.

“Me? No, not right now. I’m here with you two.”

“I meant, like, in general,” Megan said.

Bryce closed her computer, stood up, walked around the two of them, and headed toward the bowl of popcorn sitting on her coffee table.

“No. Who would I be having sex with?”

“I don’t know. That guy from work?”

“Jason?” Kelsey laughed hard. “He’s, like, twenty.”

“So? When I went there to pick you up for lunch, he was checking you out. You introduced him to me.”

“He was standing there. I didn’t want to be rude. And he’s got a thing for my boobs.” Kelsey rolled her eyes. “His eyes keep going down. It’s obvious to everyone but him.”

“Yeah, I saw him. Clear as day. Eyes right there.” Megan looked down a little and imitated this Jason they were talking about while Bryce sat cross-legged on her sofa and brought handfuls of popcorn to her mouth, taking in the show.

“Well, I’m not having sex with Jason from work or anyone else, for that matter,” Kelsey stated. “And you’re the one who’s dating someone, so if any of us is getting any, it’s you. It sure as hell isn’t Bryce, who’s hooked on Sophie, and it’s definitely not Sean, who’s hooked on Bryce.”

Bryce stopped the hand that had been near her mouth.

“Shit. Sorry,” Kelsey added, closing her eyes. “I didn’t mean that.”

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