Page 85 of On the Beat

“What’s athing?” Kaiden taps his chin, looking suddenly enthralled by the mere mention of my love life.

“A…thing. A situationship. A ‘it’s complicated’ status on Facebook.” I wave my hand. “You know what I mean.”

“You’re going to need to be a little bit clearer.”

“We were fake-dating.”

“But the feelings were real, right?”

“Probably not… I don’t know… Maybe to me… Whatever. That’s why I couldn’t write the article. When Ryder found out that I wrote the FBLA, he broke things off with me.” Before I know it, tears are streaming down my face. “I’m an idiot, right?”

“I don’t know which part of that screamsidiot, necessarily.” Kaiden scratches the stubble on his chin, where the unattractive outline of a goatee is forming. “Unless you mean getting into a fake relationship with a celebrity. That part iscompletelyidiotic.”

“Hey!” I sock him in the arm.

He winces. “Have you been working out? Jeez, Isla, that really hurt.”

“I don’t know what to do.” I sigh, staring out into the water. “I guess I thought our relationship would never work, and I thought that so much, I sabotaged it myself.”

“In that case…” Kaiden sighs with me. “You really are an idiot. No punching me again. I bought you ice cream.”

That’s true. “Your only words for me are that I’m an idiot? I thought you loved giving advice.”

“I’ve never done anything as stupid as dating an actual celebrity, Isla. I usually just stalk them with a camera glued to my nose. It’s hard to develop romantic feelings for someone when you have to take pictures of them taking out the trash.”

“He taught me how to swim.”

“What?” Kaiden spills his margarita onto his beach towel and doesn’t even notice. “Icouldn’t even do that. And I’m a certified—“

“A certified swim instructor, I know,” I say. “You did make a pretty good effort.”

“I did, didn’t I?” He reaches for his drink, frowning when he sees that it’s a sticky mess on the towel. “Ugh. Anyway. Are you sure you fell for the guy? You haven’t said you were in any kind of relationship with anyone since… Well, since never, actually. You didn’t fall for any of the guys your parents set you up with, did you?”

“I know… I know it had to be something.” I swallow. “Because it was the craziest thing I ever did, and it made me think I was losing my mind. Yet at the same time… he made me feel like I was home. Like I had a soft place to land.”

Kaiden sniffs. “That’s not real anything. It’s schizophrenia.”

I groan. “Shut up.”

“You’re the one who asked for my advice!”

I slide my sunglasses off my nose and place them on the beach towel. “I’m going to go swim.”

“Never thought I’d hear you say those words.” He winks at me. “I’m happy for you. Sad, and happy at the same time.”

“That’s kinda how I feel, too.”

Then I walk across the damp sand toward the ocean, and dive into the water.

* * *

“Isla,” Jane Thornton calls when I walk into the SnapBuzz headquarters on Monday morning, slightly more tan than I was before. “See me in my office, please.”

A chorus ofoohsandyou’re in troublesreaches my ears. I try to drown them out, which is easy when they’re all drowned out by my adrenaline-fuelled heartbeat, telling me that I’m about to be fired for not delivering what she asked of me.

“What’s this about, Jane?” I say, wondering if this is a good time to use her first name. Probably not.

“You’re being promoted,” she says, handing me an envelope.

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