Page 51 of One More Made Up Love Song
“I have definitely dated,” I say.
She gives me a pointed look.
“A few times,” I amend.
“Just admit it,” she says, her tone gentle. “At least admit it to me.”
I fold my arms across my chest, holding her gaze for a long moment before finally caving. “Fine,” I say. “I have feelings. Happy now?”
Her shoulders bunch around her ears as she smiles wide, clapping her hands like I’ve just given her the best news. “This is so exciting!” she practically yells.
I lift my palms to my face and groan. “It is not exciting. It’s a giant colossal mess, thanks to you. This whole situation is so incredibly stupid.”
“Wait. What situation?” Carina asks. “You working for him?”
“Yes. But no. More than that. This whole—” I push myself to my feet and motion to her even as I start pacing around the room. “Honestly, I should be mad at you for this. It wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t had to come pick you up.”
She frowns. “Wait, what do I have to do with anything? What are you talking about?”
I sigh and prop my hands on my hips. “Freddie kissed me.”
“What?”
“Yesterday outside the beach house. You were already inside the car, but Margot was coming, and there was a photographer, so I asked him to kiss me.”
Her eyebrows bunch up, like she’s puzzling out my words. “Youaskedhim to kiss you.”
I shrug. “We had to give the photographer a bigger story.”
It takes her a few more questions, but finally, Carina seems to grasp what happened.
“So it was your idea,” she says. “To have your boss—who you happen to be in love with—kiss you in front of a photographer? What happened? Were the photos released?”
I breathe out a sigh. “They were.”
“So the whole world thinks you’re dating Freddie Ridgefield.”
“It was the only practical choice,” I argue, but Carina hardly seems to care about practicalities.
“Oh my gosh!” she practically screams as she jumps up in the center of the bed. She pauses, wobbling as one hand moves to her head. “Whoa. Maybe too soon for that kind of excitement.”
I roll my eyes and step close enough to offer her a hand. She braces against me as she steps off the bed and finds her balance. “You good?”
She nods, moving her hands to my shoulders. “Ivy, this is perfect.”
“It’s nothing of the sort.”
“It is! Because now he will fall in love with you. I mean, ifhe hasn’t already, which, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he has.”
“Don’t say stuff like that,” I say, shrugging out of her grip and moving around the bed to pick up her discarded coffee. “You should drink this. And eat something.”
“Stop momming me for five seconds,” she says with a heavy dose of Carina-style drama, “and tell me why I shouldn’t say that.”
I sigh and take a long swig of her coffee, which is finally starting to feel cold. I turn and put the cup down, keeping my back to Carina for a long moment before I finally say, “Because I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
She steps closer and wraps her arms around my shoulders from behind. “Okay. I feel you. So what are you going to do?”
I tilt my head to the side, resting my head on her arm as I relax into her embrace. “Survive, I guess. Endure until his album is out and then make a clean break and start fresh.”
