A-Hole to A-List (PR Girls & Instalove 1)

“Yeah. You were staring at her with stars in your eyes, and she kept trying to do her job. Which is admirable, of course, and I totally respect her for it. But you two belong together.”

“She doesn’t seem to think so,” I said, unable to keep the sadness from my voice.

Terry nodded. “Yeah, I know. I saw her in the parking lot this morning. She’s going to do her job at the event tonight, and think about anything else tomorrow. Compartmentalizing. Always smart.”

“Did she say anything else?”

He smirked, looking at me strangely. “She wasn’t mad at me, so that’s good.” He stared into space for a second, then snapped his fingers. “Darn. I wasn’t going to tell you that Jenna and I had talked.”

“That’s okay,” I said slowly. “What else?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to get in the middle of things, especially when her thoughts are all tangled up and she thinks that you need a girl who is more your style. I must have misunderstood that, because style doesn’t have anything to do with love, does it?”

“Do you think she loves me?” My breath stalled completely.

Terry shrugged. “I’m the last person who knows anything about love.”

“I think you might surprise yourself someday,” I said, trying to muster up a reassuring smile. “Although I’m likely a lousy example, since I can’t convince the girl of my dreams that I need her.”

“Force a reboot.”

“Huh?”

“When a system is being glitchy, remove all power, then start it up again.”

I felt my mouth fall open, then choked a laugh. “You’re a genius.”

“It’s fun when you say that about my engineering, but I think you’re exaggerating about my relationship advice,” he grinned.

“No, you’re absolutely right. I’ll just have to figure it out on the way there.”

To my absolute surprise, Terry reached out and clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of the business and everything that involves socializing,” he said. “You’re a good big brother.”

I reached up to grab his hand, giving it a squeeze. “I do try. And you’re an excellent little brother. Can I suggest that you knock off work early and go do something relaxing?”

He stared at the two laptops in front of him, then nodded. “One more hour, then I’ll go watch movies for the rest of the day.”

“Excellent.”

I went back home to grab some food and get ready, standing in the shower for a solid twenty minutes until the magic of the hot water told me exactly how I could force a reboot with Jenna.

13

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Jenna

I took a cab to the event since I’d likely have a drink or two. It was extremely impolite to turn down a drink at corporate events if anyone offered, although I usually ended up carrying it around for ages.

The ride gave me time to skim the early photo posts from people entering the event. Flipping through my phone, I smiled to myself. These gamer people certainly loved putting on an extravagant show. The silver carpet at the entrance was a nice touch, and neon lightning-bolt photo booths were set up in the foyer.

According to the live feed, two gamers had been wearing HarperTech shirts on the way in, and thankfully they arrived before Andrew.

There was a short clip of him getting out of his flashy red car, walking straight to Cliff for a photo op, and dropping the news about their revolutionary technology that was going to be the talk of the week.

Watching Andrew’s gorgeous profile as he smiled and waved to the crowd created a heavy rock in the center of my stomach, weighing me down.

He was older, worldly, and brilliant. Being with me might drag him out of the direction he should be going. I knew that I was being overdramat