In a second, she snatched up her phone and was staring at it in shock. “I mean, I’d planned to upload it in a few days but probably to my Stories. That way, it wouldn’t be the same day that it happened.”
“Then, what happened?”
She shook her head and then sighed. “Oh fuck, I didn’t even think. I added it to the shared account I have with Honey for content. She usually handles when and what goes up unless it’s something I say specifically. Clearly, I did not say anything yesterday because I was busy.” She bit her lip. “Is it bad?”
“Well, apparently, half of the internet thinks Nate is proposing.”
“What?” she asked with a giggle. “Why would they think that?”
“Probably because he commented.”
She scrolled. “Oh, I see it. He’s ridiculous. That comment could mean anything. And anyway, I see your name nearly as much as his.”
“So, your followers don’t know you broke up?” I asked, trying for calm and levity, but by the look on her face, I hadn’t managed it.
She was smirking at me. She put her phone down and climbed into my lap, straddling me with her powerful thighs. “Campbell Abbey, are you jealous?”
“Why would I be? You’re in my bed.”
“That I am,” she agreed with a teasing smile.
“And I am the first person to be like fuck the press, fuck social media, fuck followers wanting to be in my business. Whatever you want to share is up to you.”
“But…”
“But I don’t like seeing his name on your posts like that.”
“Nate and I are just friends. We were never emotionally invested. It was always more business than it was anything else. We ended on good terms. In fact, he’s supposed to be in town this week to record some more videos.”
“Even after the breakup?”
“It was more a mutual understanding that it was going to be strictly business from now on. He was cool with it. I swear.”
I had doubts that a guy like that took to losing someone like Blaire that easily. But maybe she was right. I was still friends with some of my LA exes. They had always been temporary things, and ending the sexual side of things hadn’t affected the friendships.
“You could meet him,” she offered.
“I’m sure he’d fucking love that.”
She shrugged. “Who cares?”
I chuckled at her nonchalance. I wasn’t threatened by Nate King, but a part of me knew LA was beckoning in a few weeks, and Nate was here. I didn’t want to think about the future, but it suddenly felt like I had no future without her.
“Fine. But you’re mine.”
She pressed her mouth to mine. “No question.”
23
Blaire
I had been shoved into a time machine.
Eight years ago, every waking moment had belonged to Campbell Abbey.
And now, eight years later, my entire existence belonged to him again.
I stayed at his place every night. We ate all our meals together. We texted all day when I wasn’t at the studio with him. My friends smirked behind their hands, but not a one of them complained that I had been spending all my time with him. How could they when our time was entirely limited?
This was the first break I’d had in days and mostly because I’d promised to do these videos with Nate. No matter what I was feeling about Campbell, I couldn’t let my work suffer. I still had to be on top of things. And I hadn’t seen Honey in almost a week. She messaged me constantly about work stuff, but I’d been working from Campbell’s hotel room or the recording studio rather than at home.
I met her at my place when I went home to get ready to record videos with Nate.
“Okay,” Honey said, staring down at her iPad when I finished blowing out my long hair, “this is the list I have for videos with Nate. We have ten planned for the next couple hours. Plus, the additional behind-the-scenes footage that I’ll take care of.”
“Sounds good, Honey.”
I applied a full face of makeup, knowing what my skin would look like otherwise under the glaring lights. For most of my live videos and such, I just wore mascara and maybe some concealer. I liked to be as natural as possible for my viewers to normalize acceptance of skin texture and the like. But these videos were different.
“You’ve been busy the last couple days.”
“Yep.”
“Are you and Campbell…” Honey trailed off.
I couldn’t hide my grin. “I’m not ready to talk about it.”
Honey arched an eyebrow. “Not ready to talk about it or you’re going to move to LA here soon and leave me behind?”
I laughed. “Definitely not the latter.”
“You sure? You two seem serious.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Kind of just living in the moment.” I puckered my lips, making a red kissy face at the mirror. “Okay, I’m set.”
Honey and I piled into my Lexus and drove to downtown Lubbock. We were surprisingly close to Campbell’s building. I’d spent an hour in his place learning one of the dances we were doing today. Most of the other videos were trends, where we mostly lip-synced songs I’d already known or comedians that I’d listened to on repeat so I knew my part. It wasn’t that hard. It was mostly just forcing myself to record them. That was why it was nice to have recording days with Nate. There was no backing out.