She frowns before emptying her glass with a few solid gulps. Smacking her lips together, she reaches for the nearly empty bottle of wine then tops us both off.
“You wanna know what I think?” she asks.
“What?”
“That you should reach out”––she lifts her hands to do finger air quotes––“to him on your own terms.”
“And how would I do that?”
“Create another account. A fake one.”
“And then what?”
“Then you make him fall in love with you the same way you fell in love with him. The same way I fell in love with Liam before he broke my heart,” she adds on a whisper before blinking away the sheen in her eyes. “The same way so many girls fall for the wrong guys before they’re left in the dust.”
“And then what?” I repeat.
“Then you break him the same way he broke you.”
I chew on the pad of my thumb, actually considering her ludicrous idea before shaking my head. “I can’t do that, Skye.”
“You can do that, but you won’t. Because you’re a better person than me, and you’re sure as hell a better person than The Big O.”
The nickname makes me bristle.
“You know what? I’m tired of being the bigger person, the better person, the girl who people can walk all over because she’s too nice to stick up for herself. How dare he try to buzz me or…whatever it is.” I motion to the stupid computer in my lap with a flap of my hand as if I’m waving away an annoying fly.
Then I reopen the laptop like a woman on a mission. “He wants to connect? Fine. We’ll connect.”
“That’s my girl.” Skye grins. “Gimme the laptop. I’ll create a new profile.”
“Brilliant.” My smile turns wicked as I hand it over to her. “So, what do you need from me?”
Fingers clicking away, she suggests, “Um…another username.”
“I don’t know? I’m not creative enough for these things.”
“How ‘bout…dickhater?” she offers with a wink.
“Meh.”
“Scornedlover?” Her eyebrows bounce up and down like it’s the most genius username ever created.
“Har, har. Keep going, Skye.”
“Um…kinkynerd?”
I snort. “Better. But let’s not attract all the weirdos in one go, shall we? We just want to hook Owen. That’s it.”
She reaches for my wine glass and finishes it off before handing it back to me. Head cocked to one side, she clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “Alright, let’s see…how ‘bout Slytherin4ever?”
With a grin, I ignore the way my heart clenches when I hear anything Harry Potter related and answer, “Perfect.”
“Really?”
“Yup. It’ll make him curious enough to accept our buzz or whatever, and he’ll never know it’s me because––”