Thirty-Two
Mia
I wander out to breakfast the next morning after spending the night tossing and turning in Joe and Sera’s guest room and open
my laptop. Wincing at the flood of emails, I take a bracing sip of coffee, and one catches my eye. Adjusting my glasses, I
lean forward, squinting at the screen.
“Oh my gosh.” I grab Sera’s arm as she sits down with a plate of toast covered in peanut butter and honey. “Jayla and Rob
want to meet on a video chat.” We’re going to see each other at the season three premiere in just over a week. But apparently
this can’t wait. Did they already get notified I’m not writing the book? A whole new terrifying possibility opens up: They’re
exiting the show and I’m about to get blamed for it.
Sera takes a bite of toast. “Who?”
“Jayla Lewis and Robert Cho.” I enunciate the actors’ names slowly. “They want to talk to me about the book.”
Understanding lights her eyes, and she drops the toast onto the plate with a clatter. “Mia, this might be the best day of
my life.”
“Hearing me get chewed out by A-list actors?”
“They might guilt you, but they’re so nice—” She cuts off when I glare. “Sorry, but this is a big moment for me. Movie stars are about to get a glimpse of my house.” Pushing back from the table, she yells, “Joe, get the vacuum!”
Two hours later, the living room is spotless, and Sera forced me to change out of my leggings and T-shirt into one of her
dresses. It’s about four inches too long, but no one will see the bottom anyway. She’s also had me switch seats exactly six
times, trying to decide which wall will provide the best backdrop. The last time I talked with the actors on a video chat
about the script, I was wearing a hoodie in my office, but one thing about Sera is she’s always going to be extra.
The time comes, and I take a deep breath. The past two hours have been a distraction, but of all the people I’m worried about
disappointing, they’re the top two. I expect to see them calling in from two locations, but to my surprise, they’re sitting
on a couch together in a sunny room somewhere. Los Angeles, probably.
Out of sight of the camera, Sera is fanning herself and Joe is muttering that she needs to breathe. If I didn’t know better,
I’d say they were practicing for labor. I try not to let their nerves rub off on me, but it starts to sink in that this is
a really big deal.
Rob waves, cheek creasing in a dimple. “Mia, hi. Tell me my agent has it wrong.”
Jayla gives him a playful shove. “We were going to be understanding, remember?” She smiles at me. Her locs are swept up in
an elaborate updo, her eyelids highlighted with shimmery gold eyeshadow. She looks like she just came from a photoshoot, and
I take a second to be grateful Sera made me look presentable. “We received word that you’re not writing the book, but we’re
hoping lines got crossed, because we are so excited to bring your story to life.”
“Our story,” Rob says, and she gives him another warning look. “What?”
Jayla turns to face me. “Listen, I know you never planned for our characters to get their own book, but it was the best news when we got word you’d write it.”
“It wasn’t that I didn’t want them to.” The earnest way they’re looking at me makes me want to tell them the whole story.
And honestly, what do I have to lose? “This isn’t public knowledge, but Victor and Sydney were the main characters in the
first book I ever tried to write, back before I got published.”
Jayla’s perfectly shaped brows arch in surprise. “Seriously?”
“I was in college, and I’d always had a soft spot for the friends-to-lovers trope. But then I got dumped, by a former friend.”
Rob frowns in sympathy and, man, I can see why his fandom goes so hard.
Blinking to regain my composure, I say, “It soured me on the friends-to-lovers trope. And along the way, other life experiences
bore that out. I decided Sydney and Victor would be happier as friends.”
“Sydney maybe,” he says. “But no way would Victor be okay with that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Victor’s been gone for Sydney since day one.”
That’s not how I wrote it the first time around, but it does align with what I discovered as I went back through the books,
analyzing things from Victor’s perspective instead of Sydney’s. I can’t believe Rob saw it, too.
Jayla is nodding. “Sydney is just too stuck on her idea of what love looks like to see it. But we figured that you’d be able
to get them both out of their own heads. No easy feat, we know.” They share another look, and that’s when I realize how close
they are on the couch. Almost as if they’re cuddling.
“Are you two...” I stop myself, because I’m 90 percent certain asking celebrities if they’re dating is the number one intrusive
question.
But Rob bites his lip and nods. “We’re together, yeah. You’re actually one of the first to know, so keep it under wraps, okay?”
I don’t dare look at Sera, but out of the corner of my eye, I see Joe hand her a glass of water. I could go for a glass of
something stronger, though maybe that wouldn’t be the best idea since I already feel dizzy from the surreal situation. “But
I thought you were just friends.”
“We were,” Jayla says. “But I realized my feelings were deeper than friendship.”
“And I told her I fell in love with her at our first table read.”
She rolls her eyes indulgently. “Love at first sight is not a thing.”
“Agree to disagree,” he says, nestling closer, the sleeve of his somehow-expensive-looking white T-shirt bunching as he threads
their hands together. “But the point is, we’re excited to give Sydney and Victor the happy-ever-after they deserve. And we
want you to write it.”
“No offense to the show’s writers,” Jayla adds. “But this story is yours to tell. And from what I’m hearing, you need to do
it for yourself, too.”
I hesitate, expecting the usual twist of nerves, but all I feel is anticipation. Optimism. A desire to tell them yes, I’ll do it , not because I have to, but because this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix what went wrong for two characters who deserve
a full dose of happiness, and I want to take it.
So I promise to give it one more try, already getting nerves from all the apologies I’ll have to make, but ready to get back
to the book. Jayla says she can’t wait to see me at the season premiere, and after a few more minutes of surprisingly chill
small talk, we end the call.
I close my laptop just to be safe and find Sera looking shell-shocked.
“Rob and Jayla are a couple. And we’re the first to know.” A slow grin spreads across her face. “Once the news gets out, I’m about to become insufferable.”
I laugh but I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. He liked her from day one? That strikes a chord, and I realize why.
It’s the pattern I’ve been seeing during this rewrite. Victor didn’t fall in love with Sydney over the course of this book.
He fell for her years ago, when they were trying to keep the peace between their friends, the rival bookstore owners.
His love continued to grow during book two, the second-chance romance between his cover-model college roommate and the one
who got away. And when Sydney’s editor friend was squaring off with the director of marketing at their publisher, Victor was
on the sidelines wondering if she would ever see him as more than a friend. Then she came up with the idea of method acting
and gave him the hope he’d been craving for years.
The solution was in front of me all along, but I couldn’t get inside my characters’ heads because I’ve been too stuck in my
own. Jayla and Rob have been playing these roles for three seasons, and their insight woke me up to what I’ve been missing:
Victor loves Sydney for who she is, not because of role-playing smoke and mirrors. He’s not faking it, it’s not new, and she
can trust his commitment because she trusts him.
I stand up, grabbing my laptop.
“Where are you going?” Joe asks.
“To finish this book.” And then, I’m going to tell Gavin he was right. Friendship alone isn’t enough. Not anymore.