The quad burst with color. Maybe it was the adrenaline surging through her body. Maybe she could fully experience her surroundings without worrying about Roger. Charlotte didn’t care why the world had dialed up its saturation. She soaked up every detail.
Warm copper brick paths. Grass so green it belonged in a crayon box. The occasional flash of a blue-and-silver Hein tank top.
Charlotte could stand there for hours and count every hue. She wanted to grab a sketch pad and capture it on paper. It didn’t matter that the picnic was organized exactly as it had been last time. Nothing was the same. She didn’t feel abandoned or embarrassed. She felt no urge to hide. She felt…
excited scared nervous speechless satisfied irritated relieved
Honestly, she felt a little high.
She needed to find her friends.
A familiar bark pulled her from her thoughts. Little paws battered her calves. Charlotte leaned down to greet her loyal new friend. “Hey, Misty. How’s my favorite girl?”
Misty panted up at her, tongue waggling from her mouth. She perched her tiny feet on Charlotte’s thigh.
Charlotte scooped Misty up and held her like a hairy baby. “Where’s your uncle?” she asked. “I have some groveling to do.”
Misty didn’t answer, but Charlotte already knew where to find Reece. R&C staff and class officers stood behind a long table beneath an old beech tree, roasting hot dogs and serving platters of scrambled eggs and bacon. She’d bet anything that Reece was exactly where he was supposed to be, serving tongs in hand.
“CHARLOTTE!”
She whirled around. Jio waved at her frantically from a blanket not far from the path. Matt lay stretched out on his back, his head pillowed in Jio’s lap. She’d been so lost in her thoughts that she walked right past them.
“Charlotte, get OVER HERE!” Jio hissed, cell phone clutched tightly in their hand.
“What’s wrong?” She crossed the grass and sank to her knees beside them. Misty wiggled out of her grasp and sniffed at Matt’s hand. He ruffled her fur, unperturbed by his fiancé’s panic.
“Girl, what did you do?” Jio barked a startled laugh at her, so she knew no one had died, at least.
“What are you talking about?”
Matt threw her a lifeline as he scratched under Misty’s chin. “You’re trending.”
Charlotte’s hand went immediately to her phone in her pocket, still as the dead—or the powered down. “Huh.”
“ChompNews already wrote a story!” Jio shoved their iPhone at her. She made out the headline roger ludermore’s commencement address was so f*cked up that his assistant quit on twitter!
They’d found a photo of her, an ancient selfie from her Instagram. She could imagine the comments: supportive jokes from the take this job and shove it crowd, vicious attacks from the pay your dues boomers.
She pushed the phone away. “You know what? I don’t even want to know.”
Jio grinned and turned the screen back in their direction. They kept scrolling. “I’m so proud of you. My viral star. I’ll keep an eye on the conversation for you, don’t worry about it. Put it out of your head.”
There were perks to having friends who worked in digital communications. “Thank you. I appreciate it. Let me know if anyone doxes me.”
At long last Matt took off his sunglasses and revealed fond, bloodshot eyes. “Well done, Charlotte.”
For some reason this praise from the most reserved member of the 3Ds got through to her. She let seafoam green pride fill her chest, determined to take the compliment.
“Thank you,” she said.
Matt nodded once. Then he put his sunglasses back on.
She reached for Misty, needing the dog’s reassuring weight on her lap. Misty licked her chin and resettled in her lap.
Jio typed furiously on their phone. “What’s your Venmo?”
Charlotte frowned. “Why?”
“No reason.” They gave her an innocent look, full eyelashes batting sincerely.
She sighed and decided to just trust her friend. “It’s the same as my Twitter handle.”
“Great, thank you.” More furious typing. Then Jio made a satisfied noise and dropped their phone on the blanket. They smiled at her again, joy almost disguising the circles under their eyes. And the leftover glitter stuck to their cheekbones.
“You look wiped,” Charlotte said before she could stop herself. “Did you sleep?”
“Garrett and I watched Say Yes to the Dress until six a.m.,” Jio chirped. “He’s coming to the wedding.”
Oh goodness. The Vargas-Larsen wedding was turning into the Hein social event of the season. Garrett better acquire some sequined accessories, pronto.
She scanned the crowd for a familiar brown topknot. No dice. “Have you seen Jackie?”
Matt teased his fingers through Misty’s furry tail. “Not yet.”
“Hmm.” Charlotte nodded. “If you do, tell her I’m looking for her.”
—
