The Boyfriend Designer - Christopher Harlan Page 0,11

place. Not a single one of them. If he can go online and talk about which women are hot enough to bang and which aren’t, he can handle hearing from one of those women he talked about. He’s just a guy with an expensive camera, he’s not anyone special.”

“His millions of adoring fans would beg to differ.”

“Well they can differ my ass.”

Tori cackles. “What the hell does that even mean?”

“I really want to have an answer for you right now, but usually adding the phrase ‘my ass’ is a surefire way to make your statement even stronger—but I’m seeing now it’s not an absolute rule, more of a case-by-case basis.”

“I’m glad you’re self reflective enough to question your undying loyalty to the phrase ‘my ass.’ You’re growing as a person, you know that?”

“Coming from the closest person I have to a sister—besides Sabina— that means a lot. Thanks, Tor.”

“Who the hell is Sabina?”

Oh crap. She doesn’t know about my other soul sister yet. It’s way too soon to introduce another person into the relationship, not after I gave her so much shit about the publisher appointed assistant. “No one important, don’t worry about it.”

“Hey, look, I’m not your mom. Do you. You’re a grown ass woman. All I’m saying is there’s a fine line between speaking your truth and ending your growing career. Just be careful you’re on the right side of that line.”

“So you’ve taught me two things tonight.”

“Oh?” She asks. “And what two things might those be?”

“First, don’t ruin my career by verbally assaulting one of the most popular influencers here. Check. And you also just taught me that even though ‘my ass’ is as unreliable as the stock market, adding just the word ‘ass’ for emphasis is pretty much a lock.”

“I’m glad I could help. Now take a deep breath and relax. We’re not here for revenge or some stupid confrontation—we’re here to grow our channels even bigger than they already are, and to connect with fans and other influencers. Simple as that.”

She’s right. I know she’s right.

But part of me just keeps replaying that Smash or Pass video over and over again in my head, on some sadistic loop that makes me even more angry every time the loop restarts. Not only that, but, in my warped mental replays, Conor keeps adding expletives like ‘ugly’ and ‘gross’ when he’s describing all of the reasons that he would never, ever have sex with me.

I need to stop. These thoughts are bordering on the obsessive.

What I need to do is just do what Tori said—sign some merch for my fans, make some videos, and try to focus on me instead of Conor.

But what I really want to do more than any of those things is to have the satisfaction of seeing his smug expression change into shock when I confront him and he realizes that there are consequences to saying those kinds of things about women.

“You think Conor’s here?” I ask. “I mean, in the building?”

“Probably. He’s doing some panels and a meet-and-greet after. . . wait, no. You’re not going to. . .”

“I’m not going to do anything except take an innocent walk around to acclimate myself to my surroundings. I’m new at this, remember, I need to get to know the building. And hey, if I happen to run into Conor Durden in the process, I can’t really help it, can I?” Tori’s eyebrows shoot straight up. “Don’t give me that look, Tor, if it’s meant to be then it’s meant to be. I can’t control the world. Not yet, anyhow, though I’m working on it. And I certainly can’t control where Conor is.”

“Like I said, do you, Shosh. I gave you my advice but it’s your career. Just be careful.”

“Don’t you worry. My middle name is careful. Well, really it’s Rose, but you know what I mean.”

“That’s the scariest part about being your best friend. I always know what you mean, even when you make no sense at all. Have fun. . . acclimating.”

This place is HUGE!

It’s been a while since I’ve been here, and never this early. Seeing it empty with just a few people wandering like I am is weird—and it gives a scale of how big this spot really is.

I walk around with no purpose in mind at first, taking in the sights and energy of the building, and that’s when my eyes fix on him.

Conor!

When I finally see him, two things happen that I can’t quite explain. First, my heart starts