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“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, leaning down to pet Clementine before taking a seat in their squishy chair. “Tenley went home with Shane, so that’s over.”

“You seem sad,” Lark said. “You going to miss being a fake girlfriend?”

I tried to laugh, but it didn’t really work.

“I need a real girlfriend,” I said. “That’s the solution.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Lark said. “Any candidates in mind?”

I shook my head. “Not really.” Talking with Karissa and finding out she was queer was a pleasant surprise, but she wasn’t really my type and I hadn’t felt that attraction.

“Love, do you know of anyone?” Lark said, poking Sydney, who was completely absorbed in her book.

“Huh?” she said, blinking at us.

“Do you know anyone we could set our beautiful Mia up with?” Lark asked.

“Hmm,” Sydney said, putting her finger in her book to mark her place. “What are you looking for?”

Wasn’t that the question?

“I…don’t know,” I said, feeling silly. “I’ve never really known what my type is. I just sort of see who I’m attracted to and then go for it. My exes have all been pretty different from each other.”

“Would you date someone who lives outside of Arrowbridge?” Sydney asked.

“Of course. I feel like all the people I would have dated moved away to other places. Even though Arrowbridge is super queer now, it’s not like there’s tons of jobs to lure people back,” I said.

“Isn’t that the truth?” Lark said.

“Should have been born into a family business,” Sydney said, and Lark threw a pillow at her.

“Nepotism is not an economic solution!” Lark said.

“It is for some people,” Sydney said, smirking. Looking at the lives of the people in power, Sydney wasn’t wrong, per se.

“Going back to Mia,” Lark said, yanking the pillow back from Sydney, “we will be on the lookout and will put out the lesbian bat signal that you’re single and ready to mingle.”

I made a face. “Please don’t make me sound so desperate.”

“We’re not making you sound desperate. Just…available,” Lark said.

“That sounds desperate,” I said.

* * *

Tenley didn’t send me any more messages that night, and I couldn’t stop thinking about what she was doing with Shane. They were probably fucking right now. Maybe he was really good at sex to make up for his awful personality.

Yeah, I had doubts.

No matter what I did to distract myself, my brain kept hitting play on images and scenes of what Shane and Tenley would look like fucking. Would she come? Did he know how to make that happen for her? Would she fake it to protect his ego? Or would she show and tell him exactly what she needed? Tenley didn’t seem like the kind of person who would be meek in any area of her life, but you never knew what someone was like in bed until you were in it with them.

I didn’t fall asleep for hours.

Chapter Seven

Since I didn’t get much sleep on Saturday night, I was dragging on Sunday, but it was the day of Layne’s barbecue and I wasn’t going to miss it. More than seeing my friends, I needed to get out of my own head for a while. Plus, there would be amazing food.

Sydney and Lark asked if I wanted to ride with them, but I decided to take my own car so I could leave when I wanted. I also needed to get some stuff at the grocery store after.