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“What?” Asher asked.

“Right now? Should I leave? I can leave.”

He took a step closer but that was all, just a step. “No. I mean, yes, I want you here. Why wouldn’t I?”

“You used to hug me more,” I blurted.

He smiled. “Do you need a hug?”

“No. I mean, yes, but no.” I couldn’t hug him now if I could never do it again after today.

“What?” He put one hand on my shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“Would Dale really embarrass you at his party if he found out you were being catfished?”

Asher stared at the wall behind me thoughtfully, as if a scene was playing there. “Have you ever done something to help someone even if it didn’t necessarily help you?”

“No…,” I started, but that was a lie, wasn’t it? That’s what I had done in the café weeks ago. “Yes. But I don’t understand…how would getting humiliated help anyone?”

He shrugged. “Dale likes to make videos. I don’t mind looking like a fool.”

“I wasn’t trying to make you look like a fool,” I said. “WhenI…”

He nodded encouragingly, almost like he knew what I was going to say next. My knees felt wobbly. We should’ve gone back to his room so we could sit down. Instead we both stood there by the fancy couches and I blurted out, “I need to tell you something.”

“Me too,” he said.

“I’m not your catfish,” I said, not really processing what he had said. “I mean…you were getting catfished. Maybe. I don’t know, maybe Gemma was really Gemma, but Gemma is not me and I’m not her and…”

“You are not each other?” he finished for me.

“Right. I tried to tell you in the car weeks ago.”

“I know,” he said.

“You know?” Now I was confused. “Which part?”

“All of it. I’ve been trying to tell you that too.”

My mouth opened and shut. “Why didn’t you?”

“Probably the same reason you didn’t tell me.”

Why hadn’t I told him? “Because you felt sorry for me?”

He let out a single laugh. “Okay, not the same reason. You felt sorry for me?”

“I mean, that’s why I pretended to be Gemma that day in the café. Dale was making fun of you and threatening to humiliate you and you looked so…”

“Pathetic?”

“No, not pathetic. Sad. It wasn’t supposed to last this long. Iwas going to tell you right away that I wasn’t her. I just wanted Dale to see that you could’ve been talking to—”

“A hot girl?”

“No, justthatgirl. Whoever you were really talking to. Who were you really talking to?”

“I have no idea. She refused to meet with me. Meaning she probably wasn’t the person she was claiming to be. Or maybe she’s just really shy. I don’t know.”