Page 49 of Fly with Me

Stella blotted her mouth once with her napkin before spearing a bite of green bean. “Well, I better finish this because the cake is staring at me.”

“Oh, it’s staring at you, is it?”

“Yep.” Stella lifted her voice into a squeaky Muppet-ish range. “Please come and eat me, Stella. All those vegetables are not as delicious as I am.” Her voice returned to normal. “Seriously, though, what did you put on these green beans?”

“Shallots and butter.”

“God, I love butter.” Stella sighed as she chewed. Such a lovely contented sound.

“Me too.”

Olive tapped the binder. “Do I get to keep the binder for reference?”

Stella lit up. “Of course. I have my o—” Her mouth snapped shut.

Olive smirked. “You have your own copy?”

Stella’s cheeks flushed again. She finished her beer with the bottle tilted up at the ceiling. Olive grabbed another beer from the fridge and placed it in front of Stella.

She swept her hand gently across Stella’s arm, leaned close, and whispered, “I like nerds.”

It was 9:30 P.M., and Olive picked up her phone from on top of Stella’s comprehensive guide to fake dating. She was cuddled up by Gus on the couch and wishing Stella had stayed over longer. Olive finished her third beer, enjoying the haze. She didn’t really like beer that much, but she hoped it would take the edge off the disappointment from the awkward hug at the door when Stella left.

She swiped to call Derek. He answered after two rings.

“I had hoped you weren’t texting me back because you were having extremely hot sex with Stella.”

“Nope. Not even a little bit.” She pulled the afghan from the back of the couch and draped it over her legs, thinking about how nice it would be to have a sleep cuddler keeping her warm right now rather than a slightly smelly Great Dane mix. Feeling guilty about the thought, she nuzzled Gus’s face.

“But you like her.” There was an edge of genuine concern in Derek’s voice.

“She’s a really nice person, and she’s going to help me with a couple interviews and flying.”

“Flying?”

“Yup, she’s determined to fix me.”

“Fix you?”

“Just my fear of flying so I can travel.” Olive paused and then her voice lowered to a mumble. “She hasn’t known me long enough to know all the other ways I’m broken.”

“If this is about your family—”

“I have to fill out a questionnaire.” A change of subject would be best. The topic of her family always made Derek furious.

He hesitated. “What are you talking about?”

“For Stella. We need to know things about each other, so it’ll be believable. Realistic.” She flipped back to that page and grabbed her pen.

“This girl is so extra. She’s hot. But she’s extra.”

“Extra gorgeous. Extra smart. Extra really fucking good at kissing.”

“Oh, drunk sad Olive.” He sighed. “This shit’s going to blow up in your face.”

“Yep.”

“Does that make you want to change your mind?”