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I look at her, crestfallen. Seriously? After all this time,still?

“Yes,” Lauren says gently, shooting me an apologetic look.

“No, I don’t mean like that,” Kim says. “I mean, like, no offense… but I’ve been watching the episodes, and I’ve been thinking about everything that happened, and I actually… sort of… think you’re out of his league, Maya.”

She says it begrudgingly, arms folded and head cocked, but there’s a hint of a smile there.

“He shouldn’t have done what he did to you,” I say.

“Well, he says it’s because he didn’t want to keep me from my friends and family with all that going on. But…”

“Yeah, nah, fuck him,” Francesca says.

“Fuck him,” Kim agrees. “But, you know, we’re mad happy for you, Maya.”

“Yay,” Lauren says, raising her fists in a weak party dance.

I smile, but it feels weird and hollow. “How is your friend, Kim?”

“Oh, good, really good. Yeah, we’ve been hanging out heaps. He’s got a cast, but he’ll be all right.”

“Thank god.”

“Yeah. I told him the next time I go on a reality show, he has to wear a bubble-wrap suit the whole time. He thinks I’m joking, but I am dead fucking serious.”

I grin. “Hey, have any of you seen Perrie?”

Lauren gestures toward the changing rooms. “She was getting her shoulder straps adjusted last time I saw her.”

I give them a quick thanks, and make off toward the changing rooms, just in time to catch Perrie coming out of them.

“Hey,” she says. “So, guess who’s at four hundred thousand followers already.”

“You?”

“Me. And I’m verified. Finally. Those bastards rejected me every month on the month before this.” She scoffs, but it’s through a smile. Then, she grabs my hand. “Almost time!”

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

“Pumped! I love crowds.” She pauses. “Being in front of them, not being in them. There’s a difference.”

“Thereisa difference.”

“Exactly. And I figure this is practice for when I become extremely famous and I’m in front of crowds all the time.”

I smile. “Perfect.”

She studies my face, and she squints her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Nothing!”

“No, something.” She takes my arm and steers me down the hall to an empty dressing room, where she closes the door. “Are you… having second thoughts about Jordy? Because if you are, it’s not too late. It’s never too late, really. You’re not marrying the guy.” She pauses. “Right?”

I hold up my hand to show off my bare ring finger, and she grins. “Okay, good.”

“Why do you ask if I’m having second thoughts?” I ask.

Perrie hops up on the makeup bench, mirror-spotlights behind her. “I don’t know. You just look like… the way you looked the day I met you.”