Page 48 of Fun and Games

Nineteen

I'd beento Mason's apartment before, but now I was noticing things I'd missed the first few times.

Magnets held up dozens of photos on his fridge, and a few picture frames sat on end tables. I recognized them from his blog. A travel magazine was spread out on his coffee table and a couple camera lens accessories were on a shelf.

I'd never had a reason to pay attention to those small details, but now that I knew Mason's secret, they stood out starkly.

I took one of the photos down from the fridge, one I'd never seen before. It was a selfie of Mason and Connor together, arms thrown around each other's shoulders at what looked to be some kind of nightclub.

"You rarely had people in your photos," I said to Mason as he came up behind me. "And you never posted pictures of yourself or your friends. It was always candid snaps of strangers. And you never posted about concerts or music."

"As a musician, Connor had fans who followed him around," he explained. "I didn't want people using my blog to stalk his every move. I wanted the focus to be on my experiences traveling, not about the entertainment industry."

I put the photo back on the fridge and wandered back into the living room.

"I still can't believe you're the same person I've been following for years," I said.

"It's a weird coincidence, isn't it," he mused.

"Maybe not so much," I said. "You have tons of followers."

"Do I?" he said.

I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Do you not pay any attention to your blog stats?" I asked.

"Not really," he shrugged.

"Thousands of people have been all over social media wondering why you disappeared," I said. "I wouldn't be surprised if your blog had millions of visitors. Anyone online who's interested in travel has heard of you."

"That's crazy," Mason said, taken aback. "I'm just writing random thoughts down."

"And people looking for inspiration love you for it," I said.

"People like you?" he asked with a small smile.

I bit the inside of my cheek. I shouldn't have used the L word.

"Yeah," I said. "People like me."

I turned away from him and headed to the living room to hide my red cheeks. I went to examine the bookshelf with the camera accessories.

"This is probably why your photos are so much better than mine," I said.

"You mentioned you have a travel blog, too," Mason said. "Would I know of it?"

"Definitely not," I said. "Breanna's Bucket List is not popular at all."

He quirked a smile. "That's a cute name."

"Thanks," I said dryly.

"Have you been writing in it for long?"

"A couple years," I said.

"So you do a lot of traveling yourself?" he asked.