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B ryce stared.

“Oh, my God!” Megan yelped and covered her mouth with her hand. “It’s her.”

“We don’t know that,” Kelsey reasoned. “She’s gotten messages from three women claiming to be Sophie. I guess they could be guys claiming to be a woman who is Sophie.” Kelsey looked off toward Bryce’s back concrete patio.

“Stop it,” Megan told her and playfully slapped her.

“Ouch! Be nice.” Kelsey chuckled and pretended to tend to a fake wound on her bare shoulder. “Kiss it and make it better, Megs.”

“Oh, stop,” Megan replied as she giggled.

Bryce looked up in time to see Kelsey appear noticeably disappointed that Megan was back to staring at Bryce’s computer.

“She messaged. You found her.” Megan put her hands on Bryce’s shoulders and gave her a little shake. “The power of lesbians!”

Bryce laughed and said, “Kels is right: I don’t know for sure that it’s her. It could be anyone. The story has kind of gone wild, and I’ve had other people message me, too.”

“You messaged them back and figured it out. Time to do that with this one, right? These two , technically, since she messaged you twice. That’s cute, huh? She was so excited that she hit send too fast,” Megan noted.

“It might actually be her,” Kelsey added. “Megs has a point about the two messages. The others didn’t do that.”

They’d gone to dinner, and after Sean dropped them back off at Bryce’s, Megan and Kelsey had come inside, but Sean had opted out of the friend hangout session with beer and popcorn while they watched a movie. Bryce understood why. Dinner had been awkward enough. On top of that, for the first time ever, Bryce thought their foursome felt more like an old couple that had been arguing before dinner but hadn’t wanted to cancel and a new couple who were still totally into one another, and that made dinner a double date. That was ridiculous because Sean and Bryce hadn’t been together in years, and Kelsey was straight.

While Bryce was starting to wonder about the last part of that statement, she had too much on her plate to try to discern if something had changed for Kelsey, given how much more time she had been spending with Megan recently; and not just how much but what they’d seemed to be doing with that time.

She’d instantly checked the analytics when she got home, and she’d gotten an additional eight hundred subscribers to her blog since she’d left for dinner. That was crazy enough to her, but even crazier was that people were clicking on the ads and going to the affiliate pages, which earned her money. While Megan had made them popcorn and Kelsey had pulled beers out of the fridge, Bryce had checked her notifications. The last thing she’d expected to see were two messages, both from the same person claiming to be her Sophie.

Kelsey had had a point: Bryce had gotten fake Sophies already, which had been awful. She’d gotten them all while they’d been at dinner, nearly one right after the other, and she had sent them both the same question, ‘What are the names of my three friends who were there that night?’ None of the fakes had gotten it right. One of them had actually made up three names as if they would magically, somehow, guess them all correctly, but no, her three friends were not named Jack, Alex, and Sarah. Seeing the first message come in, though, had given her such hope. Her heart had raced. Her breathing had stopped altogether for a minute. She had thought she’d found her, and it had been level-headed Kelsey who had convinced her to test them first. And thank God for that because they’d just turned out to be terrible people who wanted to play on her emotions.

This one felt different, though. It felt important. It felt like she could get her hopes up. But she knew she shouldn’t. So, instead, as Kelsey and Megan both talked amongst themselves behind her, Bryce typed a message.

Sophie,

Forgive me if it’s really you, but I’ve had a few impersonators try to convince me that they were at the bar that night. Can you do something for me to prove that you’re really her? Can you tell me the names of the three friends that were there with me that night? Hell, if you can get one of them right and tell me the name of your friend who was there, I’ll believe you. I just have to make sure because I’ve gotten my hopes up before now, and it’s just too hard.

Bryce

“That’s good,” Megan told her as she read it over her shoulder. “Simple, but to the point. Still telling her that you’re crazy about her.”

“What if it’s not her again?” Kelsey asked.

“Don’t put that out there into the world,” Megan replied.

“Sorry. I was just curious,” she said.

“I guess I’d just write a post tomorrow, asking people to stop it, and hope that does it. It’s too big to shut it down now. People would still try to help me find her, which means fakes will be part of it.”

“Why can’t people just get their rocks off by having sex, like the rest of us?” Kelsey asked before she took a drink.

“You’re having sex?” Megan asked.

“Me? No, not right now. I’m here with you two.”

“I meant, like, in general,” Megan said.

Bryce closed her computer, stood up, walked around the two of them, and headed toward the bowl of popcorn sitting on her coffee table.

“No. Who would I be having sex with?”

“I don’t know. That guy from work?”

“Jason?” Kelsey laughed hard. “He’s, like, twenty.”

“So? When I went there to pick you up for lunch, he was checking you out. You introduced him to me.”

“He was standing there. I didn’t want to be rude. And he’s got a thing for my boobs.” Kelsey rolled her eyes. “His eyes keep going down. It’s obvious to everyone but him.”

“Yeah, I saw him. Clear as day. Eyes right there.” Megan looked down a little and imitated this Jason they were talking about while Bryce sat cross-legged on her sofa and brought handfuls of popcorn to her mouth, taking in the show.

“Well, I’m not having sex with Jason from work or anyone else, for that matter,” Kelsey stated. “And you’re the one who’s dating someone, so if any of us is getting any, it’s you. It sure as hell isn’t Bryce, who’s hooked on Sophie, and it’s definitely not Sean, who’s hooked on Bryce.”

Bryce stopped the hand that had been near her mouth.

“Shit. Sorry,” Kelsey added, closing her eyes. “I didn’t mean that.”

“No, you did,” Bryce said, dropping the popcorn back into the bowl. “It was awkward tonight, wasn’t it?”

“She’s still in love with you, Bry. We all know it,” Megan noted, sitting down next to her.

“I knew that, but I didn’t know the whole story, apparently. She told me she’d gone ring-shopping.”

“Yeah, I know,” Megan said.

“She finally told you,” Kelsey echoed and sat on the arm of the sofa behind Megan instead of the empty seat that was next to Bryce.

“Tonight, right before you two showed up. I don’t know what to do. I know we’re not supposed to be together.”

“We do, too,” Kelsey agreed. “And she’ll just need some time. I think she held out until you met Sophie, but now, she’s trying to push herself to move on, but it’s harder than it looks.”

“Tell me about it,” Megan said softly.

“Huh?” Kelsey asked.

Bryce’s phone pinged on the table, and that ping was a specific one that she set to indicate an incoming email. She looked hopefully at Megan and then at Kelsey.

“Pick it up,” Kelsey encouraged.

“Check it,” Megan added.

Bryce sat up and reached for her phone. She unlocked it and opened her email app while Megan leaned over her shoulder and Kelsey leaned over Megan’s.

Bryce,

Your friends were named Megan, Sean – or maybe Shawn because I don’t know how she spells it – and Kelsey. My friend was named Jill. Your hair was short and black, and I ran my hands through it over and over again. When we danced, you kissed my neck, and I think about that every single day. We joked about sugar mamas because we were nervous, and when you kissed me, I was pressed against a wall, and we were tucked away from the whole world in the corner. You started jumping when the fight broke out, trying to find a way for us to get out of there, and then, you were gone. I gave you a little more than you were asking for because I wanted you to know FOR SURE that it’s me.

Your Sophie

“Holy shit! It’s her,” Kelsey said.

“It’s fucking her,” Megan added.

“Did you just curse? You never curse. That was cute, Megs,” Kelsey noted. “Say it again.”

“Shut up.” Megan laughed. “Bryce, you found her. You really found her.” She patted Bryce on the leg. “Holy crap.”

“No, go back to ‘fuck.’ That was funnier. Say, ‘Fuck,’ again.”

“I’m going to fucking hit you in the shoulder again – but, like, playfully because I’m not mean – if you don’t stop distracting Bryce from this important moment she’s having,” Megan replied.

“It’s her,” Bryce said softly. “Sophie…”

“Why don’t we skip the drinks and popcorn? Megan and I can head out and leave you alone. Sophie just responded, so she’s probably waiting on you now,” Kelsey suggested.

“Yeah, we’ll go, but we want updates,” Megan told her as she stood and reached for Kelsey’s hand, which Kelsey had held out for her. “Updates, Bry. Text us.”

“Okay,” she replied but hadn’t really heard what Megan had said.

A minute later, Bryce was alone in her house with three unfinished beers and a half-eaten bowl of popcorn. She didn’t know what to do; what to say to Sophie next. She still couldn’t believe the fact that she’d found her. It was late, after eleven, so she didn’t want to wake the woman up if Sophie had sent the message and gone to bed, but that was ridiculous because no one would send a message like that and just go to sleep.

Sophie,

It’s really you? This isn’t some very elaborate prank by a horrible person who found bar security footage or something?

Bryce

She hit send and regretted it because that was a stupid response to Sophie’s heartfelt message. Anxiously awaiting a reply, Bryce took a long pull from the beer in front of her, not knowing if it was Kelsey’s, Megan’s, or her own. Then, she just sat there and stared down at her email app until another message came through.

Bryce,

It’s really me. The cameras in these bars barely work most of the time, and if they did, they wouldn’t have sound. I drank a beer that Jill had gotten for me. You had something in a red cup that I didn’t see. I told you I was from New Orleans but that I had lived in Brooklyn and gone to New York for college. You said you lived in Tennessee but failed to mention a city. Thanks for that, by the way. Could’ve helped me find you a little easier. You told me about your food blog, but there is no blog by Bryce about food that I could find online. Trust me, I looked. You wore a black button-down and gray pants. I had on a blazer because I’d planned to ask my friend, Monica, for a job that night and had failed to do that. Is that enough? Does that convince you? Maybe this will if that doesn’t. When we kissed, you pressed into me, and I rocked back into you. You tasted a little like pineapple and rum and something else that was probably just you. I don’t think security cameras would’ve told me all that.

Your Sophie

“It’s her,” Bryce said to herself, finally allowing her heart to believe it.