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ten

Harlow

I overslept this morning, so I have to get ready quickly to avoid missing the flight. I throw on the first pair of leggings I see and a baggy Stars T-shirt. Once I pull my hair up into a ponytail and apply a quick layer of foundation, I’m out the door, thankful I packed my suitcase last night instead of waiting until this morning.

Lucia finds me as soon as I arrive at the airport. “Good morning, Harlow,” she says, all chipper. “Have a good night after you left the game?” She gives me a knowing look.

I groan. “Those pictures are online already, aren’t they?”

“They sure are. So not only did Knox drive you home, you also made out with him.”

“He saw the guy with the camera, Luc. We agreed to kiss because we knew it would be better to make this believable.”

“Hell of a convincing kiss then.” She turns toward me now. “Was it good?”

“Ooh, I want to know, too!” Rory says, coming up from behind me.

Letting out a sigh, I say, “It was a really damn good kiss. I had to take a shower after.”

“What kind of shower?” Rory asks, raising her brow.

“ That kind of shower,“ I reply, laughing lightly.

“I’m telling you,” Rory says, stabbing a finger into my chest, “a man like that knows what he’s doing in bed. You need to find out.”

“I’m not going to do that. I don’t need that in my life. I can take care of myself.”

“You know you’d have more fun if Knox was taking care of you,” Lucia says as she winks.

I can’t decide if I love or hate my friends. Maybe it’s both.

Would I have more fun with Knox? Oh, I know I would. If the man is as good in bed as he is at kissing, I know it would be an incredible night. But I’m not about to blur any lines in this fake relationship. Kissing is putting on a show for anyone who sees us. Sleeping together would serve no purpose because nobody would know. That would be just for us, which doesn’t fit into this arrangement.

Thankfully, it’s time to board the plane before Lucia and Rory can continue this conversation. When everyone is boarded, I find Knox sitting alone, so I slide in right beside him.

He takes an earbud out, surprised since Knox usually sits alone when we travel. “Uh, hey. Why are you sitting with me?”

“Well, we need to make this believable, don’t we?”

“Don’t you usually sit with Lucia and Rory?”

I smirk. “You’ve been paying attention to where I sit, huh?”

Worry crosses his face, realizing what he’s revealed. But he plays it off. “I pay attention to where everyone sits, Harlow. But I can also see Lucia and Rory looking over at us while they think I can’t see. Even if I didn’t know, it wouldn’t be hard to put together that you usually sit with them.”

Damn. That shouldn’t really matter, but I think I like the idea of him finding me to look. A confidence boost is always a good thing.

“Right, that makes sense.” I peer over at his phone, trying to see what’s playing. “Whatcha listening to, Spencer?”

He hands me an earbud. “It’s a random playlist. Mostly rock and alternative.”

“So, you’re telling me you’re not a secret Swiftie?”

“Fuck no,” he replies emphatically, causing me to crack up. “I’m going to assume you are.”

“For sure. Have been since her debut.”

He hands me his phone. “Put her on.”

I stare at him questioningly. “You want to listen to Taylor Swift?”

He shrugs. “I’m supposed to be getting to know you better, right? I should probably know what music you like.”

Stunned, I take the phone from him. “Okay then. I’ll play my favorite album.”

We relax into the seats as the plane takes off. Knox is at ease with his hands behind his head and eyes closed. And I can’t help but smile. Though the gesture to listen to my favorite artist is small, it’s still very sweet.

I’m already starting to learn more about Knox than I thought I would.

Once we land in Atlanta, Rory and I make our way to the hotel room we’re sharing for our stay. She keeps eyeing me, and I know she wants to garner more information about anything that happened on the plane. Nothing happened, but I’m sure she and Lucia will both start pestering me once she gets here.

I unpack my suitcase and fill up my side of the dresser while Rory takes care of her side. When that’s finished, I flop onto my bed and pull out my phone. I haven’t checked Starred and Fast since yesterday afternoon—before the entire world knew me as Knox Spencer’s girlfriend.

I pull up the page and find the creator dashboard, clicking that to see my stats, such as views, email subscribers, and so on. And I’m dumbfounded.

“Holy fuck!” I shriek, startling Rory. “Holy fucking fuck, Rory!”

“What is going on?! What’s happening? Why are we fucking fucks?”

“Rory, the blog. Come look at the numbers.” She walks over, and I show her the phone. When she reads through everything, her mouth falls open.

Doubled. Everything has doubled since yesterday. Twice as many views. Two times as many email subscribers. This all happened in the less than twenty-four hours since we announced this fake relationship.

“Lo, this is amazing!”

There’s a knock at the door. “I hear excitement, and I need to be involved!” Lucia demands, voice muffled through the wooden door. Rory lets her in, and I show her everything.

“Harlow! That’s incredible! Your fake relationship is already paying off.”

“I can’t believe this honestly. It’s not even been a day yet. My ad revenue for this month will be much higher than usual.”

Lucia and Rory join me on the bed, sitting on either side of me. They lean in for a group hug as Lucia says, “I’m so happy for you, Lo.”

“ Starred and Fast is finally taking off,“ Rory adds.

The heartwarming moment is broken by the ringing of my phone. I look at the screen, and my stomach drops: Ella .

Well, I guess it’s time for another interrogation.

“Hey, Ella,” I say as I answer the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Harlow, you know exactly why I’m calling,” Ella replies from the other line.

I let out a breath. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”

“Lo, when were you going to tell me you’re dating Knox?!”

“It’s still new, Ell. I wasn’t intentionally keeping it from you.”

Technically, it is new.

And technically, I also didn’t know we were dating until a few days ago.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! We just had dinner earlier this week.”

“In my defense,” I lie, “we were celebrating your engagement that night. I wasn’t going to bring up my new relationship at that point.”

“And all that talk about not being sure you can talk Knox into an interview? What was that?”

I sigh. “That was me trying to play it off. I didn’t want to steal your thunder, Ell. I was going to tell you soon, though.”

“Well,” Ella says, and I can hear her smile through the phone, “I’m so happy for you! It’s so nice to see you getting back out there after Derek.”

“Yeah,” I reply uneasily. “It’s nice to finally be moving past him.”

That part’s true, at least. Even if this relationship isn’t real, I can still feel myself finally moving on after Derek. Maybe this is exactly what I need to do for that.

I continue the call by spinning the web of lies and deceit Knox and I agreed to when we started this whole arrangement. I don’t like lying to one of my best friends, but I don’t think I have any other choice. We can’t have more people knowing than necessary. I know she’ll understand when I tell her one day.

Once Ella is satisfied with the details I provide—all fake, of course—she lets me go, and I decide to peruse the internet and see what’s happening. There are a lot of articles out right now, and I wonder what people are saying…