Page 119 of Try Hard

“For both of us, I absolutely do. My priority is your happiness, your safety, and our privacy. And I will do whatever it takes to ensure that.”

“Your fans—”

“The real ones will get it. The rest are not people I want to be around. I love you with my whole heart, and nothing and nobody is changing that.”

“I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

“You didn’t have todoanything,” I said, knowing desperately how much she needed to hear it. Love had been so coached, so punishing in her past relationships. She needed to know she could be happy in it. “Just being you is enough. It always has been.”

“The first day I met you,” she murmured against my lips, “back when your hair was longer, you had it tied in a bun, but you’d been playing rugby, I imagine, so half of it was sleek and perfectly presented. The other half was wild and unkempt and beautiful.”

“Yours had been braided down your back. Art class. And, even then, you were more beautiful than any of the pieces we studied.” It was close to a physical compliment, I realised as I said it, ready to apologise if I made her uncomfortable, but Ophelia simply closed the distance between us, her lips finding me like they’d been searching for me since that very first moment.

“So were you,” she said into the kiss, and maybe they had been doing exactly that.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Fia

Sophie watched me through narrowed eyes as she and Marnie prepared to leave after dinner. Marnie was still chatting to my parents, while Jeremy was making tea and coffee. He was apparently staying a while longer, so he and Dad could watch YouTube videos from other plane enthusiasts.

The intensity of Sophie’s gaze was emphasised by the dramatic winged eyeliner, but it wasn’t the first time I’d been on the receiving end of her considering stare, so I was happy to ride it out. Eventually, she sighed and said, “Even if this whole thing is kind of shit, I’m happy for you.”

I frowned. “Thank you?”

“I’m contractually obliged to give Eve a hard time, as her only sibling—especially when she’s more than used to having people tell her how special she is—but, you know, she’s all right. You could do worse, I suppose.”

“I’m sure Eve will be so warmed by your enthusiastic praise.”

“Ugh.” She pulled me into a hug. “She really cares about you. You really care about her. And if that’s obvious in the middle of this shitstorm, then I think you’ll be happy together.”

I nodded, a small smile playing across my lips as she pulled back. “Well, thank you for that.”

“I still think you could have given me a shot.”

I shook my head. “I thought you had someone else you were giving a shot to?”

“Ah, you know.” She looked away, a blush playing across her pale skin.

“I could if you told me about it.”

“You’re just as bad as Eve,” she deadpanned. “No wonder you ended up with her.”

Despite all of the emotions of the day, of worrying that I was wrecking Eve’s life, I couldn’t help smiling. Sure, Sophie said I wasending upwith Eve like she thought that was a bad thing, but I knew she didn’t mean it, and I loved the notion. I still wasn’t sure I was the best influence in Eve’s life—and it felt like worse was to come with her impending statement—but she’d told me she loved me and that was the best thing anyone had ever said to me. I knew I’d go through anything for her, including all the online comments. Even the cruel ones, the ones that commented I was too fat or too ugly for Eve, that poked at old wounds and insecurities, were worth it to be with her. Not that they were remotely okay, but the way she looked at me, held me, and carried me around like she was barely breaking a sweat all made the healthier parts of my brain think the comments were nonsense. It was an unpleasant battle, but Eve so clearly didn’t believe them that I was trying to hold onto that part. The part where she thought I was worth being with and, in the end, her opinion was the only one that mattered.

I still wished the online discourse wasn’t happening, though. Relationships were complicated enough without thousands ofother people inserting themselves in the middle of one that didn’t concern them.

“I’m happy where I’ve ended up,” I said quietly.

“Despite the bullshit?”

“Yes.”

She smiled genuinely, nodding her head. “Well… I think I might have fucked up a bit, but I’m hoping we can figure it out.”

I tilted my head, watching her closely. “Fucked up how?”

“Oh, you know. Turns out people don’t actually like it when the person they’re into is hung up on their sister’s girlfriend.”