Lovie: Jess

Lovie: Jess

Lovie: JESS!!!

Jess: At your service.

Lovie: Oh, God 😑

Lovie: I just saw George at the beach.

Jess: Who?

Lovie: George!

Jess: You're going to need to be more specific, hon.

Jess: There are thousands of Georges out there.

Lovie: You know who I'm talking about.

Lovie: Tall, dark, and handsome?

Jess: Oh, yeah.

Jess: George the jackwagon.

Lovie: Jackwagon?

Jess: I could have said something else, but I'm being nice.

Jess: What's he doing in Hawaii?

Lovie: On vacation, I suppose . . .

Lovie: . . . with his girlfriend.

Jess: I bet that was awkward.

Lovie: It was.

Jess: How'd you know it was him?

Lovie: Well . . .

Lovie: I wiped out on my surfboard and then he swam out and got me.

Jess: That sounds like every other cliche movie.

Jess: Did he take off his shirt and give it to you?

Lovie: No.

Jess: Usually that's what happens.

Jess: This smoking hot guy rescues this girl and then he's like, "Are you all right?" Even if she says she's fine, he starts stripping down and then she's staring at his six-pack.

Lovie: It wasn't that good.

Jess: Bummer.

Lovie: He invited me to meet them at the beach tomorrow at one.

Jess: Wait.

Jess: He invited you to meet him at the beach when his girlfriend was standing there?

Lovie: Yes.

Jess: He hasn't changed a bit.

Lovie: Jess!

Jess: What? He broke your heart, and I've got some bitter feeling built up for that jackwagon.

Lovie: Stop saying that.

Jess: Why??? It's fun to say.

Jess: Jackwagon, jackwagon, jackwagon.

Lovie: 😑

Jess: So you're meeting him and his girlfriend at the beach tomorrow?

Jess: While you're at it, are you going to have a threesome?

Lovie: Jess, stop!

Jess: All right, all right. Sorry.

Lovie: And it's just not going to be them. John and the girl who was with him are coming too.

Jess: Ah, yes, I remember John.

Jess: He was a jackwagon too.

Lovie: Is that the word of the day or something?

Jess: I don't know. Maybe?

Lovie: Please tell me what I should do. This is going to be weird, especially since George cheated on me.

Jess: THEN WHY DID YOU TELL HIM YOU'D MEET HIM

Lovie: His eyes!

Jess: Wot

Jess: He gave you the puppy-dog eyes, didn't he?

Jess: When I met him, he didn't know how to work those eyes, but it seems he's got it down now.

Lovie: They were making me melt!

Jess: Oh, God, that's disgusting.

Jess: I have an idea.

Lovie: You always have an idea.

Jess: I know.

Jess: The only things I spend my time doing are scheming and making out with Mick Jagger.

Lovie: Barf.

Jess: Anyway, just don't show up.

Lovie: I can't do that.

Jess: Sure, you can. Being around him upset you, didn't it?

Lovie: Yes.

Lovie: I've already gone through three tissue boxes and I'm eating my second tub of ice cream right now.

Jess: Vampire Diaries?

Lovie: Yes 😩

Jess: If he makes you upset, just don't go.

Lovie: I don't want to do that.

Jess: Why? Because it would hurt his feelings? What do you think he did to you???

Jess: That jackwagon has some karma built up.

Lovie: He actually seems really sweet.

Jess: It's his eyes.

Jess: Guys like him know how to work them.

Lovie: He acts like the George I knew on Wattpad.

Jess: Before he cheated on you?

Lovie: Yes.

Jess: But he's got a girlfriend.

Lovie: Maybe he just invited me because he wants to be friends.

Jess: Ha. Very funny.

Lovie: I'll go.

Jess: It'll hurt you!

Lovie: I know, but I'm going anyway.

Jess: He can persuade a brick wall.

Lovie: He's not that bad.

Jess: It's the eyes, man 👀

Lovie: 😑

* * *

      "So how do you know her?" Pattie asked that evening when they'd gotten back to their hotel room.

      "I told you," George said, kicking off his sandals. "I met her on Wattpad."

      "She's an old girlfriend, isn't she?" Pattie said skeptically.

      "No . . . " George said in a halting manner.

      "She is," Pattie clarified. "Why'd you break up?"

      "Because it happens."

      "Why are you being so vague?"

      "Why are you being so questioning?"

      "Because I just met you two weeks ago and I don't know anything about you!" Pattie cried. That was two weeks ago? George thought, mind going back to when he'd pestered her to go out with him on the set of their movie. It felt like much longer than that. This was the first vacation they'd had for a long time, and he still didn't feel as if he could relax.

      "I'm sorry, Pattie, but I don't want to talk about it," he said and slipped into the bathroom.

      Pattie hovered outside the door. "If you aren't comfortable with it, why did you invite her to meet us tomorrow?"

      George didn't say anything. He couldn't explain it to her. He looked at himself in the mirror and splashed water on his face. He still felt horrible about what he'd done. He still had all the messages he and Lovie had exchanged on his phone and he read them whenever he wanted to make himself feel bad. He remembered something she'd said to him that stood out: when she'd told him about the bracelet she had stolen and said she wore it all the time to let the guilt tear her apart. That's what he was doing with the messages. To let them tear him apart.