Anna sat up suddenly. “No, no, Alexander and I are fine. He’s perfect. We’re happy. Sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out. I don’t even know what made me ask that. I’m just tired, I guess. And since we were listing fears, I thought I’d throw one of my own in the ring.” Anna rarely opened up to her friends about her relationship with Alexander, and when she did broach the subject, everyone always had the same reaction as Lolly: that her boyfriend was perfect and she was lucky to have him. When other girls complained about their boyfriends, Anna found she rarely shared their problems. The only complaint she had about her relationship was that sometimes she found it a little dull, but she assumed this was because they had been together for so long already.

Anna stood and walked around the room to regain her focus. She needed to come up with a new approach. Now was definitely not the time to begin questioning her own heart.

X

Kimmie was having a much better time at Serendipity 3 with Dustin than she thought she would. Their initial meeting at Steven’s New Year’s Eve party had left her with a completely different impression of him. They had only spoken for a few minutes on Steven’s rooftop, and she barely remembered what they had talked about. Normally she had a flawless memory for conversations, but her poor recollection could be blamed on the Veuve Clicquot that had her more than a little tipsy.

On the elevator up to the party, Lolly had specifically told Kimmie, “Make sure you eat something before you start throwing back champagne.” Kimmie hadn’t experimented with alcohol like most kids her age due to the fact she was always in training, so she basically had no tolerance. She had had every intention of heeding her sister’s advice so she “wouldn’t end up the puke-and-rally girl or passed out in a pile of coats” as Lolly had warned, but that entire evening had gone in a direction she never could have imagined.

It wasn’t fair to blame her sister for what happened, but Kimmie did feel Lolly could have at least walked her around the party, maybe introduced her a bit before abandoning her to go find Steven as soon as they walked in the door. The party was already in full swing because they had arrived much later than planned. (Kimmie had watched her sister taking selfies in different dresses to see which one looked the best in different lighting for what seemed like hours.) Kimmie tried to push her way into the living room but instead found herself jammed into the corner right next to a hideous ice sculpture fountain, when a cute guy sporting a man-bun offered her a glass of champagne, which she accepted immediately, eager to make a friend.