But there was something I had to do first. And when Fred went to pick up the tickets, I knew there was no time like the present. After Holly asking me all those questions, and his comments over the last day and a half, I needed to sort out the Logan situation before anyone else got the wrong idea. Most of all Logan. Sure, I was all up for doing what it took to win the challenge, but I didn’t want to mess with people’s feelings. Especially not someone who was so very, very interested in cars. Ha.

I’d hated dodging Holly’s question, but I didn’t want her to think badly of me. The truth was, I’d gotten so caught up in the competition that I’d let it go too far—so now it was on me to clear it up and say sorry if I needed to.

Earlier he’d posted on his stories telling his followers to “give the hottest US ambassador to Britain a follow.” I wasn’t 100 percent sure it was me until he followed up with one of my posts of my silly smiling face. It had given me a follower boost, but I knew it had to stop.

So here it came. The awkward slide into Logan’s DMs.

Thanks so much for the support. This ambassador can report that this trip is brilliant.

Such a Fred word. But getting to the point was hard.

Could I actually do this?

Looks it. How about we meet in person when you’re back so you can tell me all about it?

I almost spat my Vimto out. I looked at Fred in the line to see if he’d noticed, but he just gave me a goofy wave—and something about it made me feel as brave as I normally pretended to be. It was now or never.

It would be great to put a proper face to the…internet face! And it would be nice to say thanks for all the support. Just friends though, right?

So brutal.

But I’d done it. Dropped the friend bomb.

Logan was typing back. I didn’t mean to, but I stopped breathing as I waited.

Whatever you want. I’m still gonna back ya—a local girl’s gotta win right? #AlpinePeaksPatriots

Jeez. That went way better than I thought. Maybe I should have given him a bit more credit from the start? I was so relieved, I did an accidental fist pump.

“Two tickets to probably one of the most confusing nights of your life.” Fred held them out. “And can I say you look surprisingly happy about it?”

“What can I say? The Vimto was a pleasant surprise.” I smiled at Fred, who just gave me a happy shrug and asked if it was okay if he went to say hi to his neighbors.