I wonder if Ross liked it as much as I did. But even if they did, what does it matter? Ross isn’t here for me; they’re here to go back home. I’m directing this damn rom-com of my life and the end goal is Dominic. The worst movies are ones where the director can’t stick to a solid vision. Winning D back will be a total flop if all of a sudden I let myself get distracted by one kiss. It had to have just been seeing him and Miguel have at it that made my body want some action too and really get into the kiss with Ross. Because it would be completely ridiculous to want somebody who literally can’t be with me.

I mean, they live in the fucking ocean.

And I need to remember that. Which is why, when I groggily get up after thrashing around all night, I’m really relieved to find a text from Kavya.

Mummy says we can go out on the water with her before our club shift if you’re interested. I just need to clear my head after yesterday’s meet. Bring your fake boo.

This is exactly what I need. A ride on the ocean with Ross. I need to see firsthand how much Ross loves it, how there’s no way they’d pick me over the Blue, how my horny-ass hormones need to just get themselves together and wait to have those soul-shattering kisses with my ex-turned-not-ex-anymore like I’d planned all along.

Maybe it’ll help Ross remember that too, if there is a tiny part of them that was starting to get into our act. Actors say this can happen, that they get so into a role they forget what’s real and what isn’t. That they’ll come home and carry the energies they had on set. Just look at all the actors who played couples on screen that ended up together in real life: Olivia Rodrigo and Joshua Bassett, Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. And those all ended eventually, so why would I think our story would end any differently.

Our kiss meant nothing, and I just need to forget it.

Kavya, meanwhile, is doing all she can to make sure I remember by talking about the kiss every minute since I got to her house.

“I am telling you, that kiss was major. Dominic so wants back in your pants,” she says as we load into Suri Cruiser to meet Avani, her marine biologist mom, at the Santa Monica Aquatic Research Launch. SMARL is a tiny dock, accessible only to government and university employees, like Avani, who have research to do off the LA coast. We’re going to grab Ross along the way.

“You’ve said that, like, twenty-six times already,” I say, buckling in the passenger seat.