Then, when we got to the river rapids ride, things started going spectacularly wrong.

It started with Ainsley announcing she needed the bathroom just as we got close enough to hear the running water. Brougham and Winona went straight in, and the line was surprisingly short, so I tried to talk her into powering through, but she insisted. And, naturally, during the three or so minutes it took us to finish in the bathroom, the line filled with dozens of riders, separating us from our stalkees by a good fifteen minutes on our return.

“We should skip it,” I said as Ainsley emerged. “They’re going to be finished in a sec.”

“But it’s my favorite ride.” Ainsley pouted. “They’ve been fine all day. Can’t you just text Brougham letting him know we’ll be running behind? We deserve a second to ourselves.”

I couldn’t say no to her puppy-dog eyes. And besides, she had a point. Brougham had practically just used me as a security blanket all day. He really didn’t need me. So, I took her advice, texting Brougham our whereabouts. It took us about half an hour to get through the line, and by the time we’d finished, half-soaked and smelling like chlorine and shivering in the cooling evening air, I was starting to feel twinges of guilt. Brougham had paid for us to come along, after all. We probably should’ve spent more time negotiating the logistics of my personal breaks.

Ainsley hummed “The Unbirthday Song” absentmindedly while I rescued my phone from her waterproof backpack—and lucky it was waterproof, because it’d taken a hell of a splashing—and I checked my messages.

Five message notifications. The most recent one from Brooke.

So, I have a girlfriend. CALL ME!?!?!?

All thoughts of guilt, and Brougham’s whereabouts, evaporated. My legs went weak, and my cheeks started to tingle. I felt winded, like I’d walked into a glass door I thought was empty air.

“What?” asked Ainsley.

I passed the phone to her wordlessly.

“Shit.”

I couldn’t reply. I was too dizzy. I’d left Brooke alone so I could follow Brougham around Disneyland for no fucking reason, stalking him and this poor girl so I could give feedback that was never even needed, and now I’d lost Brooke. I’d lost her. It could’ve been me she was sitting beside, me whose hand might have brushed hers, me who she might have turned to in a scary moment and kissed. But it wasn’t. Because I was here and Ray was there. My breathing started speeding up, and my eyes welled up with tears.

“Okay, time out,” Ainsley said. “Let’s go find somewhere to sit down.”

“No,” I forced out in a strangled voice. “We have to find Brougham. We have to…”

“Brougham can wait. Here, unlock it. I’ll send him a text. We won’t be long.”