It was time to hide myself in a corner and watch the rest of the event on the giant monitor hanging on the wall behind me. I found an abandoned folding chair and watched as a few more winners were given their little statues. My ears perked up when the host said it was time for the Best Actor award.

They announced all the nominees and cut to each one of them for a reaction shot. I caught my breath when they zoomed in on Noah, who looked a bit sheepish and was clapping for his fellow nominees.

The envelope was opened and . . . Noah didn’t win. Chase Covington did instead. Noah leaned forward to slap him on the shoulder in congratulations while Chase kissed his very pretty wife seated next to him.

Why did I feel so disappointed? I was being so weird tonight.

I was getting hungry again when Allan stopped by to check on me. I assured him I was still fine, and he handed me a package of M&M’s, which I took gratefully. “Shelby said I needed to keep you well fed.”

“This is why you’re my favorite out of all Shelby’s fiancés.”

That made him laugh, and he put a hand up to cover one of his ears, presumably to hear better. He pointed at his headphones, waved at me, and then went back over to the curtain as another commercial break started up.

The monitor showed the attendees chatting, and I couldn’t help but search out where Noah had been sitting. He was still there, concentrating on his phone, not talking to the woman beside him. It gave me a tingling flush of pleasure that he wasn’t interacting with his date.

I ate my bag of M&M’s while the lights went back up and they announced that they were going to present the award for Best Dramatic Feature. I was interrupted from my visual stalking of Noah Douglas when Shelby joined us backstage. Allan said something that made her laugh, and she kissed him in return. While I was so, so happy for my best friend, I felt an all-too-familiar twinge of jealousy that I had no idea how to be like that with someone else.

And my worst fear was someone finding out the reason why.

It was better for me to put this whole night behind me and just move on like it never happened. Because, logically and realistically, nothing was going to happen.

In what reality would Noah Douglas be interested in someone like me?

They announced the winner, and it was the Peruvian film that had been getting all the buzz. I hadn’t seen it. I preferred romantic comedies and fairy tales.