That made the air between us feel heavy and I meant to say something in response, but we were interrupted by a director that he’d worked with a couple of years ago who wanted to say hello. That continued happening for the rest of the evening—Noah would give me the 411 on everybody around us, and then there would be a steady stream of industry types who all wanted to chat with Noah and shake his hand.

Not that I could blame them.

When he stood up, I noticed his socks. They had pictures of his dog, Magnus, on them. Too cute.

During one of the breaks, I texted Shelby, because the only way he could have known about my love of all things gossip was from my best friend.

I glanced up, wondering where she was. I was about to text that it was fine but hesitated because it was kind of a lie. Things were going much better than fine, but I didn’t want to encourage her.

I was about to tell her to be herself and have fun, but she would have told me that she couldn’t do both. She was going to spend her entire evening stressed out of her mind and trying to figure out new ways to gain Harmony’s approval.

Then it was time to announce the winner in Noah’s category, Best Actor. I tried my best to look neutral and lean out of the camera frame when they called his name, even though my heart was fluttering in anticipation for him. I was hopeful he’d win even though all those betting websites said that there was no way he would. I wanted to tell him good luck, but I was still a seat filler and probably shouldn’t be caught on camera saying something like that. I wasn’t Noah’s date.

Even if it kind of felt like I was.

Sure enough, Chase Covington’s name was called as the winner. He kissed Zoe, and she stood up and loudly cheered for him, ignoring the cameras that were capturing her every move.

When the applause died down and Chase began his acceptance speech, I said to Noah, “I’m sorry you didn’t win.”

Then I did something that shocked me. I rested my hand on top of his to comfort him. It was something I would have done for Shelby or my mom if they’d just lost a contest. It was just a natural reaction.