We sat in silence for a few moments after I finished recounting the past. Until Lottie finally whispered, “Oh, Em.”

I shrugged. “Now you know why I can’t see him.”

“I get how much it would hurt. But he still doesn’t know—”

“He doesn’t have to know.”

“Would it not give you closure to at least tell him?”

I shook my head. “I don’t need closure. I just need my space.”

She heaved a sigh. “I understand.”

“But how do we save the website without him?”

“There must be a way to convince him to help us otherwise.”

“How?”

◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷

“Okay, now phone screen on. Yup. Look at the camera. Lovely. Okay, now I just have to type the message, and… sent.” Lottie had a plan to get Frazer’s attention. She was certain she could persuade him to help out our website without me having to do the interview. Though the means to do so were… questionable.

“What did you write?” I asked.

“Oh, just that I’m your new best friend. And that you’ve just told me a really interesting story about the both of you. And that I have some ideas of how to patch things up.” Then, for good measure, she showed me the message, my picture nestled at the bottom. I was holding up my phone, today’s date and time displayed. Lottie hoped it would make her stand out amongst the sea of messages he got on Instagram.

“Do we even know if he runs his own Insta anymore?” I then asked, feeling the knot in my stomach tightened as I doubted any of this would work.

“Felicity said she got through to him on it.”

“This doesn’t feel right to bait him like that.” Even worse, I felt uneasy that he had a picture of me now. Had I gotten uglier? Less suitable?

“I thought you hated the guy.”

I sighed. “It’s more complicated than that. Just because he hurt me doesn’t negate the fact that—” Yet my words were cut short by her next statement.

“Oh my gosh he’s ringing me.”

Leaning around her phone, sure enough a call was coming from on the message app. “Don’t answer it.”

“Oops,” she said, clearly not apologetic as her thumb hit the green button. Then she was quick to press speaker. “Hello?” she greeted, shooting me a sly smile.

All the while I tried to mime to her to not, under any circumstance, let him know I was there and could hear him.

“Can you put Emilia on?” his voice rang through the air, caressing my heart with its musicality. Even this long on, I still found him hypnotic. I still adored the sound of my name coming from his mouth.

“I’m afraid she’s stepped out of the room.” While Lottie’s voice held all the seriousness it needed to, her face showed otherwise. Eyes wide, grinning from ear-to-ear, I could tell she was in fangirl heaven.

And I couldn’t help but grimace at her, disappointed that despite everything, despite that she had supported me, she was still gushing over him. Yet my anger didn’t last long. 

Because I got it.

I understood better than anyone else just how amazing it was to have Frazer’s attention, even if it was just for a moment.

Even if it was the last thing I craved these days.

“Then go get her and—”

“Um, excuse me Mr Young, but I have a duty of care to protect my best friend from people who may hurt her.”

“I’m not going to—”

“But you already have.”

He was silent.

Finally the fangirl facade dropped from her face as a seriousness washed over her. “She doesn’t trust you anymore to be there for her when she needs you.”

“And you’d rather I talk to you? How do I know that the photo is even real?”

“Did you not see the date and time?”

He said nothing in reply.

Lottie sighed. “Fine. What if I said I know you met at the park swings?”

“That’s easy enough to assume if you listen to my songs.”

“Okay… how about I know you never told Em about your birthday, even though you had spent the whole day with her, until your mate Kevin outed it?”

“That’s… Sure. Maybe she would have mentioned it before. But that doesn’t mean you really know her.”

“Fine. I’ll go there. She told me all about the camping trip you two and your friends went on before in the last school holidays, just before you took off on your first Australian tour. I know she spent the first day avoiding you because of what she overheard. I know what you later said to her by the lake. And I know that evening you two—” 

“Okay, okay. I believe she told you everything. But… What do you expect me to do? Because I feel I’ve tried everything I can. I called. She’s blocked me. I called her dad. He’s told me off and blocked me. I’ve emailed, and they bounce back. I’ve written letters, and they get returned. Heck, I’ve even written songs hoping to reach her, and—”

“Prove to her that you’re willing to change.”

“And just how do I do that when she won’t talk to me?”

“By showing her that you will support her dreams. Heaven knows that’s all she did for you, and got extremely burned when you dropped her.”

“I didn’t—”

“Em has found something she really loves: journalism. And she’s found an amazing group of people who get her and she calls friends in our media team. Help us save our website, show her you’re willing to be the friend you forgot to be, ensure she has her safety net to fall back on if you ghost her again, and then maybe we can see about getting her to talk to you.”

He was quiet for a few moments, as if he was actually mulling it over. “Do you mean the campaign plan your Editor wants to do?”

“Yeah. Though it was my idea… not to boast or anything.”

Frazer sighed. “Okay. Sure. I’ll do it. But only if Em is there.”

“I told you she’s not going to—”

“She doesn’t have to interview me. She doesn’t have to say a word. And I swear I won’t speak to her either. Because if, in the end, none of it is enough, then at least I got the chance to see her again.

Lottie glanced up at me, and I could almost see the love hearts in her eyes. But when I stared at her blankly, unsure what to say, she replied with, “I’ll see if I can convince her.”

“Thanks. And Lottie?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m so glad she has you. You’re a better friend than I ever was.”