Easy?
How was Austin asking me out going to be easy? It felt impossible to me. Just talking to him made my heart race in the worst way. I couldn’t even imagine him seeing me like that. Not when I couldn’t even look at myself without picking everything apart.
“I have a couple of ideas, but I want to run them by you first.” He took out his phone.
My eyebrows rose. “You have a list?”
Was he serious right now?
“Of course I have a list. If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right.” He winked at me.
I forced a smile, even as my stomach twisted.
He made everything sound so simple, like fixing me was just a checklist away. But I wasn’t just shy. I was terrified. Of attention. Of rejection. Of being seen and not being enough.
“First things first, I stalked your social media a bit last night to see what you’re posting.”
“What?” My voice cracked, and I prayed he couldn’t hear the panic underneath it.
Eden chuckled at my stunned expression, shrugging nonchalantly. “Hey, don’t act surprised. It’s all part of the plan to understand you better and help you get out of your comfortzone.” He tapped on his phone. “You never post pictures of yourself.”
“I don’t like taking pictures of myself,” I admitted.
There. I said it. But it still felt like peeling off a scab. It was too raw, too exposed.
“That’s going to change.” He looked up from his phone, making sure I couldn’t silently disagree with him.
And just like that, I felt pinned under his gaze. Like he could see right through every carefully practiced expression I wore.
“If you want Austin to notice you, you need pictures. More importantly, you’re going to post pictures withmein them. And I’ll post some with you on my socials.”
I laughed. “Not happening.”
Not because I didn’t want to, but because the idea of people seeing me next to him—perfect, golden, untouchable Eden—felt like standing under a spotlight and waiting to be judged. Like everyone would look at the two of us and instantly know I didn’t belong beside him.
That I was the joke in the picture. The before to his after.
“Yes, it’s happening,” he said with infuriating confidence. “Me being in those pictures will attract attention from other St. Trewery students, which you’re going to want. You want Austin to notice you, no?”
“Austin, yes, but not random students who only care about finding their way into your bed,” I replied.
And definitely not the kind of attention that came with whispers and stares. I didn’t want to become the topic of some group chat that laughed about how Eden King was wasting his time on someone like me.
Eden grinned mischievously in response. “Oh, don’t you worry, Ally-Bear. I have no doubt that guys will slide right into your DMs, showinggreatinterest in you as well.”
I rolled my eyes. “I think you’re forgetting that that’s not exactly my goal.”
“Nope, not forgetting. But with more traction on your account and in your DMs, you’ll hopefully find it easier to walk around campus and find people you’re actually interested in. Doesn’t Asiya think you could use some friends, too?”
Okay, rude.
Also true, but still rude.
I blinked at him, trying not to show how much that stung.
Did everyone see me as this awkward loner who didn’t know how to function? Maybe they were right. Maybe I was just forgettable. Easy to ignore. The kind of girl people looked past instead of at.
Then again, that was what I was going for.