Virtual Attraction [COMPLETE]

37| Ryder's Flashback

An hour later, I was lying in Victoria's sleeping bag-bunk bed contraption, clutching my sore stomach.

After I told her everything that had happened with Ryder, she responded, "You two are ridiculous."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"You're clearly still in love with each other."

"He has a girlfriend. There's no way anything could happen."

"Have you seen this supposed girlfriend of his? Have you met her? How do you know she even exists? For all you know, he could've made the whole thing up just to make you jealous."

"She exists," I said. Ryder was in college now. NYU. He had access to a million other college-aged girls who were probably throwing themselves at him.

Girls who were probably less work than me.

Prettier, even.

"I'm done with boys, V," I said. "I'm going to become a nun."

She shook her head at me, unconvinced. "Mmm-hmm."

Over the next couple of months, BlackLight sent me dozens of messages on Fable, but I refused to respond. In spite of myself, I read every message he sent me, but I couldn't bring myself to say anything back. Not now that I knew who he was.

He even sent me a poem from Demon in the Woods.

Despite how breathtakingly beautiful the words were, I deleted the message from my inbox.

As the seasons changed from a chilly, brisk New York winter to the ever-beautiful spring, I used my pain as motivation to finish my story Six Skinny B*tches.

By the time March rolled around, I had finished the story and was brainstorming what would happen to Wesley and Fern in the sequel.

Six Skinny B*tches had almost double the amount of reads it had when I'd first won the Fable contest. 3.5 million reads. I posted a message saying thanks to my readers and supporters who had followed the story over the past few months.

Fern&WesleyAreMyOTP01 commented: Thank YOU soooo much for this story

Fesley89 left a comment: I love you forever. When's the sequel coming out?

I just commented, Soon.

***

RYDER'S POV

I'd been to a million Mason parties before and this party was shaping up to be just like all the ones before it. Until I saw her. Blaze.

She hadn't noticed me yet, so I pulled down the hoodie of my sweater and leaned back into the loveseat I was sitting on.

I watched her, mesmerized. God, she was beautiful.

She was dancing with some guy I'd seen at a ton of parties before. Aiden? Adam?

Her whispered something into her ear which made her laugh, and I felt a pang of jealousy, wishing I was the one who was holding her in my arms.

After a couple of minutes of dancing along to the slow Drake song, she plopped down on the loveseat beside a girl who was probably her friend. I took the opportunity to send her a Fable message.

Help me, I wrote, then glanced up to see her reaction. Now that she was sitting on a loveseat, I could only make out the back of her head.