Nash’s eyebrows scrunch together. “Huh?”
My eyes point to the scar. “Your hand.”
“Oh.” Nash coughs. “Bike fail when I was seven. I hit a rock and flew right over the handlebars. Thought I was ready for the training-wheels-free life. Clearly, I was not. Stitches in the palm suck, by the way. Do not recommend.”
I pass another plate to Nash. “That is tragically generic.”
Nash laughs. “Oh, for sure. But it was still traumatizing! For my mom, at least. I don’t remember much of it.” He holds out his palm so I can see the full extent of the damage. “I don’t remember my hand ever not looking like this.”
If I were Kels, I’d trace his scar with my thumb.
But if I were Kels, I’d never know there’s a scar to trace.
What else don’t I know about Nash?
It’s just a scar, I remind myself. Anyone can fall off their bike. You know Nash.
He curls his fingers into a fist and returns to drying dishes and we revert to a more comfortable quiet.
“Do you bake?” he asks.
I blink and my heart skips a beat. “What?”
Nash stacks the dry plates. “I am clearly the master of segues.”
“And bicycles.”
He clutches his hand to his heart. “Ouch. Too soon, Upstate.”
I ignore his theatrics. “Sometimes,” I say. “But I like eating cupcakes more than baking them, I think.”
Nash nods. “Dude, same! My friend and I argue about this, like, all the time. She bakes cupcakes that are art, cupcakes that could win Food Network competitions. I know it’s her brand, but sometimes I wonder why she—why people—put so much effort into a product that is temporary, you know? At the end of the day, cupcakes are meant to be eaten. But if you love them, you have to see these.”
His phone displays One True Pastry’s Instagram page and I am dead.
Nash scrolls through my most recent #CupcakeCoverReveals and shows me his favorites—zooming in to point out the details of my artwork. I chew on the inside of my cheek because Nash is so proud of One True Pastry, so proud of Kels.
I’ve never heard anyone I’m not related to speak out loud about the work I do.
Nash doesn’t just speak, he brags. Like, This girl is my friend, how lucky am I? Just like how Molly and Autumn talk about REX. It’s surreal but also wonderful. It makes everything about our online friendship feel valid.
It also makes me feel like the biggest liar.
“They’re okay,” I say, focusing on scouring one of the mixing bowls.
Nash talking to Kels about Halle is one thing. I can’t listen to Nash talk about Kels. It’s too much.
“I was just trying to—”
I cut him off. “Nash. Stop. I have work to do, okay?”
This mixing bowl is going to sparkle by the time I’m done with it.
“You’re right.”
“You don’t,” I say. “I mean, it’s not like you’re getting paid to be here. I can finish up.”
I expect him to leave. Anyone else would. Not Nash. “We’re almost done. May as well finish what I started.” He tucks his phone in his back pocket and returns to his dish-drying duties.
We finish in a silence that is as far away from comfortable as you can get.
September 28
Kels @OneTruePastry 2hr
NEWS! I am so excited to announced that One True Pastry will be hosting the EXCLUSIVE cover reveal for READ BETWEEN THE LIES by @ArielGoldberg! Tuesday 10/1 @ 2 PM EST. Watch this space—I’m almost positive I outdid myself with this one
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Ariel Goldberg @ArielGoldberg 55min
AHH I’m so excited that @OneTruePastry is hosting the cover reveal for READ BETWEEN THE LIES. I’m so obsessed with this cover & her cupcakes. I can’t wait to see what Kels comes up with!
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Nash Stevens @NashStevens_27 52min
@ArielGoldberg it’s going to be EPIC @OneTruePastry is killing it
EIGHT
On the last Saturday of September, I am neglecting homework for Read Between the Lies.
Ollie and I filmed the cover reveal on Thursday night at Maple Street Sweets, after hours. Since Gramps’s house is a no-cupcake zone, the process of baking and executing a cinematic cupcake cover was complicated. We draped a white tablecloth over one of the tables. Ollie stood on a chair and pointed the camera down, careful to make sure the table was the entire shot.
I wore a long-sleeve black shirt and swapped my chipped blue nail polish for black. It took a few takes to get the lighting and cupcake placement right. Once we did, we got a few extra takes for good measure.
Now I’m editing the footage in Premiere and it feels so right, so natural, after spending so much time with my parents in post, that I can’t believe I never thought to do this before.
It looks exactly how I pictured it in my head and I can’t stop smiling. I baked chocolate cupcakes, since most of the cupcakes are black frosted to mimic the redacted lines on the cover. The splatters of red blood pop. The timing between placing the next cupcake is even, allowing me to manipulate the footage to make it as fast or slow as I want.
It’s too perfect.
My followers are going to freak out.
While the final cut renders, I continue reading my very own, very not edible version of Read Between the Lies. I may or may not have screamed when I opened the mailbox and the ARC was waiting for me inside. It’s a book worth dropping everything for—which is exactly what I plan to do, once the video is all set. I’m already one hundred pages in and completely enthralled. I’m so picky when it comes to thrillers, mostly because I have a weird sixth sense and can always predict who the killer is fifty pages in. But with Ariel Goldberg, I’m still guessing.
It’s such a nice break from the Alanna LaForest Twitter drama. Since the EW article, my Twitter following has grown exponentially, which is awesome timing with the cover reveal coming. But also not, as the level of trolling has increased along with it.
Elsie Porter @ElsiesShelf 2hr
How can @OneTruePastry straight up disappear at a time like this? Alanna NEEDS our support! Like, literally she just said she wants her book to be read by a wide audience? And now she’s being boycotted? Pile-on culture is TOXIC.
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Jamie K. @jamiereadsya 2hr
lololol that’s a real interesting interpretation. alanna’s statement implies that it’s not enough for her book to be read and loved by teens??? which is pretty hurtful?? as a teen?
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Abby In Wonderland @abbyinwonderland 2hr
So much for seeing FIREFLIES & YOU. Also … so much for @OneTruePastry being a teen advocate?!
For the first time in the history of One True Pastry, I don’t know what to say.
I don’t want to isolate my followers who are hurt by Alanna’s words.
But every time I think about signing a Fireflies and You film boycott, I think of Grams.
I know Alanna wrote it, but it’s Grams’s too. She was so excited for the movie. Even when her health was deteriorating and she was hospitalized more than she was home, she believed she’d be around long enough to attend the red carpet premiere. And—I can’t boycott it. I just can’t.