Chapter 16

DARCY

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Shopping for others makes me incredibly happy. Ashleigh and Sammie were my poor victims as I dragged them into stores and pushed them into dressing rooms, but their smiles at the outfits I put together made it totally worth it for all parties involved. It was exactly the distraction I needed to push Matt out of my brain. I may have gone a little overboard with my purchases, seeing all the bags. Whoops.

I toss them all down on the couch and pull a few things out, throwing them at Ashleigh and Sammie. "Ashleigh, you have to wear this red dress we got today. Cole will love it. With the black booties. And Sammie, if you don't wear those leather pants we got, I'll never speak to you again."

Our shopping spree was an overwhelming success, and I relaxed and just had fun. I put all my other worries aside for the day and it was nice. Sammie and Ashleigh hit it off, just like I knew they would. Ashleigh snapped tons of pictures of looks I helped pull together and posted them on her Instagram, tagging me as her stylist and, one of the three of us enjoying hot chocolates at a cafe near campus.

Ashleigh is a social media genius, using it for good and not for evil. She manages several high-profile athletes accounts, like Chance, helping them hone an image and get sponsorships. She manages Cole's accounts and helps promote his love of baseball and music and even helps Matt since he's not much of a social media guy.

My phone is buzzing like crazy at the notifications for likes and comments on her posts since she tagged me.

"How do you deal with all these notifications?" I ask Ashleigh. "My phone is blowing up."

"Simple - turn them off," she responds with a smile and shrugs. "I look at them when I want and only read them when I'm in the right frame of mind. Remember, it's a job for me." She gives me a wink and looks at her phone. She smirks and nods like she knows a secret.

"What's that look for?" Sammie asks.

"Hmmm, what?" Ashleigh looks up from her phone, laughs, and shakes her head like she just heard a bad dad joke. "You're feeling the Chance effect."

"The what?" Sammie asks.

"The Chance effect. Chance commented. See? Here." She points her phone to us, and we both lean in to see it. And there it is. A comment by Chance Fuller with almost eight thousand likes. Three of the most phenomenal ladies I know. He started and ended the comment with heart-eye emojis.

"And that's called the Chance effect?" I ask.

"Yup. Looks like I might have to change his password again. He knows I hate the attention. But honestly, I'm not mad about it this time. Hmm, how many new followers do you have, Darcy? They can be helpful as you establish yourself as a designer and your brand. Don't mock the power of the influencer."

"Ugh. I hate those Instagram girls who look for the next post." I drop down in my favorite chair, kicking my shoes off and pulling the throw blanket over me. I pull up my Instagram to see almost five thousand new followers. This morning I only had six hundred. Wow. That's the Chance effect.

"Me too, but strategically using posts is a great way to launch a business. Look at the Home Edit team. They started grassroots as two women who liked to organize. Their only advertising was on social media, and now they have a Netflix show, their own product line, and everyone clamoring for their services. Think about it. When you're ready, let me help launch you. Please?"

When I'm ready? Launch me? I don't know what my future holds after graduation in May, and it's been something that has kept me from sleeping recently. I thought I'd work for an interior design company, but I kind of like doing this independently. But starting my own business is scary. What if I don't have any clients? Or people don't like what I do? And it takes capital to start a business. Thinking about the future terrifies me.

"If that's my direction, you'll be my first call."

She gives me a warm smile. "You're going to do great things, Darcy Davidson. I know it."

"Hell yeah, she is!" Sammie shouts.

Everyone is much more confident than I am about my talents and my future. "Let's get ready for tonight. I'm ready to have some fun. And I can't wait to watch Cole and Jay's reaction."

If I'm honest, I'm ready to see someone else's reaction, too. I know it'll resolve one of my decisions, one way or the other. Do I have a chance with Matt? It felt like he was going to kiss me before we were interrupted. Or was it my wishful thinking? Maybe I'm reading it all wrong? I'm hopeful tonight will tell me if I was wrong about the door slam as a metaphor for us.