16. Harlan

16

HARLAN

The crack of the cue ball resounded over the music and chatter as it collided with the eight ball, sending it flying across the table before sinking into the right-hand pocket.

"We won!" Macy McMillian threw her arms around my neck.

Macy was a freshman when I was a senior, and I'd always suspected that she'd had a bit of a crush on me. My clues to this suspicion were the way her fair skin would turn bright red every time she saw me walking down the hall or even around town, and I said hi to her. The entire time I'd known the curly-haired brunette, I'd heard her say maybe five words. Typically, her face was always buried in a book. Tonight, however, she'd had three lemon drops and was being very friendly. So friendly, I'd had to extract myself from her grasp on more than one occasion over the past hour.

Weston and I started the night by hanging out and playing darts and pool with Brianna and Lissette, but Brianna had gone home with Mark Lyons about an hour ago. I'd tried to slide out unnoticed then, too, but Macy had subbed in, and Weston had caught me heading for the door. I told him two games and I was out. That was the second game.

"Good game!" Lissette applauded and then turned to her teammate, Weston. "We'll get them next time."

"Good game!" Skittles, the bar parrot, squawked loudly. He tended to repeat whatever pretty women said, and he seemed to be particularly partial to blondes, which Lissette was. "Get 'em next time."

The Comfort brothers owned Southern Comfort, the only bar in Firefly Island. It was not your typical dive bar. It had a resident parrot, and he wasn't the only animal attraction. Kevin Bacon, the Instagram-famous pig, also resided in the bar. Kevin had more followers on the gram than I did, and during peak tourist season, there were lines to take photos with him.

Weston wasn't quite as gracious as Skittles and Lissette had been over our victory. He stepped up to me, stopping just a few inches in front of me, and burped. Whiskey-scented breath fanned my face as he stated, "Rematch."

"Sorry, man. I'm calling it a night."

"Already?" Macy's disappointment was evident.

"Already? Already?" Skittles repeated.

"It's only nine thirty," Lissette pointed out.

"I get up at four," I explained, not mentioning that I hadn't had any sleep for about forty hours now.

I set the cue back in the stand. I turned and saw Mrs. B, who ran the boarding house in town, walking straight toward me, her finger pointed up at my face. "Your pic has a virus."

"Excuse me?" I had no clue what she was talking about.

"It has over a hundred thousand likes." She lifted her phone and revealed a photo of Daphne and me dancing at the gala.

It had been posted on the Firefly Island Instagram page, which had gained quite a few followers since the doc featuring the Comfort brothers had been streamed by millions of people. Between that and Abernathy Manor being named the number one Most Haunted House in America, the town that used to be a sleepy tourist island had gained quite a lot of notoriety. The town's page even had a few celebrities who followed it.

I stared at the photo, wondering why it had gone viral. We happened to be perfectly positioned in front of one of the spotlights, so the area around us glowed. There were shiny pieces of confetti floating around us. It looked like the photo had been staged, but I knew that it was just a candid shot.

"It reminds me of the photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle where they're both wearin' blue and walking in the rain under the umbrella." Mrs. B sighed wistfully.

"Does it?" I asked, having no clue what shot of the famous couple she was referring to. I didn't really keep up with pop culture unless it was related to sports.

"It sure does. It's like the rest of the world doesn't exist; it's just the two of you."

I didn't have any frame of reference for the Harry and Meghan pic, but her description was spot on for Daphne and me. That was exactly what it looked like. That's exactly what it had felt like, too. The crowded ballroom had disappeared; the loud music and talking faded to white noise. Daphne was all I could see, hear, and feel.

Before I could comment on that further, my phone buzzed in my pocket. All day, every time I'd received a message, I'd hoped it was from Daphne. My reaction would make a hell of a lot more sense if we'd actually exchanged phone numbers. Since we hadn't, I just felt like a total idiot.

The message was from Zoe, thanking me again for going to AJ's game and taking Walter. I sent back a quick response, saying that it was my pleasure and it was the least I could do. Before I put my phone away, I saw that there were bubbles indicating she was typing back. A second later, another text appeared. This one had the photo from the IG page attached. She asked me if I'd seen it.

I told her yes and looked at the photo even closer now that it was on my phone. I honestly didn't give a shit that the photo had gone ‘viral.' Everything seemed to go viral these days. I was sure the next new shiny thing would be posted soon. What I was happy about was that the photo existed.

The photographic evidence captured a moment in time that I was afraid I might have begun to believe had only occurred in my imagination. Last night was imprinted on my memory, but I feared that, over time, the memory would fade. Or maybe I'd tell myself that the connection I'd had with Daphne had been in my head.

But as I studied this photo, I had proof that it was real. She was real. Yes, we were both masked, but you could still see the connection in our locked gaze. It was palpable. And I wasn't the only one who thought that. The comments were full of people sharing the same sentiment and more.

There were a ton of flame emojis. Swoon City. Hot. Hot. Hot. Fanning myself. My ovaries are exploding. And other random statements.

Farm Strong was tagged in it since I didn't have a personal IG account and Daphne was, too. I'd looked her up earlier today, but I found myself clicking on her name again. The majority of the photos on her wall were of sunsets, beaches, food, and several group shots of people at dinner, singing karaoke, going hiking, and other various activities. I scrolled down to double-check if there were any photos of her with men. I hadn't seen any earlier, but it wouldn't hurt to give it another gander.

There were no photos of guys, except for in groups. She'd said she didn't want a relationship, so the fact that she was gone shouldn't bother me as much as it did. But, I couldn't help it. I just wanted more time with her. I wish she was still here.

But, as Grandad always says, "A wish and a dime'll get ya ten cents."