I wiped at one of my eyes with the makeup removing wipe. "Yes, we do. Even our fans could tell something was up." I sat on the sofa, still rubbing my eye. "I don't want things to be weird, Kyle."

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I don't either," he whispered. After a minute he looked up at me. "Liz, can we just forget what happened? Please?"

I stared at the wipe in my hand. My makeup was almost off of the eye I'd been working on. Kyle had said he loved me. That wasn't something I could just forget. But if that was what Kyle wanted, I could let him think that. "Okay," I whispered, almost afraid to say it louder.

"Thank you." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I think..." He trails off and opens his eyes again. "I think we should put our show on hiatus after this next one."

"Hiatus?" That was probably a good idea. "For how long?"

He shrugged. "A month, maybe? I don't know." He ran a hand through his hair. "I just... I need some time."

I nodded. "I think a hiatus is probably a good idea."

He let out a breath and looked at me. "Thank you." We looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before he stood. "I think I should leave. I'll see you later, Liza."

"Take care, Kyle." He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Once he was gone from my bedroom, I buried my face in my hands. I wasn't upset enough to cry, but I did feel bad. How long had he been in love with me? How did I never notice?

A ping came from my laptop at the same time someone - Fiona - knocked on my door. I sighed. "Can I come in?" Fiona asked through the door.

I dropped my hands and stood. "Yeah, sure." I walked over to my computer and sat in my office chair.

Fiona opened the door and poked her head in. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said in a monotone as I moved the mouse on my laptop. "I'm fine."

She came in and walked up behind me. "You don't sound fine, and Kyle didn't seem fine. What happened between the two of you?"

I shook my head. There was a notification from App-Thetic. I swiveled my chair to face Fiona. "He wouldn't want me to tell people."

She leaned on my desk. "Oh, come on. It's just me. You know I'm good with secrets." True. I had to give her that. "Besides, I don't think he'd care if you told me. I'm your best friend, after all." A beat passed and I opened my mouth to respond, but she gasped. "No way!" she said, bringing her hands up to cover her mouth. "Did he-?" She cut herself off with a shake of her head. "No. He couldn't have."

I sighed. "He, um, has feelings. For me."

Fiona's jaw dropped, but she didn't look very surprised otherwise. "That's awe-" She stopped and eyed me critically. "You don't look very happy."

"I'm not."

"You look miserable."

"I'm not miserable," I protested. Really, I wasn't. I felt a lot of things, but miserable wasn't one of them. "I'm just kind of, I don't know." I lifted a hand and let it drop back onto the desk. "Sad. It's not like I don't kind of wish I felt the same just so I could tell him, but I don't." I ran my hands through my hair. My eyes wandered over to my laptop for a brief moment. Nope, misery wasn't one of the things I felt. Curiosity, on the other hand...

"Aww," she said as she came closer. She crushed me in a hug that I wasn't prepared for. "It'll be okay," she said softly. "I'm sure things will work out between you two eventually."

I awkwardly hugged her back. "Thank you," I said quietly. The hug wasn't unwelcome, but it was unexpected. She pulled away and looked at me with what I called her pity-eyes. "I'll be okay, so don't worry about me. I just need some alone time."

She pouted but within seconds she gave me a small smile. "Okay, then. If you need to talk, I'll be in the living room."

"Okay." She walked out and I released a breath I didn't think I was holding. I waited a minute to see if she was coming back, but she didn't. I opened App-Thetic and found a message from Shawn.

S: Good job.

I rolled my eyes as I answered.

L: Thanks. I lost, but thanks.

S: I didn't think that'd matter much.

L: It's my pride!

S: Yeah, yeah. Face it - he looked like he needed the ego boost.
S: He looked hurt.

L: It was because of a talk we had beforehand.

S: You didn't tell him, did you?

L: No! Of course not! It was of a more personal nature, tbh.

S: Please, no acronyms unless you're shortening a name. I hate them.

L: Fine. No prob.

S: Don't shorten words, either.

L: Ugh. Fine.

I smiled to myself. For some reason, I found I enjoyed trying to annoy him. Still, I didn't try to push his limits - we didn't actually know each other and pushing him might be a bad idea.

L: Well?

S: Well what?

L: How are you getting the proof you need?

S: Oh, that.
S: It's a long story and it's late...

L: It's not even seven yet! It is NOT late. Spill.

S: I don't know...

Honestly, it wouldn't be the first time I was trolled, but I had a feeling he was being this way on purpose. Still, it felt like he was taking forever to answer me. Maybe he was hesitant? Not that I'd blame him for that...

S: The thing is, I need someone who works at Vitality.
S: We.
S: We need someone who works at Vitality.

L: Like I do?

S: No, someone at the physical building.

I drummed my fingers on my desk. I lived in the outskirts of the metro part of St. Louis. Vitality HQ was in Dallas. I didn't really know anyone from there, and it wasn't like I could go there.

Wait. Why was I even considering this? I shook my head and frowned.

L: I don't know anyone in Dallas who works for them.

S: I didn't expect you to.
S: I just hoped you did.

L: You did?

S: Yep.
S: Look, I don't expect you to help.
S: It would be a huge inconvenience for you.
S: Plus you'd have to end your show.

L: True...
L: I'll still ask around to see if I know someone who knows someone who works at the place and let you know if I find someone.

S: Really?

L: Sure. I hate it when someone doesn't follow through on their promises.

S: It's worse than that, actually.

L: What do you mean?

Minutes passed and there was no answer. I was getting ready to begin my research for the next show when his next one popped up and chilled me.

S: I mean that some of those programmers that coded for Vitality went missing.
S: And they've never turned up.
S: Not alive.
S: Not dead.
S: They're just gone.

There was a lull in our chat as his words sank in. As I was getting ready to say something, I got another message.

S: And I'm scared that I'm next.

I shivered at his words. Sure, he was a stranger and could be blatantly lying to me, but what if he was telling me the truth? What if he really was in danger and I didn't do anything? I groaned at the snap decision I made in my mind.

L: Why do you think you're next?

S: I did some of their programming.
S: I didn't get paid for it - it was basically stolen - but I can't do anything about it.
S: Those people who went missing?
S: That's what happened to them.

L: Were you friends with them?

S: Some of them, yeah, and others were merely people I knew through Trina.

I wondered who Trina was to him, but I didn't dare to ask. Not yet. They were obviously close, though, and I got the feeling he was protective of her.

L: I'm sorry.

S: It's fine. Don't worry.
S: I just kind of wish I knew what happened to them.

L: Yeah.

I stared the text on the screen and began to feel awkward. What came next in this conversation? I felt weird ending it here, but what else could I do? He wasn't saying anything else, and I didn't think he'd want to carry this conversation on. At least, I didn't want to continue this topic.

L: I need to get started researching for the next show before I head to bed.
L: My other job starts at six.

S: Other job?

L: Customer service rep for Life Bar.
L: Basically, I sit in my bedroom taking calls from random and sometimes irate strangers until lunch after I'm drug out of bed at an hour no one should be stirring.

S: Ha. Nice.

L: Yep. Hey, at least they pay well. Anyway, I need to go.
L: Talk to you later?

S: Of course. Take care of yourself.

L: You too.

I stared at the conversation I'd been having for longer than I intended. If it wasn't that I had to read an email I'd gotten earlier in the day from Life Bar I probably would have taken longer to go over our messages again and again and again. So I opened my mail program and waited for it to load. Once it did, I saw the title: Our Merger.

Nope. Not yet. I hopped up and wandered into the kitchen in search of food. I'd hoped Fiona was in her room by now, or that she wouldn't hear me open the fridge, but she was still in the living room that was attached to the kitchen, watching TV.

"How's the research?" she asked, muting the show she was watching.

"Um, great," I lied. "Yep, really good. I kinda need to get back to it." I hurriedly scanned our fridge for something I wanted, but all we had were frozen fries and stuff in the pantry to cook. I sighed as I grabbed a can of soda and closed the fridge. "Or maybe I'll take a break," I muttered as I got the fries out of the freezer.

Fiona watched me while I got a baking tray out of the cabinet and poured the fries out on it. "You seriously want to eat fries now?" she asked in a slightly accusatory tone.

"They're sweet potato," I argued back as I heated the oven. "They're different." I turned to her. "And, yes, I seriously do. I don't feel like cooking anything else and we don't have anything else in the fridge." I opened the can and sipped at the Dr. Pepper. My eyes closed. I'd missed this sweet, fizzy liquid more than I thought.

"They're still not exactly good for you." She lifted the remote then stopped. "Did you at least grease the tray this time? I don't want a repeat of last time."

"Um," I said. I opened the pantry and pulled out the bottle of Crisco. "No." My voice was a little on the high-pitched side and I could almost feel Fiona's eyes roll even though I couldn't even see them from where I was.

"Thank you," she said as she turned the TV volume up again.

Nearly thirty minutes of listening to someone ramble on and on about how to make jewelry later I carried my plate of lightly salted fries to my bedroom. My laptop was quick to remind me I had an email to read. With a sigh I opened and skimmed it. Then slowly read it.

At first, I was relieved. Life Bar was only informing me of the change in ownership, but then when I read more I realized they were updating policies. That alone wasn't too bad, but they were also changing my hours. Now, I was doing customer service from 12-6 AM for Vitality, not just Life Bar. I groaned and fought the urge to bang my head on my desk. Those hours were insane. If I didn't need the money I'd have quit right then and there. I forced myself to finish reading the email instead.

They wanted me to go to Dallas to their headquarters in a week for a week of training for my new company.

Almost before my brain caught up with what I was doing, I was typing out a message.

L: I know someone who's going to be at Vitality HQ in a week.