The Plus One Problem

Kira

"Absolutely not."

I said it before Margot even finished her sentence. Before the words "Theo Strand" fully left her mouth. Before my brain could process the sheer audacity of what my supposedly best friend was suggesting.

"Kira—"

"No." I stabbed my fork into my salad with more violence than the innocent arugula deserved. "I would rather show up to Daniel's wedding alone, wearing a garbage bag, with 'I peaked in college' tattooed on my forehead than spend five minutes pretending to date that man."

Margot sighed the sigh of someone who had clearly prepared for this reaction. "You haven't even heard the full plan."

"I don't need to hear it. The plan involves Theo Strand. The plan is therefore trash."

"He needs a fake girlfriend for his family reunion the same weekend. His mom keeps setting him up with her friends' daughters and he's desperate."

"Good. I hope she sets him up with someone who talks about cryptocurrency for four hours straight."

"Kira." Margot reached across the table and put her hand on mine. The gesture was too gentle, too understanding. I immediately distrusted it. "Daniel's wedding is in three weeks. You've RSVP'd plus-one. And every guy you've tried to bring has mysteriously become unavailable."

"That's not—"

"Marcus got food poisoning."

"Coincidence."

"James remembered a work trip."

"These things happen."

"And Tyler suddenly developed a deep spiritual calling to a silent meditation retreat in Peru."

I took a very long sip of my wine.

"My point," Margot continued, "is that you're running out of options. And showing up alone to your ex-fiancé's wedding to the woman he left you for is not the power move you think it is."

The words landed exactly where she intended them to. In the soft, bruised place I'd been protecting for two years. The place that still remembered Daniel's face when he told me he'd "found something real" with someone else—as if what we'd had was counterfeit.

"I could hire an escort," I muttered.

"You could. Or you could bring a CEO who Forbes called 'the most eligible bachelor in tech' and watch Daniel's face when he realizes you're doing better than him in every measurable way."

Damn her. Damn her for knowing exactly which buttons to push.

"Theo Strand hates me," I said. "In case you've forgotten, I wrote a twelve-thousand-word exposé about how his company was exploiting gig workers. It went viral. There were congressional hearings."

"And then he implemented every reform you suggested," Margot sa...