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‘partying.’”
    â€œThat’s awful,” I said, like she’d just told me her puppy had been kidnapped.
    â€œI know, and the worst part is that … ” She paused, and looked around to make sure thatnobody was listening. “The worst part is that this basically separates me from my soul mate, who I am so desperately in love with.”
    â€œOh no!”
    â€œDon’t worry,” Sara-Beth said, stroking my hand. “I found him.” Then she smiled happily, like that explained it all. “So … what’s your name?”
    â€œFlannery Flood,” I said, “but everybody just calls me Flan.”
    â€œFlood … ” SBB put a finger to her temple, signaling thought. “Are you Patch Flood’s little sister?”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œOh, that must be why you’re so pretty,” she said sweetly. “I’ve met your brother. He’s been nice to me.”
    I just nodded, because I’m basically deaf to compliments about my brother at this point, even if they are coming from a huge star.
    â€œAnd, he’s friends with my soul mate,” SBB continued enthusiastically.
    â€œReally?” I said. I had been picturing a tall, dark, swaggering self-made hotelier or something. And I would definitely know if my brother knew such a person.
    â€œUh-huh. And he’s soooo cute. Maybe you know him?” She grabbed my hand, and smiledat me like we’d been bff since second grade. “His name’s David.”
    â€œDavid
Grobart
?” I said, squinting my eyes at her before I could make myself stop. It isn’t that David isn’t cute or anything—he is, and really tall—but he’s sort of dopey. And he kind of had a crush on me at the same time Jonathan and I were going out, which means that Sara-Beth Benny and I have love life history in common. Which is
the weirdest.
“Really?” was all I could say.
    â€œReally,” Sara-Beth said, and her face was all bright and sunshiny. Then all of a sudden, it wasn’t. “Why isn’t this line moving?”
    â€œI don’t know,” I said. It was odd, now that she mentioned it—we hadn’t moved at all since SBB had cut in with me—but for some reason I was struck by this need to keep her from getting upset. So I said: “But isn’t this sort of nice? I feel like now we’ve had all this time to get to know each other. “
    And just like that SBB’s mood changed again. She seemed to be agreeing with me, but she also seemed to be glowing from within with this molten core of vulnerability.
“Yes,”
she said, grabbing my shoulder. “It is
so
nice to just girl-talk like this, even if it is in a bathroom line, it is just so really very nice.”
    â€œYeah,” I said, nodding my head furiously. “Totally so nice … ”
    â€œOh my God, you have no idea. Since I signed this contract it’s like I’ve been in hiding and I haven’t seen any of my girlfriends.”
    â€œThat’s awful. But can’t they come over to your house?” I said.
    â€œI’ve grown very afraid of my apartment,” SBB nearly wailed. “And all my friends are mean, mean, mean girls.”
    â€œOh,” I said, because there’s really no way to make a thing like that okay, right?
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œWell … you can come over and hang at my place if you want,” I said, before I could realize that I was inviting a celebrity over to my house. “I mean, my friend Liv just got into town, and she’s basically living there, so I mean, there are two of us. And it will be fun. Like a big sleepover or something!”
    SBB’s face was sunny again, like it had been when she was talking about David. “Really?” she said. “I can really come over for a sleepover? With you?”
    â€œOf course,” I told her.
    SBB threw her arms around me and