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I wasn’t there and I don’t remember what happened, but you mentioned it and suddenly I had the answer. It’s really freaking weird, actually. I don’t know if I like knowing these things about total strangers.”
    “But they’re not strangers! We know a lot about Duncan and even Jake,” Julie burst out, grinning. “I mean, they’ve been on a zillion interviews together and stuff.”
    “Yeah, but that’s not their real life.” Emma paused. “I mean, it is, but it isn’t who they are when they’re done for the day and eating dinner. Or right when they wake up. The guy you see on TV is the public persona, the celebrity. The guys I know are the ones who forget to pick up their socks and leave pizza boxes on the counter overnight.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know if this is real! I mean, it feels real, but this is crazy!”
    “Emma, it’s real, believe me,” Julie began to say, taking a bite of her lunch, only to stop chewing when Emma sighed and put her sandwich back down without taking a bite.
    “Is it? Really? How do I know? It’s not like I can just call either of them up. I don’t have their phone number. They don’t have mine. For all I know, this is completely one-sided. And aside from the initial buzz about ‘mysterious tattoos,’” Emma crooked her fingers in air-quote fashion, “we haven’t seen anything lately on the news about this bonding thing.” She ran her fingers through her hair.
    Julie swallowed her last bite and winked at Emma. “It’s real. I know it is. I stalk Duncan on YouTube, and for the past few weeks he’s been wearing long sleeves. Why would he do that if not to hide something?”
    Emma laughed. “Seriously? You’re basing my mental coherence on whether or not Duncan Green wears long sleeves?”
    Julie laughed, too. “Yeah. The man almost never wears long sleeved shirts, and now all of a sudden he’s covering up? I don’t buy it. More importantly, most of his fans don’t buy it either.”
    “So what do they think is going on?” Emma asked, picking up her sandwich again. She was losing weight, stressed from lack of sleep and the constant sensation of worry over the bonding thing. That was pretty much the only positive thing that had come out of this situation.
    I could stand to lose a few pounds , she thought then blushed as she felt Jake and Duncan in her head, vehemently denying that she needed to lose weight.
    She heard Duncan murmur something about liking curvy women before they faded into the back of her consciousness. She forced herself to take a bite, ignoring the strange look Julie sent her way. She chewed carefully and swallowed before speaking again. “Where do you read this stuff, anyway?”
    “There are a lot of fan message boards and blogs. And most of the fans think he’s got a new tattoo. Strangely, no one seems to have noticed that Jake is wearing long sleeves, too, or put two and two together about the bonding tattoo thing.” Julie shook her head. “Honestly, I don’t get it. It’s obvious to me what’s going on.”
    Emma grinned. “It’s only obvious because you’re my friend and I’m going insane.”
    “You’re not going insane!” Julie snickered. “You were already insane.” Emma smiled and finished her lunch, swallowing the last bite just as the sound of a commotion suddenly filtered through the closed door of the office. Emma looked up, frowning while Julie walked to the door and opened it. The library was noisier than it should be during lunch hour. Sure, some students came to check books in and out, but Portia was usually able to handle any mischief so Emma and Julie could eat their lunch in peace. Right now, though, it sounded like there was a mob out there. Emma stood up to see what was happening.
    “I can’t help it! It hurts,” a girl was saying, clutching her arm and crying. A boy stood near her, trying to touch her shoulder, but Portia kept him away from the girl. Both kids looked like they were in