Nikki sighed. This wasn't the first time Jenny had messed up or gotten confused when inviting her to an event. Apparently she had seen the monogrammed "CK" hand towels and assumed the party was a Calvin Klein launch.

It was not.

She peeked her head around the corner of the hallway that led to the event space's bathroom, sighing as she saw Colton Keese, standing on a raised stage, covered in gold chains and trying to pry open a bottle of champagne. Preston stood a few feet to the side and back, periodically glancing at Colton as if trying to decide if it was worth trying to help him with the bottle.

Out on the floor of the event space, there were neatly arranged round tables, covered with white tablecloths and heaped with hors d'oeuvres. It probably would have been more impressive if she hadn't seen the exact same setup at other events Jenny's company had catered for.

Uniformed caterers circled around the tables, refilling drinks and taking away empty plates. Several tables were empty--Nikki had arrived at the actual time the event was supposed to start, but apparently many of the guests had decided to be fashionably late--while others were full of hired models or Colton's cronies.

Colton finally popped the champagne's cork out, sending it flying across the room. He threw his arms up in triumph, showering the stage in foamy wine. Nikki winced. If someone didn't clean that up quickly, it was gonna get sticky.

Colton handed the bottle to Preston and stepped forward to tap the stage's mic. "So looks like not everyone is here yet, that's cool, that's cool. I guess we can wait a few more minutes before we really get things started. But first of all, my new clothing line is officially launched!"

The crowd broke out in mild applause. Preston stepped forward and whispered something in Colton's ear. "Oh yeah, and my boy Preston here finally reached two milly!"

"But anyway, yeah. It's been a long journey for me to get to where I am today, and I couldn't have done it without all my loyal fans. It's crazy to think I started out as, like, this normal guy and now I'm this big time celebrity!"

Nikki rolled her eyes. Colton's parents were famously wealthy--a lot of his early content had been what amounted to mansion tours and lavish vacation blogs--so that was at best a disingenuous statement, and at worst an outright fabrication.

As Colton droned on about himself, she thought about if she should just leave. She'd put a fair amount of effort into selecting a nice dress and doing her makeup, but she did that on some days when she didn't even go out. On the other hand, she hadn't eaten dinner before coming and the appetizers on display were admittedly tempting.

"I used to be bullied in school! People were jealous of me just because I was good looking and popular with the girls. But I overcame that, and I believe that you can overcome your challenges in the same way!" Colton announced as Nikki snuck through the back of the crowd, looking for Jenny. It was hard to pick her out when all the catering staff had to wear the same white shirts and black skirts, but she eventually found her.

Jenny saw Nikki and stopped, holding out a glass of champagne and looking apologetic. "Heyy, Niks! Sorry about the mixup, haha, but if you want I can take my break early and we can hang out in the back and make fun of everyone."

Nikki accepted the glass of champagne and downed it. "I can stay for a little, but I don't want to hang around too long."

Jenny nudged her. "Girl, maybe this'll be good for you! Exposure therapy. This can remind you that actually Preston is shitty and you shouldn't be hung up on her. Him. Whatever."

She glanced over her shoulder. "Fuck, that's my supervisor. Sorry, Niks, I gotta get back to work. I'll meet you by the exit door over there, kay?"

Nikki was left standing awkwardly alone with an empty champagne glass. She slowly migrated towards one of the tables that had filled halfway up with some other influencers she had met at previous cons.

"Hey, Nikki!" Jonathan said brightly. He was another beauty YouTuber who was eternally full of energy and pep. He was nice enough, but best handled in small doses.

"Oh, hey!" Sofia said as she noticed Nikki taking a seat. Sofia was another beauty tuber with a surprisingly dark sense of humor and a slight tendency towards goth looks. Nikki liked her.

"I'm a little surprised you were invited to this," she confided to Nikki. "TBH I thought Colton didn't exactly seem, uh, great about trans issues."

"I wasn't... invited, per se."

Sofia laughed. "Ah, party crashing. Bein’ a bad girl. I've been there. You want one of these rolls?"

Nikki gladly took the offering of food and turned back towards the stage.

"And that's why I'm glad to be announcing my brand new book, This Book is Not a Drill, available September tenth at a bookstore near you. Now, I believe Preston wanted to say a few words? Hopefully he won't bore you too much." He paused a moment for laughter before handing the mic to Preston.

Preston stepped forward, looking out across the audience. As her eyes passed Nikki's table, her eyes registered a moment of shock before moving on. She shook herself a bit, cleared her throat, and started talking.

"I'm... I'm not great at speaking so I'll try and keep this short. I'm really grateful for all the support and I can't believe that there's millions of people who want to watch my videos! I always wanted to be a YouTuber, almost as long as I can remember, and I'm finally there! It's not really what I expected, though. It's a lot of work, putting out videos every week, and sometimes it doesn't feel real. I know people are watching my videos, but I don't know their faces. I don't know them, even though they know me. Well, kinda. They know the me that I present on camera. I can't even picture what two million people looks like!"

"I thought a moment like this would be this big, life-changing thing. For a long time I've been--I dunno how to say it, I've just felt a little empty. It felt like life could give me more. And I really thought I wouldn't feel like that any more... but I do."

From behind her, Colton loudly interjected, "Whoa, buddy, this is a party! Don't be such a downer." He shook his head. "Can you believe this guy?"

"I'm dumb, and I know that, and it takes me forever to realize things, but even I eventually realize when I've fucked up big. I'm completely off script now but--Nikki.

"We need to talk."