"Ha! Ha! Ha!" Ava clutched her stomach, tilting her head back in an exaggerated display of mirth that would have made even a bad sitcom laugh track beg for mercy. "How did you even come up with that idea? That's so ridiculous! How can I, Eva Summers, be the perfect Ava Summers?"
Her laugh was so painfully fake that even a toddler with zero grasp of human emotions would have called her out on it. And, of course, Zach, being Zach, had already caught on.
His unimpressed stare bore into her like he was mentally preparing a PowerPoint presentation on all the ways her performance was disappointing.
He said nothing for a long moment, just watching her, before slowly shifting his gaze to absolutely nowhere—like he was contemplating the mysteries of the universe or deciding if this was the moment to finally give up on his life and go back to the basement.
Then, with the dramatic weight of a judge about to drop a guilty verdict, he spoke.