Twenty-One

Summary

• The character, June, meets with her former partner, Geoff, whom she'd accused of hijacking their deceased mutual love interest, Athena Liu's, Instagram account. She sent him angry texts accusing him, but now regrets it and realizes he has nothing to do with it.
• When Geoff looks at Athena's Instagram account, he points out that the photos are photoshopped, using old images of Athena. He doesn't know which photo was used or where it might be from.
• June wonders who might be pulling the strings and recalls that Athena had a complex family history, including relatives murdered and lost at sea after the family’s emigration. She begins to entertain irrational theories about a sister posing as Athena. Geoff dismisses these notions.
• Geoff suggests it doesn't matter who is impersonating Athena online and recommends that June should just ignore it and keep moving forward with her own work.
• June and Geoff discuss the complexities of their relationships with Athena, including how she used people she was close to as "fodder" for her writing. Geoff sympathizes with June as he felt he was exploited in a similar manner.
• June experiences a hallucination of Athena laughing at them through a window, but the vision disappears when she blinks. June's decision not to run after the apparition stems from a fear of appearing mad.
• Geoff advises June to move on and focus on her own work. He himself found success writing for TV after distancing himself from Athena’s web. June worries that without Athena, her own identity and career might be non-existent.
• June considers contacting the Athena impersonator but Geoff strongly advises against it, warning her not to "encourage the crazies".
• Geoff reassures June that things will be fine and that the effects of social media drama are temporary.
• June examines her relationship with Athena, acknowledging the pain of trying to love someone so narcissistic, likening it to the Greek tragedies of Echo and Narcissus, and Icarus flying too close to the sun.