So Seph gets her entire lavish wedding paid for, but I can’t even get help with my rent.
‘Forget I asked,’ I say, pushing my chair back out, and leaving the room before either of them can say anything – not that either of them seems to try.
Well, that didn’t solve that problem. What next? I suppose I should go see Beau, to apologise for standing him up last night, and to explain why.
The end room on the ground floor, right? The more money people have, the earlier they seem to like to rise. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was up already.
His door is open, great, because that means I can get this over with. I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to say, I’m hoping the words will just come out exactly as I need them to. That said, that strategy didn’t work with my dad.
‘…and what are you doing with Lana anyway?’ I hear Eleanor’s voice coming from his room as I approach it.
I keep hidden, behind the wall, standing just close enough to listen in without getting caught.
‘Lana is fun,’ Beau tells her with a bemused laugh.
I shouldn’t be listening in, should I? This is a private conversation. A private conversation about me though, so…
‘Fun?’ Eleanor replies in disbelief. ‘Roller coasters are fun.’
She says that like a Martian – definitely like someone who has never been on one in her life.
‘Lana is a car crash,’ she continues. ‘A nightmare. A tornado. A total mess. She is a lot of things, but what she isn’t is the kind of girl that a man of your standing settles down with. She’s no lady. I don’t care what your PR team says about you seeing a “normal” girl, to seem more “cool” and “accessible” – it’s madness.’
I feel my eyebrows shoot up.
‘Lana is anything but normal,’ Beau says in my defence. I smile to myself. Fuck you, Eleanor, thinking you can put him off me – he’s not listening. Ha. ‘She may seem normal, but she’s a Pemberton girl. She has that girl-next-door appeal, but she’s from good stock.’
Good stock? Ew, ew, ew. What is wrong with these people? He’s talking about me like I’m cattle. Really good cattle, I guess, but cattle nonetheless. Do all of the men in this world think women are just complicated animals or something? It’s really starting to seem that way. I hate it. I really, really hate it.
‘I’m just saying, you can do better,’ Eleanor insists. ‘What sort of heir will you get, from a girl like that, if she will even give you one at all. Girls like Lana are just selfish party girls, who are only out for themselves. It will be your money she wants, not you – you know that, right?’
‘Eleanor, will you stop getting your knickers in a twist,’ Beau tells her through a laugh. ‘Do you really begrudge me having a little fun at a wedding? You know that’s my favourite sort of fun. What are you, jealous, hey?’
His tone is something different, something I haven’t heard from him yet. I hate it. Wow, he really is just like the rest of them. I can’t believe that I thought he might be different.
I don’t need to hear anything else so I slink off back to my room.
Genuinely, I would rather be ‘normal’ than be anything like any of this lot. And I would rather be with someone ‘normal’ too.
43
The party that we’re having is absolutely not the party Seph planned – and, would you believe it, it was good old Ethan who saved the day.
Seph wanted us all to get together, to have a party on the beach, and although she arranged food and entertainment, the whole thing just fell flat.
For starters – well, there were no starters, no food at all, because the caterers didn’t show up. The entertainers – an acoustic band – did show up, but their singer had lost her voice, so she wasn’t there.
Seph was trying to keep calm but you could see it all going on behind her eyes. She looked like she might be about to burst when Ethan swept in, telling her he had thrown plenty of last-minute parties, and that he was sure he could make the best of it.
He was right. He went to a local Mexican restaurant and not only got them to agree to cater, but to bring it to the beach too. And as for the singer-less band, well, the spin he put on that was: live karaoke. Ethan was, of course, the first person to take the mic, performing an acoustic cover of ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears that was as impressive as it was hilarious. Astoundingly, it wasmy dad – yes, my dad – who took to the makeshift stage next. I never thought I would see the day I would see him standing there, a mic in one hand, a taco in the other, while he covered an Elvis song. Honestly, I’ve never seen Dad like this – I’ve never seen any of this lot having fun like this. It’s like Ethan brings out the best in them and, now, it’s hard to believe I ever thought there was a chance they might not like him. They love him. And as strange as it sounds, I feel like they like me more for being with him.
The party has a more chilled-out vibe now. I’m sitting on the sand, drinking margaritas with Ethan, Chester and Seph. I’ve never really hung out with them – not in a chilled-out way – so this all feels so surreal.
I am, of course, avoiding Beau like the plague, now that I know how he really feels. He tried to talk to me earlier and I was cold with him so now he’s giving me a wide berth. I don’t know if he knows why, or if he’s guessed, or what, but he’s taking the hint. I’m avoiding Eleanor too, not for any new or specific reason, just because I really, really don’t like her.
‘So, what did you do for your stag do?’ Ethan asks Chester, genuinely curious.
‘Oh, I didn’t have one,’ Chester replies with a shrug.
