I can see Dad’s disappointed face. There’s no way he’d accept it. He already loathes every other decision I’ve made about my life. This won’t come close to being different.
“What are you going to do?” James asks.
I hold out my glass. “I’m going to get super fucking drunk.”
Without another word, he fills my glass with whiskey.
33
PIPPA
Best friends don’t make you explain things when you’re crying so hard, you can barely get a sentence out. They hold you and let you cry. Then, they kick their fiancé out and make them stay with one of his friends so you can cuddle in their bed and watch old Disney movies until you fall asleep, still crying somehow. Then, in the morning, they bring you waffles and coffee and a jug of water to help you reintroduce all the fluids you cried away.
In other words, Cat is the best friend in the fucking world.
“Should I have ordered chocolate chip waffles instead?” she asks, her mouth half-full of bacon.
I shake my head. “Nah. You were right to go with plain Belgian. Why mess with perfection?”
“Thank you for validating my choices.”
I snuggle deeper into my purple blanket. Cat snuck down into Ryan’s apartment last night to get it for me because, again, best friend in the world.
“So, are you feeling fortified by caffeine and breakfast?” she asks, her bright smile looking a little forced.
“As much as I’m ever going to be,” I sigh. “Is this where you make me tell you about what happened last night?”
“We’ll get to that. I wanted to get this part over with first, before you charged your phone and saw it yourself.” Cat passes me her phone, opened to the Toronto Tea page. “And know that I don’t care what it says. I’m on your side, Pips.”
Rising Star Writer Having Lurid Affair With Her Stepbrother?
Pippa Murphy, theBelladonnacolumnist behind the viral “12 Dates of Christmas” articles, has been spotted having a heated argument with her stepbrother, Ryan Archer, poker star and famed Toronto playboy. The noted womanizer has apparently set his sights on Murphy, attempting to manipulate her into giving up writing the column which launched her immense online popularity. We hear Archer gave Murphy an ultimatum, demanding that she give up dating other men while refusing to demonstrate any personal commitment to her.
This is the latest incident in Archer’s long campaign for Murphy’s attention. He’s used gifts and vacations on top of verbal and physical attention to bring his stepsister closer to him, only to act cold and dismissive afterward. It’s a classic case of love bombing, one that Murphy sadly seems to have fallen for.
Fortunately, there seems to be another candidate for Murphy’s affection—a man we will leave unnamed, who was the subject of her most recent column. Hopefully Murphy will kick her stepbrother to the curb in favor of a healthier option.
Readers with more information, contact [email protected] with your story.
Well, fuck.
Not only has Ryan broken my heart, apparently the entire Internet now knows about it. I guess when it rains, it fuckingpours. And how the hell does this ‘peppermint’ always seem to know everything?
“Are you okay?” Cat asks.
“No.” My voice sounds strained. “Ryan and I had an argument last night. I don’t know how much of it you heard—but apparently,somebodymust have heard and sold it to them.”
Cat wraps her arm around my shoulders.
“If the Toronto Tea could stop live-blogging my emotional collapse, that would be great,” I mutter. “I’d really like to go back to embarrassing myself in peace.”
“Oh, Pippa.”
I start to scroll down to the comments when she pulls away to wipe a tear from my cheek and she tries to yank the phone from my fingers. “Maybe you shouldn’t?—”
But it’s too late.
The top one snags my attention. It has hundreds of upvotes.
