“Uh huh,” Melly says.
“So, I didn’t really sharehowexactly that came to pass.”
“Yeah, you did,” Tori says. “You said you hit him up when you were wasted.”
“After the club,” Alisha adds.
“Right,” I say. “But there’s a little more to the story than just that.”
“Go on,” Melly says.
“So, I was feeling shitty about everything with Scott, and I’d been thinking about maybe using Colin as a model for the love interest inthe story I was working on.” I hear my own voice echoing amidst the din of the restaurant. EvenIcan hear that I sound like a girl who’s full of shit.
“What does that mean, exactly?” Tori asks. “Thinking aboutmaybeusing him?”
“Oh, boy,” Alisha says, under her breath.
“This is the kid from high school?” Melly asks. “With the love notes?”
I nod weakly.
“G, as I recall, you’ve already writtenvolumesabout his ass,” Tori says.
“Fine! Busted,” I say. “I was already writing about him. Anyway, I emailed him, he emailed me back, and whatever, one thing led to another, and we saw each other a few times this week.”
“Like, how?” Melly asked.
“He took me out. One dinner, one late lunch, and one—” Tears sting my eyes thinking about ourproperdate. Its perfection rivaled any date I had ever gone on before that and, honestly, probably any date I’ll ever go on again. “Oneotherdate.” I blink the tears away. I willnotcry about this in public. “I need another drink,” I announce.
“Damn! Okay, girl! How Gracie got her groove back,” Melly says, ignoring my beverage request, arms raised in the air. “Did you—?” She makes a lewd hand gesture, her pointer finger penetrating her other hand, which is balled up like a fist.
I smirk, and they all start laughing and cheering.
“But listen, listen,” I say. “I just found out his ex-wife is my agent. Or,wasmy agent.” I swallow. “We had this big misunderstanding. Colin was helping me write my new story—giving me ideas, you know? He kept telling me about all this crazy shit that his ex-wife did. So, I wrote it all into my manuscript, and submitted it to her, and she lost her mind and basically divorced me as a client.”
“Harsh,” Melly says.
“Yeah, but it gets worse. Colin went over to her office this morning. I’m guessing he wanted to try and smooth things over, but she threw a chair through a window and got fired. So, my deal that was in the works—for $500,000—is no more.”
“Shit,” Tori says. “You can’t talk to somebody else up in there?”
I shake my head. “I did,” I explain. “You remember Evan—the one who I’m actually friends with? I spoke to him about it. He said that there’s a good chance that Lindsay never told the bosses about the deal. That may have been because she was negotiating and nothing was set in stone yet.”
“And if Lindsay just got fired…” she trails off.
“Then there’s no reason for her to say anything about the deal, especially because the only person it will benefit is the person she hates most in the world right now—me.” I hang my head in my hands.
“So why don’t you go and talk to the boss people? Tell them what was up. Maybetheycan figure it out,” Tori suggests.
“Yeah. Evan said he would intercede on my behalf if I wanted him to.”
“So, there you go,” Tori says.
Melly pulls her dress down a bit in the front, revealing a thin edge of black lace along her cleavage. “Well, if you’re reallynotbuying drinks tonight, I’ll get the next round,” she says, winking at me.
Melly’s something else. She’s married, and I don’t really think she’d ever touch anyone else, but the girllovesto flirt. I think it makes her feel like she’s still got it.
I stop counting drinks after six, only because I can no longer mentally compute numbers at that point. We toast to new opportunities, old mistakes (good riddance!), and the eternal sisterhood of our friendship. At some point, I know that I try to ask Mike if he would ever destroy his girlfriend’s career, and he says he doesn’t have a girlfriend and winks at Melly.
