“Okay. I’ll call you with all the party details. You and Jack won’t need to do a thing.”
I really needed to call Ben. I hated that I’d been so wrapped up in the chaos of auditions that I forgot.
Okay, that’s not right.
I didn’t forget. I just thought I had more time. It wasn’t like me, leaving things to the last minute. And if I were being honest, I knew why I had waited so long.
Ben.
I avoided being alone with him at all costs since our date six months ago. Our best friends were getting married, so we were both included in dinners and outings frequently. Our friends made a great buffer for the weird tension between us.
Ever since the day he met me—wrapped in a towel, my wet curls dripping—he studied me like he was undressing me with his eyes. I didn’t hate it. I loved being the center of attention.
I had been excited when he invited me as his date to his employer’s super fancy version of a Christmas party. But when he’d left me at the table to dance with Jack’s office assistant, Nora, not five minutes after kissing me in the coatroom, I’d realized how naïve I’d been.
I had watched him dance with Nora, whispering sweet nothings in her ear, his hand drifting to her ass. By the time he came back to the table, I was silently fuming and whatever heat there was between us in the coatroom had iced over.
Ben was a player, plain and simple.
I wasn’t heartbroken, but it still stung a little. I’d gathered my things and got out of there as quickly as I could.
The next time I saw Ben was New Year’s Eve when we’d gone out with our friends to ring in the New Year. I found a cute guy to kiss when the clock struck midnight, and I made sure to do it right in front of Ben. Maybe it was a little petty. But so what if I was a petty bitch?
Since then, he’d been collecting women’s phone numbers in my presence like some people collect stamps. Who it was hardly seemed to matter. Servers. Bartenders. Women at the club. Once, I even saw him get the number of some rando at Central Park.
Olivia kissed my cheek, and I snapped back to the present. She gave me a weak smile as she handed me her dress for safekeeping. “Love you, Eve. Good luck tomorrow.”
“Thanks,chica. Love you too.”
I climbed into the back seat of the cab with Olivia’s wedding dress, migraine brewing at the mere thought of having to call Ben.
My phone rang before I’d worked up the nerve to find his number. I glanced at the caller id, groaning when I saw it was my mother calling. Speaking to her and Ben on the same day? I was definitely going to need some Tylenol after this.
“Hola, Mamá,” I said, squinting against the brightness of the sunlight pouring into the cab.
“Eve, I haven’t heard from you in ages. I wasn’t sure you were still alive.”
I scoffed at her histrionics. It had been eight days since I spoke with her. Hardly long enough for her to think me dead.
“No, Mamá. I’m fine. Just busy.”
“Busy? Too busy to call your mother? Busy with what?”
Oh good. We’re starting with a guilt trip today.
“Auditions and working. I told you I’ve had a few callbacks. I’ve been focused on those.”
“Pah. Too busy to call your mother because of a silly play. I’ve never heard such nonsense.” I could imagine her hands waving me away, my dreams inconsequential.
“It’s not a silly play. It’s a Broadway production.Wretchedis one of the most popular productions Broadway has ever seen.” I didn’t know why I bothered arguing. She and I would never see eye to eye on this.
“A silly play you might not even be in. And you wait tables at a restaurant the same as you did when you were a teenager. When will you learn to be a grown up and get a real job,mija?”
“Itisa real job,” I said, digging my nails into my palm.
“It’s a fantasy,” she cut in, voice sharp. “You should be here helping me run the restaurant. Not there, gallivanting around the city, barely making ends meet.”
I sighed. She always made me feel like a little girl, digging at me until all my confidence was stripped away.“Can we not talk about this anymore? Please?”
