22. Vivi Bloom
vivi: bloom
THERE’S NOTHING THAT WILL MAKE you feel old and young at the same time like sipping a glamorous martini—in your school uniform.
We were all laughing around the table at something Carson had just said when Lake leaned over and said, “Hey, can I take you somewhere?”
I raised one eyebrow at him like Emerson had taught me to do. “I’m going to need you to be more specific.”
He laughed. “Can I take you to Chez Fifi for dinner?”
I hated how impressed I knew I looked. Being blasé was, like, a cornerstone of my personality. “As in, just voted the most ungettable reservation in New York City?”
He nodded. “The very one.” He grinned at me. “I knew not any old reservation would impress the one and only Vivian Beaumont.”
Well now. That was cute. Between the martini and Lake, I’d forgotten about Tyler for like at least thirty seconds. Which was a new record.
I leaned over to Carson on my other side. Some of my friends would have felt ditched. Carson would never, ever let a friend turn down an opportunity to post from Chez Fifi.
“Ooh la la!” she whispered. “Just text me when you’re on your way home so I can track you.”
I winked at her and said, “Bye, guys!” to the table as Lake stood up too.
“Um, excuse me,” Brian, Lake’s best friend, said. “You can’t leave Gossip Girl night. There are rules.”
In my best Gossip Girl voice I said, “In this city, rules are made to be broken. You know you love me. Xoxo.”
Everyone laughed and, in front of all those people, Lake took my hand and led me out of the bar. He didn’t let go of my hand, either. In a very old-school move that I loved, Lake hailed a cab. He gestured for me to slide in first.
“Seventy-Fourth and Lexington, please,” he said to the driver.
“So, um, are you going to tell me how you got the ungettable reservation?”
“Doesn’t it add to my general air of mystery if I don’t tell you?”
“Honestly, kind of. But can you tell me anyway?”
He smiled. “My dad’s firm does their PR. But, even still, it is a very-hard-to-get reservation.”
“So what if I said no? Would there just be an empty table at Chez?”
Lake ran his hands through that luscious blond hair of his. “If you had said no, my dad would have taken my mom.” He paused. “Come to think of it, she’s probably not going to be super happy when she finds out we got to go before she did.”
I laughed. “Wow. Making your mom mad for me. What an auspicious start.”
He nodded. “Hey, are you okay, though? For real? I mean, I think you know I hated that guy, but two years is a long time.”
That was sweet. I turned toward him and lied through my teeth. “You know, we’re just kids. It had been long enough. It is time to test new waters.”
I put my hand to my mouth, and we both laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I wish you had,” he said. “Look, Vivi, I don’t think it’s a real secret here, but in case you couldn’t tell, I like you. I’ve liked you for years. And when you picked him over me, that was kind of tough, but I’m over it.”
He was over it? Mkay. That didn’t hit me just right, but whatever. Lake was, without question, the hottest commodity in the senior class. We didn’t have to get married. And he’d be a great rebound.
As we got out of the cab, and I spotted Chez Fifi, I tried to tell myself that if I were with Tyler right now, we’d be in his dusty truck on our way to meet his friends at the Spoon, which made you smell like greasy fries for a week.
And this was so much better. But even as I tried to justify it, I knew that it was different, yes.
It was glamorous, sure. But it wasn’t better.
I was looking up at the sign and sort of tripped up the curb.
Lake caught me and there, on the sidewalk, for just a moment, I forgot about Tyler again.
I forgot about that stupid Katelyn. I let myself just be right here, in this moment, with this big, strong, handsome lacrosse player who was holding me in his arms. He tucked my hair behind my ear. “You okay?”
I smiled and whispered, “I am now.”
It wasn’t the goodbye part of the night, but there was no denying this was the perfect moment.
Lake leaned down and kissed me, his hand perfectly cupping the back of my neck.
It was a sweet kiss, kind of unexpected.
I mean, not the kiss. Please. I knew when I saw him in the Gold Room we’d be making out by the end of the night.
But I just figured Lake was kind of a hookup guy.
But this was a sweet, tender, boyfriend kind of kiss.
I didn’t know if I wanted all that, but I did know that no one could shut up about the fries at Chez Fifi, and I was going to get some.
Lake held the door for me as we walked inside, and I looked around as he arranged the whole table situation.
It felt very adult, like, in some ways, this was my first real date.
People my age hung out. But I didn’t hate the effort Lake had gone to here.
It made me feel really special. And I needed special to soothe my very sad, tender little heart.
As we followed the hostess to our table, I noticed a couple, right in the center, in the curtained booth, mouths on each end of a fry like the dogs in Lady and the Tramp with the spaghetti noodle.
Cameras were out all over the restaurant, and it took me a minute to realize why.
That wasn’t just some guy. It was Chase Aarons.
For a split second, I felt bad. But then I realized… “Mom!”
She pulled her head away, fry still in her mouth. She chewed, and the first thing I could think to say was, “You never eat fried food!” Good opening line.
She smiled delightedly. “Well, you know, when in… Chez Fifi?”
“Hi, Mrs. Beaumont,” Lake said, looking very cool and totally comfortable in this very awkward situation.
This was so bizarre. Chase Aarons was just so hot. There was no way he liked my mom. This had to be some kind of publicity stunt or something. I couldn’t piece together how dating my mom could possibly be beneficial for Chase, but maybe it made him relatable or something? I wasn’t sure.
“Hi, Lake,” Mom said, smiling like this was all normal. “How are you, sweetheart?”
At that same moment Chase Aarons, who I realized was holding my mother’s hand, kissed the inside of her wrist and said, “Mrs. Beaumont,” like that was the funniest thing in the world.
“Yes,” I said. “Mrs. Beaumont. Because she is still technically married to my father.”
Chase shrugged, still looking at Mom. “I’m not that into labels.”
Lake reached his hand out to Chase, and Mom said, “Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! Vivi, Lake, this is Chase Aarons. Chase, this is my daughter Vivi and her friend Lake.”
Chase was able to pry his hand off my mother for long enough to shake ours. “I’m so glad to meet you,” he said. “And this is great because, Vivi, I’ve heard so much about you. I’ve been dying to meet this perfect specimen your mother goes on and on about.”
Well, that was kind of sweet. I softened toward my mom an ounce. But just an ounce. I also gave her credit for not grilling me about Lake and for not asking if my father knew where I was, which I knew she probably wanted to do.
“So what are you kids up to tonight?” Mom asked.
Lake said, ever so coolly, “Well, I’m just trying to impress your daughter. It’s hard, you know?”
She leaned forward and laughed like that was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. “Oh, believe me, Lake, I know.”
“Like mother, like daughter,” Chase said in this way like he and my mom had been together for years, were old chums. He had known her for like five minutes.
Was no one else grossed out by this whole thing?
Could he not see how old she was? But, like, also, I was talking to Chase Aarons.
The Chase Aarons. Chase Aarons could be my stepdad.
“I am very easygoing,” I said, with a hint of joking in my tone. I decided that looking cool in front of Chase and Lake might be a better move than the whole petulant child routine I could feel myself sinking into.
They laughed. Yes. That was better.
“Hey!” Chase said. “Why don’t you guys join us?”
“Oh yes!” Mom echoed.
“No, no,” I said. “Lake had this whole thing planned and—”
I looked up at that handsome, handsome face I had just kissed. He shrugged in a way that said, I’m game if you are.
I did not want to eat dinner with my mom and her new boyfriend.
But, well, also, seeing my mom made me realize how much I’d missed her.
It was like I couldn’t help myself from scooting in beside her and kind of snuggling her.
I might have inhaled her scent really deeply when she hugged me.
Then I worried that she could smell alcohol on my breath.
I glanced around the table. She was drinking champagne. Thank God. Mom wasn’t a big drinker, and you never knew when she was going to be on whatever new cleanse Goop was recommending. Lake slid in next to me.
“So, how’d you two meet?” Lake asked, which I found just hilarious for some reason.
Chase laced his fingers through Mom’s and kissed her cheek. Gag. But, also, it was like some sort of priceless painting you didn’t totally understand but couldn’t look away from, had to keep studying. This movie star was really into my mom. It was not an act.
“This woman sashayed onto my set looking like some sort of royalty, had the audacity not to know who I was, and stole my heart with a single glance.”
Mom rolled her eyes at me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “He’s an actor. He can’t help himself.”
There it was again. That idea that these two had known each other for ages. Had they? Had Mom been, like, secretly dating a movie star, and this was all some ruse to make it seem like they’d just met? That would be a good movie plot. I should tell Emerson.
Mom turned to Chase. “Can we remember, this is my daughter, please?”
“I couldn’t forget,” he said. “She looks just like her mother, lucky girl.”
I was about to point out that Chase and I had almost the same age gap as Mom and Chase. But then she got this look on her face. It was like everything softened, like she just relaxed into herself.
I leaned over to her and whispered, “Mom, are you drunk?” I wasn’t judging. Just curious.
She smoothed my hair. “No, sweetheart. Not even a little. I think I might be… happy?”
The way she said it made something bloom inside me, something new, a happiness of my own that I didn’t know I had been missing until I found it.
I decided right then and there that I was going to shut my mouth and let her have this.
My mom was brave and forthright, tough, and downright terrifying.
But I’d never seen her this happy. She deserved it.
And so I said, “You should know, Chase, she has that effect on people, my mom. She sort of dazzles.”
My mom looked totally, utterly shocked. I turned to Lake just in time to hear him say, “So does her daughter.”
There it was again. That feeling. That good, juicy feeling. I was going to sink all the way into it, bathe in it, take it while I could get it.
Mom said to Chase, “I thought this was going to be the embarrassing story for later, but maybe I’ve misjudged my daughter.” I didn’t totally understand what she meant, but I liked it. I liked this mature Vivi.
The hostess came by our table and said, “I’m so sorry to ask this, but I run the socials for the restaurant, and I feel like—I mean, I don’t want to intrude—but my boss would die—”
I cut her off. “Just make sure to tag Sloane Emerson New York,” I said. “I really want to remember this night with my mom.”
We all squeezed together and, for the first time since that horrible football game with those mean girls, I felt myself smile, for real.
And that smile was only like ten percent because Tyler would definitely see this picture of me with Chase Aarons and Lake.
And he could absolutely eat his heart out.