Chapter 1 #2
“Finally!” Zaylee says. Or Zara—who knows? They both stare into the phone, their matching faces pressed together. “Listen, super bad news, babe. Sheinmu has dropped you.”
My heart drops to my ass and my body goes numb. Paige sits forward and puts a comforting hand on my arm. “They … what?”
This is worst case scenario. So bad, I can’t even repeat the word ‘dropped’ out loud. Sheinmu is the biggest online luxury department store in the world and my most lucrative brand. More than half my income is directly from them.
Zara turns to Zaylee. “You can’t just blurt it out like that. You have to ease into these things.”
“What? Viv can handle it. She’s a professional.”
“But she’s not a robutt!”
“Oh my God, Zara, did you just say robutt?”
“No, I said robutt.”
Zaylee laughs. “You did it again! You said robutt instead of robot!” She turns to me. “You heard it too, right?”
I stare at them with my mouth hanging open until Zaylee seems to remember what’s actually happening. “Sorry, sorry! Doesn’t matter. Anyway, you can handle the truth, right?”
“Yes, of course.” No. I definitely cannot. I blink back tears, glad I’m wearing sunglasses.
“She cannot. She’s about to cry!”
“She’s fine.”
“Look at her bottom lip. It’s quivering.”
They both lean in and squint. “Oh yeah, I see it now. Sorry about that, Viv.”
“It’s fine, really,” I squeak.
They both give me sympathetic pouty faces. “Oh, sweetie, sorry. We know this is hard.”
“So hard,” Zara says.
“Is it because of Lorna?” I ask.
Paige gives me a fierce look, as if she’s going to jump up from her lounge chair, board a plane to New York, and beat her senseless with her own Jimmy Choos.
They both nod. “Yup. It is. She’s convinced everybody Mister X is a fake.”
“Especially viewers age twenty-two through twenty-seven.”
I make a fist and lightly punch my thigh. “Why do they have to be so skeptical?”
“Who knows?” Zaylee says. “But they’re definitely onto you.” Her eyes grow wide when she realizes what she just said and she quickly tries to cover up her own now-obvious skepticism. “I mean Lorna’s got them all believing her lies. Especially since you left for your trip.”
“Yup, she posted a video asking why you’ve never gone on a trip with your boyfriend,” Zara adds.
I close my eyes and let out a sigh.
“Sorry, babes,” Zara says. “Honestly, the best thing would be if we let you out of your contract with us. You go back to being solo so you can avoid our fee.”
The server appears and sets my pina colada next to me. Thank God. The last thing I need to be right now is sober. “No, I definitely don’t want that.”
The server—who is clearly put-out based on his scowl—picks it back up and starts to walk away.
“No, wait! Please! I want that.”
“See? I told you she’d be on board,” Zara says to her sister. She looks back at me. “It’s definitely for the best.”
The server turns and hands me the drink.
I whisper a quick “thank you” to him before turning back to my phone.
“What I mean is I want to stay with you two. We’re a team.
The … three amigos.” We’re not amigos. Not at all.
Most of the time we barely tolerate each other.
“You’ve gotten me so many amazing sponsors over the years.
Yes, this is a setback, but we can rebuild.
Rebrand. Whatever we have to do, but we can do it together. ”
Zaylee shakes her head. “Sorry, Viv. It just doesn’t make sense for you.”
She means it doesn’t make sense for them and they don’t want to be associated with me anymore, not now that the internet is turning against me.
Zara takes over for Zaylee, who looks like she’s about to cry. “The truth is, we’ve been putting out feelers all week. We were hoping we could turn this call into a bad news/good news kind of thing.”
“But there’s only bad news,” Zaylee, who has already recovered, adds. “This whole scandal has made you a hard sell. The trust is gone. And when the trust is gone, the money goes with it.”
Tears prick the backs of my eyes and I don’t try to stop them.
I just let them roll. My life is over as I know it.
Done. I’m done. My beautiful apartment, my fans—some of whom have become true friends—all the free promotional items, the parties, the events, the restaurant and bar openings.
Being the first to get the latest fashion must-haves.
It’s all going away. And I don’t have a plan B.
I let out a sob, covering my mouth with one hand.
Zara makes a tsking sound. “Shit. We should’ve eased into it.”
“Would it have been easier if we’d eased into it?”
“I don’t…” I shake my head and stop myself from snapping at them that it doesn’t matter at all how they delivered the news. Not when the news is this shitty.
“I mean, we believe you, obviously,” Zara says.
“Obviously. We totally believe Mister X is a real man.”
“For sure we do.”
They don’t. They very obviously don’t.
“But it’s your followers. They sucked back that tea Lorna was serving so fast. If she hadn’t seen you at the opening of Briks on your own when you said he was there with you...”
“Honestly? That looked pretty bad, Viv.”
“And the way everyone latched onto this narrative—it’s almost like they were looking for a reason to ditch you.” She gives me a look that is slightly accusatory.
More nodding. “It’s true.”
“Sorry.”
“Totally sorry.”
“But they’re ready to move on with their lives, you know? Weddings and babies…”
Weddings and babies. My head swirls. I feel like I’m at the edge of a black hole and the entire universe is about to collapse. Then, before I can think it through, I hear myself saying the stupidest thing possible. “What if he and I get married? Online next month?”