Chapter 23
IT WAS THE EARLY AFTERNOON, AND I HAD DONE EVERYTHING IN my power to avoid any mention of the Las Vegas Celebrity Pro-Am where Rory was playing. Instead, we somehow managed to get into a cab that had a poster of Ben’s movie advertised on its digital rooftop banner.
Hannah shoved me into the back when she saw Ben’s face scroll across the top of the cab, simultaneously saying, “Oh, for Christ’s sake. We should have taken an Uber.”
After grabbing lunch at Shake Shack, Hannah, Kara, Zoe, Maddy, and I found ourselves at a lively piano bar, singing along and dancing to every song that people randomly threw out to the singer-slash-pianist-slash-jukebox.
We were listening to our pianist absolutely crush “Brown Eyed Girl” when Kara asked, “When are you expecting Rory to reach out?”
“I have no idea. I think he’s done golfing for the day, but who knows what kind of commitments he has for these sorts of things with sponsors or advertisers, or the tournament itself.
I really have no clue what his life is like.
I’m just waiting for my phone to ring at any time.
” At that exact moment, my phone vibrated. All our eyes shot up and connected.
“I need a drink.” My voice was lower than normal.
I put my phone on the table and unlocked the screen. Everyone gathered around to get a good look.
CRAIG SINICKI: I’m imagining you at a pool right now. I want to see your bathing suit.
My stomach knee-jerked into my throat. I quickly grabbed and hid my phone as another text popped up.
CRAIG SINICKI: I’ll show you mine . . . ?
“Um, who’s Craig Sinicki?” Maddy asked curiously.
I saw Hannah and Zoe exchange strained looks.
“Just someone I work with.” I put my phone back in my pocket and felt myself flush.
“Do you have a dirty little work relationship you’re not telling anyone about?” Kara continued Maddy’s line of questioning.
“No. I do not.” I leveled my eyes at Kara.
“Think of the role-play. Hot, Ellie. Hot,” Maddy purred.
“Do you have elevators at your work? Because I always imagine shit happening in elevators. Or a roof ? My god. Please tell me you have a roof. Does he call you a good girl when you balance a budget?” We all turned to Maddy, and her face turned stoic.
“I haven’t had sex in a really long time, and I’ve been listening to a lot of audiobooks, okay? ”
“Why haven’t you been having sex? Georgie is one.” Zoe licked the salt off her rim.
“Because my vagina was torn all the way to my asshole, Zoe. And when my period came back, it turned into a tsunami. And I have clots the size of fists falling out of me for days at a time. Shall I go on?”
All of us leaned in and said, “Yes.”
“You’ve got to get your iron checked,” Hannah said, unperturbed, while sipping her drink.
Kara turned back to me and placed both elbows on the table. She put her chin in her hands. “Who is he? What does he do? What does he look like?”
I stumbled through my thoughts on how to accurately describe Craig’s and my dysfunctional work relationship, if that’s what one would call it.
“His name is Craig Sinicki. He’s the showrunner for Black Cross, which means he’s the head writer and basically the creative force behind the show. The writers’ room is down the hall from Marie Street. So he comes into the office a lot. He’s fine.”
Kara ran a quick Google search on her phone, then pulled her lips into an O and sucked in a breath. “He’s pretty handsome.” Her eyes widened, and she popped them back up to me.
I looked over at what Kara had pulled up.
It was a photo from Craig’s IMDb profile of him and his girlfriend on the red carpet for the season six premiere of Black Cross.
His blond hair was swept back, and his piercing blue eyes stared into the camera lens.
Somehow, even through a photo, his sleepy bedroom eyes still managed to look like they were undressing me. I looked away.
“Maybe we should just drop this, guys.” Zoe tried to come to my rescue.
“Yeah, clearly Ellie doesn’t want to get into it.” Hannah backed her up.
“It’s okay.” I closed my eyes. “He’s someone I have to work with.
That’s it. He sends me emails and texts, and I don’t love them.
I don’t like him, and nothing has ever happened between us, nor will it.
I don’t fuck around with people I work with.
Let’s leave it at that,” I pleaded, then changed the subject. “Where’s that drink we talked about?”
“Did we talk about a drink, or was that just you?” Zoe asked me with a sly smile. With absolute precision timing, a shot girl showed up at our table, and I threw back a shot of tequila.
“I need to have some fun!” I declared. “I want to have some fun right now. I feel like I need to . . .” I waved my arms in circles, trying to pump myself up. “I don’t know, do something.”
“Speaking of fun, you’ll never guess who I heard from last night after we saw Rory.” Kara put her margarita to her lips and didn’t give us time to respond. “Cameron.”
“What?” Hannah gasped. “Are you serious?”
“Who’s Cameron again?” Maddy asked excitedly.
“Cameron is Rory’s brother. Kara and Cameron used to touch each other. Hannah and his other brother, Blair, also used to touch each other,” Zoe stated matter-of-factly.
“Blair and I did not used to touch each other!” Hannah said defiantly, though none of us believed her.
“What did Cameron say?” I grabbed Kara’s arm, bringing her back to her revelation.
“Just that he heard Rory saw us, and he asked how I was doing. I haven’t responded.”
“Why not?!” I demanded.
“Because I haven’t decided how I feel about it.
” Kara took a sip of her drink, but I could see her also swallow whatever lump she had in her throat.
Cameron had ripped Kara’s heart into shreds and then stomped on it like he was a rhino.
I wasn’t shocked that she didn’t know how she felt about him reaching out, but I would be shocked if she didn’t eventually reciprocate.
“Did you love Cameron as a little kid, like Ellie loved Rory?” Maddy asked Kara.
“Oh, I loved Cameron. But not when we were kids. He wasn’t my sexual awakening or anything.” Kara grinned at me.
“Rory wasn’t my sexual awakening! How dare you!” I scoffed.
“Oh, that’s a fun question! Who was it?” Maddy probed. “Wait! I’ll go first. I really liked Max from A Goofy Movie. Like, I really liked Max. Oh! And Chip from Chip ’n Dale. I don’t know. He was so bossy.” She grinned.
“Those are both cartoons!” Hannah laughed.
“Mine was Elijah Wood.” Kara chuckled. “But only because Ellie shoved him down my throat and forced me to watch every one of his movies a hundred times each. Eventually, I buckled. But I don’t regret it. He’s a beautiful owl. I still love him.”
I feigned tipping my hat to Kara and gave a haughty “You’re welcome.”
“That’s insanity, because he’s not even Ellie’s.” Hannah jumped in. “It was Devon Sawa, in the final scene of Casper. I saw you pretend to be Christina Ricci, with your face all squished against the TV and a pillow between your legs.”
“Hannah!” I shrieked, with a horrified laugh. “I was eight! Shut. Up!”
Zoe’s phone dinged with a message, killing the conversation. “Okay, everyone. I’ve got confirmation for tonight.” She read her text. “We’re going to Planet Hollywood. Dress to dance your faces off.”
“Are you joking?” I threw myself back into my chair, needing another shot.
“What?” Zoe asked, smiling mischievously.
“You’re going to see Gwen Stefani, aren’t you?” I already knew the answer.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Zoe pressed her hand into her heart, faux-bashfully.
“What?! Seriously!” Maddy shrieked. “I’m never returning to my family, am I? Have I run away from them? Do I live here now?”
“Ooooh, that’s going to be fun.” Hannah turned to me with a shit-eating grin. “I’m so sorry you’re missing it, sister.”
“Whatever. I’m done with this.” I left the girls and chased down the shot girl at another table. I did a shot with that table, then came back to our table and said, “I’m not missing out tonight.”
“You’re not bailing on Rory, Ellie-Bee.” Hannah narrowed her eyes at me.
“This is like . . . the night we’ve all been waiting for.
You haven’t seen him in four years. It’s been eight years since you broke each other’s hearts.
And you’ve been in love with him—he’s been hidden away in the back of your heart—every day of your life for seventeen years! ”
“Don’t say that! That’s not true!” I threw my head down on the table with a slam, knowing it was completely true.
“You just need to let out some stress. Maybe you should masturbate.” Zoe calmly rubbed my back.
I scoffed at her, which turned into a cough, and she grinned back at me playfully.
“No, what I need is to have a little fun, and I need some Gwen.” I stood up from my seat and walked over to the pianist, making a request.
“Aaaaaand she’s back, baby!” Zoe laughed.
“Uh-oh.” Kara’s eyes were wide. “Here we go, folks!”
“What is she doing?” Maddy watched me with eagle eyes.
“Maddy, we’d like to introduce you to New York Ellie.” Zoe laughed.
The pianist began playing No Doubt’s “Just a Girl.” I lifted the microphone to my mouth and started singing with 100 percent commitment. I let it rip like a raging lunatic, and in a matter of seconds, I had everyone in the whole dinky bar on their feet.