Chapter 33
THE POOL PARTY AT THE COSMOPOLITAN WAS SO LOUD AND SO surprisingly crowded, it was a miracle we were all able to sit together.
Well, not a miracle, since we paid out our asses to make sure it happened, and Zoe had to pull some strings.
We opted out of hanging out in a cabana or sectioned-off booths.
We wanted to be in the party, not watching it from the sidelines.
It was scorching hot, and we each had a drink in our hands. Zoe and Kara were dancing in the middle of the pool, while Maddy, Hannah, and I were lying out in lounge chairs that had us half in and half out of the pool.
The text from Rory came around three in the afternoon.
RORY: Hey, are you here?
I squinted at my phone, confused. Huh? My eyes lifted, and I did a quick, stealthy scan of the pool.
“What’s up?” Maddy asked.
“It’s Rory. He’s asking if I’m here.”
“If you’re where?” Maddy shouted over the music. She leaned toward me from her chair, looking over at my phone.
Hannah raised her sunglasses to her forehead and turned her head to see what was going on.
ELLIE: Hey. You must be tired. We’re still at the pool.
RORY: Cosmopolitan? Where are you?
I bolted upright and felt immediately nauseous. “He’s here.”
Maddy and I both removed our sunglasses and twisted around, looking for Rory.
“Don’t freak out, sissy. He might be looking at you right now.” Hannah didn’t move a muscle.
“She’s right. Bring it down,” Maddy agreed. She and I both slowly returned to our “super-casual” lounging positions.
ELLIE: I’m on one of the loungers in the shallow end. Look for me or Hannah. Kara’s in the pool.
I held my breath when I saw the three dots pop up in our open text conversation.
RORY: I see you. Making my way over. Heads up, I’m with Orson Whitlock.
“He sees us. And he’s with Orson Whitlock.” I practiced some deep breathing.
Hannah straightened in her lounge chair and leaned over my phone. “Really? Orson? Oh man, Kara’s going to freak out. I think he’s still super close with Cameron.” Hannah giggled. “I hung out with him a couple of times back home after Mr. Campbell’s funeral.”
“Hannah, did you sleep with him?!” I tried not to scream.
“No!” she snapped.
“Okay! Don’t get so defensive! Hello, Lucas!” I reminded my sister of her on-and-off fling with one of my best friends in New York, whom she not-so-secretly hooked up with every time she came to visit. “Hello, Blair!”
“Blair and I were never a thing!” Hannah burned brightly.
“I don’t believe you for a second. You two—”
“Ellie. Shut it,” Hannah snapped, practically biting my head off.
I took the cue and backed down. I thought about Orson and Rory’s longstanding friendship. Orson had asked about my relationship with Ben when we were in Vancouver. He’d been unusually curious at Mr. Campbell’s funeral, too. Orson had been keeping tabs on me.
I placed my phone down on a small, elevated table where our drinks were and smoothed out the bottom of my bathing suit. I had switched up my suits that morning and was wearing an athletic-style black bikini set. I went to tuck my hair behind my ears and felt the hat on my head.
“Oh no. I’m wearing his hat. I look—” I was about to say pathetic, but Hannah interrupted.
“Sexy,” she said sternly.
I looked over to Maddy, and she nodded in agreement. The ultimate hype women.
Somehow, miraculously, I heard Zoe shout from the middle of the pool, over the screaming crowd and the venue’s thumping bass. “ELLIE! RORY’S HERE!”
I slumped down when Zoe pointed over to Rory and Orson making their way through the crowd.
Rory was holding a towel and wearing navy-blue swim trunks, Ray-Bans .
. . and that was it. I felt like I was going to faint.
He looked like he was made of marble, wild curls flopping on top of his head.
He was broad-shouldered, defined, and absolutely gorgeous.
Suddenly, I remembered exactly how it felt to have him crawling up my body inside an old, cramped Jeep Cherokee and pinning me to my seat.
A couple of guys patted Rory on the back or shook his hand as he walked toward us, but for the most part, he was getting noticed more for his looks than his sports status.
Orson sent a chill through my bones as well. His hair was buzzed to about half an inch in length. He was wearing red trunks, a loose white tank top, and sunglasses. He looked like a sexy lifeguard, and I saw Zoe tracking him from the pool like a hungry bear.
I stayed seated when the boys finally made it all the way to us. I looked up at Rory through my sunglasses, and he squatted down to meet me at my level.
Jesus . . .
He looked like a volleyball player. A soccer player? A hockey player? I didn’t even know. He didn’t look like what you would imagine a typical golfer to look like. It was no wonder he made so much money through endorsements.
I couldn’t see his eyes behind his dark sunglasses, but his mouth curled at the edges. He reached out and gently tapped the brim of my new black hat, his old black hat, with his index finger.
“Hi,” he said quietly.
I matched his smile, but it was Maddy who spoke first.
“Hi, Rory. I’m Maddy. Take my seat.” Maddy slipped off her lounge chair next to me and plopped herself down on Hannah’s, so they were cuddled together.
“Hi, Maddy. I’m not taking your seat,” Rory protested.
“Well, I’m not sitting there anymore, and I’m very stubborn. I’m also a mom. So, this is my mom voice.” She turned to Orson. “Orson, is it? Feel free to take this wide-open seat that no one is using,” Maddy said very loudly.
Orson looked at Rory, unsure what his next move should be, but he didn’t have time to think because a guy standing behind us overheard Maddy and placed his hand on the back of the chair. The stranger shifted into position to slip his body into the seat, then looked over at me and smiled. “Hello.”
“Nope. Get outta here.” Rory threw himself into the seat, splashing in the water.
We all laughed as Zoe and Kara made their way over to join our own little private pool party.
Kara and Hannah were excited to talk with Rory and Orson.
The next couple of hours were so unnaturally natural that I found myself quieter than usual.
Hannah and Rory ended up sharing a chair for a long while so they could catch up properly.
Orson sat on the edge of Kara’s lounger, comfortably, as though no time had passed between them.
Zoe and Orson were also hitting it off, and were buying each other shots as if they were in their early twenties.
“Maddy’s bachelorette was out of control.” Zoe had everyone’s attention as she lay on her stomach in the water, the top of her body resting on Kara and Orson’s lounger. We were all sipping margaritas.
“No. You were out of control,” Maddy corrected Zoe. “That was the night I first met Ellie.”
“Oh yeah?” Rory asked.
I still couldn’t tell if he was looking at me from behind his sunglasses, and I feared that my sunglasses were revealing how much I was looking at him.
“Maddy and her friends came to LA for the bachelorette, and they stayed with me and Zoe in Highland Park,” I confirmed. “Zoe was the maid of honor.”
“Okay, I feel like this is where it’s going to get good.” Orson licked the salt from the rim of his glass.
“You want to take this one?” Maddy turned to Zoe with a cocky smirk.
“Nope.” Zoe laughed, then dunked her head into the water, hiding from everyone.
“Cains?” Rory asked me with a grin.
“Oof. This is . . . girl code.” My head moved back and forth between all my friends. “Do I tell the story or do I not?”
“You do not.” Zoe reappeared from the water. She pushed her wet curtain of dark-brown bangs back in a panic.
“Oooooo-ooo! But it’s so good.” I laughed.
“I’m doing it. It was my bachelorette!” Maddy stepped up to the plate, and we all cheered.
“Wait!” Zoe bellowed. “Let me preface this by saying this was two years ago. I am not the same person.”
“Oh no.” Rory started laughing before we could even get to the story. “I think you’re about to take us on a ride, Maddy. Let’s do this.”
“Zoe had decided that since it was a bachelorette party, someone needed to have their face smacked with a flaccid dick,” Maddy said matter-of-factly.
“Aghhhhhhhh!” Zoe went back under the water.
Hannah choked on her drink, while Rory clutched his chest, his stomach crunching together as he bent forward. Good lord, he was beautiful.
Look away, Ellie! He can see you!
“Since I wasn’t a willing participant, nor was anyone else, surprise, surprise, Zoe offered herself up.
Aaaaaanyway . . .” Maddy let out a massive sigh.
“She got me an exotic dancer, which I didn’t want, who showed up at two in the afternoon.
We all still had our Sephora hydrating face masks on while he was dancing up on us. ”
“Oh my god.” Orson squeezed his eyes shut, in hysterics at the visual that Maddy was painting.
“After he humped my ear, she bullied Ellie—”
“NO! DON’T brING ME INTO THIS!” I cried.
“Too late. You’re in.” Kara laughed.
I looked over at Rory again and could tell he was watching me by his warm, sloping smile.
“Zoe bullied Ellie and me into asking the dancer if he could give her a little thwap-thwap in the face.”
“Oh my god! A thwap-thwap?!” Hannah howled. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.
“It’s the most accurate description,” Maddy stated calmly. “He was . . . not pleased with us, obviously. So, the rest of the night, Zoe was chasing that D, and she ended up calling her neighbor.”
“Martin is the best,” I insisted. “Like, otherworldly, and in Zo’s defense, he was honored to be called upon.”
“After that, Martin took us to the Abbey, where he was dating one of the go-go dancers at the time, and we ended up having the best night.” Maddy smiled, pleased with herself.
“More shots, anyone?” Zoe’s voice had risen four octaves. I noticed she was looking everywhere but in Orson’s direction. She was blushing, and Zoe never blushed.