by Jess Bentley
“Let’s get you cleaned up, Lizzy. My mother will have a fit if she sees you walking around dressed like this,” Rory laughed.
She took Lizzy up to her bedroom and gave her some clothes to wear. She decided to draw a bath for Lizzy, but then stopped as she didn’t want Lizzy lying in a tub full of water and doing something stupid. She can take a shower, she decided. Lizzy did take a long shower, as if trying to wash all the filth of this city and the memories of the last few days off of her.
“You were right, Rory,” Lizzy said as she stepped out of the bathroom. “LA is not that great. I mean, I had always wanted to come here and go to places where celebrities hang out, walk down Sunset Boulevard and go to all the clubs, but honestly, it's not all that fantastic.”
Rory was glad that Lizzy had come to this realization. If nothing else, then at least this incident would make her more mature.
“Let this wedding be over. Just one more day to go and we’ll be back in Montcove. There’s nothing in this plastic city for you or for me. We’re happy where we belong.” Rory smiled at her friend.
“What would I ever do without you, Rory? You really are the big sister I never had.” Tears welled up in Lizzy’s eyes and Rory hugged her, touched by the warmth in her words.
“You’ll do fine without me. You’re a very intelligent girl and from here on, I am sure lots of good things will happen to you.”
“You have always been so sweet to me and what did I do to you in return…” Lizzy left the sentence half-finished. “I’ll be better, Rory. I promise. I will make this up to you. I owe you big for being there for me.”
“Lizzy, you don’t owe me anything. That is what friends… that is what sisters do for each other. We stand by each other and we stay together,” Rory said gently.
“Aww. You’re going to make me cry again.” Lizzy embraced her once more.
“What a mutual appreciation society we’ve got going. Let’s quickly head downstairs and get something to eat. I’m famished and I am sure so are you. If we’re late, then my mother won’t serve anything to us.”
Lunch was a rather quiet affair. Rory’s parents had already eaten and were too busy with making last-minute phone calls for Tara’s wedding, and for that Rory was thankful. Had it been a regular day, her mother would’ve asked a zillion questions about Lizzy and why she was here.
Lizzy and Rory ate in silence. After lunch, she and Lizzy decided to laze around and watch TV. Though Rory asked her if she wanted to go out and see more of the city, Lizzy refused.
She’s changed so much. This experience has transformed her, and maybe it will be all for the good. Maybe she will mature and use her potential and do something productive, Rory smiled to herself.
They went for a short walk in the evening around the neighborhood and it was then that Lizzy opened up.
“I really thought Mickey meant every word he said. He looked into my eyes and told me how special I was, how he saw a future for us, and how I was so different from the fake LA girls. I believed him when he said he was falling for me. Every time we were close, I felt a moment between us,” Lizzy said.
Rory’s heart sank when she realized that this was pretty much what Arsen had said to her. Is this what these rockstars do to unsuspecting girls? Make them believe they are unique? As bad as she felt at being deceived by Arsen, Rory was relieved that she hadn’t fallen for him. Or fallen for him as badly as she could have.
“I mean when he flew me to LA in his private jet,” Lizzy continued, ”I thought I was special. I didn’t think he would do so much for someone he didn’t like a lot. But then instead of taking me to his house, we went to a hotel. I mean, it was very luxurious and all that, and I loved it at that time, but I didn’t realize that maybe he doesn’t want to show me his house.”
Lizzy paused for a moment.
“Then he kept coming and going and for the most part, I was sitting all alone in that hotel suite. He returned with a whole lot of drugs and some friends, and all of them were girls. I still didn’t get alarmed. I mean he was still making eyes at me and I believed him.”
“I was reluctant to do hard drugs with him, so he gave me a joint instead. Not to mention that we were drinking nonstop. And then one of those girls, out of the blue, just kissed me. Can you believe it, Rory? Now that I think of it, I think it was Mickey’s idea. I tell you that man has some really weird sexual fantasies. Ugh, I feel dirty just thinking about it.” Lizzy made a face.
“He took me to the clubs where we sat in VIP areas. He ordered bottles of Cristal for me, but I didn’t realize that he was just playing me. He just wanted to get in my pants. Most of the time, he was too drunk and too limp to do anything,” Lizzy snorted.
“I liked him, Rory, but I didn’t want to sleep with him or anything. At least not right away. But last night, he was drugged up and was behaving like an animal. He tried to force himself on me. I pushed him back. Then he was trying to get me drunk, but I was getting a bad vibe and refused. It was then that he lost it and started abusing me. Calling me names I can’t even repeat. It was then that I saw the real Mickey.”
“Then he just stormed out of the suite and even told me to foot the bill for the hotel. I was so scared of him and of the fact that I literally had no money. I mean, he had promised to take care of me, and then he suddenly bailed. That’s when I finally saw your message.” Lizzy stopped walking and held Rory's hands.
“I cannot tell you how relieved I was to know that you were here for me. I spent literally the last dollars I had on the taxi ride to your parents’ house.”
“Lizzy. Stop thanking me. I’m glad that you let it all out and I’m glad that you’re over Mickey, that bastard. Let’s just leave this episode behind and pretend it never happened. Your secret is safe with me and no one else needs to know what you’ve been through. We are never going to talk about this, okay?”
The relief was visible on Lizzy’s face. She was almost smiling like she always used to. Rory was disgusted, though she tried her best not to show it. She wanted to kill Mickey. She had always known that he was a douchebag, and the way he had treated Lizzy made her furious.
“These celebrities are like that. All of them. I bet his buddy Arsen is also that way,” Rory remarked.
“I didn’t meet him much. He is a quiet sorta guy, but Arsen doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would make moves on a woman,” Lizzy said.
“Oh, you don’t know the half of it.” Rory laughed sarcastically. “But let it be. All this is in the past. Just one more day in this godforsaken town, Lizzy, and we’ll be back home, running our little shop.” Rory looked away to the horizon. The thought of being back on the island cheered her up.
But before that, she had to ask her parents for money. It will just have to be tomorrow. At least they’ll be in a good mood.
As Rory and Lizzy got back to her parents’ house, they were greeted by Tara.
“Oh hello. Look who it is,” Tara chuckled. The three faces in the living room turned to look at the two girls.
“What are you doing here? Don’t you have some bachelorette party to throw?” Rory replied coldly.
“Oh, that already happened last week and it was such a blast. Today is my last day as a bachelorette and what better way to spend it than in the house where I grew up and with the people I love the most.”
Rory couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she saw her parents melt at Tara’s words. She quickly leaned in to hold their hands with all the love in the world depicted on her face.
“You are the best daughter a mother can ask for,” her mother said to Tara. Rory couldn’t remember the last time she had seen her mother this emotional.
“Paul is a really lucky guy to get a wife like you,” her dad added. Yeah, real lucky. She’d sell him and his dog in a heartbeat if it served her purposes.
“Dinner will be served in some time, so you girls make sure that you are downstairs for it,” her mother said to Rory. Clearly, in this lovely family moment, she didn’t h
ave a role.
Chapter 23
Dinner was as drab an affair as Rory had expected it to be, with Tara talking nonstop about her honeymoon and the post-wedding plans that she had made with her future husband. In Rory and Lizzy, Tara had found two people who had not heard her stories countless times before and she was not going to let the opportunity slide.
While Lizzy nodded politely and listened to Tara rave on, Rory was getting annoyed by Tara’s bragging. It was already difficult to sit on that table under the scrutinizing eye of her mother and the disappointed look on her father’s face. To have Tara throw her good life in her face was unbearable.
“Can we at least change the channel to something we all can watch?” Rory nodded at the TV, which was tuned to some financial channel that Tara had wanted to watch. Tara stopped in the middle of the story and Rory realized that she had spoken out much louder than she had intended.
“All right, Your Highness,” Tara smirked and started flipping through the channels. She knew that Rory hated being called that. Her mother let out a grunt, shook her head, and went back to her meal.
“Ah. Yeah, we can watch this. I just love this band.” Tara put the remote down and sat with an amused look on her face. Rory’s breath got stuck in her throat and her heart crumbled as she saw Arsen Ford on the screen.
The award show. The big gig. Damn you, Tara. Rory knew that Tara had purposely put it on. There was no way she was a fan of Arsen’s band. She was usually a fan of whatever music her boss liked.
“Say, Rory, isn’t that the band that you were chasing after the other day? When you passed out ?” Tara asked with pretend innocence.
Her mother stopped eating, looked at the TV, and then back at Rory.
“These degenerates? You wanted to chase after men like these?” she said. Rory remained silent. Her hunger had completely disappeared.
“Not everyone can have high standards, Ma. Not all men can be as awesome as my Paul,” Tara said out loud while chewing her food.
Lizzy looked at Rory in confusion. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she did not risk speaking out loud among strangers.
“At least they play real instruments, unlike all that computer music that is on the radio all the time,” her father remarked and then chuckled, but quickly lost his look of amusement when Rory’s mother gave him a stern look.
Tara had a huge grin on her face and was staring directly at Rory, who chose to ignore everything and simply stare at the TV.
Arsen looked as dashing as he always did, perhaps more. Rory realized that there was no sign of Mickey, and Arsen was singing himself. That’s strange, she thought, distracting herself from whatever it was her family was discussing. In another time, she would’ve loved to see him play and sing, but not anymore. She’d had enough of this band, this city, and most of all, of her family.
It took her a moment to realize that Arsen was wearing one of her designs. The space camper van T-shirt that she had gifted him in Montcove. Why is he wearing my T-shirt? Surely he has a gazillion other clothes in his wardrobe. He did say that he liked the design a lot, but still…
If there was any subtle intention behind it, she didn’t want to think about it. In her mind, all of these celebrities were delusional, selfish people and she didn’t want to have anything to do with them. She had enough problems of her own already.
“He is kind of sexy, isn’t he?” Tara said to her in a low voice. “So, which one of these guys were you running after, Rory?”
“She wasn’t...” Lizzy started but Rory stopped her.
“Don’t talk of something you don’t know anything about.” Rory tried to speak in a calm voice, doing her best to hide her rising anger.
“Oh, it’s like that, huh? Why don’t you tell us the true story then, Rory?” Tara sat back with her arms crossed.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Rory replied.
“Oh. So the Ivy League-educated, one of the best lawyers in the city, me, would not understand? Then enlighten us, you wise one. Enlighten this uneducated fool,” Tara mocked her.
“I’ll see you all in the morning,” Rory said to her mother, and without acknowledging anyone else in the room, she walked out, Lizzy following her after a moment. It wasn’t until they reached Rory’s bedroom that Lizzy spoke.
“What were they talking about, Rory?”
“Let’s forget all this.”
“No, Rory. What was all that Tara was…”
“Lizzy.” Rory put her finger on Lizzy’s mouth. “Just one more day here and all we have suffered so far will be history, okay? Let’s never talk of this ever again.”
Lizzy looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t. She saw the serious look on Rory’s face and knew instantly that she was in no mood to talk. For Rory, it was a long night. There were too many things going on in her mind.
Tara had humiliated her ever since she had come back to LA. Her parents, as usual, had not said a word against their favorite child. But Tara’s right. I did make a fool of myself. There’s no doubt that people in their social circles will be talking about it.
It was strange that Rory was feeling claustrophobic in her own, old bedroom. She would’ve given anything to be back in her grandmother’s house, but before that, she had a wedding to attend. She was thankful that she had Lizzy around to keep her company.
“Lizzy, will you help me get ready for the wedding tomorrow?” Rory whispered, not sure if Lizzy was awake still.
“Of course,” Lizzy replied, half-asleep. Rory smiled. Lizzy was all that she had left in the world in that moment. She might be silly, but at least she genuinely cares.
But why did Arsen wear my T-shirt? The thought that she had been avoiding for the last two hours crept back into her head. At the same time, she knew that she wasn’t going to get any answer to that. He did what he did and that’s not for me to think about.
What she had to focus on were her finances. She was going to ask her dad for the money tomorrow morning. There was no point delaying it anymore and she knew it. The day after, she would be off to Montcove and then it would be too late.
Let’s just get done with the damn wedding and be on our way. Focus, Rory, focus.
Chapter 24
Rory woke up to a busy house later than she wanted to, and there was no doubt that her mother was going to give her grief about it.
Lizzy was already awake and was in the shower. Maybe I should go talk to them about the money now before people start showing up.
“Mother, where’s Dad?” Rory asked as she walked down the stairs.
“He’s gone out,” she replied and then turned to face her. “Dear Jesus! Rory! Why aren’t you cleaned up? It’s your sister’s wedding day—the most important day for this family and you haven’t even taken a shower? God, what do I do with you!”
Rory remained silent. Didn’t take much for her mother to ruin someone’s day.
“When Dad’s back, will you tell him that I need to speak with him urgently?” she said.
“Yeah, yeah. First, go and get washed up and hurry!”
Even today she’s not willing to be nice to me. Rory had figured her mother would’ve been overjoyed beyond expectations on her favorite daughter’s wedding day, but apparently not. At least, not when Rory was around. Today more than ever, Rory did not exist in this house. It was all about Tara, not that Rory complained.
“Look at you, you’re not even out of your pajamas yet,” Lizzy laughed as Rory entered the bedroom. “C’mon, we have to go to a wedding. It’s gonna be fun.”
To Rory, it seemed that Lizzy was almost back to her usual self. Of course, a part of her had changed for good, but it was a positive sign.
“I’m just gonna put on that hideous bridesmaid’s dress and go through the motions,” she said with a pinched expression.
“Oh, Rory. Please don’t be like that. They are your family after all, and she is your only sister.” Lizzy got no response from Rory. “We’ll have a lot of fun, I promise.�
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“Fun with these people? Haven’t you seen how they are?” Rory sneered.
“I know. But this day will surely end better than it has started.” Lizzy smiled, her eyes glued to her phone. She was busy texting someone.
Rory opened her laptop and got into the daily morning ritual. Checking emails, replying to them and checking her T-shirt sales account. Let’s see if I have made any money at all today. When she had started with the T-shirt business, she used to love checking her account in the morning. Nowadays she dreaded it since the sales were usually low.
There were no emails, except one from Tara sending her a link to a YouTube video of Rory making a fool of herself outside that club. Rory quickly deleted it.
“Rory, you gotta go and at least get into the shower. Your hair will take a while to dry,“ Lizzy told her, still glued to her phone.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
The account screen finally loaded and at first Rory thought her eyes had gone bad. She rubbed them and looked again. The numbers remained unchanged. She was in shock and felt tears welling up her eyes. Rory felt like she was crumbling. The shock was too much for her to take.
There were 698 people who had placed a T-shirt order. Compared to the average of three or four orders daily, this was way beyond incredible. Rory took the hand that she had used to cover her mouth in astonishment and wiped away the slight tear that fell from her eye. This was a record earning for her.
How did this happen? Is this a mistake? Some system error? Rory went to check details, and all of the sales were legitimate. Some people had even left comments. Strangely most of those orders were for just one T-shirt design. The space camper van. The one Arsen had worn at the award ceremony concert the night before.
Then it dawned on Rory. It was because of Arsen wearing that T-shirt that it suddenly became so popular. Her design went viral because of him, and that was why there were so many sales.
Rory was against everything Arsen stood for. She despised celebrities like him. Yet, one slight gesture from him had changed her life. Rory wasn’t sure how she felt about it all. Are they buying it because they like the design or because Arsen Ford wore it? The dilemma ate at her.
