“I don’t know, Don.”
“Well, what I know is that all of us would really like it if you two lovely ladies would make an appearance. We think of you guys as friends of the band.”
“Really?” Lizzy exclaimed. “Rory, c’mon. You have to come. It’ll be so much fun.”
“You ladies let me know and I’ll send a car around to pick you up.” Don slid his card on the counter, picked up the bag of books, and waved them a quick goodbye. His generosity had eased things for Rory and for that, she was thankful to him. Don had no need to buy books but he still had. Rory only wished now that he would take the time to read through all of them.
“Oh my God, Rory, you gotta come. It’s not like we are invited to these kinds of parties every day.”
“Lizzy, you know I am not a party girl.”
“But I am and I want to party with you. Oh, please! Come along with me,” she begged.
“So you’d go without me, Lizzy?”
“Uh. I mean… I won’t… If you don’t…” Lizzy stammered.
“I’m just kidding, sweetie. You go have a ball.” Rory smiled.
“No, Rory, you have to come.”
“But I have nothing to wear.”
“Don’t worry about a thing. I will put together an outfit for you. I will even do your hair and makeup. You know how good I am at that. I even have six hundred subscribers on my YouTube beauty channel.”
Rory remained silent. There were reasons why she had run away from LA and she knew that this party would be the embodiment of everything she hated about that town. Now Lizzy wanted to drag her into the midst of a place where she would feel nothing but uncomfortable.
She wanted to see Arsen, there was no denying that. He was special to her and she had to say goodbye to him. Maybe I’ll just go say a quick hi. If it’s too much, then I can always leave. The thought of saying goodbye to Arsen was making her heart sink. They had just gotten to know each other, every moment with him was more beautiful than the last, and Rory hated to see it all end so soon. What else was I expecting? That he’d stay here forever for me?
“So will you come?” Lizzy made puppy eyes at her.
“Okay. But you will have to do all the legwork.”
“Yay! I will take care of everything—don’t you worry about that. I’ll be here first thing in the morning. We’re about the same size and you can borrow some clothes from me. I’ll have to carry all the makeup too and the shoes. Shit, there’s so much to do!”
Rory had no doubt that Lizzy was going to stay awake half the night thinking about the party and comparing outfit possibilities. Rory just didn’t want her to make a fool of herself because of her growing infatuation with Mickey. He was going to leave soon, and Rory was scared that Lizzy was going to be heartbroken if that pompous rockstar did anything stupid.
Later in the night, Rory sat alone doing her bills. Inspiration just hadn’t struck her that day and she had given up trying to sketch anything. She put the cash Don had spent at the shop in the money box, and while it did get her closer to her monthly target, she was still well short of paying all the dues.
Is there nothing I can do to fix this?
Every day, she spent a big part of her day thinking about ways to make money or ways to better her financial situation, and she felt claustrophobic at the thought of not being able to find a solution. Where thinking about losing the house brought her to the verge of tears, the idea of borrowing money from her parents made her furious.
Another day, the same struggle, she thought as she tried to drift off to sleep. At least she would get to see Arsen tomorrow. Arsen the garbage contractor. A smile spread on her face as she once again thought back to that charming afternoon they had spent together at Martha’s bakery. And with that smile, Rory was off to sleep.
12
Rory was just sitting down for breakfast when her phone rang. It’s probably Lizzy with a hundred questions about a hundred different things, she thought.
Rory pursed her lips tightly as she saw her parents’ phone number flash on her phone. For a moment she thought about letting it go to voicemail, but she knew that it would only make matters worse as her mother would give her grief about it later.
“Hello.”
“Rory. It is your mother.” Rory never understood why her mother always felt the need to formally announce herself on the phone.
“Hi, Mom, how are you?”
“Listen, Tara’s asking if you tried fitting in the dress yet? Becaus