iet 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 have a role.
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.