Hot Mess

Giggling, I covered the lower half of my face with my hand. It could have been the wine talking, but my new best friend was killing me. There also had to be something in the water in this place, because she was just as beautiful was Theo was handsome.

“I’m not going to bang Theo!” I stage-whispered, trying not to giggle all over the snacks between us.

“No, no, no, listen, hear me out!” Blaire’s dark skin was smooth under the glaring lights, and her wedding ring sparkled when it caught the spotlight. “He needs to get laid.”

“Oh, not this shit again.” Theo sat in the seat next to me. “Blaire, not everyone who’s single needs to get laid.”

“No, but all miserable bastards do!” She grinned, her dark brown eyes dancing with the laughter she was barely restraining. “I’m trying to do you a favor, buddy!”

“Ignore her,” Theo said to me, pushing a glass of wine in my direction.

“I don’t know if another glass is a good idea,” I said slowly.

“It’s a great one!” Blaire exclaimed. “Get drunk and get laid!”

“Ah, my wife, the romantic.” Alex took the empty seat next to her and handed her a glass of red wine. “Isn’t she so lovely?”

I giggled again. “She is!”

“We’re best friends!” Blaire declared, raising her fist to fist bump me.

I obliged, knocking my fist against hers and exploding our fingers after.

You know. Like the cool kids did. Maybe five years ago.

“You can’t make people have sex, Blaire,” Theo groaned.

“Tell that to porn directors!”

Oh, my God. She was a delight.

“Alex,” she said, grabbing his arm. “Elle Evans is my best friend. The vlogger our kid loves is my best friend. Do I get cool mom points or what?”

My eyes widened.

“You can’t say anything,” Theo said quickly. “She’s hiding.”

“Yeah, because of the sex tape! But she obviously didn’t know about it!”

I grimaced.

Maybe I’d gone a bit hard on the whole ‘delight’ thing.

So did Blaire. “Sorry. That was the wine talking.”

“It’s fine. I have to get used to it. I suppose I’ll hear about it for the rest of my life.”

She leaned forward. “I don’t know why you don’t just make a video and tell everyone to fuck off. Defend yourself. Tell the world what a jerkbag your ex is!”

“She probably can’t,” Alex said. “Not if she’s pursuing legal action, which I’m sure she is.”

I nodded. “My lawyer is working on it, and I have a private investigator tracing the origins of the tape. As soon as I have proof, the police can deal with it.”

“She’s smart,” Blaire declared, raising her red wine. “You should totally do her, Theo.”

“It’s remarkable,” Theo said dryly. “A twenty-eight-year-old mother of one speaking like she’s a teenager.”

“I’ll act like one, too.”

“Maybe you need to get laid, Blaire.”

“As a rule, yes, I do.”

I laughed into my glass, while Alex merely shook his head and smiled. I got the impression this behavior was normal for Blaire and everyone was used to it. I got that.

Video Elle and Real Elle were two different people, too. Mom Blaire and Friend Blaire likely were as well.

I assumed she didn’t talk like this around her daughter, anyway.

I hoped not.

While they talked and joked, I peered into my wine. Maybe it was the wine talking right now, but Blaire kind of had a point about me doing a video. It wasn’t like my lawyer, Bethany, had said I couldn’t. I would of course check first, but maybe I did need to get out my side of the story.

It had to be better than the continuous ‘no comment’ replies my agent and publicist were giving everyone right now.

Plus, it would be on my terms, in my words.

But it would also mean going online and seeing what people were saying, so it probably wasn’t going to happen yet.

“Ready to go?” Theo asked, nudging me.

I nodded and smiled. Yeah, I was ready to go. I’d had more than enough wine, and all I really wanted to do right now was pass out in my bed.

We said goodbye to Alex and Blaire and turned in the direction of the beach. Creek Keys really was small enough that you could walk literally anywhere, and Theo grabbed my arm and put it through his.

Thank God I was in flats.

We walked in silence. The only noise was that of our feet hitting the concrete, but that was joined by the distant crashing of waves as we got closer to the beach. It was a peaceful walk, and for the first time in more than a week, my brain was silent.

No endless thoughts, no whirring, no going over everything one thousand times.

It was nice.

The houses came into view right as we turned onto the dirt path. I stumbled on a stone, but thanks to having my arm linked with Theo, I stayed upright.

He peered over at me with a smirk. “Graceful, you are not.”