“Earth to Georgie,” Alessandra says.
I look at her blankly.
“I asked if you’re ready to go to the pool now, Cinderella?”
“Oh.” I take a deep breath. “Yeah, great. But, please, don’t make Cinderella my nickname. It only makes me think I’m one midnight away from everything around me turning into a pumpkin.”
***
After changing into our swimsuits, Alessandra and I arrive at the pool to find Reed’s sister and her friend enjoying the sunny day, joined by Josh and his pregnant wife, Kat, who’s rocking a white string bikini with her baby bump, and Henn, who’s here with his adorable, bespectacled wife, Hannah.
Introductions are made, and easy conversation ensues. After some preliminaries, Kat asks me about the special issue and how I got my cool gig, so I tell the group the story of how I ambushed CeeCee at an on-campus event for music students.
“Sounds like she’s your spirit animal, Kat,” Josh says to his wife. “A woman who knows how to get shit done.”
“He’s complimenting you,” Kat assures me. “Josh loves my devious side.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Josh says, laughing. “The way Kat cleverly gets what she wants is one of my all-time favorite things about her. Kat’s family calls itself the Morgan Mafia. And she’s definitely ‘The Godmother’ in that clan.”
“Oh, you’re a Morgan?” I say to Kat, putting two and two together. “Are you related to Keane and Dax?”
“They’re my brothers. My two little brothers. I’ve also got two big brothers. I like to say I’m the meat in a Morgan brothers sandwich.” She giggles at her own joke.
“Are your two older brothers coming to the party tonight, too?”
I don’t recall seeing any other Morgans on the guest list. But, then again, I didn’t make it through the entire list before Alessandra showed up.
“No. My oldest brother, Colby, isn’t a big partier. And my second-oldest brother, Ryan, loves to party, but not with Reed.”
My stomach clenches. “Oh.”
Kat looks embarrassed. “Oh, no, it’s nothing big. Reed flirted with Ryan’s wife, a million years ago, and Ryan’s never forgotten about it.”
“Oh,” I say again, at a loss for words. Reed hit on a married woman? And not just any married woman, but his best friend’s sister-in-law? I’m well aware Reed’s always liked the ladies, but, come on, there’s an entire planet of women who’d fall at his feet. There was no need for him to hit on Josh’s sister-in-law.
“Oh, Georgie, no, no,” Kat says, apparently reacting to the look on my face. “Tessa wasn’t even Ryan’s wife back when Reed flirted with her! She wasn’t even Ryan’s girlfriend!” Kat cackles with laughter. “My brother, Ryan, is a lunatic when it comes to his wife. A crazy-man with a grudge. Reed did nothing wrong. Tessa was single and fair game when he flirted with her. It was at our destination wedding in Maui, and everybody was hitting on everybody.” She laughs uproariously, and I exhale with relief.
More conversation ensues, drink orders are taken by some dude, and more people arrive. First, the three guys of 22 Goats—Dax, Fish, and Colin—waltz in, nearly making both Alessandra and me pee in the pool. Shortly after that, the actor Keane Morgan and his cute documentarian wife, Maddy, arrive, along with their two best friends... who, get this, are none other than former Disney-star-turned-pop-star, Aloha Carmichael, the woman Alessandra and I both watched on It’s Aloha! throughout our childhoods, plus, Aloha’s bodyguard-husband, Zander.
More drink orders are taken. Music begins blaring out of hidden speakers. And, suddenly, we’ve got ourselves a legit pool party.
At first, I’m nervous and stiff around so much star power. And Alessandra is a mute. But soon, it’s impossible not to loosen up in this easygoing group. We find out Keane’s wife, Maddy, is the younger sister of Henn’s wife, Hannah. We find out Kat is the one who introduced Henn to Hannah—that Kat used to work with Hannah in Seattle. “The minute I met Henny,” Kat declares, “I knew he’d fall ass over tea kettle for Hannah!”
With the group looking on and laughing their asses off, Keane tells Alessandra and me a long, twisted, bizarre story about the day he first met Zander when they got stuck together in an elevator at a porn convention... before finally bursting out laughing at our expressions and telling us, no, actually the pair met in math class in eighth grade.
And on and on it goes, with music blaring and cocktails flowing all the while. And through it all, I find myself feeling more and more relaxed and like myself, despite all the glamour and star power around me. Even Alessandra begins to find her groove after a while. Mostly, thanks to Fish, the lanky, shaggy bass player of 22 Goats, with whom she’s now chatting in a corner of the pool.
“So, do you mind if we talk about my interview of 22 Goats for a second?” I ask Dax.