Skinny Dipping (The Au Pairs 2)

"Over your shoulder, Mara!"

138

"Can we get one with you leaning over Garrett?"

Only too happy to oblige, Mara leaned over and gave Garrett a kiss on his forehead, sending the paparazzi into a frenzy as their cameras flashed. Mara slunk her hips, pouting and posing, noticing how Ryan couldn't take his eyes off her. Finally! He was looking at her!

Wooooaaah, we're halfway there-uh. . . . Whoooahh, livin on a pray ah . . .'" she sang. She was having the time of her life until she felt a hand on her ankle. She looked down. Eliza was glaring at her, looking pretty steamed for some reason. But Mara was nothing but delighted to see her.

"'Liza! Come up here!" she enjoined. "'Take my hand, we'll make it I swear!'" she sang, holding out her hand to her friend.

"Get down! Get down! Get down this minute!" Eliza hissed, pulling at her ankle.

"What? I can't hear you!" Mara shouted.

"We have a health inspector here tonight--this is a restaurant 1 . You can't dance on the tables! They'll shut us down!"

" What?" Mara asked, laughing.

"I said, getdownll" Eliza screamed, "Oh my God, oh my God." She pulled Mara off the table, and Mara stumbled down, her skirt almost catching on the candle. She landed on Garrett's lap.

"What on earth were you thinking? I could get fired!" Eliza said angrily.

"What's wrong with you?" Mara demanded. It wasn't like Mara was doing anything different from what Lindsey Lohan had pulled the night before.

139

"Nothing's wrong with me--you're the one who's being a total brat," Eliza spat. Mara was acting just like the spoiled celebrities who thought they owned the place.

"Excuse me?" Mara yelped. "What did you call me?"

"Hey, hey, cool down," Ryan said, standing up and holding his arms out between the two seething girls. "Mara, Eliza didn't mean it."

"Shut up, Ryan!" Mara glared. "Who asked you?" It was just like Ryan to be on Eliza's side. Why couldn't he be on her side just for once? He was always defending Eliza. Even last summer, when she'd first met Eliza and Eliza had been such a witch to her, Ryan had told her not to hold it against Eliza since her family was going through some "hard times." As if Mara didn't know what hard times were like!

Meanwhile, Eliza noticed that Garrett was leaning against his chair, smirking and enjoying the show. He was probably thinking that if he was lucky enough, Mara and Eliza would start rolling around the floor, pulling each other's hair out in a proper cat-fight. Eliza was disgusted by him. For the first time, she wondered what Mara saw in him besides all that money.

"Mara, calm down," Eliza said. "You're drunk."

That only made Mara more furious. Hello, who was a bigger lush than Eliza? The girl practically lived on vodka-cranberries. "Um, excuse me, I'm in a nightclub!" Mara yelled, drunk and belligerent. "You're just jealous because I'm in the VIP room and you just work here!"

140

Eliza reacted as if slapped. "Stop acting like a bitch!"

"I'm a bitch? You're the one who's been acting so weird all summer!" Mara said, knowing it was true. Eliza had blown her off almost all summer and had been short with her when they had hung out.

They glared at each other. Last summer, the two of them had had a hard time seeing eye to eye, and they'd done their share of bickering. But this was so much worse.

"Oh God, I feel sick," Mara said, holding a hand to her mouth and clutching her stomach with the other. Then she leaned over and threw up all over Eliza's new Marc Jacobs shoes.

Before blacking out, the last thing Mara remembered was seeing a look of utter disgust on Ryan's face.

141

you'll always love

your first love