Phee
There has to be some kind of copyright law against that
Me
Then the people at Pixar would have to explain how they found it in the first place
Phee
Talk about covering all your bases
Wehadcovered all our bases. I had absolutely nothing to worry about, and yet I couldn’t shake that feeling that somehow Bella was using her lawyer connections to find and compile adamning testimony against me and my nether regions. If not to bring it in a binder of hot-off-the-press computer paper to our parents, then to present it back to me as a form of reverse revenge porn self-reflection.
Ophelia texted me again.
O
You should just ask them
Me
I haven’t even talked to them in over a week
O
Maybe they’re waiting for you?
The last thing Mia said to me was that she’d try to talk Bella and Cami into letting me do my own dirty work. They could have agreed and were waiting for me to hold up my end of the bargain. If that was the case I still had some time left to convince themnotto ruin our family, because if they thought I’d be outing myself to anyone before our wedding reception was over, they'd be sorely mistaken. That way I could fuck off forever and never have to show my face to anyone in the Russo lineage ever again.
It’d be for the best.
It would also haunt me until the wedding if I didn’t find out what was going on with the three of them and where we really stood in all this. They were still my bridesmaids; no one had rescinded their invitation. We were possibly the most dysfunctional bridal party in America, but at least there was no groom-cheats-on-bride-day-of-wedding drama like in the movies.
Mia was the most receptive, if you could call it that. I singled her out and decided to skip over waiting for a text back and hit the call button in her contact. It rang enough times for me toquestion whether or not she would pick up, but on the fifth ring she did.
“Hello.” Her voice was low, but soft. A jingle in the background sounded like her car keys rattling around on her finger.
“Hey,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “I don’t want this to be weird.”
She punched out a laugh. “That’s a good way to not make it weird.”
“I don’t want you to get penalized for finagling with the enemy. But if I have to be in the dark about what’s going on for another hour I might scratch myself out of my skin.”
Her heels clicked against the pavement. It was the middle of the afternoon so she was probably coming or going from a property showing. “Have I become the more approachable older sister? I made a wrong turn somewhere.”
“Approachableisn’t the word I’m thinking of, but empathetic, possibly?” I squeaked. “The only one who might pick up the phone, at least.”
“I was worried about you,” Mia said. I was taken aback by it, and before I could catch up she filled the open space. “What’s the verdict on that guy Angelo punched? Is he pressing charges?”
“No, thankfully. I think he sobered up and nearly shit himself when he realized there were four more men waiting for their turn. Angelo got a ticket for disorderly conduct, but that’s far from the first time for him.”
Mia was quiet on the other line for a moment, a short hum sifting through the receiver. “So that guy harassing you was…what? A…fan?”
“A subscriber.Formersubscriber.”
“I’d say.”
“That’s never happened to me before, just so you know,” I rushed out. “I’ve never met a person from my online life inmy real one, and neither had Mateo. It was all such a freak coincidence. I’m sorry again that you were there for that.”
