After a while, our model friend Kate tracked us down and joined the table. Not being in on the conversation, she was quicker to pick up on my disenchantment.
“Hey,” she nudged my shoulder. “You okay, doll?”
“I’m too sober,” I decided. “Waiter! More drinks, please! The next round is on me!”
The whole table cheered, and somehow more people seemed to keep joining our party. All the other guests stared at us with desire and resentment. They wanted to be one of us. I just wanted to go home.
But home that night was an empty hotel room. Luxurious as it might have been, I needed to get my kicks where I could. So I drank more, hoping that I was just one cocktail away from having fun with the rest of them.
After dinner and drinks at the hotel, we were off to another VIP area of some club that just opened. We drank Cristal and slipped the DJ hundred dollar bills to only play our requests and no one else’s. It led to a sweaty night of dancing that stretched into the early morning hours.
As closing time was nearing, each of the ladies I came with appeared to have found themselves in the arms of some guy for the evening. I kept a close watch in case any of them ended up with a dud and needed to be saved. But all seemed to be going well for them that night.Good for them, I thought. As shallow and obnoxious as they could be at times, everyone deserved to have a little fun.
I stayed on my perch in a dark corner, sipping my drink and watching the dwindling crowd. I was just about to call it a night when a guy walked up. He was even beefier than the one from dinner, and he was more my type with dark skin, hair, and eyes.
“Hey, mystery woman,” he winked. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“Mystery woman?” I winced. Of course a guy I was actually attracted to would mess it up with some cheesy line right off the bat.
“I’ve been watching you all night. I can’t seem to figure you out. I thought maybe if we had a drink together, I might be able to tell why a woman who looks like you is sitting all alone in a place like this.”
As he talked, he moved in closer. Our eyes locked and with all the alcohol buzzing through my body, it was more than just a little tempting to want to invite him back to my room—even if he did say all the wrong things. But just as we were inches away from kissing, I hopped down from my stool and grabbed my bag.
“Maybe some other time,” I lied. “There’s really nothing so mysterious about me. My legs were tired, so I quit dancing. I’m alone because I wanted to be. And right now…I’m going home. Have a nice night, handsome.”
He gawked as I walked away, giving me the feeling that he didn’t get rejected often. But I kept going all the way back to the hotel. Some cold water to drink and a hot bath to soak in was starting to sound more appealing than another disappointing man.
Maybe my brother was right. Maybe Heartstring did give me something to do, and it might be good for me. And maybe love was just the cure I needed for the funk I had slipped into. But even with the stupid dating site parading me around as one of it’s most coveted bachelorettes, I didn’t have a clue how to find real love. I just kept waiting for it to find me.
1
Isabella
Recovering from jet lag and the disappointment of yet another trip abroad was bad enough. Now I had to go meet with my brother’s annoying new wife, Jada, on top of that. Actually, it was wrong to say Jada was annoying. She was actually very sweet. I liked her from the first time we met, even if back then I saw her as more of a project, than a real friend. Maybe I just didn’t know how to spot those anymore.
But it was easy to underestimate Jada. Jack had done the same when he started at Heartstring. That’s how he never saw his feelings for her coming, and why he ended up deciding he couldn’t live without her. She blindsided him. Just like she had done with me in roping me into this stupid campaign of hers to fix me up, promoting her dating app along the way.
Not all of my advice from back then had been lost on Jada. She may have stopped trying to be quite as fashionable and pristine as me, but she kept the fringe and heels. She was looking especially cute that day when I showed up to her office for our meeting. Too bad she didn’t look happy.
“How was your trip?” She forced a smile, giving away that something was eating at her.
“Good enough,” I shrugged. “How was yours? You and Jack just got back from the Bahamas, didn’t you?”
Thatbrought a real smile to her face. “It was magical,” she said with a dreamy sigh. But the magic and her smile quickly faded. “The state of our campaign with you though…not so magical, I’m afraid.”
“And just what is the problem?” I groaned, leaning back in my chair across from her desk.
“Well, the whole point was to prove how effective Heartstring was in helping people find love,” she explained. “But you haven’t found it. You certainly piqued everyone’s interest. You’re beautiful, rich, mysterious. People love following you. But…they see someone like you not finding anything serious through Heartstring, and it makes them think if we can’t help you…there’s no way we can help someone who’s more…well…average.”
“What am I supposed to do about that?” I defended. “I can’t force myself to have feelings for someone. Maybe I should just pretend I’ve fallen for someone. Didn’t your brother do something to that effect?”
“No, Lucas pretended to be pretending to have feelings for Victoria,” she corrected me. “But he really did love her ever since we were teens. It’s a bit different.” She stood from her desk and started pacing the room. “I know you can’tforcefeelings, but I do have a solution. We’ll just have to capitalize on everyone’s interest in you until we give them the happy ending they’re looking for. And I want you to know, Izzy…This is about more than just Heartstring’s reputation. Jack and I both want you to be happy. We want you to experience that happy ending…not just for the sake of the public, but for you and your happiness.”
I cringed at the phrase “Jack and I” rolling off of her tongue so easily. After growing up so close with Jack and usually having him all to myself, sometimes it was hard not to be jealous of his new wife. After all, we were without parents now. He was the only family I had left. But now…I was not the only family he had to lean on. He had Jada.
“I want to make this campaign even bigger,” she continued. “We’ll rise up to the challenge and put our focus entirely on you. You’ll be the focal point of this whole campaign from now on. It will be your name and face all over our website and social media… until we find the right guy for you. And when that happens, people will go crazy for Heartstring. It will restore their faith in us. And like I said, the best part is you get true love out of the whole thing.”
“I don’t know, Jada,” I sighed. “This whole thing was really just a favor to Jack. Now you want it to go on even longer and be even bigger?”
