Page 32 of Strum Me

“We just finished off a few rounds of shots. You guys ready to catch up?” Hailey asks, finally calming down.

“Er.” Marius shoots another look at Jez that I’m sure I didn’t imagine this time. “I’m not really in the mood for shots.”

The waitress comes over, her notepad ready. “A round of beers then?” Hailey suggests.

“Um, nah. Maybe later. I’m not really in the mood for a drink,” Jez mutters.

“Dude. What’s wrong?” Cadence asks.

“Nothing’s wrong!”

“You just refused alcohol. Twice,” Hailey adds.

Jez narrows his eyes at her, scrunching up his nose. “I’m not an alcoholic!”

Hailey stares at him back, not backing down. “No, you’re just a very social drinker.”

“Well, I’m not today, okay? Give it up,” Jez says, pulling an empty chair from the neighboring table to sit on.

“Okay, fine. What about you, Marius? You wanna take us on?”

“Er, they do iced coffee here, right?” He aims his question on the still-waiting waitress who nods.

“ICED COFFEE?” Cadence yells, her eyebrows in motion again.

“Okay, it’s not funny anymore, guys...what gives?” Hailey asks.

There’s no answer, and each one shirks away from Hailey’s stare when she turns to them.

“Ooohhhh. I know,” Cadence finally speaks up. “They’re scared of Emily.”

“What? Why?”

“They’re scared of what you’re going to write about them,” she explains to me. And of course it all makes sense.

I can’t believe it. “Guys. Seriously?” And I wait for them to deny it.

I turn to Brad, who squirms in his seat. “BRAD!”

He just looks apologetic, but doesn’t even begin to deny it.

“What? I’m not here as a spy, guys, to busybody into the nitty-gritty of your debauched lives!” I shake my head, trying to let it sink in that they see me as an outsider, when the only reason I got this job was because my editor felt I had an in with them. But if all they see me as is a two-bit tabloid reporter, I might as well work for TMZ. It hurt. More than I would’ve expected it to. I feel a prickle behind my eyes and blink furiously trying to get rid of it.

Brad notices, and he moves his chair closer to me. “It’s just… look, we haven’t had the best experience with paps, okay?”

“I’m not a pap,” I say, shocked that I even have to explain that.

“Whatever. Reporters, journalists. It’s been hardly a few months since...” His voice trails off and his eyes shift to Cadence”

“What?” she asks him.

“You know. The pics...and the video,” he says, lowering his voice, referring to the very well-publicized sex video of Cadence when she was younger.

“Dude. I’m cool with Emily.” She winks at me and reaches over and gives my shoulder a little pat.

I smile at her appreciatively. What an amazing woman.

“But...well, we’re...not,” Jez says, frankly.