Page 38 of Make Me Laugh

Frankie elbows him in the side hard enough to make him shut up. I’m glad it works because I don’t want to have to punch my best friend in the face.

Joey gets this look, and it makes me feel like I’m watching a spider eyeing a fly in its web, analyzing its next perfected move. “Trust a girl who what? Go ahead, say it.”

I take a step away from Enzo in case the spider strikes.

Enzo isn’t a dumb man. He stays quiet.

“You don’t trust a girl who jumps into bed with your horny best friend?” I should be offended, but I’m not. “Is that what you were going to say?” Joey isn’t afraid to bite back, always ready to go toe to toe in the face of a challenge.

“You have to understand the amount of people willing to take advantage of an overnight sensation…” Enzo begins.

“I know you don’t know this about me, so I won’t hold it against you, but I’ve got a BA in Mathematics and an MBA on top of that. I was the Vice President of Social Media for a talent agency for four years. Unfortunately, said company crumbled from within and I was too expensive to keep on the payroll.” Looking at Joey, you’d never think she would hold a VP title—she doesn’t fit the mold with her tattoos, piercings, and spitfire attitude. “I didn’t make West sign a contract to make money off him. I made him sign a contract because he already made money off me and the brand I’ve built. If he wants me to travel with you this weekend and design a social media business strategy, he’s going to pay me. I haven’t busted my ass for ten years to work for a man for free.”

Frankie snaps. “Yes, girl.”

“And the no sex thing, that’s because of this right here.” Joey points at Enzo. “I’ll be damned if people think I had to fuck a man to make money.” She shrugs, and I hide a shiver at her confidence. “I don’t need his money. I have my own, and if you don’t believe that, the door’s right behind you.”

I want to laugh, but somehow manage not to. She thinks I’d consider walking out?

Oh, Joey baby. I can’t go anywhere now. I’m too far gone.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

THE ONE WITH GRIM

Comment: Omg I bartend at a club downtown and they were there together last night!

Comment reply: Say you swear!

Comment reply: TELL US EVERYTHING!

I don't care how far behind Enzo’s schedule we are… If they want me at this show tonight, they’ll wait for me to shower.

It’s the least he can do after jumping to conclusions about me, which he apologized for, but I’ll still take the extra time to sit with the absolute insane decision I’d made.

Frankie packed my bag for me, and now she’s braiding my hair while I stare at myself in the mirror like the ghost of a Victorian child.

“Am I crazy for doing this? Is this fucking crazy?” I ask in a hushed tone. There’s no way West or Enzo can hear us, but I’m still not taking any chances. “We don’t even know these guys, and I’m just going off with them all by myself.”

“Well, you already went off with one of them, and all he did was give you six orgasms, so I think you’re safe,” Frankie says, fluffing my braid to give it some volume while it dries. “I also think your shitty parents abandoning you fucks with you so bad that you don’t know how to enjoy spontaneity. You never have.” She throws the braid over my front shoulder. “I said you’ve gotten uptight, but you’ve kinda always been this way.” Frankie grimaces lightly, as if she’s been holding in a life-changing secret.

I stare at her beside me in the mirror, half ready to cuss her out and half ready to hug her… I’ve always been afraid I’ll be a disappointment and people will compare me to them—but to who? A man no one knows, not even me, and a mother I haven’t seen in over twenty years?

Frankie gives me a smile that says she’s sorry when I sigh. “When are you ever gonna be this hot, this smart, or this young again?” she muses.

Never.

Wallowing isn’t on today’s agenda, so I quickly throw on a pair of black biker shorts, an oversized sweater, crew socks, and a pair of old checkered Vans.

I was dolled up last night, waking up with a piece of that Jo still lingering. This new one is washed and ready to look at this with a business eye.

This weekend is about making a little in between money and figuring out what the fuck I’m going to do about HexedHeroine. That’s it. That’s all. Nothing more.

I can’t even think of opening any of my social media accounts right now. All of this is too fresh.

What Frankie said about me was right though… I have let my childhood trauma scare me into living a pretty boring everyday life, especially after the added emotional damage of my ex and his fucked up family.

Maybe this is me starting over, and it just took me three years and nine months to get here.