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“Connor? The head of the security team? Your boyfriend?” The shock must be evident on my face.
“Yeah,” Tawny laughs. “Like Esme said, it’s a long story.”
“But it has a happy ending,” Esme adds.
“How about you?” I ask Esme. “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“I’m working on it,” Tawny says. “She’s a little picky is our Esme.”
“Hey!” Esme says. “I love my life as it is. It’s going to take someone very special to improve on it.”
“That’s such a good attitude to have,” I say, taking the glass Tawny is passing back to me.
“Go easy with that,” Esme says. “We may have asked for it to be made weak, but Che’s definition of weak is very different to ours.” She grins and takes a long sip of her own.
“And you? Are you seeing anyone Aurelia?” Tawny asks.
I shake my head, acclimating to the zingy bubbles hitting my throat. “Not since Nate.”
“Who’s that?” Esme frowns.
Tawny shrugs.
“I take it you don’t readPeople Magazine, then?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” Tawny says, apologetically.
“Don’t worry. It’s a relief actually. I dated another singer for a few years. He was a member of a boyband called Jinxed.”
“What happened?” Esme asks, taking another long sip.
“He cheated on me with Amber Mayhew, a famous model. I found out about it throughUs Weekly. I was completely humiliated and couldn’t get out of bed for about a week. It’s one thing to be cheated on, but to have it done to in public is a whole other level of humiliation. What’s weird is, it didn’t stop my parents loving him.” I frown slightly. It still hurts.
“So, um, what about now?” Tawny asks, keeping her eyes on her glass. “Anyone here caught your attention?”
I feel myself flush. “Not really. Why?”
“No reason. It’s just, you and Isaac seem to be getting along really well.”
I smile, nervously. “We are. But as colleagues. He’s a lot older than I am.”
“Age is just a number,” Esme says.
“Yeah.” I look past them to where Isaac is standing with Luca, Connor and Jax. Just as my eyes find him, he looks up, and for a moment we just stare at each other. Can he hear us? I break the eye contact feeling suddenly out of my depth. “Anyway, I’m not his type. I’m nothing like Paris Navitsky.”
Esme does a double take. “You know about that?”
I nod and take another sip, enjoying the way the alcohol relaxes me. I feel like I need it, just to cope with the burning sensation of Isaac’s eyes whenever he looks up. “We bumped into her once, the day after I moved here. It was really awkward so I asked him about it.”
Esme and Tawny look at each other then back at me. I feel like I have to emphasize the point. “Anyway, I have to focus on the shows while I’m here. I can’t really afford to be distracted.”
They spend the next hour telling me about how they each ended up on Starling Key, and I’m amazed at how people find such joy after facing such horrific circumstances. I feel utterly privileged in comparison, even though my family life feels far from perfect at the moment. At one point I look up and Isaac is not there. As my eyes scour the area, nervously, I notice Jax is watching me instead. I feel a sharp sense of relief knowing that whether he’s there or not, Isaac has my back. Just before it’s time for me to head back to the villa, my favorite Stevie Nicks song, Edge of Seventeen, starts playing over the speakers.
“I have to dance to this,” I announce. My limbs are already moving. “I can’t not.”
“I’ll come with you,” Esme laughs. Tawny hugs me goodbye before heading out of the bar with Connor.
I follow Esme into the crowd feeling instantly lifted with all the other bodies. I’m surrounded by people who are smiling and losing themselves in the music. I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to dance with other people in this way, without every move being closely choreographed, and backup dancers tracking every step. I feel hands on my hips and I move with them. I watch a couple a few feet away, joined together at the mouth and pelvis, slow-dancing to the rock music. Esme jumps to the music with an arm above her head. I’m spun around and passed to another pair of hands that lift me up then lower me gracefully. I don’t feel at all afraid or unsafe; I feel so incredibly protected by all these people around me. And I’m so happy I can hardly breathe.
