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1
GISELLE
I’m a pretty freaking hot A-list celebrity. Especially tonight. This blood-red Versace gown was basically made to be onmythin, supermodel body exclusively. And by the way everyone here is staring at me, I know they all agree.
I’m at a charity gala event thing with Eliza—one of my best friends, despite the age difference, whom I’m trying desperately to forget I shared a romantic kiss with not long ago—and her husband, who is sick withALS, Shawn. I don’t even really know what I’m doing here, but I accepted Eliza and Shawn’s invite ages ago and don’t want to be one of those people who cancels on them last minute.
Eliza and I haven’t really talked much since our accidental kiss in the stairwell at her office. When it happened, after we broke apart, Eliza’s pale blue eyes widened as she gasped, then she told me it had been a huge mistake, and that it would never happen again. I don’t know if she’s the one who never wants it to happen again, or if she just thinks it’s whatIwant, but I definitely don’t want that.
I have a massive crush on Eliza. I always have, pretty much since the night I met her. With her long and silvery blonde hair, her petite frame, and her incredible style, how could I not?
I don’t know if I always found myself more attracted to women than to men, but I came to accept who I was, fully, when I was twenty. It was at that age that I stopped dating boys and stopped lying to myself—I’m just not into them.
Unfortunately, I’m not ready to come out of the closet to my family, friends, or fans yet, so I haven’t exactly ever gotten the chance to date a girl—or woman—either. I’ve been single for well over five years, and I’m sort of sick of it.
At first, when I met Eliza, I didn’t think she could ever possibly feel the same way about me, especially considering the fact that she’s been married to Shawn for practicallyforever.But Ihadbeen wondering these past couple of weeks if maybe I was wrong. If maybe she did like me. I always caught her staring at me, for one. And two, she was always constantly finding reasons to bring me around. She invited me to events like this one, to parties at her house, to photoshoots at her office, to Thanksgiving—I mean,come on! FreakingThanksgiving!
Since the kiss happened, now I know for certain that she feels something for me in return. It makes what she said right after the kiss even harder to deal with.
There are a lot of celebrities here tonight. Taking pictures outside had been exhausting. I much prefer structured photoshoots and runway events over standing in front of a bunch of cameras with people all screaming at me at the same time, Bryan and Lonnie—my bodyguards—having to hang close with my every move.
“Well, I knowIdefinitely need a drink after all that,” Eliza huffs once we’ve taken our seats at a small lounge area next to some C-list TV show stars inside this insanely extravagant event hall.
Almost instantly, a waiter appears to take our drink order and hands us complimentary glasses of champagne while we wait.
Shawn, in his nice Hugo Boss suit with his expensive hand-carved walking cane, carefully crosses one of his weak, slow-moving legs over the other. “I don’t know how many times I heard them asking you who you were here with tonight,” he comments, looking directly at me. I feel myself blushing as I avoid Eliza’s eyes.
“Oh, Iknow,” I reply. “They’re so nosy, aren’t they? Clearly, I came out of the same limo as you two.”
“I read that some people think you’re my adopted daughter,” Shawn says with a chuckle.
It could look that way. With his scruffy long beard and graying dark hair, he’s looking almost like a stylish grandpa tonight. But really, he’s only in his fifties. I think it’s the beard and his ALS that makes him look older.
I smirk at him. “Iread that I’m actually a lovechild of yours, and that the woman who birthed me passed away, so I came to LAjustto meet you.” I’d seen it on a blog post that one of my friends sent to me on Instagram. It had actually made me laugh out loud.
The thought of people thinking I am some sort of stepdaughter to Eliza sort of weirds me out, though.
“Just curious, though,” Shawn says. I have to lean in a little to hear him. He speaks slowly because of the ALS, but it’s also just so loud in here with everyone talking and the loud pop music blaring. “Why didn’t you bring someone? I said you could.”
I bite my bottom lip. This time, I can’t help it—I want to sneak a peek at Eliza. When I do, I find that she’s suddenly found the glittery sheer curtains behind our sofa incredibly fascinating. She’s acting as if she isn’t even hearing us.
“Um, I don’t know,” I tell him honestly.
“Are you seeing anyone?” he asks. “Have you everhada boyfriend? I don’t think I ever even hear you talk about boys.”
“Why would I bore you with that?” I ask, my stomach dipping.
Shawn rolls his eyes. “I have to endure a lot more boring conversations, I promise you that. You should hear these doctors at the appointments I go to.”
My stomach sinks some more. I hate the idea of Shawn going to doctors’ appointments at all, because it only reminds me that his ALS is quickly getting worse and how stressed out and sad Eliza is over it. I hate that she’s hurting inside.
But I also hate that she doesn’t want to kiss me again.
I laugh at Shawn’s joke, even though I don’t think it’s funny. “Fine,” I say to him. “If youmustknow, Idohave a boyfriend. We just haven’t decided if we want to go public yet or not.”
Eliza’s eyes fly to mine, but when she sees that I was looking right at her when I said it, she chokes on something invisible and gets to her feet. “Sorry, goodness me!” she cries, patting her chest.
“You don’t say!” Shawn gasps, clearly excited for me.
