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“Oh, honey, no,” Holli said dramatically, flinging her arms around Penny’s shoulders. “Come on, sweetie, let’s get on Sophie’s jet and drink all her expensive champagne.”
Deja had gotten out of the car, and she shook her head as she came to my side. “Prepare yourself. I think eighty percent of Penny’s body is in tears.”
“So, she and Brad are no more?” I got a sympathy twinge in my chest. It sucked to get dumped. “Do you know what happened?”
Deja shook her head. “I did not pry for the details. That seems to cause rivers of snot, and I so don’t want to deal with that. But Holli felt sorry for her, and now, she’s here.”
“Look, I like Penny as much as everyone, but isn’t she a little…wholesome for Vegas?” I’d been joyously anticipating some one-on-two time with my favorite couple on the planet. Besides, Penny worked for me. I’d never been off-the-clock friends with one of my bosses.
Okay, I had. But that was different.
“I think it’ll be fine,” Deja assured me. “Think of all the ways we can corrupt her.”
We joined Holli and Penny on the plane, and each of us sank into the stuffed leather seats on either side of the narrow aisle.
“Oh my gosh, these are like recliners,” Penny said, already buckling her seatbelt. “Why don’t they have these on every plane?”
“Because you’d only be able to get twelve people on every flight.” I gestured to the rear of the plane. “You don’t have to get strapped in yet. Let me show you around.”
It was kind of fun showing Penny the jet. She was as wide-eyed and impressed as I had been the first time Neil had flown me anywhere. Being rich was a lot of fun, but sharing your nice stuff was probably the best part. There was no sense having wealth if you couldn’t use it to show your friends a good time.
“This,” I said, patting one of the seats on either side of a small table, “converts into a bed for overnight flights.”
“And for joining the Mile High club,” Holli snorted.
I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was maki
ng jokes about my sex life in front of an employee, even if she wasn’t coming along in that capacity. “Or for sleep,” I reiterated sternly.
Gosh, it was going to be fun, fun, fun trying to not spill details of my sex life while out on my bachelorette weekend.
I showed Penny the bathroom, which immediately made all of us need to go. While Penny was taking her turn, I gestured violently to Holli to follow me to the front of the plane.
“What the hell, dude?” I whispered, flinging my arms out.
“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” She sighed heavily, her brows drawn together above sympathetic eyes. “But, when I went to pick Deja up yesterday, there was Penny, crying. I just felt so bad for her. The ex-boyfriend sounds like a dick and a half, but she’s destroyed. She needs some fun, Sophie.”
“How am I supposed to have fun? It’s not like I can go crazy in front of an employee. I’ve got to maintain some sense of professionalism.” I realized how selfish I sounded, but this was my last hurrah as a single girl. Sure, I wasn’t going to do anything I wouldn’t do when I was married, anyway, but that wasn’t the point of a bachelorette party. The point was to go wild and celebrate moving from one phase of life into a new one. Penny hadn’t been a part of the life I was bidding an official goodbye to, so she felt out of place to me.
Holli looked appropriately chastened. “You’re right. Professionalism. It’s not like you’re getting married to someone who used to be your boss or anything.”
Okay, that’s fair. I stamped my foot. “You know damn well I can’t establish appropriate boundaries with people. It’s not like I can kick her off the plane now. I just wish you would have consulted me before you invited her.”
“You would have said yes, anyway,” Holli pointed out. That was the bad thing about best friends. They know you too well. “But it’s going to be fine. We’re going to have such an epic time, you won’t even notice.”
“Epic, huh?” I grinned at the memory of our last trip. Just me and Holli, running up and down the strip, gambling, drinking, dancing with ridiculous dude bros at clubs that reeked of Axe body spray… Okay, maybe that would be fun to do with someone who was as adorably naive as Penny.
“We’re going to have a great time,” Holli promised. “Seriously, we’re going to have so much fun.”
* * * *
“I want to die.”
“No, you don’t,” I mumbled, barely able to lift my head from the gray upholstery of the semi-circle sofa. I refused to open my eyes. Holli had booked us the Real World suite at the Hard Rock Hotel, instead of the spa villa I had suggested, and the bright colors and outlandish decor was like an assault on my very, very hung-over senses. “I want to die.”
“You can both want to die,” Deja groaned from where she lay on the floor. I was pretty sure she slept there the night before.
“Okay, but I get to go first,” Holli insisted.
