Page 33 of Beyond the Fame

I squeeze my thighs together.

“It’s obvious you both want to,” Lana says.

“It’s not that obvious.”

“Becca,” Lana says as if I'm an idiot. “The tension between you two is suffocating. Please, put us all out of our misery and just... do it.”

I glance around the bar area. While Lana, Ginger, and I sit on a wicker couch in a corner, the rest of her small bachelorette party guests stand nearby. Everyone’s drinking, laughing, enjoying life. I should be doing that too. I’m not getting any younger. I remember what Jensen said about not caring what people think about me. It's hard not to when I was bullied in school for being myself.

“Where’s Eloise?” I ask, attempting to change the subject so I don’t have to talk about Jensen anymore.

“Oh, probably flirting with someone, somewhere.” Lana offers.

“And my flirting game is weak,” Eloise giggles, magically appearing, and plopping down on the couch next to Ginger. “I should have brought a date.”

“Why didn’t you?” Lana muses.

Eloise shrugs, and I don’t expect her to go into detail. She never talks about her personal life with us.

“I’m a romantic. I thought I would meet someone here and have a whirlwind romance. We’d fall in love and live happily ever after together.”

“Aww,” Ginger and Lana coo at the same time.

Eloise rolls her eyes but smiles. She starts snapping photos of us all.

“Well,” I begin, “you still have time to meet someone.”

Eloise scans through the pics she just took and grins before turning her camera around and extending her arm to show me one of myself. I look... amazing. My skin is tanned from spending hours at the beach today. My hair, despite being slightly frizzy, gives me an island vibe to match my tropical sundress.

Eloise pulls the camera back to her lap and sighs. “The dating scene is so exhausting. I think I’m just ready for a relationship.” Ginger and Lana perk up, desperate to learn something, anything, about this private woman. “I grew up in a super religious home, so when I came out to my parents, it was rough. They disowned me at first. I was devastated, and I just needed to forget about them, so I dated a lot. Fucked a lot. I was trying to fill the hole they created. I was trying to find my place again. Now that I’m mending my relationship with them, I think I'm finally ready to find a partner.”

“And what do you want in a partner?” Lana wags her eyebrows. Eloise’s head jolts up, almost as if she forgot we were here, and realizes she’s sharing part of her life with others.

Instead of retreating as I expected, she blushes and answers. “I want a woman who will give me multiple orgasms.”

“Amen,” I say, and we all giggle.

“I want a partner who can make me laugh because I don’t laugh enough. I want someone who will support me no matter how crazy my dreams may be. I want a woman who will spend the day doing nothing because I let myself get overwhelmed with life too often.”

She frowns. It's brief before she replaces it with a sad smile.

“Anyway, I should go. I need to charge my camera and unload the pictures I took today.” She stands and offers a small wave before quickly leaving.

“That was unexpected,” Ginger says. “Seems like she’s finally comfortable enough around us to open up.”

“I adore her,” Lana beams. “I’m so happy you hired her.”

“Are you kidding me? She shot for freakin’ Vogue. She offered to charge us half her rate, but I refused. She deserves it all.”

“Cheers to that.” I lift my wine glass. Lana and Ginger raise their non-alcoholic drinks and we finish the night talking about men, laughing at inside jokes, and gushing over Ginger’s big day.

Chapter 9 - Jensen

“Full house!” Bruno slams his cards down on the table’s green felt so hard, my stack of chips bounce and tip over.

“Fuck off, man,” Mylan grumbles, tossing his cards to the dealer and crossing his arms over his wide chest.

Well, a full house definitely beats my straight.

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