Page 71 of The Emerson Effect
“Oh, shit.” That soft exclamation whispers out of Raven.
“What did you do?” Joey asks.
“I attacked him,” I say with a laugh.
“That’s my girl,” Raven chuckles.
“Neither of us had any condoms, of course, so we did…other things. Anyway, it was good. Like,reallygood.”
I go on to tell them about the club, the tequila, the bachelorettes, and the VIP-section-bubbly.
“When I woke up this morning, I was hungover and didn’t remember anything. It wasn’t until I saw the ring on my finger that I realized something was off.”
“Just like the movies,” Joey swoons.
I roll my eyes. “I woke Emerson up, and he had a ring, too. Neither of us could remember how they got there. That’s when I went searching for my phone and saw the text messages from you guys. Emerson found the video on BingBang, and well, we were shocked, to say the least.”
“So, what are you going to do?” Callie asks, her voice gentle and supportive.
I blow out a long breath. “Better grab that ice cream.”
“Why?” Joey asks, her voice laced with suspicion.
“Because we decided to ‘make a go’ of it…for BingBang, of course. We’ll live together for a while and post some videos of us trying to make it as newlyweds, then we’ll admit it isn’t working and part amicably.”
“Seriously?” all three of them say in sync like they planned it.
I nod. “He’ll be here in the morning.”
Callie’s eyes go wide. “Is this all really necessary?”
“It is,” I say, my tone solemn. “Not for me. I’d survive. But Emerson? He needs this to keep working.”
“Why?” Joey asks.
“He’s helping to support his mom and sister,” I say. “His dad left them with nothing, so he’s doing all of this to make money to help with the bills. And to pay his sister’s college tuition.”
“Oh,” Joey says. “That’s…really nice.”
“He’s a nice guy,” I mumble.
“You like him,” Raven says, and I nod before she adds, “No. I mean, youreallylike him.”
I nod again. “There’s so much to like. You’ll see when you meet him. He’s kind of…irresistible.”
“Can I just say,” Raven says with a lift of her chin, “I totally called this.”
“What?” I ask.
“Remember, at your first pool party of the season? The night you first messaged Emerson. I told you it was your turn, and you were going to fall for your BingBang nemesis.”
“You did call it,” I say with a sad smile.
“Is this whole charade going to leave you heartbroken?” Joey asks, her voice so quiet I have to strain to hear the words.
“I don’t know,” I reply with a frown. “Probably.”
FORTY
