Page 139 of Girls Will Be Girls
His dad shakes his hand with an aggressive clap. “We really got ‘em.” He laughs at Lou’s still stunned expression.
“You must be Louisa.” His mom comes over to me. “I’m Deborah, but call me Deb. So glad wefinallyget to meet you.”She says with a slight eye roll and air kisses my cheeks the same as Lou. “This is Lou’s father, Walden.” She gestures.
I shake his dad’s hand as well, my face still conveying the state of shock I live in now. They usher us down the stairs into the dimly lit room with nothing but chandeliers overhead. Lou is clearly just a chandelier-life kind of person.
A waiter comes up to us with a tray full of champagne flutes. Lou takes two, and when he hands me mine, he turns his back on the room and his parents, hiding us for a moment.
He lowers his mouth to my ear. “Don’t panic.”
I look up at him with definite panic in my eyes.
“I’ll fix it.” He says.
His mom turns back to us, clearly impatient with how slowly we’re following them. She ushers us forward, and Lou takes my hand in his, giving me a reassuring squeeze that doesn’t, in fact, reassure me at all because I am beyond reassuring right now.
The room is completely filled with people. I’d have to guess there are at least seventy guests, and I’m not sure Lou even knows any of them properly, based on the amount of introductions happening. His parents introduce us to an endless line of people, all their age and who look exactly like them.
I can’t help but imagine my parents’ reaction to this party if it were real. They’d be so pleased. My dad would be so proud I found someone with such great family and contacts.
“How did you know who to invite, Mom?” Lou asks behind a fake smile.
“Oh, well, I obviously invited all the people thathadto be here.“ She gestures to the sea of her clones. “I sent an invite to your boss and some colleagues as well, but it looks like none of them decided to show, even though I gave them days of notice.” She tuts. “I obviously had to keep details under wraps so they clearly didn’t decipher the hints in the invitation.” She rollsher eyes obnoxiously. “The joining of L’s. How hard is that to understand?”
“You didn’t tell anyone what the party was?” Lou asks.
“Of course not.” She scoffs. “I couldn’t risk you finding out and ruining the surprise, and it was a good surprise.”
“Oh, we got ‘em all right.” Lou’s dad says again, nudging me this time.
“Yep.” I push a fake smile on my face. “You got us.” I finish the last sips of my champagne, trying to drown the panic.
“Oh, let’s top you off there.” Walden points at my glass. “Lou, you too?”
“Sure, yes.” He nods, clearly still a little dazed.
“Deb, let’s get these kids to the bar.” He says.
“They’re still so shocked.” She beams. “How amazing.”
We walk over to the bar, Lou’s parents greeting people the entire way there. We both just smile and nod, Lou doing a far more convincing job of it than I am.
“Gin and tonic for the ladies.” Walden passes us our drinks. “And scotch for us.” He hands the tumbler to Lou.
I take a sip, not wanting to be rude, but my face clearly betrays me as the bitterness of the tonic hits my tongue. Lou looks down at me, noticing.
He lowers to speak into my ear, whispering. “You don’t have to-”
“Louisa.” He’s cut off by his mom. “We hear you’re a journalist too.” She smiles widely.
“I am, yes.”
“Excellent to have one more in the family.” She says.
My throat dries up.
“You’re New York based.” His dad starts, saying it like it’s a fact. “Are you with theTimes, theJournal?”
His mom cuts in. “Yes, we tried our best to find out more about you, as we hadn’t been told anything…” She looks at Loudisapprovingly. “But we couldn’t find anything that wasn’t from years ago!” She laughs.
