Page 11 of Hot Mess

She reached a handout as if to touch me, but pulled it back at the last minute. “I’m so glad you enjoy watching my movies. Gabe, it’s been real. Oh, I hear Jeff is looking for me. You enjoy yourself now Leyla.”

I was stunned. She hadn’t remembered my name for three minutes. Leyla, close enough. I gave Gabe a stupid excited grin.

He sneered at me. He started to leave and then turned and leaned in close. “That was fucking embarrassing. Do not let anyone here know we’re related. And keep the stargazing crap to yourself.”

He turned on his heel and left me.

Too many emotions hit me all at once. Gabe was angry with me and acting weird. Jessie and her friends had completely ditched me. Marci Wolf insulted me, couldn’t remember my name for five seconds, and couldn’t get away from me fast enough. I wasn’t from around here or used to parties like this, but I wasn’t dumb. I had acted like a fool in my excitement.

I saw a couple of other young women in the same costume. I gave them a nervous wave. Maybe we could bond over how much tape this costume needed. The first Ishtaria rolled her eyes while the second one sneered and shook her head.

Well, there really was nothing else for me to do. I needed a bathroom to hide in and maybe cry. I would probably cry just trying to get in and out of my Spanx with enough time to not have an accident. I stopped standing there in the middle of a party with nobody to talk to and headed into the house.

I followed the basic flow of people who moved about as if they knew where they were going and what they were doing. I somehow ended up getting a mini tour of the house. It was amazing. A real architectural magazine quality dream house. But at the moment, it felt like it had entirely too few bathrooms. We didn’t pass a single one.

I didn’t know anyone here. I sucked in a deep breath and approached a small group having a conversation at the end of the hall.

“Um,” I hesitated.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“I was looking for a bathroom,” I said.

“Do I look like I live here?” The curt manner, the open sneer, yeah, I got the hint. I didn’t belong there.

I found myself at the top of the grand staircase at the entry. If there were bathrooms, they had to be on the second floor somewhere. A familiar face smiled up at me. The man I had met with Gabe earlier climbed the stairs and stopped in front of me.

“Ken! So nice to see a friendly face,” the words were out of my mouth before I remembered I hadn’t liked the way he had looked at my chest.

“You look like you’re lost. Good thing I found you.”

“I’m looking for a bathroom.” He may have creeped me out, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Yeah, of course. Follow me.”

I trailed behind him babbling about having seen a good deal of the house with a group that was admiring everything, but we never encountered a bathroom.

He opened a door and pointed across a bedroom. “Bathroom in there.”

I sprinted to the best of my ability. I didn’t want to run, not with tape being the only thing holding my breasts in. I closed the door behind me with a sigh. I thought about what Claire said about the Spanx being the panties. When I was done with my dire need, I ditched the actual cotton undies.

The foundation wear covered enough of everything; I should have realized they would have served as my undies when I first put them on. I just wasn’t used to this lifestyle.

I stepped out of the bathroom. The door to the bedroom was closed. Ken was leering at me from the bed. I closed my eyes and groaned. How stupid was I? Talk about a naive mistake, letting myself get stuck in a room with a creep. I went straight to the door.

Ken was fast. And his grip on my wrist was strong. I cried out.

“Not so fast girlie. Gabe said you were willing to—”

Ken didn’t get a chance to finish. I kneed him in the groin just as the bedroom door burst open.

6

NICK

Iwent in search of my mystery Ishtaria. She had been there one second and gone the next. I felt like a salmon swimming upstream. Everywhere I turned I seemed to encounter a wall of people.

“Hey, Mithrandes, come over here!” Some guy waved me over.

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