Page 41 of Hot Mess

KAYLA

“Look, I’ve already been told these are good apartments. The neighborhoods are nice, you’ll be safe in any of them,” Isaac said as he stood in my hotel room.

“Then why do I have to go?” I had never gone apartment hunting before. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking for.

“I didn’t know what you would want. Especially when it comes to bathrooms, some people are shower fans, I didn’t know if you needed a tub. Go pick out which apartment you want, and then tell me.”

“Okay, I guess. Is there a list?” I expected him to hand me a sheet of paper with the information scribbled down on it.

“I just sent it to your phone.”

I looked at my phone and there it was. Okay, a short list of addresses with names and phone numbers.

I could do this. My second day in Los Angeles, alone, I was apartment hunting.

I followed Isaac out of the hotel and waved as he got into the car waiting for him and left. My car was already waiting. This was a luxury I could get used to.

“Good morning,” my driver said as he opened the door for me. “I’m your driver for the day, you can call me Stu.”

“Hi, I’m Kayla. I’m going to make some calls. I can’t tell what area these addresses are.”

I scooted forward in my seat and held my phone into the front area of the car. Stu took my phone and glanced at the list.

“The first two look like the West Hollywood, BeverlyHills area. I’ll head in that direction, and you can see if you can get in contact with those property managers.”

“Thank you.” I sat back and dialed the first number. It went straight to voicemail. I hated feeling so overwhelmed and out of my depth. But all of this was so new. Mom hadn’t done me any favors by keeping me at home and insisting I take college classes online, instead of finding a nearby campus where I could take classes.

At the time I really hadn’t thought much of it. Now that I was older, I realized her attempts at protecting me had really sheltered me entirely too much. I was twenty-four and had no idea how to go apartment hunting.

My phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number. Thinking it was the property manager I had just called, I answered.

“Hello, this is Kayla.”

“Kayla! Oh, my gawd, I can’t believe you are in LA and didn’t say anything.”

Crap. It was Jessie.

“Hey, Jessie. I was waiting until I got a little more settled before I touched base. I know how busy you are.”

“I’m never too busy for my favorite cousin!”

I was her only cousin.

“What are you doing today? We have so much to catch up on.”

We didn’t, we really didn’t. I had been gone for just over a month, and I couldn’t imagine that anything had happened in her life that I wanted to know about. She, Kiki, and Claire probably went to a few more parties with Gabe trailing after them pretending to be their keeper or something kind of creepy like that. I certainly had no interest in telling her about my life. I was barely telling Amber.

Nick holding me so that I didn’t get scared on the flight. Nick looking like some Greek god in that velvet tux. Nick kissing me again. Nick dancing with me. Nick. No, I wasn’t telling Amber anything about him, specifically what he did to melt my insides.

If I wasn’t telling my best friend, I certainly wasn’t going to tell my cousin, who I didn’t particularly like.

“I’m apartment hunting,” I admitted. I figured I sucked at lying, and I didn’t know what my mother had told her.

“I thought your job came with a place to stay?”

The snarky tone in Jessie’s voice made my skin crawl. I could just tell she thought she caught me out in some kind of lie. Was she going to tattle on me, and tell Mom? What could any of them do about it? Nothing, so I needed to stop panicking. I took a deep breath.

“Oh, it does. There was some delay in confirming a place, so I’ve been given a list of addresses and am checking them out. I get the final say.”

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