Page 74 of Seduced By You

I brought her a glass of water, and a beer for me. She took the glass from me and guzzled half, setting the rest on the coffee table. I sat beside her. She tucked her legs underneath her and curled into my side.

“How did you find out?”

“I bumped into a mutual acquaintance in the ladies’ room. She told me. It’s been on the news, apparently. I missed it. How did I miss it?”

“We’ve had a busy couple of weeks.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She rubbed her forehead and pursed her lips, letting out a stream of air. “My mind won’t stop spinning. I mean, we weren’t friends. Far from it. She hated me, and I wasn’t all that keen on her, either. But still… how lonely she must have been. How desperate.”

“Did she leave a note?”

“Yeah. Splashed all over the internet, apparently. Her poor family.”

“Did it give a clue as to why?”

“I’m not sure. I haven’t looked, and I don’t intend to. Elly, the woman who told me, said that it referred to the pressure. The constant coercion to get thinner, thinner, thinner. The work Daniel committed her to. The relentlessness of it all. I mean, you saw her in Dubai. There was nothing left of her.” She leaned forward, clutching her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

She launched off the couch and ran to the bathroom. I followed. Crouching beside her, I held her hair, then passed her a box of tissues when she’d emptied the contents of dinner into the toilet. Flopping onto the cool tile, she rested her head against the wall.

“Do you want more water?”

“Please.”

I retreated to the living area and refilled the glass. Lee was brushing her teeth when I returned to the bathroom. I waited for her to finish. “Here.” I handed her the glass of water.

“Thanks.” Sidling past me, she made her way to the couch. I trailed after her.

“I can’t believe you saw me throw up. We’re way too early in our relationship for such a delight.”

I chuckled. “You think, after all these months of secretly loving you, I’d care a jot about a bit of puke?”

“Even so. A girl wants to show herself in the best light.”

“Lee, I want every part of you. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad. They’re all you, and I love them all.”

She rested her head on my shoulder. We didn’t speak. Not that I cared. I’d sit here all night if that was what Lee needed to process a momentous event. Something was on my mind, though. I didn’t want to upset her by raising it, but Lee and I had always been honest. No reason to stop now.

“I’m surprised it hit you so hard. Especially since, like you said, Ayesha was a bitch to you.”

“Me, too. And I’m not sure I fully understand why. I guess a part of me thinks that, in another life, it could have been me. Not that I was ever suicidal, but the relentless demands take their toll, you know? And I can’t shake how ill she looked when we bumped into her in Dubai. I keep wondering whether I could have done something to help her.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. It’s a nonsensical reaction. I couldn’t have known she was so close to rock bottom, and even if I had, Ayesha wouldn’t have listened to me anyway.”

She took a sip of water. “Remember how I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life?”

“Yeah.”

“I think I know. But I’m not sure where to begin.”

“Can I help?”

“Possibly.” She shifted her position to face me, crossing her legs. “I keep coming back to the terrible pressure put on models to be the thinnest, the prettiest, to eat less, to go under the knife again and again, all in the name of the ‘perfect look.’ I mostly resisted.” She pointed to her nose and her chin. “Apart from these.”

My eyes ballooned. I had no idea Lee had gone under the knife.

“You’ve never mentioned that.”

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