Page 2 of First Comes Revenge

I pause jazz-handing to touch my fingertip to my chin. In fact, I think I was maybe a little tipsy at the time. “I’m here, Dani. And I need advice, not your best impression of Judge Judy.”

She takes a deep breath. “Well, let’s examine the facts. Shall we? You’ve dated Vaughn Vanderprick–”

“You know I hate when you call him that.”

“Sorry, it just really rolls off the tongue. Let me try again. You’ve dated Vaughn Vanderlesh for two years now. In those two years, he has strung you along, failed to follow through on any promises about helping you get discovered, never brought you to a single work thing, and has just been an all around scumbag boyfriend. In fact, he has essentially created a blueprint with a giant, fat, clear sign saying ‘showing up at a work thing unannounced is the last thing I’d ever be excited about!’”

I flop down on the mattress. She’s right. Of course she’s right. “Maybe I knew this was stupid from the start. I think I’m just hoping I can give him a chance to prove me wrong, you know? Maybe I’ve misread it all along. What if he sees me tomorrow and he just lights up? What if he parades me around like he’s proud to be my boyfriend? He might introduce me to all his work friends as his promising author girlfriend and try to convince them to sign me when I finish my book.”

Dani lets out a long, sad breath. And yes, when you’ve been sisters long enough, you know if breaths are sad or happy. “I don’t want to see you get hurt. You’re my favorite sister, and I love you.”

I grin. “Maddie told me you say the exact same thing to her.”

“Maddie is a dirty liar and you can’t trust a word she says. She’s also only sixteen. If I did say something like that to her, it wouldn’t carry the same weight it does with you.”

“You love me,but…” I say, knowing the “but” is coming.

“But I think this could be a total disaster. And I think you have to know that, so I’m just a little worried about you. So what’s going on?”

I lay face first on the bed, flopping down like a dead fish. My voice comes out muffled by the pillow. “I feel like things with me and Vaughn are falling apart. The more I try to be the girl I think he wants me to be, the more he gets distant. He used to call me when he was at this kind of thing and now he just ghosts me and makes half-assed apologies after he gets back. Then he suggests something stupid like a blowjob to cheermeup.”

Dani makes a gagging sound. I’m feeling mean, so I almost say there’s no gagging when Vaughn is involved because he’s not even big enough for that. But I don’t voice my thoughts. I really do want to fix things.

“Vaughn is like that avocado you set on the counter because it wasn’t ripe yet,” Dani says. “You kept planning to eat it. Maybe it would be good for some guac or on your eggs, you think. Maybe you’ll just eat it plain with some salt, because who doesn’t love a little avocado with salt? But it’s still not ready, so you wait. And then one day, you’re moving shit around on the counter andsurprise!That fucking avocado is there. It’s so soft now it will basically implode if you touch it. It smells. It has a small penis. It’s a loser. It’s the lamest, shittiest avocado you could ever imagine dating your sister, and you just want to pulverize it into smelly–”

“Dani?” I ask, rolling to my back and staring at the popcorn ceiling of my hotel room.

There’s a pause. “Yes?”

“I think you lost the metaphor there. But why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”

“Vaughn doesn’t deserve you, Charli.”

“Everybody deserves a chance,” I counter.

Dani groans. “To a point, maybe. But you’ve given this guy more attempts than a billionaire’s favorite son gets at being a self-made man.”

“Well, maybe this is the last chance?”

“Is it?” Dani sounds skeptical.

“Maybe it is!” I don’t sound confident.

She sighs again. “I think an honest conversation between you two would be a better way to handle this. Surprising him out of the blue… it just feels like it could go so wrong.”

“I’ve tried calm and rational. He doesn’t want to talk about ‘us’. He just rolls his eyes and says he really doesn’t have time for my drama–that work is crazy. Or that I’m trying to turn our life into one of my books because I’m bored. He always asks when I’m going to be finished with my book, but when I try to talk about the possibility of him helping me pitch it to agents, it’s like he shuts down. I think he doesn’t believe it’s worth publishing, even though he has never read it.”

“Charli…” There’s so much disappointment in my sister’s voice that I feel like doubling over and holding my face in my hands. I hate how clearly I can see myself when I talk to Dani. “You know you deserve better than this. You have to know that.”

“There’s one more thing,” I say slowly.

“There’smore?” Dani already sounds exhausted.

“Well, I kind of got fired when I told my boss I was coming to this. He said he didn’t have anyone to cover my shift and he’d fire me if I left. I thought he was bluffing, because, you know, if you’re short staffed, how does firing someone as a punishment for missing work make sense?He wasn’t bluffing.”

Dani groans. “Okay, okay. Do you have money? Like are you going to be able to pay rent this month?”

“I have some stashed away. And I kind of spent a lot of it on these tickets and this hotel.”

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