Page 11 of Love on Tour
“Did you know about this?” Christine looked at Julianna.
“I’d seen a few of the comments but didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”
“It’s a pretty damn big deal. I’m trending, for God’s sake. And not in a good way,” Christine said. She kept reading more comments.I liked her shoes!
“When did they get a shot of my borrowed hooker shoes?”
Christine shook her head to clear her thoughts, then gave a quick huff. The mean people couldn’t win. She would just choose to ignore them.
“Well, that was . . . dark. So what if I’m not tall, blonde, and size two? No offense, Julianna,” she said, slamming her phone down.
“None taken. You okay? I’d be freaking right now if this was about me,” Julianna said.
Christine envisioned the worst day of her life. It was in high school. The circle around her, the taunts, the threat. This was nothing.
“People can just be mean. They are insecure and jealous. That’s all.”
“What?” Phoebe asked, her brow creasing.
“It’s what my mom always told me when people teased me in high school. She said that people who are secure with themselves don’t need to tear others down. They must have been jealous of me. So what if I didn’t sit at the cool table or hang with the best-looking guys?”
Christine had known that, deep down, she wanted to date the hot guys, sit at the cool table, and go to parties. But she’d hung on to her mother’s words, and the older she got, the more she realized that it did take an insecure person to belittle someone else.
“Huh. Well, that’s one way of looking at it,” Phoebe said.
“And you’re hanging with the hot guy now,” Julianna said, wiggling her eyebrows.
“And obviously sitting at the cool table. I mean, we’re here,” Phoebe said, pointing to herself and Julianna. Christine chuckled.
“And I do go to some cool parties. See? They’re just jealous,” Christine said, nodding. She didn’t add that the comments still stung. Words can hurt. Sometimes worse than a punch.
Their food arrived and they dug in. Christine was glad when Julianna broke the silence and changed the topic.
“Are we still hitting the Bluebird next week? It’s the weekly songwriters round, and I hear there are two new writers who show a lot of potential,” Julianna said.
“It is our monthly outing. I plan on being there. Hopefully none of Austin’s cyber friends will be,” Christine said.
“I’m in. The talent they get is always promising,” Phoebe said.
Christine’s phone chimed, but she ignored it.
“You have a text,” Phoebe said.
“I heard,” Christine said.
“Look at it. It might be Austin,” Julianna said with urgency.
“It’s not him,” Christine said.
“You don’t know that.” Julianna met her eyes.
“I do know that,” Christine said.
“Just look.”
“Okay.”
It wasn’t him. They paid their bill and headed out.
