Page 49 of She Used to Be Nice
Avery shook her head. He was an idiot. And so was she, for letting this get to her. Sowhatif she was invisible to a doorman, as well as to most men over these last few days, who used to make small talk with her and hold the door open for her and generally act like she existed? Who cared if they thought she wasn’t worth a second look now? Well, she cared. She could always rely on the quick hit of male attention to make her feel better about herself, but now she didn’t even have that.She’d have to suffer through the pain of rejection with nothing to temper it. She knew her appearance was her biggest asset to men but, Christ, she was still a person. She shouldn’t need to be dolled up to deserve a simple hello.
Back at the office, Avery decided to start the bridesmaids email chain to distract herself from waiting for Pete’s reply.
From: Avery Russo
To: Emma Smith, Kim Garrett, Sandra Santana, Justine Hartford, Blair Montgomery
Cc: Morgan Feeley
Subject: Hi, bridesmaids :)
Hey ladies!!!!
Avery figured if she used enough exclamation points nobody would know she was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
My name is Avery and I’m Morgan’s best friend and maid of honor. I realized I didn’t know everyone in the bridal party, so I wanted to send a group email to introduce myself as well as get to know all of you! I’m so excited for this year and I hope you all are, too.
I also wanted to provide some information about our first order of business. Attached to this email are some photos of bridesmaids dresses. Morgan wants us to love the dress so she’s asking us to choose, and we’re all going to vote for our favorites. If you could send over your vote ASAP, along with your dress size, that would be awesome.
Best,
Avery
Blair replied, just to Avery, a few seconds later.
Thanks for finally sending this! Was wondering if I was going to have to do it.
Avery rolled her eyes. She and Morgan hadjustfinalized some dress options. She typed a reply.
I got it thanks!!!
“Are you writing a story for us?” Kevin called out from his cubicle.
Avery glared at him over the dividers. “No.” Because she was a masochist, she peeked at her phone again to see if Pete had responded. He hadn’t.
Kevin glanced up from behind his laptop, his reading glasses perched on his nose. “Sorry, I heard some enthusiastic typing and got excited.”
Avery turned her phone face down again. A second later, she thought she heard it vibrate and turned it face up. But it was blank, except for a notification from her Seamless app asking her to rate her recent order from The Mansion. She sighed and flipped her phone face down again, but before her brain could tell her to stop, her fingers reached for it again to turn it back up. She groaned and turned it back down. Then up.
Masochist, she thought.I simply must be a masochist.
Kevin rolled over to Avery’s desk. “By the way, I have a second round of interviews atEntertainment Weeklytoday,” he whispered. “For a principal product manager role.”
“That’s awesome!” Avery replied, also in a whisper. “I mean, I’ll hate you if you leave, but that’s very exciting.”
“I’m just over this place.” Kevin glanced over his shoulder. “Did you hear what happened with Patricia? A journalist at Bustle found one of her tweets from 2014 with the word ‘faggot’ in it.”
Avery made a face. “Wow, that’s shitty.”
“I know. She kept it very hush-hush here. I only know because my friend atGOMagazine told me. You should Google her Notes apology. It’s so pathetic.I take full responsibility for what I said and I am committed to amplifying the voices of the blah blah blah.”
“That is so lame.”
Kevin nodded and rolled back to his desk, then Avery turned back to her laptop to dig into some work.Metropolitanbroke a huge story today about a woman who accused famed TV producer Dave Moore of sexual assault, and Avery was tasked with writing all the social copy about it. Moore was behind all kinds of beloved classic comedy dramas, so this allegation was huge. Avery held her breath as she skimmed overMetropolitan’saccount of what happened, careful not to read too many disturbing details—a difficult task, considering she needed to get the language exactly right in her copy. Then she shared the story onMetropolitan’ssocial media channels. It only took seconds for a torrent of replies to appear in their mentions.These false rape accusations give a bad name to REAL rape victims,replied one user. Another wrote,Noo! Me & You is my comfort show!! I refuse to let there be a stain on its legacy.An anonymous user replied withbullshit. she’s mad that he didn’t give her a part in a show. typical Hollywood drama.Yet another just wrotestupid sluts
Avery wrote the same social copy on Instagram, unwilling to do more than the bare minimum for this story. She hoped it would disappear soon so she wouldn’t have to keep covering it, because if not, she might be right behind Kevin in quitting.
Her phone buzzed. She snatched it face up, and her heart stopped when she read Pete’s name. She almost dropped her phone in the process of swiping it open.
