Page 16 of Just the Tipsy
She’s not entirely wrong. We do sound like opposites. But how much could her reputation — assuming people put together the pieces of where she came from — really affect mine?
“It’s a short relationship,” I say. “Like until after the wedding. I’m sure any damage that’s done — if it is — will be fixable. The town has known me a lot longer than they’ve known you.”
She considers my words as Sadie gets up and makes a turn in her lap. Sadie already looks so comfortable with her. I firmly believe that dogs can sense people with good hearts. Bianca has to be one of them.
“Okay, true. I just wanted to give you a heads up so you weren’t thrown off entirely. Odds are it won’t be a problem.”
She didn’t have to tell me all of this, but she did. And while I appreciate the honesty, a pit starts to form in my stomach. Is thisactually a bad idea? It’s just a few months — we can fake it for that long before we part ways.
“Hey, can we join you? We got bombarded by people asking us questions about the wedding as if we’ve been engaged for months instead of maybe three weeks tops,” Rose says, approaching with Wes behind her.
“Sure, yeah. Grab a chair though. That one’s broken,” I say.
Wes grabs one from another cluster not too far away, and settles in it with Rose in his lap. They’re comfortably pressed against each other, Wes’s arms around Rose.
“They’re already harassing you about wedding plans?” I ask. “Not surprised.”
“Yep.” Wes sighs and pulls Rose closer. “Rose more than me.”
“I mean, your mom and cousin had some really good wedding inspiration Instagram accounts to follow,” Rose says, pulling out her phone. “Now if only I could just follow them and people I actually want to see stuff from instead of all these ads. And I’m over social media for work, too. Just ads on ads on ads.”
“I thought Chrissy was handling social media for us?” Wes asks, looking over Rose’s shoulder. Chrissy is our younger cousin and she’s not the most responsible person I’ve ever met.
“She’s doing a half-assed job.” Rose snorts as she scrolls. “I need a person who actually knows what they’re doing. Someone who has actual time to do it.”
“I can help,” Bianca says, to my surprise. “I mostly have experience with my own social media, but I’ve helped other models build their followings. I mean, if you need me.”
She shifts on my lap, fiddling with her earring. Her curls tickle my cheek with every movement.
“That would be amazing,” Rose says. “I mean, the pay wouldn’t be crazy high, but my gratitude would be endless.”
Bianca looks back at me, gauging my reaction. I nod — if she wants to, why would I stop her?
“Sure, yeah,” she says.
“Hold on, let me get your phone number and IG handle before I forget,” Rose says, hopping off Wes’s lap.
They end up talking for a while, and I peek at Bianca’s Instagram over her shoulder while she and Rose talk about it. It looks perfectly curated, exactly as I’d expect.
And she has a whole lot of modeling photos that I’ll be taking a closer look at later. Even though I probably shouldn’t.
The conversation slowly morphs from social media bullshit (that thankfully I’m not forced to deal with) to more about whether Wes and Rose will have Murphy in their wedding ceremony.
Like most of the night (aside from Mom’s weird attempt to talk me up using the photo wall), it’s easy. Bianca’s edge of anxiety slowly starts to fade the further the night goes, and she slowly sinks into me, like she can’t help it.
I let my hands wander as far as they can while still being polite because apparently, I love torturing myself. She’s so soft everywhere, and I feel like her scent is giving me just as much of a buzz as the drinks are.
I always end up a little more drunk than I intend to be at family gatherings, and after another hour, the combo of booze and fatigue starts to hit me, hard.
“Hey,” I say, lightly squeezing Bianca’s arms.
“Hi.” She covers her mouth as she yawns. “Sorry.”
“It’s fine. I was actually going to ask if you’re fine with us crashing here tonight,” I say. “It’ll take a while for me to sober up and by then it might be too late to drive us back.”
“Sure, yeah.” She cuddles against me more. Okay, she’s also a little tipsy. There’s an adorable haze in her eyes that wasn’t there before, and it breaks through her deceptively cool exterior.
“See you on Monday, Bianca?” Rose asks.
