Page 33 of Just the Tipsy
“Right after eating?” A little ghost of a smile comes back onto his face, and it warms me from the inside out. “Is that a bucket list thing? Getting sick on an ancient fair ride that’s probably breaking at least four safety regulations?”
“Okay, maybe not right now.” I snort. “But maybe we can play a few games?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.” He polishes off his donut, and I finish mine.
I might not be the cheerful one between the two of us, but I can try to save the rest of the day.
NINE
BIANCA
Wakingup and being somewhere at the same time every weekday is weirdly soothing. This is a normal life for most people — maybe it’s what I should have been doing all along. It doesn’t hurt that the social media posts I’ve made for Stryker Liquors have done pretty well. I don’t feel like a complete fraud.
It’s just enough to keep me busy while I’m here — work in the day, time to relax, then planning for the spa.
“Morning,” I say to Rose when I get into the office the Monday after the Jepsen Festival. My desk is across from hers, and Sadie’s bed is placed near the window, so she gets a little sun during the day.
“Morning,” Rose says, sounding slightly distracted as she texts furiously. “Sorry, Delia’s blowing up my phone about wedding shit.”
“Ah.” I sit down at my desk and boot it up. “Is everything fine?”
“Yeah.” She sighs and puts her phone down. “It’s just so much and she has a whole lot of opinions. Even my own mom is just like, ‘do whatever you want’ but Delia has a ‘vision’. And then throw in stuff for the family reunion and I’m just a little over it all.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It is. And I know she means well, but jeez.” Rose starts typing on her computer. “Anyway, whatever. Let’s talk about the Jepsen Festival, then some other stuff we have down the road.”
“Sure, yeah.”
I get settled in and we go over my posts from the festival. Rose tells me about the newest moonshine cocktail they’re making and the possible campaign ideas we could put together for social media. Time flies by quickly until we’re interrupted by my phone. It’s on vibrate, but it vibrates so many times in a row that I have to check it.
“Oh, fuck,” I murmur. It’s a text from my mom’s PR rep, Flo. I let my personal PR rep go before I moved out here, but whatever it is, I’m guessing Mom has me being monitored too.
Flo:Hi Bianca, please give me a call when you have a chance. It’s urgent. Thank you!
“Everything alright?” Rose asks.
“I have to check. I have to step out for a second, sorry.” I get up to leave and Sadie trots behind me.
I scoop her up for emotional support and call Flo back as I leave the building. She picks up on the first ring.
“Hi, Bianca, how are you?” Flo says, her voice calm.
“I’ll be better knowing that shit hasn’t hit the fan? Maybe?” I pace back and forth.
“It hasn’t hit the fan entirely. We can fix this,” she says. “Basically, Kyler has finally announced the split even though a lot of people suspected it based on your Instagram posts. He doesn’t paint you in the best light in his announcement.”
Of course he didn’t. I close my eyes and take a deep breath through my nose. I wrongly assumed that he’d go the ‘we still care for each other and please respect our privacy at this time’, not…that. His image isn’t the type to stir up any controversy on purpose. Or at least I thought so.
“How did he paint me?”
“Mostly in a sad sack kind of way,” she says. Her bluntness is a relief — she can see through his nonsense. “That yes, you two broke up a while ago, and that you did the dumping while he was down. He sort of paints it as if you were being irrational and having some sort of quarter life crisis. He definitely leaves the door open for you two to reconcile, though. Almost like he’s expecting you to.”
“Which will definitely make his fans love me even more,” I say, my tone dry.
“Yeah, don’t check your Instagram. They’re animals out there.”
“I have the notifications off.”
