Before I knew it, she was pulling me away from the living room.
"This is one of Penn's guest rooms," Becca said as she pushed open one of the doors down the hall. It was decorated sparingly, but the bed looked comfortable and there was a photo of the Los Angeles skyline framed on one wall.
"Thanks. I just needed some air for a second." I sat on the edge of the bed and ran my hands up and down my arms.
Becca sat next to me, angled so that she could inspect my body for any remnants of Josh's grabby hands. "I can't believe he said that stuff. But he was drunk, Kinsley, he didn't mean any of it."
I held up my hand to stop her. "It doesn't matter. Josh sucks ass. He was fun to have around as a friend, but he's a truly terrible boyfriend."
"And a lousy drunk," Becca added.
I nodded and sighed. "Do I look like crap? Should we just cut our losses and leave?"
Becca's face fell. She pushed a few strands of her golden hair behind her ear and furrowed her brows. "Not yet. Seriously, Josh is gone and no one else will bother you."
"I know, but everyone heard that fight. There were so many people out there."
She set her mouth in a thin line and her hazel eyes locked onto me. "You shouldn't feel embarrassed because Josh is an asshole. No one will judge you. Besides, they’re probably too busy talking about how cute me and Penn are. The Liam, Josh, and Kinsley love triangle is so 20 minutes ago.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. I hoped she was right, but I still frowned thinking about having to resurface in a few minutes. For someone who hates having their personal life in the public eye, that was about as bad as it could get. One hundred strangers looking on as my ex-boyfriend verbally assaulted me and then having two men grapple over me. The latter sounded semi-romantic, but it actually made my skin crawl. I felt like I was on display and I could just hear everyone buzzing about the fight for the rest of the party.
I groaned and pushed off the bed to investigate the damage. My bright blue eyes stared back at me in the bathroom mirror as I tried to piece myself back together. It could have been worse, I told myself. Liam was relatively unscathed and Josh was the same ol’ jerk. Nothing new to report there.
Becca came to stand next to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
"I'm glad I curled your hair. It still looks really good," she complimented, trying to turn my mind toward something else.
I smiled at her in the mirror. "Let's go ruin it in the pool. No one was outside earlier, and that way we can stay at the party but avoid having to listen to the gossip."
Becca grinned and then spun around to grab two towels from a rack behind her.
"Let's do it!"
We linked arms and left the guest room. People could talk all they wanted, but I wasn't going to let them ruin my night. When we headed back into the living room, I was surprised to find the party was starting to dwindle. There were still a few people there, milling about, but the bartender was breaking down his setup and the music wasn't streaming through the speakers anymore.
"Isn't it kinda early still?" I asked Becca as we passed through the living room. I didn't see Liam anywhere, but I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck thinking about the fact that he was still in the house somewhere.
Becca shrugged and we kept heading out toward the pool. Just as I’d hoped, there was no one outside.
The view of the house hadn’t done the pool justice. It was actually made up of three separate pools, each at varying levels. Where we stood, level with the back of the house, there was a long lap pool. To the left there was a set of stairs that Becca and I followed until we found another pool that was much larger and shaped like a kidney bean. Palm trees rimmed the edge, concealing it from the house and beyond.
We followed the stairs as they continued to slope down around the edge of the pool. They led us to a round Jacuzzi at the very bottom that was almost level with the beach so that you could step from the last stair onto the warm sand. The light from Penn's house illuminated the shoreline so that you could still see the rolling waves crashing against the sand. It really was a spectacular house.
"I guess one pool wasn't enough?" Becca laughed as she and I started to head back toward the top, satisfied with our search.
"Penn is a greedy bastard, but I’m not complaining. Should we go to the middle pool?”
"Yeah, I liked that one best."
We dropped our towels and cover-ups on the small lounge chairs surrounding the pool. I adjusted my blue triangle string bikini, and without a second thought, I ran and jumped into the water.
When I surfaced, Becca was standing at the edge and smiling.