“Jesus,” Chloe laughed as she raised her glass with the others. “Tomorrow is gonna suck.”
Everyone nodded in agreement as they slammed back their shots. Dinner passed with a steady flow of drinks and conversations ranging from childhood memories, college shenanigans, music, and movies. Chloe watched the people around her with a wistful smile. Their obvious comfort and familiarity caused a feeling of longing to tighten her chest. For all the smack Madison talked about Anders, the two seemed to have formed a strange, sibling type of bond.
It wasn’t until they decided to hit a bar for drinks that Chloe got a glimpse of the man she’d read about in the papers. His face a stony mask, Anders instructed Holden to the front of the group to form a barrier around the girls as they shuffled into the back of his waiting car. Paparazzi swarmed them, their camera flashes blinding as they shouted questions that caused Chloe’s face to redden and Anders’s temper to flare. With clasped hands, the three girls followed Holden, with Anders trailing behind Josie, his body rigid as he acted as a protective shield.
“Holy shit,” Chloe gasped as the car door slammed shut. “Is that normal?”
“Every fucking time.” Anders’s jaw ticked as he pushed his hand through his hair. “You okay, Ivy?”
Josie smiled. “I’m good. At least this time they asked if Chloe was the new other woman. I don’t know if that vein in Holden’s neck can take much more of his temper if they keep asking that about Maddie.”
“Are you serious? That wasn’t the first time they’ve asked you something like that?” Chloe stared slack-jawed as everyone in the car shook their heads in disgust. “Talk about a buzzkill.”
“Oh, hell no,” Madison argued. “You’re leaving in two days. Those assholes aren’t ruining our night.”
“Damn straight,” Josie added.
“You realize you won’t be able to tell me I can’t stay with you tonight if you drink too much?” Anders asked Josie with a grin.
Josie winked. “I know.”
“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” Holden deadpanned.
“Tell me about it,” Chloe mumbled, causing Josie to laugh.
“How about we drink enough tonight that any trauma inflicted on you will be wrapped in the comfort of a blackout?” Josie suggested.
“I’ll drink to that!”
One bar turned into two. The girls danced, laughed, and gossiped like teenagers. It was the most fun Chloe could remember having in a long time. When the night ended and she fell into bed with a glass of water and a couple of aspirins on the nightstand, she knew any noise from the bedroom down the hall would be forgotten when the sun rose.
When Chloe crept out of Josie’s house the following morning, she was thankful for the absence of breakfast. Her pounding headache could only be soothed by black coffee, aspirin, and time. Still, she didn’t want to show up at the studio empty-handed, so she added a chocolate chip muffin for Reid to her coffee order.
Chloe stumbled into the studio just before eleven, the effects of the night before only becoming worse as the morning wore on. She dropped into the closest seat and folded her arms on the table before easing her head down. It wasn’t until the sound of Reid’s voice broke the silence minutes later that she finally admitted to herself that tequila was the worst idea ever.
“Either you’re on death’s doorstep, or you drank enough to make you hiss like a vampire at the slightest hint of sunlight. Either scenario is going to make today rough for you.”
“I made poor life choices last night. I will suffer through them with whatever dignity I have left.” Chloe grabbed the bag beside her and thrust it toward Reid. “It’s not homemade, but I brought you breakfast.” When Reid didn’t take the bag from her outstretched hand, Chloe turned and looked at him with a questioning expression.
“You stopped and got me breakfast?”
Chloe shrugged. “That was our deal.”
“No. Our deal was that you would bring me extras of whatever you had, not that you would go out of your way to get me something.”
“It wasn’t any trouble, I swear. But I would have felt bad if you skipped breakfast expecting me to bring something and I showed up empty-handed.”
Reid gave her a soft smile and pulled the bag from her hand. “Thanks, Chloe.”
“No problem.”
Reid took the seat beside her and pulled the muffin from the bag. After taking a bite, he leaned back in his chair and gave her a once-over. “So, what was the occasion?”
“A night out with friends. Since I’m leaving tomorrow, we decided to go out and get shitty. Let’s just say, if we were being graded on our performance of that task, we would have exceeded expectations.”