Sequel: You Could Be Happy ›
Wilted and Faded
i'm a walking study in demonology
I walked into the familiar little café downtown and waved to the owner behind the counter as I made my way to Louisa and mine’s regular table. She was already there, all cashmere twin set and pearl earrings. Her blow-dried blonde hair framed her pretty face and her taupe pants accentuated her curves tastefully.
To be fair to my eldest sister she has always made the effort to keep in touch when she didn’t really have to, when I arrived in L.A. she had already moved east to go to law school.
She stood up as I approached and gave me a hug, “Hi Ruby. How are you?”
“Uh, I’m good I guess. You look well. How’s the wedding planning going?”
Louisa was engaged to a guy named Gordon, he was a cardiologist and from a local wealthy family, only the best for our Louisa.
“It’s going really well, thank you. I’m just trying to decide on colours for the bridesmaid dresses actually. How do you feel about teal?”
I blinked rapidly and made a non-committal noise as she carried on talking about centrepieces, favours, flowers and themes.
“So what have you been up to lately?”
I sighed, “Oh, um, I did a couple of photoshoots and, uh, I was at Ryan and Freddie’s club opening last night. It looks really good and I hear everyone had a good time.”
If everyone else’s head hurt as much as mine then I know they did.
There was an awkward silence until the waiter came to our rescue and took our order.
“So you said on your message that you had some exciting news?” I asked, taking a sip of my water.
“Oh yes, Melina’s pregnant!”
I almost choked on the water. Melina was my father’s ‘partner’ she was also 32 years his junior, making her 22, 2 years older than me, his youngest child.
“Wow. How far along is she?”
“Three months. They went for the 12-week scan last week. Dad didn’t tell you?”
The waiter arrived with our salads, yum.
“Uh no, we’re not very good with the keeping I touch thing”, I dipped my head and concentrated on spearing a cherry tomato with my fork.
Louisa reached across and patted her perfectly manicure hand on my slightly scruffier hand with its chipped black nail polish in a way that I think was meant to be reassuring.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, hun. Out of all six, or now seven, of us kids one of us was bound to be a little wild”, she smiled.
Sometimes I wonder how someone smart enough to be one of Los Angeles’ leading divorce attorneys could be so stupid. She had the knack of making me feel small and insignificant even thought I know she didn’t mean it.
I spent the rest of our lunch incredibly interested in my vegetables and resisting the urge to answer my sidekick that I could hear buzzing away in my bag at my feet, even though I knew it was Chris asking me to bring him Starbucks on my way home.
Soon we were leaving the café and I could see my lovely, shiny Merc waiting for me across the street. I was on the home stretch, almost free.
“Oh, I almost forgot”, Louisa said as she reached into her huge Hermes Birkin bag and pulled out what looked like a scrapbook, “I’ll call to arrange our next lunch.”
She gave me a quick air kiss to each cheek and thrust the book into my arms before hurrying down the street and around to the corner. I blinked and looked down at the spiral bound book.
I crossed the road and got into my car, the cool leather seat was suddenly very welcoming. Dumping my bag on the passenger seat I opened the large book on my lap.
My jaw dropped as I took in page after page of me.
My sister had given me a book full of magazine and newspaper articles about me, most consisted of pictures of myself and Christian, along with our good friends Jessica and Lauren entering and exiting various clubs and parties. There were also pieces on my supposed feuds with various ‘it’ girls, namely Hilary Duff and Ashlee Simpson. I numbly flipped through page after page until I reached the back, attached to which was a letter:
Dear Ruby,
First, I have to apologise for not being able to talk about this with you face to face but I felt I wouldn’t have been able to say the things I feel need to be said.
Ruby, I am very worried about you.
I hope this book doesn’t freak you out but makes you realise just how you have been leading your life lately.
Please, at least think about cutting down on the excessive drinking and partying for a little while. I know you are young and you think you’re just living life but this lifestyle has a habit of catching up to people and that day may come sooner than you think.
Please stop before you hurt yourself or the people close to you.
I’m at the end of the phone if you ever need to talk.
Love you always
Louisa
xoxo
She was worried about me? Just because I was going out and having a good time, living my life?
I’d give her something to worry about.
To be fair to my eldest sister she has always made the effort to keep in touch when she didn’t really have to, when I arrived in L.A. she had already moved east to go to law school.
She stood up as I approached and gave me a hug, “Hi Ruby. How are you?”
“Uh, I’m good I guess. You look well. How’s the wedding planning going?”
Louisa was engaged to a guy named Gordon, he was a cardiologist and from a local wealthy family, only the best for our Louisa.
“It’s going really well, thank you. I’m just trying to decide on colours for the bridesmaid dresses actually. How do you feel about teal?”
I blinked rapidly and made a non-committal noise as she carried on talking about centrepieces, favours, flowers and themes.
“So what have you been up to lately?”
I sighed, “Oh, um, I did a couple of photoshoots and, uh, I was at Ryan and Freddie’s club opening last night. It looks really good and I hear everyone had a good time.”
If everyone else’s head hurt as much as mine then I know they did.
There was an awkward silence until the waiter came to our rescue and took our order.
“So you said on your message that you had some exciting news?” I asked, taking a sip of my water.
“Oh yes, Melina’s pregnant!”
I almost choked on the water. Melina was my father’s ‘partner’ she was also 32 years his junior, making her 22, 2 years older than me, his youngest child.
“Wow. How far along is she?”
“Three months. They went for the 12-week scan last week. Dad didn’t tell you?”
The waiter arrived with our salads, yum.
“Uh no, we’re not very good with the keeping I touch thing”, I dipped my head and concentrated on spearing a cherry tomato with my fork.
Louisa reached across and patted her perfectly manicure hand on my slightly scruffier hand with its chipped black nail polish in a way that I think was meant to be reassuring.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, hun. Out of all six, or now seven, of us kids one of us was bound to be a little wild”, she smiled.
Sometimes I wonder how someone smart enough to be one of Los Angeles’ leading divorce attorneys could be so stupid. She had the knack of making me feel small and insignificant even thought I know she didn’t mean it.
I spent the rest of our lunch incredibly interested in my vegetables and resisting the urge to answer my sidekick that I could hear buzzing away in my bag at my feet, even though I knew it was Chris asking me to bring him Starbucks on my way home.
Soon we were leaving the café and I could see my lovely, shiny Merc waiting for me across the street. I was on the home stretch, almost free.
“Oh, I almost forgot”, Louisa said as she reached into her huge Hermes Birkin bag and pulled out what looked like a scrapbook, “I’ll call to arrange our next lunch.”
She gave me a quick air kiss to each cheek and thrust the book into my arms before hurrying down the street and around to the corner. I blinked and looked down at the spiral bound book.
I crossed the road and got into my car, the cool leather seat was suddenly very welcoming. Dumping my bag on the passenger seat I opened the large book on my lap.
My jaw dropped as I took in page after page of me.
My sister had given me a book full of magazine and newspaper articles about me, most consisted of pictures of myself and Christian, along with our good friends Jessica and Lauren entering and exiting various clubs and parties. There were also pieces on my supposed feuds with various ‘it’ girls, namely Hilary Duff and Ashlee Simpson. I numbly flipped through page after page until I reached the back, attached to which was a letter:
Dear Ruby,
First, I have to apologise for not being able to talk about this with you face to face but I felt I wouldn’t have been able to say the things I feel need to be said.
Ruby, I am very worried about you.
I hope this book doesn’t freak you out but makes you realise just how you have been leading your life lately.
Please, at least think about cutting down on the excessive drinking and partying for a little while. I know you are young and you think you’re just living life but this lifestyle has a habit of catching up to people and that day may come sooner than you think.
Please stop before you hurt yourself or the people close to you.
I’m at the end of the phone if you ever need to talk.
Love you always
Louisa
xoxo
She was worried about me? Just because I was going out and having a good time, living my life?
I’d give her something to worry about.