Beautiful People | wlw

Thirty: Consequences

The stumble back through Venice to her hotel was the worst walk of shame Vera had ever taken. Which was really saying something, because when she was twenty she'd spent a year trying to perfect her online dating game but had mostly just become an expert at the morning-after walk home. She'd even learned how to not be ashamed of it.

Today, doing this walk under the rudely cheerful Venetian sun, she felt ashamed. Ashamed and very frustrated, because her skinny stiletto heels kept wedging between the cobblestones but also because it wasn't fair. Their plan had worked. Carmen and Marina had made up spectacularly. She should be enjoying a relaxing morning with the woman of her dreams and, later, boasting about her A-list clientele to her followers. Instead, because of some asshole who cared more about a scandalous headline than the humans behind it, Carmen had fired her and Sharise had broken up with her.

"No, she asked for a break," she reminded herself.

But her mind kept playing on repeat that look on Sharise's face when she'd realized Vera had lied to her. It had taken her so long to earn Sharise's trust. She couldn't help worrying that a break was just the first step to being dumped.

And that part was entirely her fault.

Her sister Ivy would have so much to say if she heard about this.

When she stepped into a fragrant bakery to grab something to eat, she was sure the staff threw amused glances at each other. Suddenly very aware that her pants were wrinkled from lying in a heap on the floor overnight and her face badly needed a wash, she pointed at a random pastry and hurried through the transaction. Emerging into the bustling streets again clutching her breakfast in a paper bag, her anxiety sharpened. It felt like every single eye followed her, judging.

It was paranoia, of course. She was nobody, just another tourist who'd made a few too many bad decisions and was now paying the price with an uncomfortable early morning walk. None of these people knew that she'd lied to the woman she loved for the stupidest, most selfish reasons. None of them cared that her self-serving plan to reconnect Carmen and Marina had led to an indiscrete tryst that had probably only made things infinitely worse for everyone involved.

Her stomach pinched, reminding her she'd had too much wine the night before. She plopped down beside the canal to nibble at the pastry. It was probably delicious, but her bad mood seemed to have sent her tastebuds on strike. As she chewed, she looked down at the water. Fish hung in the shaded depths, unconcerned with the dramas of the people whose shadows flitted across the surface. How silly she had been last night to worry about whether her little tumble into the canal might hurt her image.

By the time she made it back to her hotel and huffed up the stairs to her room, her head ached and her feet were sore and blistered in her Louboutins. The lock fought her. When it finally gave, the first thing she did was kick off those shoes as hard as she could. One smacked into the wall. The other got stuck on her sweaty toes as she shook her leg furiously. At last the shoe fell pathetically to the floor. The cobblestones hadn't been kind to their finish, that red bottom looking all rumpled and a long gouge up one heel. Super. A thousand dollars down the drain was exactly the cherry she needed on top of this shit sundae.

Grabbing a pillow, she stuffed her face into it. A scream pushed out of her throat, half muffled by the pillow but still loud enough to build pressure in her skull. Now her head pounded in time with her throbbing feet. That was not an improvement.

The door rattled. Jay shouldered in, juggling his makeup case, his tote bag of hair torture devices, and a tray with three coffees.

"Cool it with the screaming," he mumbled around a huge yawn. He was dressed simply in black jeans and a white t-shirt under a leather jacket. He raked fingers through hair still damp from a shower, his face looking strangely naked without any makeup. "I know we've unleashed a gossip monster but making people think I'm murdering you won't help."