“Do you have feelings for him?"
Her words made me feel the crack in my heart more acutely. "Right now, my feelings toward him are anger. He blames me for this. He thinks I went out and did this to get him or get his money or something. I don't know. He is so selfish and self-centered. He only thinks of himself."
Kellie nodded, but she didn’t look like she completely agreed with me.
"This ruins my career. Why would I do that?"
Kellie gave me another sympathetic glance. "I think people like Hunter and his brothers worry that women are interested in them only for their money. So, they tend to keep their guard up.
"That's not me. I don’t give a crap about his money."
Kellie smiled. "Now it's not you. And I suspect Hunter will realize it."
"Whether he realizes it or not doesn’t matter. I'm done. I'm done at Strong Incorporated. I'm done dealing with him. And because of all this, I'm done as an artist."
Kellie reached out with her hand putting it over my arm and giving me a squeeze. "Don't give up on your career, Natalie. Like I said, things like this will blow over. Many people have bought your art and people will see it. They’ll see that you are legitimate."
I wanted to believe her, but I was pretty sure she was just saying words to make me feel better.
We hung out for a while and I thought she was getting ready to leave, when there was another knock on my door.
"I’ll get it," she said, getting up from the couch. She opened the door. "Andi?"
Andi came breezing into my apartment looking like she was ready to set the town on fire. "Come on girls, get dressed we're going out."
"You two go. Have fun." I said, getting up and taking my cold mug of tea into the kitchen.
"Oh no you don't. You and me and Kellie, we’re going out and we're having a good time."
"We should go," Kellie said to me. "Come have a girls’ night out. It will be fun. And if it isn't fun, it's not going to be any worse than sitting in here wallowing. We will forgive you for being a party pooper."
"You can't even drink," I said, pointing to Kellie's rounding belly."
"That doesn't mean I can't go out and enjoy the evening with you. Plus, you need a designated driver."
I suppose she was right. So, I headed back to my bedroom. "I want to take a quick shower,” I said.
"You do that and I'll pick your outfit," Andi said as she opened my closet and started pawing through my clothes.
Twenty minutes later, I was in an Aubergine-colored dress that was nearly one size too small, the way it was plastered to every inch of my skin from my torso down to my upper thigh. I had the dress in college, and clearly, I wasn’t as tiny anymore.
"You're gonna knock them dead kid," Andi said."
"Why are we doing this again?" I asked as I looked at myself in the mirror. Normally I would've felt fierce in a dress like this with my hair proofed up, and my makeup and jewelry done like I was going out on a night on the town. But right now, it just felt like cover up for the pathetic girl underneath.
"Because the only way to get over something like that stupid magazine article, is to go out in the world and to show them that you are a brave, don’t-give-a-shit, talented woman," Andi said.
Going along, I let them drag me to the car where they drove to Cesare’s.
"Why do we have to come here? There are plenty of other places we can go," I said. God, this was the last place I wanted to be.
"Because it's time that the Strong men understand that they can’t bully and be jerks to the woman around them," Andi said. “And we get free drinks.”
I sat in the car. "Some Strong men don't care."
"You, in that dress, honey, he’ll care. Now come on, even if he doesn't care, we can still have a good time," Andi said.
"More likely I'm going to see him finding his next piece of ass. That's not going to make me feel any better,” I grumbled.