I straightened my shoulders. Well, they were welcome to their stupid world. I wanted nothing to do with it. I was done with this party. I would just call a taxi and go back to my own little apartment. And Yuri? He can go fuck himself.
I was walking out of the Ladies when my phone rang. It was Charlotte, so I picked up immediately. There was noise all around her.
“I’m really busy right now, are you okay?” she asked.
Just hearing her voice suddenly loosened the knot in my chest, and suddenly I couldn’t hold the tears in anymore. They came rushing down my face. “Where are you?” I blubbered.
“I took a waitressing gig just for one night. It’ll help pay some bills.”
“I’m so sorry,” I apologized, “I have no idea what the hell is wrong with me.”
“I’m going towards the bathroom,” she said “Tell me everything.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You might get in trouble.”
“I’m in a corner now,” she said to me. “You have five minutes, start talking.”
With a sigh, I turned away from the main room and headed towards a quiet corridor which ended with a fire escape door. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, Charlotte.” I sniffed. “You know I don’t normally care what people… you know, I don’t let people move me. You know this, right? But I’m here. I don’t have jewelry, and my…my mom’s here—”
“What?” she bellowed in my ear.
“Yeah, she’s here. She didn’t recognize me and I didn’t tell her who I was. She’s with a man and a young woman. The woman knows Yuri. I think she’s kind of—um… oh, God—I think she wants him, Charlotte.” A sob escaped my mouth. “Oh, God, I feel so insane right now.”
“Hey, calm down. You’re not insane and they’re not just people,” she said quietly, “One is a man you just might have fallen in love with, and the other is a mom that didn’t even bother to at least know what you look like. I would be thrashing out that entire gala by now if I were you. And you know me, I’m a basket case. I’m not kidding.”
I almost laughed as I wiped the tears from my face with back of my hand. “I know.”
“You’re actually sobbing,” she said in wonder. “The last time was when Bambi’s mother died.”
I took deep breaths. “Actually, I’ve cried a lot since I met that bastard.”
“Whoa. How is this his fault?”
“I don’t know. He just left me there.”
“Give him a break. He just got back from wherever he went to.”
“He was flirting with that woman.”
“I thought you said she was flirting with him.”
“Yeah, she looked like she wanted him to fuck her right there in front of everybody,” I cried, jealousy burning in my stomach.
“So what? Even I want to climb that hard body. It doesn’t mean anything. The question is, does he want her? And if he doesn’t, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Well, he didn’t look very encouraging…”
“Are you going to leave?”
I sighed heavily. “I think I should, don’t you?”
She sucked in her breath.
“Charlotte…” I warned. It was a bad sign when she sucked in her breath.
“You’re at Grosvenor House Hotel, right?”
“Yeah,” I confirmed cautiously.
“Guess what? I am two minutes away. Literally next door.”
“No, don’t come here,” I protested
“Oh fuck,” she swore suddenly.
“What?”
“Almost the whole restaurant has just seen me crouching in the corner like a thief with a phone to my ear.” I heard the sound of shuffling and her saying, “I’m sorry everyone. I have an idiot for a sister. You know how it is. Boyfriend problems.”
“Stop… Charlotte… you won’t be able to get in, anyway. They ask for your invite as soon as you get into the hallway.”
“I’ll get in through the back door. Waitresses in full uniform have privileges.”
We laughed like two crazy girls and then she hung up.
Chapter 35
April
I loitered around the Ladies. I was sure she wouldn’t be able to get in, but less than five minutes later she was walking up to me in her black and white waitress uniform.
She pulled off her favorite pair of earrings from her lobes- bees carved in pearls and reached up to place them on my ears. “You said you had no jewelry. Now you do. Yeah, they’re cheap and they can’t be compared to the overpriced dress, or shoes you’re wearing, but nobody will really know they’re not real.”
“Oh Charlotte, I can’t wear them. I’d be too afraid of losing them. Your Dad bought these for you before he passed away.”
“They are priceless to me, but so are you. That woman, who bore you, is probably the poorest creature on earth because she has no clue who she chose to forget about. You’re the rarest treasure in this shallow place, April…so enjoy the rest of your dinner, and don’t you dare feel less in any way than all these sad, misguided people hiding behind their designer clothes.”