I unlock the door and toss my keys on the entry table where they land with a clatter next to the mail. My shoes come off next and then at last, my bra.
Now that feels better.
When I open my eyes, Ariana is standing in the kitchen. “Rough night?”
I shrug and swipe a hand over my hair self-consciously. Even though I looked fine when I checked my reflection in the car, I just feel disheveled. Like everyone else can tell I’ve been making out with someone I shouldn’t be.
“How was your first big company event? Fun? Boring?” Ariana leans down to inspect the contents of the refrigerator.
“It was nice. Lots of food and free champagne.”
Ariana stands suddenly. “Free booze? Mya didn’t tell me that! Damn, I should have gone.”
“Yeah, I probably had a little too much.”
All of a sudden I just want to tell someone. Keeping this secret is going to be really hard and I can’t tell Anya or anyone else I work with. I just need one person I can vent to who will understand and can give me some advice.
Ariana is out there but she also seems like she knows a lot about dating and all the bullshit that comes with that. I need someone to tell me what I’m supposed to do in this situation because I have no idea.
“Can you keep a secret?”
She folds her hands over her mouth. “Does the secret have anything to do with why you came home from a company party with just-fucked hair?”
“Damn it!” I rush over to the mirror next to the entryway and then swipe at the lock of hair that’s falling waywardly over my ear. “That means I left the event looking like this!”
Ariana plops down on the couch. “It could have been from too much dancing or maybe you fell because you drank too much. As long as no one saw you do anything, it didn’t happen.”
I turn slowly. “That’s the part I’m not sure about.”
“Tell me. You know you want to.”
With a sigh I drop down onto the couch next to her, the purple satin of my dress bunching beneath me. “First, you have to promise not to tell anyone. What’s revealed on this couch has to stay on the couch. No one, Ariana. Not even Mya. Especially not Mya.”
“Wait, why especially not Mya? Oh no, you don’t mean that Milo…”
“No, no, no. Definitely not.” I’m really screwing this up. Now I’ve got her questioning whether her best friend’s husband is a scumbag. “Not him. But someone else that Mya knows. Do you know who Andre Lavin is? He’s one of the agency’s clients.”
Her mouth drops open. “Wait, the hot, Italian designer guy? I remember when Mya was trying to land that account. It was a big deal.”
“Yes! It’s a big, huge deal. And maybe no one saw what happened but if they did, I’m going to get fired. I don’t want to be fired, Ari. I can’t go back to being broke and living in that scary motel!” I’m not even sure I can make sense of my ramblings at this point but hopefully Ariana gets the point.
“Okay, let’s just calm down,” Ariana says in the kind of delicate voice you use when you’re trying to keep a rabid animal from attacking.
Not that it’s far off the mark. The enormity of how messed up this all is has finally hit me and I am panicking.
“I can’t calm down. The people at work are just getting to know me and I’m starting to make friends. I don’t want to start over somewhere else.”
“That’s not going to happen. It was just…” she looks at me expectantly.
“A kiss. He kissed me on the balcony upstairs. Then I ran off.”
“Okay, a kiss is not that bad.” She lets out a sudden laugh. “Damn, you had me worried for a second. I thought you were going to say you boned in a closet or something.”
I let out a soft whine before I can stop it.
She points at me. “You didn’t bone in a closet after the kiss, did you?”
“No, we didn’t… do that. At least, not tonight.”