Pretty Hate (New Adult Novel) (28 page)

“Where have you been, you bad boy?” she said as she knelt down beside him and put her hand on his leg. “You promised me dancing and you never came through. Oh, I almost forgot, Ingrid is flying in from London tomorrow and she insists we go and make a party at your house, okay?”

“Um, sure,” Declan said and looked at me and rolled his eyes. “Maria, this is Beth.”

Maria turned her head and looked over her shoulder at me and nodded and turned back to Declan.

“So what time will we make the party?” Maria said to him.

I looked at India and raised my eyebrows.

“Are you having a party?” India said to him.

“I guess we are now. That’s a good idea, actually. A real blowout! Call your friends, Maria and I’ll round some people up,” Declan said.

“Maria, excuse me,” Tricia said as she looked down the table, “are you our waitress?”

“Yes,” Maria said and held up a notepad.

“Good,” Tricia said. “I know that you are interested in catching up with Declan, but we need some drinks here, okay? Thank you.”

Tricia looked at me and winked.

Chickie ordered every bottle of wine and beer on the menu and the chef had appetizers sent to our table.

“I thought you said you were here just the other day,” I said to Declan as I drank my beer.

“I did, why?”

“It just seems Maria hasn’t seen you in a long time. Was she not working when you were here?”

India stepped on my foot under the table and Declan looked at me and sighed.

“I don’t know if she was here or not, Beth. I didn’t come here to see her,” Declan said.

“Okay, it’s not a big deal. She was just acting like a long-lost friend,” I said.

“I thought we were going to Ibiza,” India said.

“We will,” Declan said and shook his head. “Can we relax now? Beth?”

“What? I’m relaxed. It was just a question. She was dismissive to me when you introduced us.”

“Beth, do you want to talk about our feelings?” Declan said as he poured another glass of wine.

“Beth, you have to try this beer,” India said and slid a full bottle of beer across the table at me.

“Excuse me, Anthony,” Tricia said as she tapped him on the shoulder. “Would you mind if we switched seats? I’d like to sit across from my husband.”

“Of course,” Anthony said and stood up from the table.

Tricia grabbed a full bottle of wine and her glass and sat across from Chickie and Sara who fed each other stuffed mushrooms. She stared at them and neither one of them bothered to look at her. I looked at Tricia and held my beer up and took a drink.

“Oh, no, my bra strap,” India said and stood up. “Beth, this damn thing just won’t stay. Come to the bathroom with me?”

When India and I got into the bathroom she looked under the stalls for feet and grabbed my arm.

“What the hell are you doing? You are here for two weeks, Beth and we haven’t even been here twenty-four hours and you’re starting.”

“Starting what? You saw Maria the waitress who apparently doesn’t wait on tables with her big Spanish fun bags flopping all over him. Did you see the look she gave me?”

“Beth, that’s enough. You should be flattered by the attention she gives him. He is your man, you are here with him.”

“He wasn’t acting like it,” I said and stared at my reflection in the mirror. “Besides, if he was one of your boyfriends, you’d be going ballistic right now. You are the most jealous person I know.”

“No, Beth, that’s you. Your insecurity really makes you ugly. You have to stop or he’s going to start thinking he made a mistake. I know you don’t want that.”

As we walked back to the table, Maria was sitting in my seat. I looked at India and she shook her head.

“It’s okay, she just has a crush. He’s in a
band
, Beth. This happens. You need to deal.”

Maria was in the middle of a close conversation with Declan and I tapped her on the arm. She looked over her shoulder, gave me the same look that she gave me when Declan introduced us and turned right back and continued her conversation.

I looked at India and she nodded.

“Declan,” India said, “I’m sure Beth would like to sit down.”

He looked up at me as if he was surprised that I was there and put his hand on Maria’s arm.

“Beth is back, Maria,” Declan said.

“Boo!” Maria said and stood up. “You always are making me go away.”

“It seems that waitresses in Spain don’t know their place,” Tricia said and finished her wine and poured herself another glass.

I tried to ignore Maria every time she came to the table and talked to Tricia who was into her second bottle of wine and seething. She never took her eyes off Chickie and Sara who continued to feed each other, as she knocked glass after glass back. In between making out with Nando and doing shots of sugar cane liqueur, India sent me subliminal messages across the table to keep myself in check. Declan made small talk with me and moved on to drinking rum.

A line of waiters followed Maria to our table and brought huge platters of meats and fish and fruits and cheeses. Declan ordered a bottle of rum, Tricia asked for a bigger wine glass and Chickie and Sara were close to having sex on the table. Maria came back and practically pushed me over as she wedged her curvaceous body between Declan and I.

“Everyone,” Chickie said, “you must hear this story about what Sara is going through with the business.”

“Chickie,” Trisha said, “we are in the company of some pretty intelligent adults. I’m positive they’d like to converse about something a little more enlightening than the spandex content of yoga pants.”

I looked at Declan and he looked down at his plate and laughed.

“Tess, Sara, in addition to being a fitness model, owns a yoga studio,” Chickie said and turned to Tricia, “
in addition
to designing her own line of yoga clothing.”

“Very nice, Sara,” I said and smiled. “Maria, excuse me, I need another beer.”

“There’s one on the table,” she said.

I looked at India and raised my eyebrows. She nodded.

“I don’t want that one, Maria. I want a light beer. Thank you,” I said. “I’m sorry, Chickie, continue.”

“Guess you told her,” Declan said and smiled.

“As I was saying,” Chickie said and put his hand on my arm, “Sara is extremely successful in her fitness modeling career and--”

“Career
and
fitness modeling
are not synonymous,” Tricia said and filled her glass.

“Um, yes they are, darling,” Chickie said. “And may I remind you, Sara takes home more money than you do in your
career
at, oh, that’s right, you don’t have one.”

Maria came back and set the bottle of beer in front of me.

“Maria, I’d like a glass,” I said.

She looked at me and frowned.

“There’s the glass,” she said and pointed.

“No, I want a new glass, I already used that one,” I said. “Go ahead, Chickie.”

“Is there a problem with Maria, Beth?” Declan said and put his hand on my arm.

“No, why?” I said and smiled.

“Because you’re ordering her around like she’s a--”

“Waitress?” I said and took a sip of my beer. “She is.”

“Wow, okay. Kind of rude, love,” he said and stood from the table and walked away.

India got up and sat in his seat and pulled me closer to her.

“Beth!”

“What? Wasn’t it you who said the help should know their place or something like that?”

“That was at my house, Beth. Declan treats people differently.”

“Fine, India. I’m just freaking out.”

“Reign it in, Beth, I’m telling you, relax.”

“Finish your story, Chickie,” I said.

“No, Beth,” Tricia said, “believe me, it would be painful to hear.”

I looked around the room and noticed I could not see either Declan or Maria and started to panic.

“He’s been gone an awful long time,” I said as I grabbed India’s arm. “Maria is missing too!”

“Calm down, Beth,” India said as she stroked Nando’s arm. “Look, he’s coming.”

Declan sat back down and smiled at me.

“I’m sorry if I was rude,” I said to him.

“It’s okay, baby,” he said and kissed my cheek, “I was just surprised.”

“It was my tone. I certainly didn’t mean it to--”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “It’s over. Did Chickie get to finish his story?”

“No. And I think Tricia is about to go off. Something tells me that this poly thing was not her idea.”

“You got that right,” he said. “You look very pretty tonight.”

“Thank you,” I said. “You look very handsome.”

“You know what I don’t understand, guys?” Sara said.

“Everything?” Tricia said.

“Um, no. Do you have a problem, Tricia?” Sara said. “You’ve been awfully snippy.”

“Have I? I didn’t even realize,” she said and drank her wine.

“Anyway,” Sara said, “I have a guy I work with at the yoga studio. He’s gay and is a trip. So he’s really into Twitter and he got me into Twitter and now whenever we talk, we say hashtag at the beginning of our words.”

Everyone stared at her and waited for the punch line that never came.

“So, what’s the point?” Tricia said.

“What do you mean?” Sara said.

“The point to your story? You began your monologue by saying there is something you don’t understand and then, you tell us you say hashtag at the beginning of your words. What’s the point?”

“Yeah. That’s all. It was an observation,” she said and took a bite of her fish. “O-M-G, this fish is amazing! Is this mahi? I love mahi.”

“So what about the hashtag thing?” Trisha said and leaned back in her chair. “Give us an example.”

“Um, I don’t know,” Sara said and closed her eyes. “Oh! Like the other day, this guy comes into the studio and he’s wearing a gold chain with this big stethoscope pendant. I guess he’s a doctor and--”

“Really? You think he’s a doctor?” Tricia said. “What gave it away? Hmm, could it have been the goddamn stethoscope?”

“Tricia?” Chickie said and cocked his head. “How much wine have you had?”

“Not enough, right, Anthony?” Tricia said and refilled her glass.

Anthony looked around the table and shrugged and went back to playing Words With Friends on his phone.

“Go on, Sara,” Declan said and chuckled. “Guy comes in with the stethoscope pendant...”

“Yeah,” Sara said and sat up. “So, the pendant is covered, I mean,
covered,
in rhinestones. It is so obvious they’re not diamonds. And this guy is like a doctor and he wears ticky-tacky rhinestones? Well, my friend Jason looks at me and says:
hashtag Liberace fan club
! Get it?”

We all stared at Sara and Tricia clapped.

“That was certainly a wonderful story, Sara. So glad we all stuck it through to the end to hear it,” Tricia said.

“Baby,” Chickie said to Sara, “I think that is mahi. Should I try it? Oh, I don’t know. I don’t want to eat all of yours. It looks amazing though.”

“You have to try the mahi, baby,” Sara said and fed him a forkful of mahi. “Couldn’t you just die, it’s so good? Everyone, you have to try the mahi. Come on, try it!”

Tricia leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

“Really? It’s that good? You could just die? The mahi is that good? Well, I better try it because death cannot come soon enough! Tell us, Chickie, how’s the mahi? Is it as amazing as Sara says? Did you like it?”

“Yes,” Chickie said and scowled at her, “I loved the mahi.”

“Oh, loved it, is that so?” Tricia said. “You loved the mahi? Did you
love
, love it or just love it?”

“What is your problem?” Sara said.

“You! That’s right, you’re my problem. And, for your information,
you’re
is a contraction, it means
you are
, as in, you are my problem. It is not spelled y-o-u-r like you always spell it either!”

“Wow, hashtag get a life and stop being such a grammar Nazi,” Sara said and put her fork on her plate.

“Really? I need to get a life?” Tricia said. “Hashtag fuck off and get your own goddamn man!”

Tricia stood up and reached across the table. She grabbed a fistful of mahi off Sara’s plate and threw it in Chickie’s face. Chickie jumped up from the table covered in mahi and Sara grabbed her napkin and tried to clean him off.

“You are completely psychotic,” Sara said to Tricia.

“You don’t know the half of it, lady,” Tricia said and licked her fingers. “The mahi sucks, by the way.”