Beautiful People - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Vera popped to the surface with a gasp, water streaming from her ears.
Forgotten instincts honed by those high school years of competitive swimming kept her legs kicking, even as her shoes and pants became sodden weights trying to drag her under. She thrust her purse into the air, hoping it wasn't already too late for her phone. With the other hand, she wiped silty water from her eyes.
At least the canal was smooth and calm under the twinkling night so she didn't have to worry about waves smacking her in the face as she looked around for a way out. On one side, ripples met the foundations of buildings that rose several stories straight out of the water; on the other, wrought-iron fences lined the street, probably to keep people from doing exactly what she was doing now: accidentally going for a swim.
Echoing shouts finally found her ears. Bystanders were laughing and waving their arms. A stranger leaned over the side of the bridge above her with their hands out, calling to her but too far for her to reach. Diners on the restaurant patio gleefully watched the commotion, one even climbing onto their chair for a better view. Her face got very hot, and not from the exertion of treading water.
Jay had raced to the end of the bridge, where, hidden between the fence and the foundations of the arching bridge, a series of narrow stone steps led down the canal. He waved frantically at her. A way out.
Keeping her purse safely aloft, Vera pulled one-handed toward shore. It wasn't a far distance, but wine and cold water leadened her limbs and she was spluttering by the time she was close enough to scrabble at the bottom step. Jay and two burly men who had joined him all grabbed a piece of her to haul her bodily out of the canal. She flopped onto the steps with a splash, gulping for air like a suffocating fish.
She managed some thanks. The men nodded and filed back up the narrow stairs. Someone on the street above said disapprovingly, "Americans."
"You okay?" Jay asked.
"What do you think?" she grumbled, as she dug her phone from her waterlogged purse. "Shit. My phone's dead." She pried the case off and water gushed out.
"Sweet Jesus. You had me worried for a minute there." He laughed like a sunset over a calm shore, and Vera resented him for it. He should have sounded thin and humiliated and slightly hysterical, the way she felt.
The night air, which had seemed so warm earlier, now pressed chills into her wet skin. Clumsy hands put a thin scarf over her shoulders, and she pulled it close against the shivers. It was Lily, gray-faced and guilty.
"I'm sorry."
"You should be." Scowling, Vera used a corner of the scarf to wipe her phone dry.
Lily frowned. "It was an accident."
"You owe me a new phone." She twisted her ankle to check the damage on her sandal. The heel had cracked clean through. "And new shoes."
"It was an accident."
"So?"
"So put your phone in a bag of rice, like everyone else."
"Or," Vera said, dragging the word out. Eyebrows raised, she dangled her phone above her head, the blank screen staring out at Lily. "You could replace the things that got wrecked because you pushed me into the water."
"I don't have that kind of money," Lily whined, eyebrows crinkled.
Then there were authorities at the top of the steps, herding them up and away from the water, Vera hobbling on her broken shoe. And now it was her trying to explain it had been an accident, please, she hadn't meant to go swimming and she couldn't afford the ticket.
Finally, Jay's phone rang, and he handed it to her in exchange for her argument with the authorities.
Sharise's voice melted like a balm in her ears. "I couldn't get through to your phone."
"Yeah, it... got wet."
"I'm not surprised. I didn't expect to see you on my feed, swimming in the canals."
Vera's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my god. No. There's a video online? Already? Why?"
"Because people looking foolish will always be funny, I would imagine." She could almost hear Sharise's tiny, sympathetic smile, just the tips of her teeth visible.
She flushed with a level of embarrassment she hadn't known was possible. "What were you doing looking at social media when you're at the party of the season?" she asked, trying to deflect from her shame.
"We've left the party," Sharise said.
"You left?"
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. My phone isn't, and my clothes probably won't be." Vera squeezed water from the tips of her hair.
"Can I help?"
"No, really, I'll be okay," she said, although the offer made her feel cared for in that way Sharise was so good at, despite her mortification. "Why did you leave the party?" She had no idea what time it was, but she had assumed the yacht party would continue until well into the morning. Carmen, at least, would want to milk every bit of glory from her successful premiere. "And who's "we"? You and Carmen?"
Again Sharise ignored her questions. "I was going to invite you and Jay to come over to Carmen's hotel. We're planning to have some drinks by the rooftop pool."
Even in her foggy state, phone dead, shoes ruined, video online probably calling her a stupid American tourist that she hoped none of her followers would ever see, Vera found herself suddenly unable to think about anything but that vision she'd had, months ago, of Sharise in a swimsuit. There was nothing she would rather do than have a drink with Sharise by the rooftop pool at Carmen's luxury hotel.
Sharise continued, "But since you've already been swimming, I understand if you would rather go back to your own hotel."
"No," she said immediately. "That sounds great. We'll be there." She hung up and said, "Sorry, Jay, you'll have to tell your friend we're not coming to their party."
Somehow, Vera convinced the authorities to leave her with just a warning to be more careful and stay away from low railings. She stripped off her shoes and used Jay's phone to find a water taxi, not even asking how much it would cost. It didn't matter. She was already humiliated enough without having to walk back to their hotel barefoot.
The crowds had mostly dispersed the moment she had been pulled from the water, but a few bystanders had lingered to watch the aftermath play out, and even now there was still a phone camera turned her way. Vera narrowed her eyes at the photographer until they looked suitably ashamed of themself and lowered their phone.
She explained the plan to Jay as the water taxi zipped down the canals back to their hotel. Lily had come too, sitting quietly in the back. Vera ignored her. She held onto the scarf, though, flapping around her shoulders in the breeze.
"Wait, why did they leave the yacht party?" Jay asked.
"Sharise didn't say."
"Y'all think our plan backfired? Oh my god. Do you think Carmen threw a drink on Marina?" he suggested with wicked glee.
"You know, I wouldn't even be shocked. Oh. I forgot," Vera said slowly. "Did I tell you that I think those flowers from Troy might've actually been for Marina?"
She told him of the suspicion she had developed earlier that afternoon, and Jay's eyes went wide.
"Troy went to the yacht party, too, right? Fuck. Carmen better be ready to serve the tea because a bitch-" he gestured to himself "-is parched."
They continued to speculate as Vera got changed and fixed her hair and makeup. Despite what she'd said to Lily, she did make an effort to save her dead phone. The hotel staff were reluctant to provide a bag of rice, and the hairdryer seemed like a risky choice for all those delicate electronic bits. Eventually, she remembered the packets of desiccants she had put in the garment bags with the gowns. She wedged the phone and two dozen desiccant packets in an airtight container supplied by Jay and sealed it tight.
"Fingers crossed."
Vera climbed back into the water taxi while Jay and Lily had a furious, whispered conversation on the sidewalk. Tapping her fingers on the seat impatiently, she watched them argue, unable to hear a word they said. She started to reach for her phone to find the time and had to check herself.
At last, Jay clambered in beside her. Lily followed, once again sitting quietly in the back.
Vera gave Jay a meaningful look. He shrugged.
"The deal, remember?"
The deal that he would sort out his Lily situation and she would sort out her Sharise one; he was saying he needed a chance to follow through. Although she was grumpy about it, Vera just made a face and said nothing. Maybe Carmen wouldn't let her in, and Lily would have to leave, as embarrassed as the tumble into the canal had left Vera. A girl could dream.
Jay offered to find the video of her, so she could see how bad it was. She refused without hesitation.
Carmen's hotel was a luxurious five-star affair that might have once been some merchant's palace, with stonework fine as lace, tall, arched windows, and staff in immaculately pressed uniforms who looked like they wanted to bow. The sheer amount of wealth on display - fabulous artwork, gilt-framed mirrors, handwoven rugs that probably cost more than six months of LA rent - awed Vera, even though she had now spent half a year in the company of obscenely wealthy people.
They gave their names and were directed to the top of the building, Lily trailing after them. A person wearing white gloves did, in fact, bow to them as they held open the door and beckoned them through onto the rooftop terrace.
Vera gasped.
The roof stood higher than the neighboring buildings, giving them an uninterrupted view of the city glowing against the spangled night sky, and in one direction, the inky water of the lagoon reflected warm lights far below. To their left, an open archway led to a row of cozy, candlelit tables draped in snowy white cloth and a well-stocked bar where a handsome bartender caressed a copper cocktail shaker. To their right and up several stairs, the long, narrow pool shimmered a hypnotic blue, lit from below. Soft but energetic music drifted from hidden speakers.
But what really surprised her were the people.
"Did Carmen bring the whole party with her?" Jay murmured, his eyebrows in his hair.
Vera had expected to find Sharise and Carmen; maybe Andre or a few people who had worked on the Merry Sanders film. Instead, milling between the candlelit tables and dipping their toes into the cerulean pool were at least thirty people, with even more trickling in as they stood there gawking. Vera recognized almost every single one of them, not because she knew them personally but because they were all the sort of people who could ruin your Hollywood career if you didn't recognize them when you should.
Carmen had organized a competing party.
Vera was very glad she had chosen to wear the slim dark high-waisted pants and red silk cropped blouse instead of the more casual linen dress she had considered. For a moment, she wondered how many of the people here might know she had taken a fall into the canals tonight. Then she shook that thought off. As if these people would even know or care about that, or recognize her if they did.
Carmen wobbled through the archway from the bar, clutching a glass that contained a slice of candied orange and a star anise seed drowning in the remains of something slushy and blue. She was wearing the slinky ivory jumpsuit Vera had put her in for dinner with Merry Sanders and her brown curls still fell perfectly about her bare shoulders.
"You made it!" Flinging her arms around Vera, then Jay, she crowed, "Welcome to my afterparty! Did you catch my red carpet? Wasn't it fabulous?"
"You were transcendent," Jay agreed, eyeing the colorful cocktails on a passing server's tray.
Carmen did a little twirl, laughing giddily. "I'm the talk of the town. Everyone's been begging me to lead their next major project."
"How was the yacht?" Vera asked, trying to look interested in Carmen while she sought Sharise in the crowd.
"Terrible, just like I thought it would be. It takes talent to host such a boring party." Carmen waved her drink dismissively, looking positively smug. "Which is why I arranged to hold the afterparty here. We can actually have a good time now. Did Sharise tell you that Fatima Bhatia is coming?"
"Coming here?" That got Vera's attention.
"Oh, yeah, those two were having quite the little heart-to-heart earlier. You're a fan, right?" Carmen giggled and flicked a curl back over her shoulder. "Anyway, grab a drink and enjoy yourselves. I have a date with Merry and that hideously powerful producer he's talking to." She sailed away with the widest smile Vera had ever seen on her face.
Vera and Jay exchanged a glance.
"This is not just 'having some drinks by the pool' like Sharise said."
"Something definitely went down on that yacht," he murmured. "Carmen's overcompensating."
"I think you're right."
A waiter passed carrying a tray of fluted glasses full to the brim with fizzy gold prosecco, and Vera snagged one. "Well, either way, we found a hell of a party."
"A toast," Jay said, holding up the glass he had grabbed. "To doing good work."
"To being a great team," Vera agreed, and they clinked. She took a long sip, then let out a pleased sigh.
"I'm gonna see if they have anything to eat." He strolled off through the crowd, eyeing the handsome bartender. Lily had long since disappeared, although neither of them had noticed.
Vera took another sip of her prosecco. The famous guests chattered and laughed musically around her. A few had shed clothes for skimpy swimsuits and slipped into the pool, cocktails in hand, while others gathered at the candlelit tables. They all shone with that unmistakable Hollywood look: unnaturally smooth skin, blindingly white teeth, hair so perfectly tousled it could never have happened by accident. Their clothes whispered as they moved, the way only the finest of fabrics did. Necks and wrists and ears dripped with the kind of jewelry that inspired movies about elaborate heists. The few guests she didn't know were probably assistants or people in similar roles to her own; at least, Vera hoped so, or else she was horribly outclassed here.
Surrounded by such glamour, she could almost forget the little accident with the canal. She had no doubt the coverage of the film festival would bury the video Sharise had seen before it could get any traction. Her only concern now was how badly Carmen had messed up their plan.
And whether she would get to see Sharise in a swimsuit tonight, of course. That was a prime concern.
A steady stream of people continued to arrive, bowed in by the person in the white gloves. Feeling like she was in the way, Vera moved into the crowd carefully with her glass of bubbles in hand, doing her best not to bump elbows or draw any attention to herself at all. She didn't want to risk spilling someone's drink or even wrinkling their clothes. She'd had more than enough humiliating accidents for one night.
She found Sharise in deep conversation with an actor near the top of the steps to the pool. Sharise smiled at her, just a little bit more than the tips of her white teeth showing, and introduced her to the actor as a stylist. Vera grinned and shook the actor's hand and wished Sharise had introduced her as her girlfriend, even if that might have been less networking-appropriate.
They made small talk for a few minutes, and then the actor excused himself to find another drink. Vera took the opportunity to slide closer to Sharise.
Her dark skin glowed alluringly under the gentle overhead lights. She was wearing a perfume tonight that made Vera think of alpine forests, sharp and clear, and the way her caramel-colored pants fell over her hips was irresistible. Would she mind if Vera put her hand on her waist the way she wanted to, in the soft place where her palm fit so perfectly into those curves? What would it mean, to not have to wonder that? To be able to take Sharise's hand and lean up on her tiptoes to kiss her in front of everyone, to prove the rumors true and not worry who knew that they belonged to each other.
"I know what you're going to ask," Sharise said quietly, twirling her martini glass between her fingers. "Carmen had already arranged for this afterparty, which worked out. It should give Cora more time to do damage control."
Vera had actually been planning to tell Sharise how beautiful she looked tonight, and always, but this threw her. "What? Damage control for what?"
"You didn't see it?" Sharise frowned. "Oh, right. Your phone."
"I knew it! Something went down on the yacht, didn't it?"
"Yes."
"Did Carmen throw a drink on Marina?"
"No," Sharise said, bemused. "That's an oddly specific assumption."
But before she could say anything else, there was a commotion by the entrance.
Marina strode through the door, followed a moment later by Sharise's ex Ellie. Marina paused, taking in the guests, the pool, the waiter who offered her a drink from their tray.
Vera would have sworn that all the people between Carmen and Marina moved aside at once, in slow motion, leaving a clear sightline as Carmen turned from her conversation and noticed her ex-best friend standing by the door. It felt like the whole party held its breath.
She wondered how many of these celebrities followed the gossip about their peers as ardently as the fans did.
Jay caught Vera's gaze from his place at the bar, looking as nervous as she felt. When she looked back to the entrance, Ellie was staring at her. No, not at her. At Sharise, who had gone still beside her.
Then Carmen set her drink down on the nearest table. She floated down the cleared path like an angel descending from heaven.
When she reached her, Marina said something with a guileless smile. Carmen laughed.
And then Carmen threw her arms around Marina and hugged her as tightly if there had never been any animosity between them at all.
The whole party let out the collective breath it didn't even know it had been holding.
"Wait." Vera turned to Sharise, her nose scrunched in confusion. "The plan actually worked?"