“It’s weird this is almost over,” Rikki says.
“Over?” Priya says with a laugh. “We still have over a month of filming. Speak for yourself.”
“I guess, just like, this part of it. Of us being together. I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I’ll miss you all. I’ll miss my friends. It’s the first time in a while I’ve really felt, like, I could think about anything that wasn’t my sister.”
I reach out and take Rikki’s hand. Elodie smiles knowingly.
“We want another round?” I ask, holding up my empty whiskey glass. Everyone agrees and I head to the kitchen to make a fresh round of drinks. I pour generously.
Two hours later, everyone is drunk. Priya is drunk, Rikki is drunk, Elodie is drunk, Shae is drunk. Eunice was drunk, but she claimed she was going to the bathroom half an hour ago and never returned.
“God,” I say, “I’m so drunk.”
“I’m so drunk,” Shae says, standing up. “I’m going to bed.”
“Me too,” Priya says, looking around at all of us like a mother hen. “Girls, we have an early day tomorrow.”
“Rikki,” I say, reaching out sloppily and grabbing onto her forearm. “Come outside to the beach with me and keep drinking. I have something I want to tell you.”
Priya eyes us, and I don’t miss the way her eyes meet Elodie’s. Jackpot, they say.
“I’ll have another,” Elodie says.
“That’s the spirit!” I answer, about two octaves higher than my normal speaking voice. I take a bottle of vodka with me and head out onto the porch, Elodie, Rikki, and a camera following us.
“Here’s to the real fun,” I say, splashing straight vodka in everyone’s cups and knocking it back.
Elodie’s cheeks have gone red. She’s got to be close to Rikki’s age, maybe twenty-five, but she has a baby face. She’s a cute girl, not pretty enough for the 1, but pretty enough for real life.
“What do you do in the real world, Elodie?” I ask her. I pour her another vodka.
She grins at me, leaning back. “I’m from Virginia, originally. Cavalier.”
“Boo,” I say with a smile.
“I like hiking, I miss winter, but I’m a fair surfer.”
“Badass,” Rikki says. She leans into Elodie, curling against her like a cat. “Elodie is going to start coming to my classes when we’re back home, aren’t you?”
“Is Jac coming, too?” Elodie asks.
I shrug. “We’ll see. Maybe I’ll never set foot in California again once this show is over.”
“That’s hurtful,” Rikki says.
I kiss her on the cheek.
“It’s good to see you smiling, Jac,” Elodie says, her words starting to slur. I almost feel bad as I tip more vodka into her cup. “I’ve been worried about you.”
“Me?” I ask, innocently. “I’m not the kind of person you worry about, am I?”
Elodie frowns. “Of course.”
The shots are poured and poured and poured. Mine are dumped and dumped and dumped, but still I slur and still I pretend I’m right on the verge of saying something good.
“If I were Marcus,” Rikki says later, much later, “I would marry Jac.”
“You’re so stupid,” I say, laughing. “I’d marry you.”
“Maybe we should just get married,” Rikki says.
I look over at Elodie. “C’mon, Elodie, tell us the truth,” I say, a test. “Who is Marcus into? Really?”
My eyes travel to the cameraman, but he doesn’t do anything. He’s just there to let the producers guide him.
“Wellll,” Elodie says, and then she points at me. She winks. “Good try.”
“What about Kendall?” I say, undeterred.
“God, Kendall. Her hometown is going to be a shit show.”
“Mm,” I say, not pushing my luck.
“Why?” Rikki asks, doing the work for me. When Elodie is distracted looking at her, I refill her cup.
“Her dad died when she was five. She’s estranged from her mom, and we’re putting them all together, along with her stepdad who she fucking hates,” Elodie says. “God.” She tilts her head back.
I do take a shot after that.
