Part 16 (1/2)
”Well, well, what have we here?” Lorell purred to Diana in that sickening Southern accent of hers. ”As I live and breathe, it's my favorite trio!”
”h.e.l.lo, Kurt,” crooned Diana, her eyebrows raised smugly. She reached out one manicured hand and clasped his bicep. Only then did she deign to notice Emma.
”Why, Emma!” Diana said, wide-eyed. ”What a surprise to see you here!”
”h.e.l.lo, Diana, h.e.l.lo, Lorell,” Emma said coolly.
”My, my, Lorell, the last time I saw you it was Christmas, and you were throwing yourself at Flash Hathaway on a yacht. That was one of the more amusing moments of my life, I must admit.”
Diana turned to look at Lorell. ”You went out with Flash Hathaway?” she asked with surprise.
Flash Hathaway was a cretinous photographer known for offering his photographic services and then trying to get into a girl's pants. Sam had had a run-in with him the summer before.
”No, no, I just went to a Christmas party with him on a yacht,” Lorell explained hastily.
”That's not what you told us at the time,” Sam reminded her, enjoying every word. ”You told us it was true love.” Sam made loud smooching noises in Lorell's direction.
”Lorell?” Diana asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
”Oh, puh-leeze!” Lorell shot back. ”Are you goin' to take the word of these lowlifes? I might have dated him once or twice. He's crazy for me, if you want to know.”
”I don't,” Carrie whispered under her breath.
”But anyway, at this point in my life I'm looMn'
for a more mature, more open kind of a relation- s.h.i.+p,” Lorell explained, her eyes running over Danny as she spoke.
”Really?” Sam commented, feigning interest.
”You know what that means, don't you?” Lorell asked, staring right at Danny.
”Gee, I get confused, Lorell,” Sam said, s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up her face. ”Does it mean open to ridicule, or just to transmittable diseases?”
”Well, I guess a girl like you, who needs to get tested regular for such things, would know,”
Diana said, brus.h.i.+ng her curls out of her face.
”What are you two doing here, anyway?” Kurt asked the poisonous twosome.
Diana looked hurt. ”Why, Kurt, you called and invited me!”
The sharp intake of Emma's breath could have been heard clear out by her car. She turned to look at Kurt.
”You are full of it, Diana,” Kurt said, his voice full of steel. ”You know that isn't true.”
”But Emma didn't,” Diana said with a smug grin on her face. Diana raised her chin and stared Emma down. ”Better be careful, Emma. I can see that you're none too confident about lover boy here. I got him once, and I can get him again.”
”Did anyone ever mention how completely dis- gusting you are?” Sam asked Diana, stepping closer to her. Sam's hands were curled into fists. If Diana or Lorell said one more horrible thing, she was going to deck one of them.
”Come on, Diana,” Lorell said, tugging on her friend's arm. ”Let's come back later, when the music starts. The company in here is just too tacky for words.”
”Totally without cla.s.s,” Diana agreed, heading for the door.
”Better than being without a clue!” Sam called after them.
Carrie smoothed the last hair into place and observed herself in the mirror with momentary satisfaction.
They'd barely had time for dinner after drop- ping Danny at the Bay View Motel and checking into their suite at the Sunset Inn. Carrie had straggled behind after dinner, and had ducked into the hotel lobby's rest room to get rid of her dinner, which had made her late in getting ready to leave.
Fixing her hair hardly mattered though, she told herself as she stared at her reflection. It wasn't like she spent any time putting on makeup or was doing anything special with her looks.
Why was it that just because she'd gained weight it made her not want to take any care with her appearance? she wondered. Although her friends seemed to think she looked fine. At the last minute she'd thrown her new raspberry-colored blazer over her black stretch pants and black T-s.h.i.+rt. Did it really look okay? She'd lost all sense of perspective.
Carrie pushed through the door just as the band was striking up their opening number, ”With You Again,” a song Billy had sent her on tape with a note saying he'd written it for her.
Could he really care about her if she was over- weight? And was it really possible he hadn't even noticed? He certainly hadn't said anything to her about it.
”Hey, I guess this is the last we'll see of you for a day or so,” Emma teased, gliding up behind her and giving her a little nudge. It was understood that the fold-out sofa in the suite would probably stay folded up, as Carrie would most likely spend her nights with Billy.
”Well, we'll see,” Carrie demurred. Suddenly she thought she'd feel embarra.s.sed being alone with Billy. She'd feel fat.
”That was not spoken like a lovesick fool,”
Emma said, feeling Carrie's forehead as though testing to see if she was sick.
I'm acting nuts, Carrie told herself. After all, Billy had been up at school visiting her since she'd gained weight. It had never seemed to bother him. Or was he just being nice?
”Hey, what great thoughts are you thinking?”
Emma asked Carrie lightly.
”I ... I was thinking that actually you and Kurt probably wish you could be alone together.
Maybe Sam will make a choice between Danny and Pres, or something.”
”Actually, I don't want to be alone with Kurt,”
Emma whispered confidentially.
Carrie looked shocked. ”Excuse me?”
”I mean, I do, of course I do,” Emma added hastily. ”But after everything that happened between us last summer, I'm in go-slow mode. I want to be sure this time.”
Just then Kurt arrived with a gla.s.s of wine for Emma and a beer each for Carrie and himself.
Conversation halted while they watched and listened to the band. The room was packed to capacity, but Sam stood out in a shocking pink tiger-striped bodysuit under a man's old fas.h.i.+oned black vest. Standing next to her was Danny, looking morose. Sam's eyes were glued to the s.e.xy image of Pres playing ba.s.s up on the stage.
Carrie felt really bad for Danny. She knew he was crazy about Sam-it was totally obvious. But Sam had him coming and going.
”Look at Danny standing over there,” Carrie yelled to Emma over the music. ”He's such a sweetheart. I could throttle Sam.”