Take Three (The Jilted Bride #2)(31)

“Do you really need some water, Selena?”

“Are you going back to the bar? I’ll come with you!” she tried to stand up and fell into the street.

“Umm no, that’s okay,” I put her back on the bench. “I’ll be right back.”

I rushed back to the bar, got some water from the bartender, and found Selena slumped over when I came outside. I slowly positioned her body upright and handed her a cup.

She took a sip and blinked. Then she vomited. Again and again.

“How many drinks did you have tonight?” I rubbed her back. “Do you even remember?”

“Of course I remember!” she showed me her arm. There were twelve black slash marks.

“I had seven…seven drinks!” she pulled her arm back.

“Wow,” I handed her another cup of water. “Try to drink some more.”

She was silent for a while, looking up at me every now and then, reaching out whenever she needed another cup of water. She looked like she was about to drift into a deep sleep, but she began to cry.

“I was the new Reese Witherspoon. Did you know that?” she wailed. “Have you ever seen Sweet Home Alabama?”

“Is it a TV show or something?”

“It’s a romantic comedy…They were going to re-make it, but they were going to change a few things and call it Sweet Tennessee. I didn’t even have to audition for it! They handpicked me! But then…they replaced me because they wanted to start filming next month and I told them I couldn’t come.”

“Maybe it’s for the best.”

“It’s karma! And I deserve every last drop!” she slumped off the bench. “I’ve done some really horrible things. Some really really horrible things.”

They can’t be that bad…

I pulled her back up. “Like what?”

“I slept with a married man, a married man! He had kids…and a wife! I didn’t know he was married at first though, I swear. He left that part out!”

She bent over and let out more puke. “I got left at the altar and twisted the publicity in my favor…I cut my own mother off for four years, my own mom…I was a bitch to all my fans—I showed up to perfume signings and refused to sign anything, even though they’d been waiting outside for hours…And this one time, at a movie premiere, this girl won a contest to meet me. She told me she drove like eleven hours from her college just to come, and I didn’t even let her take a picture with me…because her shoes were scuffed…And on top of all that, everyone in America hates me right now because they think I’m a home-wrecker!”

“I just wanted somebody to love me back,” she cried. “Is that too much to ask for? Is it too much for someone to actually want me? For someone to actually give a damn?”

Why am I still sitting here? Why haven’t I run away yet? This is A LOT of emotional baggage…

“Um no…It’s not,” I took off my shirt and wiped her face with it. “You should probably try to—”

“Do you know I have to buy my own flowers? That’s how pathetic I am…I’m a celebrity and I have to buy my own flowers whenever I date someone…”

“I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you mean by that…Your own flowers?”

She nodded. “I always made a point to tell every guy I dated that I really liked flowers. A lot. I specifically said, no sonata lilies—I tell the press those are my favorites, but that’s not really true…I like daffodils, irises, tulips, and rare breeds of roses…I would say ‘I would love to have flowers waiting for me in my dressing room, or in my apartment when I get home for the day, or…anywhere. I want to feel special just like the characters I play in my movies’…And no one ever bought them for me. No one.”

“So you bought them yourself?”

“Yes,” she choked up. “And I would write out a note like the guy had sent them to me, just in case someone happened to get curious and look at the tag…I had some sent every time I did an interview, every time I started a new film project or TV episode, and every time I attended a movie premiere…Do you know how many flowers that is?”

I shook my head.

“It’s a lot of f**king flowers! I have a preferred customer card from a florist, a florist! That’s the main reason why I canceled on you. I’m tired of buying my own flowers, I’m tired of being lied to, and I want to take things extremely slow…You’re sexy and all, but I know you’re just another guy waiting in line to hurt me. You’ll use me and leave, just like the others.”

I highly doubt that…

“Selena, I would never—”

“Didn’t you hear all those things I told you?” she shook her head. “All those things I did? I’m not a good person!”

“Hush, Selena. You’re drunk.”

Extremely drunk, yet still really gorgeous. That’s a first…

“I’m not drunk,” she struggled to sit up. “I just don’t feel well. Can you wipe my face again?”

“Sure,” I leaned over to wipe her face but she vomited on my hands as soon as I touched her.

“I swear I didn’t mean to do that…”

I sighed. “I’ll go get some towels.”