Chapter Three
2889 Words
Chapter Three
The next two weeks pass by without any incident. Bennett picked his photos and paid me. His assistant handled all the e-mails. He referred me to his friend and I began working with him on the photos for his website.
Even though Bennett was a jerk, I still end up thinking about what he said about my family. Late at night, when I can’t sleep, I wonder if maybe he is right.
Telling my parents that I didn’t want anything else to do with their money and to cut me out of the will hadn’t been an easy choice. My father had started a successful restaurant franchise at a young age. His wealth had grown quickly and he had married my mom shortly after he had made his first cool million. My sister was born a few years later. By that time my family was set for life.
There had always been something that had felt strange to me about having so much wealth. The people we spoke to and the places we went to never felt genuine. My family never felt closely bonded. Any sort of charity my family did felt insincere, as if we were just pretending to be good people.
I told Spencer this when I was eleven. She was fifteen at the time and thought I was just being a dumb kid. But the feeling never faded. In fact, the older I got, the worse it felt. It didn’t feel as if we were really doing anything of value. It always felt as if we were going through the motions of being decent people.
Photography had always been interesting to me. I love taking photos. I don’t like posed ones though. I like to get into the meat of things and take photos that really expose their true value. It had driven my parents nuts because I always snuck around to take photos of them if they were fighting or doing something they didn’t want to share publicly.
It only made sense to get into photography as a career. My parents had thought it was silly. They never understood where I was coming from and what sort of photos I wanted to take.
It was halfway through college that I decided if I truly wanted to make it on my own, I was going to have to give up my family’s wealth and my reliance on their fame and fortune.
There were other reasons why I didn’t want to deal with my family. Darker reasons, I suppose. But I try not to think about them.
In any case, telling my parents that once I finished college, I was bowing out of the family, didn’t go over too well. It caused a massive rift. They were still working to convince me that I needed to come back to them. Come back to Spencer. Spencer, who fought with me over my choice and grappled with it as much as I did. She had already finished college by this time. She had even gone abroad for a while at one point. But I didn’t want to return to her.
Even so, what Bennett had said about using my family to pay my way through college only to turn around and drop them, bothered me. Had I really done that?
So when Emily knocks on my door, I feel as if I already know what it is going to be about.
“Hey, you busy?” she asks me, stepping inside my room.
“Just setting up my website online,” I reply, looking up from my laptop. “What’s up?”
“Well...” She hesitates for a brief moment before speaking quickly. “Adam was wondering if he could go to Mr. Hunter’s party.”
Adam works in the record industry. He usually gets stuck doing technical work. I know that he wants to try to make some connections and become a producer. Since everyone who is anyone is going to Kevin and Bennett’s family summer party, I am not surprised that Adam wants to go too.
Emily goes on, seeing my face. “I know invites are sort of tight. But everyone can bring two people, right? If you can just get us in, you can leave. I swear. You don’t have to mingle or even say hi to your parents. Just get me and Adam in. You know he really could use some serious connections. You know I wouldn’t ask if it was just for me... but for Adam, I figured...”
“I get it,” I reply. “Seriously. I would have done it for Matt.”
At the mention of Matt, Emily looks taken aback. She obviously thought that I wasn’t going to bring him up. But it’s true. If Matt had needed anything, I would have done what I could to get it for him.
“Just get us in the door,” Emily says to me. “You don’t have to do anything else.”
Emily is my best friend. Even though the last thing I want to do is go to the Hunters’ house for their party and possibly have to deal with Bennett, I want to do whatever I can for her. The Universe knows how much she has done for me.
So I nod my head. “Yeah, of course.”
Surprise overtakes her face. “Seriously?”
“Yes. Tell Adam to be ready.” I smile at her.
She runs over and crushes me in a hug. She always smells like sugar cookies. Over the years, it’s become comforting. I return her hug.
“I appreciate this so much, April,” she says to me. “Seriously. Adam has been really struggling to get his career off the ground. He could really stand to meet someone who can help him out.”
“No problem. What about you? Any connections you want to make?”
At this question, Emily plops down on my bed and stares at the ceiling. She has always been a little lost in what to do with her life. As a kid, she wanted to be a pop star. After her mom died of cancer when she was five, she wanted to be a doctor. That faded once she realized she got queasy at the sight of blood. After that, Emily bounced around all over the map with what she wanted to do with her life.
We had gone to the same college together. She recently graduated with a degree in English but wasn’t exactly sure what to do with it. Sometimes she thought she might teach. Other times she spoke about moving out of the country and writing about whatever happened there.
In the interim, we ended up moving in together because I didn’t have my parent’s money anymore and Emily felt aimless. Emily’s family isn’t nearly as well off as mine or Bennett’s. Her dad used to own a bunch of casinos but after her mom died, he sold them and sort of went off the deep end.
“No. I mean, I don’t know,” she says to me. “I wish I could be like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve always known exactly what you’ve wanted to do. And now you are setting out to do it.”
“You’ll figure it out, Em.”
She shrugs. “Maybe. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll just try to unwind there, you know? The parties are always crazy. Might be fun.”
“Maybe. Anyway, I’ll make sure to get you in somehow.”
Emily stands up and smiles at me. “Thanks, April. I’m going to go call Adam and give him the good news.”
I watch her leave and I turn back to look at my computer screen. I don’t want to call Spencer. But if it means that I can get her to allow Emily into the party with Adam then I’ll suck it up. Emily’s family is never formally invited to Kevin’s summer party. Not since her dad sold the casinos and started acting funny.
I end up calling Spencer right then. Easier just to get it out of the way and deal with it. I’m hoping she’ll be so keen to patch things up that she’ll just allow Emily and Adam as her guests and be done with it.
She answers on the first ring, which gives me some hope.
“April?”
“Hey, Spencer.”
“Wow, I didn’t think you’d be calling me. What’s going on?” Her voice is even, as if she doesn’t want to betray any emotion.
I quickly explain Emily’s request. After I finish, there is a long silence on the other line. I start to grow nervous.
Finally, Spencer speaks. “No.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“I can’t believe you, April. You leave the family, move in with Emily, and now want me to do you a solid just so you can avoid Mom and Dad? No way.”
“I’ve always hated Mr. Hunter’s parties,” I protest. “You know that.”
“I know. You’ve hated everything, April... anything that has to do with our money, or our family.”
“You know it isn’t just about the money,” I counter back. “I mean, yes, the money is a big reason but not the only reason.”
It is the closest I have come to speaking about the events that solidified my choice of leaving my family. I can tell Spencer is taken aback. She is silent on the other line. For a second, I wonder if she is going to hang up.
Finally, she speaks. “I’m not letting Emily or her boyfriend use my invite. You want to do them a favor? Then actually do them the favor. Come to the party, Sis.”
The line goes dead. I stare at my phone, feeling irritated but not surprised.
I guess I am going to the party after all.
>>
“Just get us in the door and then you can leave,” Emily says to me for roughly the millionth time. “I promise.”
“Emily, it’s okay, really,” I tell her as we turn a corner toward the Hunter’s mansion.
“Okay,” she says, running her fingers over her skirt.
In the backseat is Adam, who is overdressed. I am dreading seeing Spencer. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have called her. I had assumed she would allow them in so she could try to get on my good side. Apparently not. Now she is just going to be on red alert, waiting to see me.
Emily is talking now, rambling about the party to Adam.
“Mr. Hunter is really nice,” she says about Kevin. “I think.” She glances at me and I stifle a laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Adam asks.
“Nothing,” I say quickly. No way am I going to let it slip that Emily thinks Kevin is hot for an older man. Her crush on Kevin is constantly a source of amusement for me.
“Anyway,” Emily goes on, glaring at me, “there are going to be hundreds of people there. We’ll make sure you talk to someone important.”
The two of them make their plans to corner some big time record producer. I am, however, starting to feel the pit of anxiety kick up in my stomach. The thought of seeing my parents makes my mouth go dry. I have a mental image of getting cornered by them and having to go through the same argument we’ve gone through a billion times.
Most of all, I don’t want to see Spencer. In fact, I’d rather have all my teeth pulled out with a rusty pair of pliers.
We turn another corner and there it is – the Hunters’ mansion. It is sprawling. Even though I’ve been in it a million times, I still think there are rooms I haven’t been in before. It is gaudy to me and over the top in its ugliness. My mom thinks it is lovely.
The huge empty field next to the property is being used as a parking area for the people who didn’t take a limo. The sun is high in the sky, beating down on everyone heading toward the mansion. The gates are massive and there are two security guards checking everyone in. After the gatecrashers a few years ago, there are two checkpoints guests have to pass through in order to get to the party.
My plan is to get through the gates, make sure my friends pass through security and then leave as soon as we gain entrance to the mansion. That way Emily and Adam are allowed in without incident and I can leave without any concerns that they’ll be kicked out.
We get through the first checkpoint and I drive toward the parking area. My heart is beating quickly in my chest now. I tell myself to calm down. This is still my family.
We park the car and head off toward the mansion. Even from where we are, I can hear the DJ’s blasting music. One of the pools is usually turned into a dance floor. All the food and drink one could imagine. No wonder so many people try to get in.
We move with the crowd toward the door. Even though some people have made it past the first checkpoint, they don’t necessarily have the proper invitations. Some people forge them. But while those might work to get them onto the grounds, the bouncers at the main entrance to the mansion can spot a fake invite a thousand miles away. We pass by one girl sobbing into her cellphone that she got ripped off from purchasing her invite.
I hand my invite over to the bouncer, Anthony, who has done this the past six years running. “Hey,” I say.
“Hey, girl. Didn’t think I would see you here.”
“Didn’t think I’d be here either,” I say. “This couple is my plus two.”
“Great. Go on in,” he says, opening the doors for my guests and me.
I hear some people grumbling as we step inside. The doors shut behind us and we are in the foyer. It is crowded here, thick with bodies who are trying to surge through toward the main living area. I am pressed up against Emily who is taking everything in. It has been ages since she has been in the mansion.
Unable to turn around to get out, I am pressed forward with the crowd into the main living area. Here it is easier to breathe although it is still massively crowded. Music is thumping into the room, already making it hard to speak. Emily looks at me, wondering where to go.
“Go left!” I shout in her ear, knowing that if we can make it toward the library on the east wing the crowds aren’t as thick.
She nods and the three of us try to push through the guests. Adam is great at this. He pushes people out of the way but looks so friendly doing it that no one gets angry with him.
Finally, we make it into a hallway that isn’t so congested with partygoers. There is a group near the library, faces huddled close together, talking in low voices and laughing loudly. The library is sealed off. A guard stands by it. Kevin collects books and he doesn’t want anyone f*****g with them.
“Okay, you guys settled?” I ask, eager to get out of here.
“This place is so big,” Adam says, looking around wide-eyed. “I didn’t think it was actually going to be so huge.”
“Emily should remember most of it. Let me know how it goes.”
“Thanks again,” she says to me.
Right before I turn around, I see her eyes widen. I’ve been her friend long enough to know what that gooey schoolgirl look means. It means that Kevin is behind me. f**k.
I turn around to face him. Kevin is older, somewhere in his fifties but easily looks like he is in his late thirties. He is classically handsome. Bennett has gotten a lot of his features from him, I realize, staring at Kevin. I quickly banish the thought. He is dressed in a suit – he always wears a suit, party or not – and he is holding a snifter glass of whiskey in one hand.
“Emily... and April. What a surprise. I figured your invite would have gone unused.”
Adam is glancing at Emily, probably wondering why she has fallen so quiet. Her silly, hopeless crush on Kevin would be funny right now if I didn’t want to get out of here ASAP.
“Mr. Hunter, hello,” I say to him, not wanting to admit I am here just to get Emily into the party. “Nice to see you.”
I perceive a pause and a slight twinge of irritation in his demeanor.
“April, always the formal one,” he says with a forced smile.
Even though he has always insisted I call him Kevin, I continue to refer to him as Mr. Hunter to his face. I shrug my shoulders and look past him at the other guests.
“It’s nice to see you as well,” he says, choosing to let the uncomfortable moment pass. “I understand you helped out Bennett a couple of weeks ago.”
“Yes, sir. I took photos for his website.”
“Well, he appreciated it. They look fantastic. In fact, I was just talking about your photography to someone earlier today. I should find them so you can discuss options.” He smiles at me casually now.
Damn it. The prospect of landing a job is enticing and he knows it. Kevin didn’t get to where he is by being stupid. He knows very well that I probably came to get Emily in and I was planning to ditch.
But to talk to someone and maybe land a job is too big of an offer to just pass up. Plus, I have no proper excuse to say no.
So instead I smile at him. “Sure. Sounds great.”
“Excuse us, please,” he says to Emily and Adam and guides me by my arm down the hallway.
I glance back at the two of them. Emily mouths “I’m sorry!” as I get dragged off deeper into the party.
- Writer
