Wow, how backwards Domino had that assumption.
"Alright, alright," Zoey said as she walked back into the room. She had pulled her hair up into a ponytail and found flowy lounge pants. "Down, Domino."
Domino looked from Zoey to Pia. "Do you want to talk about this?" She asked.
"Not particularly," Zoey said, reaching for another plate of pancakes. She took one off of the plate, ripping off a bite instead of adding butter or syrup.
Pia turned to Domino. "We're just friends," she repeated.
"Sabrina and I were just friends, too," Domino said in between bites of pancakes. "These are really good, by the way."
"That's different. I'm not gay or anything," Zoey said to Domino, putting a hand on Domino's arm.
She said the words with such conviction that Pia's heart squeezed with instant disappointment.
And yet, she had to ask herself: Why? The entire reason she had jumped into bed with Zoey was that she was straight and the relationship aspect wasn't a risk.
Fuck. Freya had been so right.
Domino nearly choked on her pancakes at Zoey's statement. "Okay, first, that's not how any of this works," she said, holding up her fork. "You think I woke up one day and thought, 'Oh, I'm a giant lesbian' with conviction?"
Pia snort-laughed into her coffee mug.
Zoey looked from Domino up to Pia with an exasperated expression.
"I'm going to go," Pia said, moving the bacon onto a serving plate for the two of them.
"No, wait. Can we talk?" Zoey said, her palms flat on the island.
"Uh oh," Domino said under her breath, her gaze sliding over the bacon. "Ooh, pass that over here, Pia."
"Uh, sure," Pia said to Zoey, glancing around the room. It wasn't exactly a private space. Freya's giant painting stared back at her, mocking her for getting involved in the exact situation that Freya had warned her about.
"Come on, we can talk in my bedroom," Zoey said, standing.
"Alright, have fun with that bedroom talk. Seriously, hand me that bacon," Domino said, pointing again.
Zoey sighed loudly and grabbed the plate of bacon for Domino before walking out of the room.
Pia walked behind her, feeling distinctly as though she was in trouble.
Zoey shut the bedroom door behind her, then pulled her onto the far side of the room near the massive closet that held more clothes, shoes, and handbags than she thought possible.
"Oh, you use Sabrina's services, too?" Pia said, pointing to one of the clear bins filled with color-coordinated sweaters.
"Pia," Zoey said, her hands on her hips. "We are officially fucked."
Pia leaned against the closet door frame. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Domino is going to tell Sabrina, and Sabrina will tell our friend Isla, and Isla has a very large mouth," Zoey said. "That's if Domino doesn't first tell Meg, who will tell Billie, who will tell Vero, who also can't keep a secret to save her life."
"That's... a lot," Pia said, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I know. Which is why I'm a little upset right now," Zoey said, fussing with her hair.
"Hey," Pia said softly, reaching to take Zoey's hands in hers if only so she'd stop making her hair stand straight up — very distracting. "It's going to be okay. So, your friends know. Freya knows—"
"Freya knows?" Zoey said, her voice rising in panic.
Pia bent so that she was on Zoey's eye level. "Why does this matter so much to you?"
"Because I'm the straight one," Zoey said emphatically.
"Well, darling, clearly you are not completely straight," Pia said, lifting one of Zoey's hands to press a kiss to her palm.
"It's my thing," Zoey said, looking confused and bewildered, her forehead wrinkling.
"It's not your thing anymore," Pia said. "It's time to get a new thing."
"You don't understand," Zoey said. "Sure, the industry isn't like it was, but now I'm just a gay lady in a gay lady band."
"Sorry," Pia said, trying to hold back a smile. "You really want not being a gay lady in a gay lady band to be the hill you're prepared to die on?"
Zoey sighed in frustration. "That doesn't sound right. I just mean, I'm not ready to be publically gay."
"So, don't be publically gay until you're ready. Here's an industry-tip: Plenty of us are under the umbrella, but you'd never know it," Pia said. "I was in the spotlight for years before I came out, and it almost cost me my career. But here we are. That was fifteen years ago. Society has changed."
"I'm not ready for this," Zoey said, her shoulders slumping.
"What do you mean?" Pia asked, an icy cold tension stabbing somewhere in her gut.
"I'm just scared of everything changing," Zoey admitted, her voice a quiet whisper.
Pia softened again, reaching to wrap her arms around Zoey. "The band is a bit distracted at the moment. This will blow over in your friend group way sooner than you think. And we can stop... the benefits part of our friendship if that'd help."
Zoey relaxed against her and Pia felt protective and warm and terrified all at once.
"And Zoey, if this is just... a one time thing, and you were just curious, then that's fine, too," Pia said, feeling the need to give Zoey that out. That permission to take the step back if she needed.
"Let me talk to Domino, and then maybe I can call you later?" Zoey asked.
"Sure," Pia said, reluctantly letting Zoey go.
Hours later, Pia was sitting outside in her sprawling backyard with the dogs, enjoying the heat of the Southern California sun in the hills of Malibu. How could life not be perfection with everything she had? She had worked so hard for everything, and now she had it all.
Right?
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You wanted this relationship to be a casual thing," Freya said, her voice in Pia's earpiece.
Pia nearly "dropped" the call right then, but she knew Freya was right.
Cricket lay at her feet on his back, requesting more belly rubs.
"Weren't you singing her praises mere weeks ago?" Pia asked.
"I like her. But you like her in a different way, and that's not great timing," Freya said.
"What? Why?" Pia asked. She watched as Tulip tried to eat a bee. Oof, she'd regret that. "Tulip, leave it."
"Uh, hello, Elle's mother's interview? Wouldn't it look terrible for you to be newly dating some hot, young rock star and model as you're about to tell the world about your dead wife?" Freya asked, her tone suggesting that Pia was seriously stupid.
"You make a good point. I should fire my PR and hire you," Pia said with a laugh.
"Baby, you couldn't afford me," Freya said.
Tulip grabbed the bee out of the air and munched happily. "Oh, you idiot," she said, waiting to see if Tulip had been stung.
"Ouch," Freya said.
"Not you. Tulip is eating sky jalapenos."
"When will she lay off the spicy flies?" Freya laughed.
"Maybe she loves the fun of a swollen face and Benadryl. I feel bad for the bees. She's personally decimating their local population," Pia said, kneeling down in front of Tulip to inspect her wrinkly jowls. She seemed unharmed, strangely enough.