"Wow, looking danger in the face and then putting it in your mouth anyway must run in the family," Freya said, unable to say it without laughing.
"Ew, gross," Pia said, laughing despite herself. Her phone chimed in for another call. It was her PR agency. "Oh, speak of the devil. Eva is calling."
"She heard you. She's tapping your lines," Freya said. "Call me back after for more tough love."
"Sure," Pia said, putting that call on the top of her list of things she did not want to do, ever.
Pia switched the line over to Eva, her PR person. "Hey Eva, how's it going?"
"Hello Ms. Marino, so sorry to bother you on a Sunday," Eva said.
Pia raised a brow. Eva was formal, sure, but there was something in her tone that made Pia nervous. Like she was about to receive extremely bad news. "No worries, what's up?"
"Well, I'm emailing you a Blind Gossip item that I think may be about you," Eva said.
Pia snorted. "Blind item? Do people take those seriously anymore?"
"It's from Page Six, so I imagine that yes, people do take them seriously," Eva answered. "I've also received a report that there's an accompanying photo that's being shopped around."
"A photo?" Pia asked, surprised.
“I’m on it, though. We won’t let that out,” Eva said, her tone confident in a way that made Pia feel better.
The email from Eva popped into her inbox and she clicked it open.
"'Which female talk show host has been spotted making out with a much younger, supposedly straight rocker?'" Pia read aloud.
"Well, that could be about anyone," she said, her stomach clenching. "Who even says rocker?"
"I cannot do damage control for you if I don't know the full story," Eva said. "So, what do you want to tell me?"
Pia sighed, explaining that she had been seeing Zoey McCarren casually. She felt almost guilty in her confession, knowing that Zoey would panic about the blind item, and probably even panic Pia telling Eva. But, Eva knew everything about Pia. That was her job. She knew things, and then she put a better looking story out into the world.
Pia ended up telling Eva almost everything, including Freya's most recent advice.
"Hmm," Eva said, and Pia could hear her chair creaking, as though she was leaning back. "Well, my hunch is that you need to stop any kind of public engagement with Ms. McCarren. Freya's advice is sound — I'm concerned about how it'll look with your upcoming interview with Sheila next week. I'll try to find out what the photos are and how obvious they may be. I think that we could spin it a number of ways, depending on how they look. You're simply working on a project together, you were helping with promo for their new album... I'm just brainstorming here, but I'll send you a full report with follow-up suggestions this evening."
"Eva, you don't have to do that. It's a Sunday," Pia said, rubbing Cricket's belly with her feet as she stared out across the yard.
"Of course I have to. That's my job. That's why you pay me," Eva said, almost as though she was scoffing at the idea of not working. "If you're comfortable with it, I can email The Shrikes' PR and we can work something out together."
"Sounds fine. Just leave Zoey out of it as much as possible," Pia said, scrubbing a hand over her face.
She walked back inside with the dogs and started to fix dinner.
Who could have reported that blind item? Domino? No, it wasn't like Domino to betray her friends In that way. Could someone have seen them? At the release party? Or the hotel? Or hell, even at Madonna's New Year's Eve party?
"Fuck," Pia said, smacking her hand down on the cool quartz countertop.
She read the blind item on her phone several more times. Supposedly straight.
Her hackles rose at the phrase. Zoey put too much stock into labels. Why was she so worried about being straight or not? Why was she letting that stand in between the two of them being toge—
No.
She couldn't consider that any longer. She had different priorities now. Or, at least, she needed to find different priorities.
Pia leaned down on the counter, her head in her hands, feeling lost.
Chapter Eleven
Zoey
Zoey stared at herself in the mirror, pushing her hair back from her face.
She didn't look any different. She tried to focus on the things she liked: her dark, brown eyes, her full lips, her cheekbones that could cut glass.
But those were only surface-deep.
Everything else had changed.
Hadn't it?
Wouldn't she have some kind of awakening if she had suddenly become interested in women? Wouldn't she have realized it before Pia came into her life? Where were the signs before now?
What would her parents think?
She splashed cool water on her face.
Focus on the things you know.
She knew that Pia felt more for her than they had originally agreed upon. That Pia wanted more than just friendship. She felt that in Pia's gaze, the way Pia held her, the way Pia had that satisfied grin whenever Zoey had a particularly intense reaction to her touch.
She knew that she felt something for Pia, too.
Except, she didn't know how to unpack that. How to understand what she was feeling.
It wasn't love.
It was way too soon to be love.
It was...
She bit her lip, hard, trying to put a name to it.
She had dated before. She had even thought she'd been in love before. Twice. She'd had strong connections where she depended on her partner more than anyone in the world.
But nothing compared to what she felt when Pia was around.
A mixture of attraction, awe, excitement, fascination, and terror consumed her constantly.
That much had not changed from their very first meeting.
But she also trusted Pia.
"Are you still brushing your teeth? You've been in there like, forever," Domino asked through the closed door.
She'd agreed to stay over at Domino and Sabrina's home for the night, and she'd agreed to let Domino tell Sabrina about her and Pia.
Sabrina knew Pia better than the rest of the group.
They were having a good old fashioned slumber party, sitting in the living room watching movies, eating junk food, and gossiping.
The topic they hadn't broached yet? Why Zoey was there: what had happened between her and Pia.
She hadn't even given Domino the full story.
She'd left out some key details and glossed over important nuances, but Domino knew the essentials.
Zoey opened the door to the bathroom to find Domino loitering in the hallway.
"Everything okay?" Zoey asked, pausing in the doorframe.
"Oh, yeah, I was just making sure you hadn't climbed out the window or anything." Domino said casually.
"Are you babysitting me or hanging out with me?" Zoey asked skeptically.
"Why not both?" Domino joked, looping her arm through Zoey's as they walked back into the living room. "You got me through a rough time a few months ago. You climbed into my bed and told me to get my shit together once, I do believe. You brought Sabrina into my life."
During a particularly rough bout of writer's block, Zoey had hired Sabrina to organize Domino's home. The rest was, as they say, history.