Followers

by Raziel Reid

  “I’m always on the beach,” Lily says. “I’ve been lifeguarding a lot this summer.” As she speaks, it dawns on her how little her aunt knows about her.

  They sit on a red velvet Jean Royére “L’Ours Polaire” sofa, which Lily recognizes from when Whitney gave a house tour on the first episode of Platinum Triangle. The couch is Patrick’s baby. He collects modern art, furniture, and DUIs.

  The camera operator focuses them in frame, while Sam and a production assistant are standing off to the side. Lily looks over at Sam, who gives her an encouraging nod.

  “Why didn’t you call me as soon as Erin ran off to Reno?” Whitney asks. “You didn’t have to be left alone.”

  “I didn’t want to impose.” The truth is, Lily didn’t even think of calling her aunt. It’s been so many years, and the Paleys have always lived in a different world.

  “We’re family, Lily,” Whitney says. “We have to stick together. Now, as far as your arrest goes, there’s no reason to be embarrassed. God knows you’re not the first person in this family with a mugshot!” Whitney laughs.

  At the mention of her mugshot Lily grows even more self-conscious. She steals a look at the camera. She feels like her words are caught in her throat. How is this going to look on camera? She has to explain that she didn’t know Chris was planning a break-in.

  Whitney places a hand on Lily’s knee to bring Lily’s focus back to her.

  “Don’t look so worried! We’re going to get all your legal problems sorted, okay? Who could blame you for falling in with the wrong crowd? Abandoned in the Valley. I’d die!”

  Hailey appears at the doorway in that moment, looking like Taylor Swift after digging herself out of a grave and getting a red-carpet oxygen facial.

  “Lily!” Hailey squeals. Lily rises from the couch with Whitney as Hailey comes over and gives her a double-kiss. They’re barely touching. “It’s literally been forever!”

  Hailey notices Lily’s Tiffany charm bracelet.

  “And look, Mom! She’s wearing the bracelet I gave her for, what was it, like, your tenth birthday? Has it really been that long?”

  Lily shrugs awkwardly.

  Whitney claps her hands together. “Just wait till Patrick sees you all grown up!”

  imseanjohnson

  1.5m followers

  _shylapearle You’re fly. Stay fly. Stay Zen @imseanjohnson

  radicalandrea I love @imseanjohnson @realvalerialeon together! But she goes through guys like underwear so I doubt it’ll last.

  youngdog_jay Miss those dope dreads

  rennie_loveflirt_miers ONLINE SEX AND MASTURBATE ON WEBCAM WITH ME! GO TO MY PAGE

  marcosammson911 We’re the new generation weak up and pay attention

  Sean Johnson is sitting with Valeria at a table set up in the Paleys’ backyard, staring out at the party. Sometimes he feels the most alone in a crowded room, and if there is a connection between him and Valeria, that’s it. Maybe it’s not romantic. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

  They can hear Greta and Idris over by the pool.

  “Get me a swan!” Greta is yelling. “The black one!”

  “Yeah?” Idris asks. He pulls Greta in for a kiss. “You want a swan?”

  Idris whips off his Gucci tee and tosses it to the side, jumping into the pool as Greta shrieks with laughter. The swans desperately try to flutter away.

  The water splashes all the way over to where Sean and Valeria are seated. Sean sees Joel cutting across the party toward them.

  “You guys hear about our newest cast member?” Joel asks.

  Sean follows Joel’s line of vision over to Whitney and Hailey, who are coming out of the back of the house with a blond girl linked in their arms.

  “Hailey’s cousin,” Joel says. “I didn’t recognize her at first.”

  “A second Hailey?” Sean asks. “Yikes.”

  “You mean a third,” Valeria quips. “She already has two faces.”

  “I don’t know,” Joel says. “There’s something about this girl that seems different…”

  Sean can feel the camera before he sees it. Sean’s wearing a Damien Hirst I “Spot” DH tee-shirt. His “spot” speeds up in his chest.

  “Platinum Triangle, ten o’clock.”

  The camera is pointed at them.

  “Later,” Joel says, dashing out of frame.

  Sean and Valeria know what to do. Sean stretches his arm around the back of Valeria’s chair. She leans in close and whispers seductively in his ear.

  “I ate a baloney sandwich for lunch.”

  Sean tries not to burst out laughing.

  “I’m wearing the same socks I wore yesterday,” he says.

  “Ew!” Valeria cracks up.

  Sean kisses her before they have to do another take.

  “He gone?” Sean asks.

  Valeria steals a glance.

  “All clear.”

  Sean retracts his arm.

  “I think I’m gonna sneak out,” Valeria says.

  “Close-up’s in the bag. You need a ride?”

  “I brought my car.” She kisses his cheek. “Pleasure working with you, Sean.”

  He watches her walk off, his eyes landing on Idris getting pecked in the face by a swan in the pool, then over at the almost famous people on the dance floor, posing on the red carpet, trying to get in the frame of one of the Platinum Triangle cameras shooting the party…

  Sean pulls out his phone.

  imseanjohnson We’re all going to die

  lily rhode

  no results found

  Lily wonders if Patrick still sees himself as he was twenty years ago. The face-lift helped. Or so he seems to think. He looks kind of odd. Lily read in one of her mom’s tabloids that Patrick is eating more beets these days and the health kick has done wonders for his skin. Lily’s mom said it was planted by a publicist and that he actually had plastic surgery. “They always change their hair when they get plastic surgery!” Erin pointed at the TV as they sat in the trailer watching Patrick win an award at the Golden Globes.

  Patrick’s face wasn’t pulled too tight or anything, but there’s something eerie about the way he looks. He’s partied so hard that his eyes look permanently boiled in water—bulging out of his head, red vessels surrounding those baby blues that can still light up the silver screen and heart chakras.

  “This party,” Lily says, looking around as she stands with the Paleys. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” But that’s a lie. She’s seen it on TV. She’s dreamed it.

  “I’m glad you could make it, Lily.” Patrick flashes her a smile. “Sorry that I have to run; you’re catching me on my way to set.”

  “I didn’t know you were working tonight?” Whitney pouts.

  “Night shoot,” Patrick says. He gives Whitney a kiss. “Sorry, babe. But someone has to bring home the bacon. Although I’m just a B-list star around here these days.” He winks at Hailey. “Guess who was asked by a pap while hiking Runyon this morning how it feels to be Hailey Paley’s dad?”

  “I love my stans,” Hailey says.

  They watch Patrick head into the house, and Whitney swings her arm around Lily’s shoulder.

  “Well, that leaves you with me and—” She stops and looks beside her. “Now where did Hailey disappear to?”

  Hailey is lost in the crowd. Whitney waves it off.

  “The hostess is always in demand! Why don’t you mingle? Get a drink. I’ll go make sure Ana has set up everything for you in the pool house, okay?”

  Lily barely manages a nod before Whitney starts walking off. She’s left staring out at the party alone. Almost.

  The camera stays on her.

  paleyhailey

  1m followers

  paleyhailey Her heart is a secret garden & the walls are very high…

  The way the pool lights are reflecting off the surface of the water and onto Joel’s face makes him look so pretty he pixelates in Hailey’s eyes. He’s staring across the party, at Lily standin
g by herself.

  Lily isn’t alone for long. A shirtless, dripping-wet Idris goes up to her and they shake hands. Good. Let that swine take care of her.

  Hailey will take care of Joel.

  She comes up behind him and puts a hand on his waist.

  “The show’s filming,” she says.

  “I saw.”

  Hailey smiles. “I didn’t think we’d get another chance.”

  “For what?”

  “This.”

  Hailey takes Joel by surprise when she kisses him, but he doesn’t exactly resist.

  “It was building between us all season,” she says, keeping her face close to Joel’s when their lips part. “I hate to be anticlimactic.”

  “And it didn’t happen if it wasn’t on camera, right?” Joel asks. He breaks the fourth wall and motions to the camera capturing them from across the pool.

  “You don’t have to love me, Joel. You just have to love giving them what they want.”

  realvalerialeon

  3.3m followers

  whiteworld_rawmg_544 we kno where u headed… good luck!!! I heard its forever there dark, unbareable smell, souls on top of souls burning tf up non stop screams brimstone nd a big ass lake of fire…But wait thats fake to huh? U betta rethink dat shit for real

  whiteworld_rawmg_544 u betta get yo mind Right on that one!!! Can u imagine your whole body burning tf up non stop u’ll see!!!

  In the elevator of the Montage Beverly Hills Hotel, Valeria takes off the oversize, dark-lensed Max Pittion sunglasses her mother gave her before she left the house for Hailey’s party. Gloria came up to Valeria’s room as she was changing into something more inappropriate.

  “I just want to make sure you know what to do.” Gloria looked at her awkwardly.

  Valeria has always known.

  Gloria passed her the sunglasses and told her to try and keep a low profile.

  When she knocks on the door of the suite, Valeria pretends that this is the role she’s been waiting for. Her big comeback. Valeria is a talented actress—no one can take that away from her.

  Patrick answers before the second knock. The top three buttons of his Polo dress shirt are undone, showing off his dark chest hair. She smells liquor and expensive aftershave.

  He ushers her inside and looks both ways down the hallway. “Anyone see you?”

  “Should I check my Mentions?” Valeria asks.

  The door closes behind her.

  greta.strom

  715k followers

  voguecelebutantes Your body is just goals

  alisha_jusbie These boobs Are definitely photoshopped

  febexx I don’t like your lips, they’re soooo big:/

  sinanir Ты прекрасна

  dcruise10 you used to do funny pics of funny faces that were so real can you do more of those they’re much more approachable

  The door opens and Greta and Hailey shuffle into the powder room holding their drinks. The music from the party fades as the door swings shut behind them.

  “She’s like a stray puppy and I’m, like, I only like teacup Yorkies and only on Instagram,” Hailey says, slamming her glass of Belvedere down on the counter. She starts touching up her makeup in front of the bathroom mirror, framed by Martinique banana leaf wallpaper.

  Greta pulls her phone out of her Alaïa handbag.

  “There’s nothing about her online except the press over her arrest. No Insta.”

  “What does she have to post? Lily’s literally from a trailer park. Like, Trump-land.”

  “Didn’t your parents vote for Trump?”

  “Not officially!” Hailey snaps.

  Greta pulls out a set of keys and a bag of coke from her handbag. She uses the tip of a key to dig a bump and brings it to Hailey’s nose. Hailey delicately snorts it before turning back to the mirror. Greta snorts her own bump while looking at her reflection.

  “You know me and you don’t,” she says.

  Greta takes a selfie of her and Hailey in the mirror.

  “Make sure there’s no—”

  “Don’t worry,” Greta cuts her off. “Cropping out the drug paraphernalia. I know you have an image to protect.”

  “Did you see what she was wearing?” Hailey asks. “And, like, how does she already know Joel?” She takes a lime out of her drink and squeezes it between her fingers. The juice runs down the evil-eye clover bracelet on her wrist.

  “They were together?” Greta asks.

  “Fortune told me he saw Joel and Lily arriving together. This is supposed to be my night, not Lily’s welcome party.”

  “So let’s bail.” Greta dangles the keys.

  “Idris’s Lambo?” Hailey asks.

  “One of the perks of always having my head in his lap is that I’m in close proximity to his pockets.” Greta raises an eyebrow. “Where do you think I got the coke?”

  idrismorcos1

  568k followers

  phoenixsxinia When I wish I am somewhere new but stuck at work I look on your instagram bro and think where is Idris off to today haha @idrismorcos1

  malaik_xh

  maryymohamadi8384

  sarahsmithe1111 Such a pretentious prick

  “Two whiskey sodas,” Idris tells the bartender. He looks back toward Lily and nods his head as she smiles at him.

  This might be so easy that he doesn’t need the GHB, but hey, man, it’s a party.

  He looks around to make sure no one is watching and unscrews the lid of the bottle, discreetly dumping it into one of the drinks the bartender slides across to him. Idris barely manages to conceal the bottle from Joel Strom when he comes up to the bar. He slips it into the pocket of his wet jeans.

  “What happened to no shirt, no service?” Joel asks.

  “Those swans are savage, bro. I almost lost an eye.”

  “I hear you, man,” Joel says. “If the Platinum Triangle cameras don’t get you, then the swans will.”

  Idris turns around and tracks the cameras. He wants to make sure there’s no chance he was caught pouring in the GHB. Good thing he’s not mic’d. He and Greta made that mistake once. MKTV aired as much of the audio as they could legally get away with, but Idris and Greta like to talk dirty. Joel has barely looked at Idris since the episode aired.

  “I thought we were done shooting,” Idris says.

  The filming schedule is about six months of the year. There’s also the “Real Home” footage, which is when a camera crew shows up and shoots for about three hours a day covering whatever goes on in the home of the featured families. And then the producers arrange additional shoots—dinners, parties, charity fundraisers, cast trips. And of course they get the cast “confessionals,” where each member of the cast sits alone in front of the camera talking about the scenes.

  The confessionals are cut throughout the episodes and usually cause the most drama because of all the backstabbing and gossip. Last season they shot two rounds of confessionals, one before the season aired and then another round about halfway through the season, when everyone had seen enough episodes to know what was being said behind their backs. That’s when the gloves come off and the drama escalates for the second half of the season.

  “Later, bro.” Idris nods at Joel, picking up the drinks from the bar and cutting across the party toward Lily, who’s waiting for him.

  Idris always lies during confessionals.

  paleyhailey

  1m followers

  princepaley Notice me @paleyhailey

  Sitting in the passenger seat of Idris’s Lambo, Hailey clicks on the handle of one of her fans, @princepaley. The page is full of drawings and photos of her. Some of the photos she doesn’t even recognize. That’s when you know you’re famous.

  Greta presses all the way down on the accelerator with her Valentino Garavani Rockstud pump. As Hailey scrolls through her phone, she lights a cigarette, a vice she indulges in only when she’s anxious and the Klonopin isn’t working fast enough and she wants to eat the world and then feel it come out
of her, burning like the fiery breath of a dragon.

  It’s a blur of billboards and broken dreams through the open windows. Hailey flicks an ash over the side. Greta drives through a red light on Sunset Boulevard. She’s too busy rapping along to the song blasting through the speakers.

  The Lambo speeds ahead, weaving through other cars on the road, tires screeching against the pavement.

  They go for drinks at Delilah and end up in Beverly Park. When they pull up to the gate, Greta jumps out and gives the guard a lap dance. Hailey makes a Boomerang.

  Beverly Park is eerie at night. They drive past all the fake châteaus and giga-mansions hidden behind gates—it feels more haunted than Hollywood Forever Cemetery. And so empty. Greta must feel it too because she’s driving fast; she’s driving like something’s chasing her. She doesn’t slow down as they approach the Strom’s estate.

  The Lambo comes crashing through the hedges around Greta’s house, which is next door to Mark Wahlberg’s. They go soaring across the backyard, driving over the garden and setting off the sensor lights. Hailey’s hair is thrashing around her head. She can’t stop laughing.

  Greta hits the brakes and the Lambo comes to an abrupt stop, its headlights shining across the pool. Hailey stops laughing when Greta turns and stares at her with Hollywood vampire eyes.

  “Get out,” she says.

  Hailey knows that look.

  “Take the precious!” Greta shoves the bag of coke down Hailey’s bra before Hailey jumps out of the car. “And my Alaïa!” She tosses Hailey the handbag.

  The engine revs. Hailey hits Record on her phone just as Greta pushes down on the gas pedal and drives the Lambo straight into the pool.

  A huge wave of water ripples over the side. The Lambo sinks to the bottom, the surface bubbling.

  Hailey watches the water flood in through the open windows. Greta doesn’t get out. She stays sitting in the driver’s seat. As the Lambo becomes completely submerged, Hailey starts to get anxious. This bitch. Greta doesn’t surface. Another minute passes, and Hailey lowers her phone. It wouldn’t be the first time Greta’s tried to kill herself on camera.