Followers

by Raziel Reid

  Sean had so much anxiety when he posted the photos of him on the runway—he didn’t know how people were going to react—but he knew how his dad was going to react and that’s why he invited Valeria over.

  “You like your boy in a dress?” Christoph asks Valeria.

  Some of Sean’s dad’s squad stop playing at the pool table and look over at Valeria.

  “I styled him,” Valeria lies flawlessly. “Sean wasn’t into it but I thought it was cool.”

  Sean looks up and meets Valeria’s eyes, trying to convey his gratitude while keeping his face expressionless. He doesn’t want to show his dad what he’s hiding.

  lillianrhode

  69k followers

  funhazy.blur Couple anthem @lillianrhode @thejoelstrom

  masterkelly37 U and Joel make me believe in love! @lillianrhode @thejoelstrom

  rsister11 Lily and Joel are my favorite couple I cannot WAIT to see them togetherr on the show!

  The Paley family dinner Lily was hoping for never happens. Lily even gets Ana to pick up the ingredients she’ll need to make her risotto on a night when she thinks she can get everyone in the same room long enough to enjoy a meal. But then Patrick calls from set and says that the shoot is running late, and Hailey say she’s meeting Fortune and takes the opportunity to get out of Dodge. It’s Whitney and Lily alone for dinner, but Whitney only wants Ana to whip her up a celery juice. Lily goes to bed hungry. She’s lost five pounds at least since she started staying at the Paleys’.

  Things may still feel forced with the Paleys, but they go back to being chill with Joel in the days after the fashion show. Lily and Joel hang out on the beach, and Lily’s with him for an outdoor movie night at Hollywood Forever Cemetery when Sean texts in the middle of Lolita that Brandon’s ready to set a date for the drag race. They agree on the end of the week.

  “Why don’t we go for dinner with my dad first?” Joel asks. “I’ll need a distraction before the race.”

  Lily’s glad she can help Joel escape the same way he helps her. When Lily’s with Joel, she isn’t thinking of the wardrobe malfunction at the Dress for Success fashion show, even though the comments are endless. When she’s with Joel, Lily doesn’t care.

  On the night they’re planning on driving up to Jessica’s beach house, Lily can’t help but let it slip to Hailey that she’s going to Malibu with Joel. After the fashion show fiasco, the gloves are off. Lily doesn’t trust Hailey. And she’s done trying to be allies. If Hailey wants a nemesis, then she has one.

  * * *

  —

  Jessica’s Malibu house is amazing. It’s obviously her dream bachelorette pad. It was just barely spared by the Woolsey fire and sits perched on a hill overlooking the ocean. Jessica has carved out this space in the world just for her. Every room has a crystal chandelier—“earrings for a room,” Jessica says as she gives Lily the grand tour.

  The house is decorated in shades of pink and light grays. In the foyer is a Roy Lichtenstein painting: furrowed pop art eyebrows over a set of intense eyes with a speech bubble that says, “What? Why did you ask that? What do you know about my image duplicator?”

  As they sit at the dining table and eat dinner, Lily thinks how Jessica is happier and lighter than Lucas ever seemed on the show. He was always so quiet and irritable. Lucas and Greta were especially close, but he and Kathy clearly had marital problems long before the secret was out.

  “You two just look so cute over there. Excuse me while I take a photo.” Jessica lifts her phone and takes a shot of Lily and Joel sitting next to each other behind the candelabra. Joel’s arm is around the back of Lily’s chair and Lily is laughing as Jessica tells them a story about how she was locked out of the facial recognition on her phone after she had her face contoured.

  “God, I was so happy,” she says. “I’ll send you the photo.” Jessica winks. “For posterity.”

  “I’m stuffed,” Joel says, jumping up and clearing the table. Lily can tell he’s embarrassed. “That was delicious, Dad.”

  “My pleasure. You’ll have to come over more often. And bring your sister!”

  “Yeah,” Joel says evasively over his shoulder as he takes dishes to the kitchen. “Soon, I hope.”

  Jessica sips her wine.

  “So, Lily,” she says, switching gears, “what do you say I show you embarrassing childhood photos of this son of mine?”

  “Oh my God, yes, please!” Lily laughs.

  “Please don’t.” Joel gives Jessica a warning look as he comes back to the table.

  “Don’t worry, darling, I won’t totally humiliate you. Like, say, by telling Lily about your early dream of being a boy bander…”

  Lily laughs again. “A what?”

  “There were five of them. They performed at my fiftieth birthday party. They had choreography and everything. Wade Robson helped them with their routine.”

  “Who?”

  “Michael Jackson’s, er, protégé,” Jessica says.

  “He’s a choreographer,” Joel explains. He’s blushing.

  “What was the name of the band?” Lily asks.

  “Don’t you dare!” Joel juggles the salt and pepper shakers.

  Jessica blurts it out. “LOML!” And she throws her head back with laughter.

  “I think I’ll go in the kitchen and wash the dishes by hand now,” Joel says.

  “Love of my life?” Lily giggles. “It’s cute!”

  “If by cute you mean mortifying, then, yeah, let’s go with that.”

  “You’re having quite the effect on him.” Jessica smiles at Lily. “I’ve never seen him clear a table in his life.”

  “I cook, Greta cleans,” Joel says. “In theory. She doesn’t come down for dinner most nights.”

  “Since when do you cook?” Jessica asks.

  Joel goes quiet. Lily’s quick to fill the silence.

  “I need to know more,” she says to Jessica. “Did they record anything?”

  “Like an EP? Yes, darling. Joel’s mother was very invested. She thought her son was destined to be a star.”

  “Please tell me there’s a music video out there somewhere?”

  “Almost! Kathy wanted to go all in. But then Joel realized he liked surfing better than learning choreography.”

  “And that he can’t sing,” Joel adds. “Or dance. Like, at all.”

  Jessica gets up to help Joel put away the food in the kitchen. “Do you still remember some of your old moves?” she asks.

  Lily offers to help but Jessica insists she sit and relax. Jessica plays a LOML demo while Lily takes a sip of her wine and leans back, smiling to herself. This is just like the family dinner she wanted to have with the Paleys. She makes a Story for Instagram.

  Just then, Joel’s phone lights up on the table. It’s an incoming call from Hailey. Of course it is. Lily stares at the screen. No way is she letting Hailey ruin this moment.

  Lily leans forward and double-taps the power button to make the call go away. Her heart starts racing but it’s such a satisfying feeling seeing Hailey’s name disappear from the screen. She leans back in her chair just as Joel returns to the dining room.

  “I totally would’ve thrown my panties at you on stage,” she says.

  They hear Jessica cackling from the kitchen. “I like her!”

  paleyhailey

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  “Come on, Joel, pick up.”

  Hailey is on her phone at Poppy, a nightclub in West Hollywood. She’s out with Greta and Sean and Valeria. Straight to voicemail. Hailey hangs up. She can’t get over Joel taking Lily to Malibu to meet Jessica. That’s sacred ground, and Lily knows it. Lily posted a Story of Jessica playing a song off her phone and Joel burying his face in his hands. Hailey recognizes the song in the video. She knows all the lyrics. LOML were truly the love of her life in junior high.

  During the camping trip Hailey thought she was getting somewhere with Joel. When he hugged her…it felt like sh
e wasn’t going to need Fortune’s or Idris’s help. Like she could get Joel all on her own.

  Hailey regrets setting up the wardrobe malfunction. While it obviously humiliated Lily, it also appears to have brought Lily and Joel closer together. Hailey should’ve known Joel would feel protective. He probably finds it endearing, considering his sister’s public antics.

  Speaking of skid row…at the wood-paneled bar, Hailey orders a double vodka and writes Joel a text telling him to call her right away. Greta’s wasted.

  Hailey looks around the club. Where’d Greta go now? Hailey needs her to stay put and hopefully become increasingly messy until Joel shows up! But Hailey does not want to have to chase her around all night. Babysitting Greta in West Hollywood is so eighth grade.

  Sean and Valeria are sitting alone in the booth, under whimsical lanterns. Poppy throbs around them in gold and amber. Hailey goes up to the booth and asks where Greta disappeared to.

  “You were on the phone,” Valeria says. “Idris showed up and gave Greta something. A letter, I think.”

  “She ripped it up and stormed off to the bathroom,” Sean adds.

  “Need any help with her?” Valeria asks.

  Looks like Saint Valeria Leon is back. Her car was finally found and it’s in one piece. She and Greta hugged it out earlier. Not that Greta seemed emotionally invested. Hailey’s noticed Greta’s been grinding her teeth and chain-smoking all night.

  “Thanks, babe. I’ve got this.” Hailey smiles at Valeria, suppressing tremors of rage as she heads in the direction of the bathroom. Her mother is devastated that her dad didn’t give her the Cartier earrings for their anniversary. Valeria having the exact same pair can’t be a coincidence…that whore! Hailey never shows her hand. But Valeria is dead.

  So many lives to ruin, so little time.

  “Greta?”

  When Hailey pushes open the bathroom door, she finds Greta on the floor, her head slumped forward. Oh, this is awesome. Hailey steps over Greta’s legs with two clicks of her Dries Van Noten snake-embossed leather pumps. What a fucking victim. She bends down and checks for a pulse. It’s faint.

  Hailey reapplies her 999 lipstick by Dior in front of the mirror. 911 or Joel? It’s a real emergency.

  thejoelstrom

  1.8m followers

  drewisplastic

  little.kaelly I’m so scared right now I literally can’t type. @thejoelstrom be safe!!!

  julia_lachowski Jily! @thejoelstrom @lillianrhode

  _viki__xo You got this bro !! @brandocadogan @thejoelstrom

  When Joel posts the photo that Jessica took of them to his Instagram, it’s his way of telling the world that he and Lily are official.

  “It means a lot to me that you came out with me tonight,” he tells Lily on the drive back to the city.

  “Your dad is the coolest person ever,” Lily says. “I’ll never forget tonight. It was the perfect distraction. I didn’t think of my court case all night. It’s just a week away.”

  “I’ll be there,” Joel says, reaching over and taking Lily’s hand. He smiles. “In case you need a getaway car. Once I leave Brandon in the dust, that is.” Joel pulls away his hand to reach for his phone in the pocket of his Fendi varsity jacket. He checks to see if Sean has sent him the location of tonight’s race.

  “I wish you wouldn’t go through with this,” Lily says. “Brandon isn’t worth it.”

  Joel isn’t scared. He’s looking forward to the thrill. When he’s driving fast enough, it’s like he’s lifting out of his body.

  “A declined call from Hailey.” Joel checks his phone as he drives. “I didn’t ignore a call.” He opens his messages. “She sent a text, too. Something about Greta…”

  Lily stares out at the coastline as the highway weaves.

  “Everything okay?” she asks.

  “She says it’s an emergency. It’s about Greta—Hailey called the paramedics.”

  “What?” Lily looks back at him. “Joel, I should’ve told you earlier—after dinner, while you and Jessica were in the kitchen, I saw on your phone that it was Hailey and I ignored the call. I thought she was up to something and—”

  Before Joel can call Hailey back, his phone starts ringing in his hand. It’s his mom.

  “Joel,” she says as soon as he’s answered. “Greta’s in the hospital!”

  * * *

  —

  Joel tries not to run as he and Lily arrive at Cedars-Sinai. He’s trying to stay inside of himself. Hailey is in the waiting room. She jumps up from her seat and tells them that Kathy is with Greta now.

  “Where were you?” Hailey asks. “I tried calling but it went straight to voicemail.”

  Joel looks over at Lily. Her eyes drop to the linoleum floor.

  “What happened?” Joel can’t control the panic in his voice. “Is Greta all right?”

  “She’s going to be fine. I found her slumped over in the bathroom at Poppy and couldn’t wake her. She was acting crazy again all night. I was so scared that what happened at the campsite was going to happen again.” She touches Joel’s arm. “I called 911 as soon as I found her. The doctors say she’s dehydrated.”

  Joel falls into a waiting room chair. Hailey sits next to him.

  “Why didn’t you answer when I called?” she asks.

  A ping comes into Joel’s phone. Sean texts that he was at Poppy and saw what happened with Greta; he’s going to tell Brandon the race is canceled. Joel stares down at his phone without really seeing it. He stands up and starts backing down the hallway.

  “Where are you going?” He isn’t sure if it’s Hailey or Lily asking; they’re both staring at him.

  It doesn’t matter.

  Joel takes the stairs and runs out of the hospital, jumps into his car.

  Don’t cancel, Joel texts Sean back. Location?

  * * *

  —

  The siren blue of Joel’s Porsche Targa and empty cans of Modelo and Corona bottles on the street, the smell of marijuana hanging in the air as a crowd stands outside their cars to watch the race. A slow-burning end of a cigarette. They’re in an industrial area of the San Fernando Valley. Joel is in the driver’s seat, staring straight ahead.

  The races bring out a diverse crowd, super-rich kids with high bets and white-trash smoking blunts and listening to rap music from the stereos in their Dodge Neons.

  Joel’s trying not to think about Lily, or about Hailey, or Greta, or anyone. He’s trying not to think. But why did Lily have to mess with his phone? That’s a Hailey play.

  If he’d got Hailey’s call sooner, maybe he could’ve got to Greta before she OD’d. He could’ve stopped it.

  Joel opens Instagram and looks down at the photo he posted of him and Lily. It’s blowing up with Likes.

  Headlights shine in Joel’s rearview mirror and he hears a car engine rev. Brandon pulls up beside him in a Hennessey Venom GT. A chrome-wrapped car for a chrome-wrapped heart. Brandon opens the passenger window and looks over at Joel with a cocky smirk.

  “You ready for this, pretty boy?”

  “Just because you have the car,” Joel says, “doesn’t mean you know how to drive it.”

  Joel is going to win this for his sister.

  He deletes the photo of him and Lily from his account and tosses his phone on the passenger seat.

  Through his rearview mirror Joel sees Hailey’s Mercedes pull up, and Hailey and Lily step out together. He looks away. In his peripheral vision he can see Bea run up to Brandon and give him a kiss through his open window.

  Sean comes up to Joel’s window.

  “You sure you wanna do this?” he asks. Sean looks worried.

  Joel nods at him and stares straight ahead.

  “All right,” Sean says. “You got this, bro.” He taps the top of Joel’s Targa and joins the crowd.

  Ready, set…

  Joel cancels out the sound of the crowd and blaring rap music. He syncs his mind. Fortune runs over from the crowd to wave the flag, standing betw
een the two cars, wearing an oversize Balenciaga sweater. The crowd starts roaring and Fortune waves the flag. Instinct takes over Joel’s body.

  Go.

  The Hennessey is the fastest-accelerating car in the world. Brandon gets in front of Joel right away. But Joel is a smarter driver. Brandon is anarchistic, tearing up the road. Joel’s little Porsche sneaks up on him but Brandon doesn’t let him get past. Just as Joel is inching ahead, Brandon jerks the wheel of the Hennessey and taps the side of the Targa. Just a tap. And then another. Joel tries to keep control of the wheel. Brandon’s out of his mind.

  It happens both fast and in slow motion. Brandon taps Joel’s car again just as they’re approaching a bend in the road. It rocks the Targa so hard that Joel loses control of the wheel. He feels his wheels lift off into the air, still spinning so fast it’s like his Porsche has antigravity properties. Like he’s going to fly up into the sky and never come back.

  Joel’s phone lifts in the air. It hangs suspended, and there’s this single moment when everything is paused and clear.

  Then the screen cracks and Joel is hanging upside down. Through the shattered window he can see the crowd in the distance holding up their phones. His eyes close. Smash to black.

  lillianrhode

  72k followers

  bk40041 Duck quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack quack

  wave_a_flave You always was obsessed with Joel chasing him even when he was with Hailey, you still pay dearly for dating Joel for interest, everything that starts badly ends badly, I do not need to be a fortune-teller to know that This relationship is a farce, a business, you date him for his millionaire heritage and to forget the former I do not continue to try to conquer Hailey’s place in the hearts of Joel’s fans because you’re never going to be like Hailey Paley…