Musings of a Gossip Queen: A Chick-Lit Comedy

by Victoria Bright

  “Projects were supposed to be due today, but it looks like there are members missing from two of our teams. Madison isn’t feeling well and Kevin unfortunately had a death in his family. Instead, we’ll present the projects on Monday and then choose a winner then,” he says.

  “What do we win?” Carrie Jo asks.

  “Friendship and team building,” Gary says with a chuckle and walks back out. How lame.

  Silas strolls over to me and sits on the corner of my desk. “How was the fashion show last night?”

  “The actual show was fine. Taylor did really well. She was sad you couldn’t come though,” I say.

  “I’m glad she did well and I’m sad I couldn’t go also. I have some good news though,” he says, a slow smile creeping across his lips.

  “What’s up?”

  “I got an email from Herrera,” he replies. I swallow the lump forming in my throat. No matter what he says, just smile really big and try to be happy for him. This is his dream, so try to be happy.

  “That’s great!” I say, forcing a smile. “Any good news?”

  “He’s setting me up for an internship with one of his friends for a fashion magazine. He’s going to be out of the country for a few more weeks, so he’s unavailable to help me himself, but he says he wants to get me started with his colleague.”

  “Oh,” I say. “That’s great! Congratulations.”

  He raises a brow at me. “I thought you’d be a little bit more excited,” he says and then grins.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve been a little distracted since last night and then Madison’s stupid article and I’ve had a ton of different things on my mind lately,” I say with a sigh.

  That’s actually true. After writing my blog post last night, I stayed up pretty late to search for more options for other magazines. I even thought of coming up with my own magazine or something but then realized I didn’t have the patience for all of the worked required to make it happen.

  “Distracted with what?”

  “A little drama ensued at the end of the fashion show and Madison and I ended up getting kicked out because of it.”

  “What happened?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.

  “You didn’t read Madison’s article on it? She had a video and everything,” I mutter.

  He shakes his head. “No, I haven’t. So what happened?” he asks again.

  I explain the situation, not realizing that I’d captured the attention from everyone else around me. By the time I finish, Leo, Shayla, Carrie Jo and Caesar are hanging on to my every word with an amused expression painted on their faces.

  “I swear I wish I had your life,” Shayla eventually says.

  I roll my eyes. From what I witnessed yesterday, I’m sure she could do without any more added excitement. “I could live without that kind of drama,” I say.

  “What was Madison doing during all this?” Leo asks.

  “Surprisingly she was trying to pull the girl off of me. I wouldn’t have believed it myself had I not seen her with my own eyes,” I say. “But then again, she was also recording a little video for her article she wrote about it.” Now that I think about it, she probably isn’t even sick. She’s probably just hiding from me because I would’ve slapped her into next week had she actually shown up today.

  “Maybe she’s turning a new leaf like I mentioned,” Silas says with a smirk. Yeah, right. If she’s turning a new leaf, then the leaf must already be dead. She had me going when I thought she was trying to be nice that night, but the last thing she said still didn’t sit well with me. Everything doesn’t last forever? There’s nothing innocent about that, especially coming from her.

  1:57 p.m.

  Bathroom

  As I’m checking my makeup in the mirror, I hear someone vomiting in the stall behind me. Bleck. When the heaving finally stops, I glance over my shoulder.

  “Are you okay?” I ask. They don’t say anything, only flushing the toilet.

  Shayla soon walks out of the stall with wet eyes as she wipes her mouth with a wad of toilet paper. “Yeah, I’m good,” she says, running water in sink and splashing her face.

  “There must be a bug or something going around,” I say, trying to make conversation. “First Madison, now you—”

  “I’m pregnant,” she confesses, barely above a whisper.

  Holy Santa Claus shit. The plot thickens.

  Is the baby Caesar’s or her boyfriend’s?

  “Oh wow,” I say. “That sounds awesome, but you don’t look happy.”

  “It’s complicated,” she mutters. She must not know whose baby it is then. I don’t think this is going to end well.

  “Well, I’m sure your boyfriend will understand. I—”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do. Devin doesn’t want children. He even went out of his way to make sure he couldn’t have them,” she says.

  “So…it’s not his?” I ask carefully.

  She shakes her head and wipes her eyes. “Look, don’t tell anyone, okay? I’m probably not going to keep it anyhow. It’ll be more trouble than it’s worth.”

  “But—”

  “Not a word, Blake,” Shayla says with a stern gaze.

  “Okay, I swear,” I say and watch her walk out of the bathroom, leaving me completely stunned.

  I wonder if she’s even going to tell Caesar?

  Dun, dun, dun!

  5:21 p.m.

  Outside Hot Topic magazine

  “Hey Silas, wait up!” I call behind him. He stops walking and turns around.

  “What’s up?” he asks.

  “We should celebrate your good news,” I say with a smile, wrapping an arm around his waist.

  He drapes an arm around my shoulder as we continue to walk. “Yeah? What do you have in mind?”

  “Dinner and a good movie sounds good. What do you think?”

  He smiles. “Sounds perfect.”

  6:02 p.m.

  V-Life NYC

  “So when do you start your internship?” I ask Silas, popping a French fry into my mouth.

  “They’re supposed to let me know next week. I didn’t want to tell Gary until everything was finalized,” he answers.

  “Let me be the first to say I’m proud of you,” I say with a smile. “I’ve been thinking about making some changes myself.”

  “Oh yeah? Like what?”

  “I think I may want to look at other magazines,” I say.

  He nods and takes a sip of his smoothie, a thoughtful look settling on his handsome features. “That would be good for you. You never struck me as the type of person who would want to do this forever though,” he says.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean you seem too nice to make a career out of destroying someone’s life with gossip. The drama that happened at Taylor’s fashion show would’ve been a wake up call if it had been me. Not to mention, this just seems like a dead end position. It doesn’t really lead anywhere major.”

  “All career paths have their downfalls. I mean look at jobs like the military or a policeman or firefighter. People know there are great risks with those jobs, but they do it anyway because they love it.”

  “I can’t really say those are comparable to what you do though,” he admits. “People take risky jobs like that because even if something happens to them, they’re doing it for a purpose. You’re telling me that there’s some kind of greater purpose for you exploiting some rich person’s drama for the sake of selling issues or getting promotions?” When I don’t say anything, he continues. “Do you remember why you told me you didn’t want to be famous?”

  “Not really,” I say.

  “You said because you liked your life to be private since you know there are people like you in this world ready to write about the first moment you fuck up. You said you didn’t want your mistakes to be displayed on the grand scale. I’m just saying there’s more to life than gossip. You’ve learned the hard way what happens when you say the wrong things to the wrong people
,” he said. “Apparently twice at this point.”

  I clench my teeth together and push around my food, no longer hungry. He reaches over and takes my hand into his.

  “I’m not trying to upset you, Blake. I think you’re a really nice girl who happens to be a fantastic writer. I just don’t think you should use your talent to bring people down.”

  “I’m just reporting stories, Silas. Whether or not I reported it, someone would’ve done so regardless. Besides, I seriously don’t know what I’d do if I weren’t doing this.”

  He gives me a small smile and gives my hand a gentle squeeze. “Let’s not think about all of this now. We’re here to celebrate, right?”

  I give him a small smile and relax a little. “Right,” I say, grateful for the change of subject. “So did Herrera give you any feedback on your pictures?”

  “Oh yeah,” he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. He presses around on it for a few moments and clears his throat. “He said that I have a sharp eye for high fashion and glamour that not only showcases the beauty of the model and the clothing, but also displays a story in the way the model is posed and the lighting.”

  “That’s so amazing,” I say, leaning over and kissing him on the lips. He gazes into my eyes before locking our lips once more, his hand going into my hair. His lips are sensual and soft as they move along mine. His thumb caresses my cheek, causing me to nearly melt into a puddle in my chair. Jesus, he’s an amazing kissing. I clear my throat and tuck a lock of hair behind my ear. “I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks, babe,” he says with a wink. He glances down at his watch. “Shoot. The movie will be starting soon. Want to get out of here?”

  “Yeah, let’s get going,” I say. He leaves the table to get takeout boxes for our food, leaving me alone in my thoughts. A pregnant woman walks along the sidewalk outside the restaurant, talking on the phone. My mind immediately goes to Shayla. I can’t even imagine what she’s possible feeling right now. She can’t tell her boyfriend that she’s pregnant because he’ll automatically know that she’s cheated on him. I don’t even want to imagine what he’d do to her if he were to find out about her affair with Caesar, especially if everyone said he flipped out at a Christmas party simply because she was talking to him. To have to choose between the life of your unborn baby and your own safety if your boyfriend were to find out is a terrible position to be in. I can only hope that she figures out a way to get herself out that situation altogether.

  “Here you go,” Silas says, handing me a box. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” I say, taking it from him and putting my food inside. Shayla’s a big girl. I’m sure she’ll make the right decision.

  9:10 p.m.

  Outside my building

  After watching Transformers: The Last Knight and taking a stroll through the park, we finally decided to call it a night.

  “This was fun,” he says with a smile.

  “Yeah, it was. Congrats again. Your photography is going to be in prestigious magazines in no time,” I say, returning his smile.

  “I can only hope so,” he says and goes quiet for a moment. “Thank you.”

  My forehead wrinkles in confusion. “For what exactly?”

  “Just everything. Your support, for bringing me along to that party in the first place, and especially for being the prettiest girlfriend a guy could ask for,” he says with a chuckle as he wraps his arms around my waist.

  I giggle. “Well, you’re more than welcome, Mr. Hayes,” I say, gazing up at him. He leans forward and kisses me, his grip tightening around my waist. Even with the chilly winter wind whipping around us, it doesn’t compare to the heat that Silas is setting ablaze within me.

  “Would you like to come upstairs?” I ask, barely above a whisper when he finally pulls away. He looks toward my building and then back at me.

  “Sure,” he says. My heart races in my chest as we make our way up to my apartment. Milo barks his head off the moment we enter and he sees Silas. Silas kneels down as Milo runs over to him. “Hey there, little pup.”

  “Would you like anything to drink?” I ask as I take off my coat.

  “Nah, I’m good,” he says as he stands and moves over to sit on the couch.

  We sit in awkward silence for a little while before I finally grab the remote and turn on the tv. “Want to watch something on Netflix?” I ask, opening the app on my smart tv.

  “That’s cool.”

  “Anything in particular?”

  “Surprise me,” he says. Surprise him, eh?

  “You know what, I don’t really want to watch tv actually,” I say softly, looking over at him.

  “So what do you want to do?” he asks, matching my tone.

  I kiss him gently on the lips, gauging his reaction. When he kisses me back, I move to straddle his lap, intertwining my fingers in his hair. Milo barks and jumps onto the couch, trying to jump in between Silas and me. What a cock block.

  “Down, Milo,” I say between kisses. Silas’ hands move underneath my shirt and run up and down my back, sending chills along my spine as his callouses hands caress my skin. Unfortunately, it’s so hard to get in the mood when your dog is yapping like a maniac and trying to bite your boyfriend in the face.

  “Perhaps we should go to my room,” I whisper.

  “Sounds like a plan,” he says, scooting to the edge of the couch and picking me up before I can even move. Milo continues his bark fest as he follows us. He moves over to the side of the bed and starts howling as Silas and I tumble onto the bed, never breaking away from our kiss.

  This is really happening!

  Sex Bomb is in my bed!

  Thank you, baby Jesus!

  9:32 p.m.

  In my bed

  Oh. My. God.

  It’s been so long since I’ve had decent sex (because Cameron was complete shit, let’s be honest), but man, Silas is amazing. I don’t even know how loud I am and at this point, I don’t even care. Milo is now sitting next to the bed looking at us.

  Yeah, that isn’t weird at all.

  9:33 p.m.

  In my bed

  Aaaand he’s now humping a teddy bear. As if this couldn’t become anymore weird.

  9:35 p.m.

  Still in my bed having amazing sex

  “Oh Silas,” I moan, running my hands along his back as his pummels into me. Before he can even respond, there’s a knock on my bedroom wall.

  “Woohoo! Go Carolina!” Taylor yells through the wall.

  Silas bursts out laughing while I want to disappear into the bed.

  What the hell, Taylor?

  “What’s that about?” Silas asks, kissing along my neck.

  “I’ll explain later. Just keep going,” I say, moving my hips with his.

  I won’t let my crazy dog and even crazier neighbor stop me from having an orgasm.

  10:11 p.m.

  Still in bed

  Silas and I lay next to each other, panting and completely spent. I’ve lost count of the number of orgasms I had after the second one before Silas finally reached his.

  “How was it?” he finally asks.

  I release a long breath and close my eyes. “Better than I ever could have imagined. What about you?”

  “Same,” he says, pulling me into his arms. “And the deal with your neighbor?”

  “Usually it’s her keeping all the noise. She’s probably just excited that I’ve finally gotten laid,” I said with a giggle.

  He chuckles and gives me a gentle squeeze, resting his chin on my forehead without another word.

  I could get used to this.

  Oh, and in other news: Blake - 10, Loser- 1.

  Check. Mate.

  10:45 p.m.

  Blake Unfiltered blog post #797

  Wow.

  Just wow.

  Can I just say this has been the best week ever? Silas got great news, Taylor booked a gig, Silas and I started officially dating, and we finally went all the way. Don’t judge
me though. A girl has needs.

  Even though this week has been good so far, I still can’t help but think about Shayla. I wonder what she’s going to do about her baby situation. I mean what do you do when you’re pregnant by the guy you’re having an affair with when your boyfriend doesn’t want kids at all? I hope she finds the strength to leave him. I wonder what’s keeping her there anyway. Oh well. Not my problem really, but I’ll support her no matter what decision she makes.

  I’ve slept with Silas. That makes game point for Madicunt. What a glorious way to end a workweek.

  xoxo,

  B

  Chapter Sixteen

  Monday, February 9th

  11:45 a.m.

  Meeting room

  “Alright, alright, settle down,” Gary says with a clap of his hands. Everyone takes a seat around the table and turns their attention to him. “I want to start off by congratulating Blake on her interview with Hannah Burgess. Hits on the website have been off the charts and almost every major news outlet has picked up the interview and credited us for it, which has brought in new readers. Let’s give her a round of applause.”

  Everyone claps, even Madison. Although she’s clapping, the sinister-like smirk on her face tells me it’s not sincere. I wouldn’t expect any less from the witch.

  “Next, I’d like to take this opportunity to congratulate Silas on his internship opportunity. He’s been asked to shadow world-renowned photographer Hendrick Smith, so he won’t be here with us for very long,” Gary continues.

  “Oh no! You can’t leave us, Si!” Madison exclaims, hugging him. I don’t know if I want to barf at her fake display of sadness or punch her in the throat for touching him.