Kiss Me in Silicon Valley: The Juliette Trilogy (The Princesses of Silicon Valley - Book 2)

by Anita Claire

  As I listen to her I start thinking, I too might gag.

  With sincerity I smile and say to Jennifer, “That’s wonderful, I’m happy for you.” Then I turn to Meredith. “What can I help you with?”

  Meredith looks at me, blinks her eyes, and stares as she mentally goes through her list. “I think I’m done. Everyone is supposed to bring a dish. Now we just need people to show up.”

  “My dish was a bottle of tequila and a lot of margarita mix.” Hita says with a bright smile.

  “I brought rice and I made a chocolate chip pecan pie.” Jennifer brightly smiles as she points to the serving table.

  “Has anyone tried this year’s beer?” I ask.

  Jennifer lifts her cup, “Sam’s really getting good at this.”

  “Let’s go outside. This place is too small for a crowd of people. I want to keep everyone in the yard.” Meredith says as she herds us out grabbing the pitcher of margaritas.

  As we head outside Amanda and Kevin show up along with some of Sam’s fraternity brothers. I knew these guys from school but never really hung with them. A few came with women I don’t know. The guys gather near the keg. Meredith puts on a bright smile as she walks over to great them. Jennifer walks over to Rocket with a big smile on her face, sits down on one of his legs, and starts French kissing him. Repulsed, Hita and I look at each other.

  “Jennifer, we’re right here, really?” I say.

  Jennifer responds by giving me the finger as she continues to French kiss Rocket.

  Hita gasps and in a stage whisper says, “What’s happened to our sweet Jennifer?”

  “Do we really need to watch this, it’s only noon.” I respond.

  “Can’t they take it someplace else?” Hita inquires.

  “Meredith just changed her sheets.” I say, and we both start giggling.

  Meredith comes over, herds us away from Jennifer and Rocket, and in a true whisper says, “Kelly wasn’t kidding; they are all gaga for each other.”

  “Where is Kelly?” I ask.

  “Probably still in bed with Sean.” Meredith says.

  “Is he coming with Kelly?” Hita asks.

  I shrug. “Meredith asked all of Zach’s friends. Zach is probably in LA by now. Sean, Kelly’s latest, is from the East Bay. He said he was going home so I doubt he’ll be here.”

  “I want to know why Rocket’s so sweet.” Meredith counters.

  “Oh, they’re still going at it, maybe his tongue is just that tasty,” Hita says in disgust.

  “You’re just disgusted because you’re not getting any.” Meredith says.

  Sam comes over and puts his hand on Meredith’s shoulder. “What are the three of you gossiping about?”

  Meredith gives him a peck on the cheek, flashes her eyes over at Rocket and Jennifer. “What is it with those two?”

  Sam puts his arms around her. “What, you don’t want to suck face in front of everyone?”

  She pushes him away playfully. “Yeah, even when we were new, I didn’t want to do it in public.” Giving us flirty eyes she says, “Now privately….”

  Suddenly a familiar voice yells, “I’m here, the party can start!” This wakes us out of our reverie. Kelly comes in wielding a large bowl with salad in it. Meredith points to the serving table.

  Kelly drops off her bowl and joins the group. “Where’s Jennifer?”

  Meredith points to Rocket and Jennifer. “Oh, yuck, they’re still all lovey dovey with each other. How long will this stage last?”

  “You’re the one we’re all talking about.” Hita says.

  With a surprised look, Kelly says, “Me?” Then with a big smile, adds, “Cool. What have I done?”

  “Sean.” I say.

  With an even bigger smile, Kelly wags her eyebrows. “Snow, now I know why you like swimmers, hot bodies, great breathing control and lots of endurance.”

  “Kelly, you’re bridging on too much information,” Hita says.

  “I take it you hit it off with Sean. No one has seen or heard from either of you in a couple of days. We were starting to wonder.”

  Kelly laughs. “He’s a good boy, not my typical bad boy; he had to go to work this week, and he’s having Thanksgiving with his family, but he promised me he’ll be back tonight.” She rubs her hands together. “I have great plans for the long weekend.”

  “That was quick to hot-and-heavy,” I say.

  “Hey, I’m leaving in two weeks. We need to make hay while the sun shines.”

  “Are you reading the farmer’s almanac again?” Meredith wonders.

  Just then, Isabelle shows up. “What did I miss?”

  “Everything.” Hita says.

  “Jennifer’s sucking face with Rocket, who she keeps calling ‘sweet’; Meredith doesn’t like to suck face with Sam in public, and Kelly has been having hot monkey sex with this guy Sean.” I brief her in quickly.

  “So, I missed all the sex talk? Now, you’re just going to talk about boring topics. Like the turkey, or Hita’s sex life. That’s not fair.”

  We all crack up, except Hita. I put my arm around her as she pretend pouts.

  “You know the rules Belle; show up on time or miss out. You’re lucky we’re not talking about you.” Kelly says.

  “Well, there’s not much to talk about, I don’t have a boyfriend, I have a crappy job, I’m living at home, and I’m studying for my LSAT.”

  Putting my arm around Isabelle, I tell her in a mock sweet voice, “I love you.”

  She rolls her eyes. “That makes me feel so much better.”

  “We should be talking about Olivia, she’s the only one of our group who isn’t here yet.”

  “Olivia still isn’t telling us about her secret relationship with Meredith’s brother. She’s almost as boring as Isabelle and Hita. We need to get you some men.” Kelly pipes in.

  “I want a relationship, not a hookup.” Hita whines.

  “Hita, you’re always hanging out with all those geeky guys. Can’t you move one of them from friend to lover? I’m sure half of them are virgins and would love nothing more than to follow you around.” Isabelle imparts.

  Hita rolls her eyes. “Yeah, I’ve gone out with a few of those guys. I want one who doesn’t have Asperger’s. I need a little more eye contact in my life.”

  Amanda then breaks into the conversation, “I told Zach about Juliette’s other guy, that he’s texting her and will be in town next week.” She looks at me and smiles, “That sure woke him up.”

  Horrified, I look over at her, “What did he say?”

  “He said, ‘Is she seeing someone else?’ I told him, ‘not yet, some guy from the Midwest has been texting her and he’ll be in town next week. If you’re interested, you better do something fast or you’ll miss your chance.’”

  Isabelle looks at me, “Have you heard from Zach?”

  “Well, yeah, he asked me out on Monday and took me to dinner last night.”

  Amanda smiles, “So it worked,” As she and Meredith butt fists. Now, I wonder if I should sit down with Olivia to find out how to manage two guys at once.

  Kelly saves me from an internal downward spiral by saying, “Oh, I almost forgot, I brought party games.”

  We all look at her.

  “Really, you should hang out with Hita’s guys.” Isabelle says dryly.

  “No, fun party games.” She runs over and picks up a Klutz book that she dropped next to her bowl. “Paper Airplanes, I thought this would be fun. We can have a contest to see who can fly their paper airplane the farthest.”

  “Can we get drunk first?” Sam asks.

  “Who’s getting drunk?” A new but familiar voice says.

  “Olivia!” we all cheer.

  “We were wondering what happened to you.”

  Olivia looks at her phone. “It’s only twelve forty five, I’m not even an hour late, dinner’s not until two.”

  “But, you missed all the gossip.”

  “Well, then fill me in quickly.”

 
; Jennifer butts in. “They’re all making fun of me because I like kissing my new hot man. I think they must be jealous, because he’s hot, and he likes me.”

  “Can I throw up now, or are you going to do more gushing?” Kelly asks.

  Jennifer slaps Kelly’s arm. “Be nice.”

  “Jennifer” Olivia says, “Rocket—he has tattoos and piercing? What gives? He isn’t exactly your usual Mr. clean cut Republican.”

  Jennifer tilts her head and smiles sweetly. “Yeah. Who’d have thought that a guy like him and a woman like me would be so wonderful together? I guess it’s true you can’t judge a book by its cover.” She then squeals, “Anyway, now I think tattoos and piercings are hot.”

  Looking over at Olivia I start laughing, her face is all squished in disgust. “What alien replaced you with the face of my former roommate?” Olivia says in mock horror.

  Jennifer rolls her eyes, “I’m open to alternative guys. You know he’s not a bum, he actually has a real job programming.”

  Olivia snorts, “My old roommate Jennifer considered an alternative guy to be a doctor instead of her preferred lawyers and bankers.”

  “Drinks, I think we need more drinks.” Kelly interrupts. She reaches over and grabs the pitcher of margaritas that Meredith had placed on the serving table and starts filling up glasses.

  Meredith grabs a pitcher of beer and fills up the glasses for the beer drinkers. “It’s my party, I need to mingle.”

  Heading into Meredith’s house, I put my stuffed mushrooms in her oven. Meredith said her oven’s been at three fifty all afternoon, so I just have to pop them in there. Standing around waiting for the mushrooms to cook, I reminisce about last night.

  Kelly enters, breaking my thoughts. “So?”

  Smiling, I respond, “So?”

  Her smile gets bigger. “Do you have anything to tell me?”

  Matching her big smile, I say, “Do YOU have anything to Tell ME?”

  “Well, I’ll tell you, if you tell me.” She says.

  “Well, I’ll tell you, if you tell ME?” I reply.

  Olivia has followed Kelly into the house and is standing by the doorway with her arms crossed. “How long will you two idiots keep this up?”

  “I don’t know. How long will YOU keep it up?” Kelly asks.

  “I don’t know. How long will YOU keep it up?” I respond.

  Olivia shakes her head. “Really?”

  Meredith is now crowding the doorway. “Olivia, Really? You threw out a challenge to Kelly and Juliette, and you think that’s going to stop them?”

  “I’ll stop, if you stop.” Kelly says as she locks eyes with me.

  “I’LL stop, if YOU stop.” I repeat.

  Just then, the timer goes off. “Oh, yikes, I need to get to work.”

  “Beat you.” Kelly says to my back.

  Olivia and Meredith have left the doorway as I plate the mushrooms.

  Kelly leans over the island. In a low voice, she says, “Seriously now—Zach?”

  Looking at her, “Ah, I like him, we went on a date last night, and it was nice, hot. He’s now in LA, and Nate’s headed here. How did I get myself into this?”

  “Sounds like a great problem to have.”

  “Not for me, you know I don’t deal well with conflict and ambiguity.”

  “Girlfriend, let it play out.”

  “And you?” I ask.

  “She gets a big smile. “We’re having fun; he knows I’m leaving in two weeks. I think that lets guys who fear commitment, commit. He can be totally serious and involved with me for two weeks. Long term commitment problem solved.”

  “And you’re good with this?”

  “I, too, have long-term commitment problems. Hey, I know you guys think differently, but I really don’t like the one night hook up. What I really like is the one-month hookup. Long enough to get to know what each other likes.” She raises her eyebrows, so I know she means sex, “Not so long that there’s any emotional ties.”

  “Do you think all guys are commitment-phobes?” I ask.

  “I think most guys in their twenties are commitment-phobes. They’re afraid of choosing too early, they want to keep their options open. They only want a girlfriend so they can have easy, regular sex, and to block other guys from taking out the girl they like.”

  “Do you think all guys are like that?” I ask.

  “Really? What do I know? What I think is a lot of guys are like that.” Kelly replies.

  “Well, what about Sam?” I ask in my attempt to figure out men.

  “Kelly shrugs, “He falls into the last category. He found the girl of his dreams and is making sure no one else can get her.”

  By two the party’s in full swing. The music’s loud and most people are at least a little bit drunk. The turkeys are almost ready, and a number of people are in the house jockeying for oven space. Bringing an appetizer is a good way to avoid that commotion. At some point, the turkeys are deemed done and everyone lines up around the serving table filling their plates. Knowing I have Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house in four hours, I keep it to a minimum. Clean up is easy since everything’s disposable.

  After dinner, Meredith and the other princesses drag me into the house with a few other people joining in. Sam has the DVR of the football game that Cassie and I attended up on the screen. He’s identified when we’re on. He forwards to the first time. It’s the same freeze-frame from one of the blogs—Cassie blowing kisses to Luke, but I am definitely within the frame. The whole frame is less than five seconds in real time, but I’m amazed how I appear—like a non-glamorous midget next to Cassie. But my chest looks huge with my cleavage spouting out of that ultra-tight shirt Cassie bought me. Not an image I feel comfortable broadcasting. My friends all cheer, while I plaster on a fake smile as I feel my chest constrict. Sam forwards to the next clip, where Cassie is standing and pointing at something, while I’m sitting, leaning with my elbows on my knees, a bright smile on my face. All I can see is my cleavage. Shit, the guys at work saw that—double shit, Flint my CTO saw that shot. I’ve spent six years working my tail off to get an education and to be taken seriously. Did this boob clip objectify me to the point of losing credibility? Looking around, I realize one of Sam’s fraternity brothers is checking me out—not my face. In the six years I’ve sort of known this guy, he’s never given me a second look. Sam forwards two more clips, knowing the camera is really focused on Cassie doesn’t help. Finally, he forwards to the clip of Cassie looking sexy and flirty, while I’m looking big boobed but innocent—the Ginger and MaryAnn shot. Maintaining my fake smile, I’m cringing inside. This is not how I want to be viewed. I’ve always been vigilant online, carefully ensuring no wrong images get up there. Now, with one football game, have I become the bimbo sidekick? My friends are all laughing and cheering, while I put up a great front. I’m relieved when Kelly brings out her Klutz Airplane book and we move past the football video and on to something else. How am I going to forget about the video from the football game?

  Amazingly, making and flying paper airplanes is a hit. Everyone has a great time. One of Sam’s friends wins the contest by making an airplane in the shape of an O. By five thirty the sky is dark, the temperature has dropped, and I head over to my parents.

  Chapter 19 – Thanksgiving with the Family

  Arriving at my parents I check my phone. Now this is surprising, Zach’s sent me a text:

  Zach: In LA, enjoy your holiday, don’t let your sister get to you.

  Ok, not flirty, but it’s the first time he’s sent me a text that’s other than logistics. Damn, Meredith and Amanda might be right. He just needed to know there was a little competition to get him to up his game.

  Getting out of my car I focus on bracing myself for my sister. Who knows what mood she’ll be in and what emotional havoc she’ll create? Since offense is the best defense, I take a deep breath and plaster a happy smile on my face as I enter my parents’ house. My parents and grandmother are in the kitchen. K
issing each of them on the cheek, I whisper to Mom, “Is Leigh here?”

  My mom gets a pained look on her face as she says, “She’s lying down in her old room.”

  “That bad?” I whisper back.

  “Let’s just hope she wakes up on a better side of the bed,” Mom whispers.

  This should be an interesting dinner. Changing the conversation, I ask in my normal voice, “Can I help with anything?”

  My dad says, “It’s all taken care of, now we just need our guests to arrive.” He commands the kitchen, since he likes to cook, while my mom keeps the kitchen clean, sets the table, and does all the baking. My grandmother tries to help, but lately just gets in the way. My mom opens a bottle of wine and hands me a glass. Interestingly, it’s the same Lytton Springs Zinfandel Nate and I bought two weeks ago.

  My mom smiles at me, gently moves a loose strand of my hair away from face, then softly says, “Who did you have dinner with last night?”

  “What?” I say in surprise.

  “My friend Kathy called me this morning. She said she saw you at Pacific Catch last night. She didn’t want to interrupt since you seemed very intent with some nice looking young man.” She says with a smile and raised eyebrows.

  Yeesh, I think, as I told Zach that there’s a downside to living so close to my parents. I have no chance for privacy. With a shrug of my shoulders, I cryptically say, “Yeah, a date,” And I leave it at that.

  My mom nods in response, “I’m glad to see that your experience with Stefan didn’t sour you on dating.”

  A surprised look crosses my face, “No, not at all,” I say, as I lift the wine glass to my lips in the hopes of moving this conversation off my dating life for now. I’m just about ready to take a sip when I hear my sister say, “Oh, you’re here,” in an unfriendly tone.

  My mom and I each give the other eye contact. My mom plasters a friendly smile on her face; I can see her silently deploring me to do the same.

  Leigh is tall for our family at about five eight, and she’s painfully thin. She probably weighs less than I do, and I’m four inches shorter. We both have pale skin and dark hair, but Leigh has my dad’s blue eyes while mine are hazel like my mom’s. Growing up, I was the cute one while Leigh was the pretty one with her long neck, oval face, and high cheekbones. Now she would be called elegant. Leigh doesn’t have my curls, her straight shoulder length hair is styled flawlessly, it’s smooth and shiny, and she probably has a Brazilian blowout. She’s wearing a perfectly pressed, expensive looking, white, fitted, button down shirt, black leggings, and Prada ballet slippers.