Quinn tossed my bag onto the bed and then turned to face me. “Do you want to be alone, or are you hungry or anything?”
“If I wanted to be alone, I wouldn’t be here,” I responded with mock snarkiness, and she snarled back at me.
“Don’t try to sass me. It doesn’t work on you.” Her upper lip curled as she shook her head, and I held back a grin.
“Where’s Ryson?” I asked, assuming her live-in boyfriend had to be around here somewhere.
Her eyes lit up. “He’s in the office on a conference call. The boy never stops working, I swear. He has so many things he wants to do, Paige. It’s so hot.”
Quinn always swooned as she talked about her boyfriend of the last four years. They met on the set of a movie where they each played the lead, and sparks instantly flew both on and off camera.
Ryson had a rough past, though, and Quinn had resisted dating him at first because of it. But he wore her down eventually after proving he was worthy and insisting that his reformed bad-boy ways were now all in fun. He liked to go out with the guys, get pissed drunk, and get into fights. That hadn’t changed, and as far as I knew, Quinn never cared about those types of things. As long as he wasn’t cheating on her, she not-so-secretly liked that bad-boy side of him.
“He wants to start directing, doesn’t he?” I asked.
She waved her hand to shut me up. “Among other things. He’s written a couple of movie scripts, and he has an idea for a reality show. I don’t know how he has the time to do everything he does, but he’s a maniac.” She laughed. “Anyway, let’s go grab some food and sit out back by the pool.”
I sucked in a deep breath, wishing it would help the ache in my heart. “Sounds good.”
We walked back down the hallway and into the kitchen where Quinn opened the door to her fridge. She grabbed a smorgasbord of food and slapped it all down onto a large tray.
“Okay, I grabbed us some ice cream, and I made brownies and chocolate chip cookie dough.”
“You made brownies and cookies already?” I asked in disbelief.
“You know how I am in the kitchen!” she said, glaring at me.
Quinn couldn’t cook at all, and I knew it quite well. “A disaster?”
She swatted my shoulder. “Fine! You know how I am with baking.”
“A master,” I said with a slight grin.
Quinn solved problems with junk food. If she couldn’t bake it, she’d order it or buy it. She always said there wasn’t an issue that couldn’t be fixed with sweets and treats.
She shrugged. “I figured ice cream, cookie dough, and brownies were good breakup food.”
I nodded instead of responding. My brain stuck on the word breakup and as if on cue, the video started replaying in my mind’s eye.
Quinn placed a hand on my arm, pulling my focus back to her. “I’m sorry, Paige. I’m being insensitive. I don’t mean to be so harsh with my words.”
Shaking my head, I said, “No, you’re not. It’s the truth. I just…it’s not that I can’t believe we’ve broken up. I just can’t believe the way it’s happened.”
“He’s a loser. And a disgusting pig. He doesn’t deserve you, obviously. But mostly, you don’t deserve any of this.”
“I’m too shocked, stunned, and numb to process that he’s a complete waste of oxygen, but I’m sure I’ll get there. Eventually.”
“We’ll get there together. I’ll put all this together, and you get outside and get some vitamin D. Drinks are in the outdoor fridge,” she instructed with a nod of her head, and I realized my staying inside was not up for discussion.
After grabbing a lemon water and a diet soda, I plopped down on one of her oversized lounge chairs next to the pool. The sun immediately started soaking into my pores as I tipped my head back and sucked in a long cleansing breath. Closing my eyes, I silently thanked God for the eighty-degree warmth. It didn’t seem right to feel so broken during such a beautiful day, as if my mood and the weather were a complete contradiction. I decided that if the sun had the ability to heal my broken heart, I wished it would hurry up and do it already.
Quinn maneuvered herself onto the chair next to mine and placed the tray of food between us on a small table. “Eat,” she ordered, turning it in my direction so I could view the selection.
I grabbed some crackers and cheese, and made a show of nibbling at them. My appetite had disappeared somewhere between the time the news broke and Colin’s pathetic attempts at reaching out to me.
“Has he tried to call you?”
I nodded, wishing we could avoid all things Colin, but knowing the reality of that would never happen. Sometimes I wished my life had a fast-forward button and I could skip ahead to the time when this was all in my past. But life didn’t work that way.
“You didn’t answer?”
I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head again.
“You’re my hero,” she practically sang in response. “Remind me to take lessons from you if Ryson ever breaks my heart. I don’t think I could stop myself from answering. That’s some serious willpower.”
I pushed up, folding my legs in a yoga pose as I turned to face her. Searching for the right words, I said nothing as the tears started to fall.
Quinn noticed what was happening and jumped to my side immediately, then wrapped her arms around me. “He doesn’t deserve your tears—” she started to say, but stopped. “But I know you’re hurting. And I’m so sorry for that.”
I sniffed. “Me too. I feel so stupid.”
“He should feel stupid,” she snapped.
I leaned my head against her shoulder. “He made me look stupid, Quinn. It’s one thing when your boyfriend is cheating on you and all your friends know. I mean, that’s embarrassing enough, but he made a fool of me in front of the whole damn world. It’s mortifying on top of everything else I’m feeling.”
“No.” She leaned away from me and grabbed my shoulders to square them. “He made a fool of himself. He made himself look like a complete douche bag asshole. He didn’t make you look like anything.”
My pride longed to believe her. But it wouldn’t. Or couldn’t. I knew in my heart that no matter what Colin had done, or how badly it looked, he had included me in his actions. No one would ever think about his indiscretion without attaching my name to it. I didn’t want to be associated with this, and I hated the way it made my stomach ache.
“He made me look like a fool, Quinn. People will look at me with pity in their eyes. With sadness. It’s embarrassing. I’m mortified that I look like a stupid, weak, and pathetic girl who didn’t know her pop-star boyfriend was cheating on her with silicone-injected strippers. I’m like a walking cliché.”
“No, you’re not.” Quinn’s voice was firm. “I know you don’t believe this because right now you’re hurting, but you’re not a damn cliché, Paige. If anyone in this scenario is a cliché, it’s him. Oh, you’re a singer and you cheated on your perfect girlfriend with strippers?” She snorted. “How shocking. He’s too stupid to even get creative about it.”
“If he’s so stupid, what does that make me?”
“Damn it, Paige! That’s what I’m trying to get through that skull of yours. He is not you. His actions do not define you. They define him. HIM!” she shouted at me, her frustration rolling from her in waves. “They make statements about his character, not yours. How you handle yourself and how you react to all of this shit will speak volumes about you.”
The glass door behind us slid open and Ryson called out across the yard as he walked toward us. “My two favorite ladies.”
“I’m sorry,” Quinn whispered. “I didn’t mean to yell at you. I know you’re hurting right now, but I just really hate him and I want to kick him in the balls for being such an asshole.”