Chapter 8: Laney
I take a deep breath outside of Anna’s office, holding her coffee in both hands so I don’t spill it. She likes it filled all the way up to the top, so it’s easier said than done.
When I enter her office, she’s sitting at her desk, shaking her head. “Oh my God, these are the worst fingernail implants I’ve ever seen.”
Anna looks over at me, and then swivels her computer monitor around so I can see.
“I mean, look at this.”
There’s a blurry, zoomed-in close-up of somebody’s hand on the screen.
“Wow, uh…weird.”
“Seriously. Who does she think she’s fooling?”
Anna Wolfe may strike fear into the hearts of everyone in Hollywood, but whenever I talk to her, I just feel like I’m talking to a mean, gossipy high school girl. As far as I can tell, that’s what she was, and instead of growing out of it, she turned it into a career. She’s good at it, too: she’s like a bloodhound when it comes to gossip, and her ability to sniff out celebrities’ embarrassing secrets is why she’s the boss around here.
“Nina keeps telling me I should get them…but I keep telling her that I don’t want to end up like that.”
“Good call. Hers are real, though, right?”
I nod, and Anna shakes her head.
“So how was your weekend?”
What? A question about my personal life? Usually Anna just thanks me for the coffee and goes back to what she’s doing.
It’s too bad I can’t tell her anything about my weekend.
“Uh…pretty good. Kind of boring.”
Anna’s cold, brown eyes lock onto mine and her lips curl into a smirk. “Kind of boring, huh? I don’t think so. I know about you and Travis.”
My stomach drops through the floor. I keep my composure, but I have no idea how. My hands start to shake, and I can feel the coffee slosh back and forth, rising dangerously close to the edge of the cup.
“Oh, yeah, I should have mentioned that. I did hang out with Travis.”
“You didn’t just hang out with him.” A drop of coffee escapes the mug, running down my side of the cup. I wipe it off with my thumb, as Anna swivels her monitor back towards me, revealing a picture of Travis and I walking into the casino.
“You were gambling with him.”
Yeah. Just gambling. Let’s go with that.
“Oh, uh…yeah. A little bit. Is that the sort of thing you want to know about, though? It seemed like it was too boring to tell you about.”
“Well, did he spend a lot of money? Did he hook up with anybody? Even boring news about Travis blows up our front page.”
“I mean, we were dragged to this cocktail party we didn’t want to go to, so we got drunk and played blackjack.”
Anna gives me a look that says “not helpful.” She looks down at her coffee, and I hand it off to her. Then, her eyes are glued to her computer screen, and she looks like she’s waiting for me to leave.
But I don’t leave. This might be the only alone time I have with Anna all week, and if I wanted to make a change so bad that I got married to Travis for it, I need to stand up for myself.
“You know, now that I think about it, something interesting did happen this weekend?”
“Oh, yeah?” Anna doesn’t take her eyes off the computer screen.
“Yeah. Travis asked if I wanted to come with him to Royal Shores this weekend.”
Coffee shoots across Anna’s desk as she turns to face me. “He did?”
“Yeah, he’s going to Hawaii to do some…promotional stuff…and that’s where he’s staying. I could go and keep an eye out for celebrity gossip.”
I kind of thought Anna would be happy at this news, but instead, she just looks really suspicious. “What kind of promotional stuff?”
“Well…I think he’s doing an event there. I don’t remember the name, though.”
Anna looks at me for a couple seconds, then turns to her computer, fingers dancing across the keys.
“Is he doing the Coconut Classic?” she asks.
Yeah, let’s go with that. “Yeah, that’s what it is, I remember now. The Coconut Classic.”
“Why would he do this? I’ve never heard of this in my life. But you’re telling me you can go with him and get into Royal Shores without a background check?”
“Uh…yeah. That’s what Travis said.”
“Then why the hell didn’t you tell me the second you heard?”
She’s got a point. I told her I had a boring weekend, and we both know that getting into Royal Shores is anything but boring. I’m about to play dumb and claim I didn’t know how huge that was, but I get a better idea instead.
“I was shopping it to other magazines as an exclusive, published story. The inside view from Royal Shores.”
Anna looks furious, so I cut her off before she can say anything. “But I decided not to sell directly to them because none of them would guarantee publication. They were scared of getting sued. But since you’re not…why don’t we make a deal? I give you dirt for the website, and in return, you guarantee my article gets published somewhere.”
Anna still looks a little angry, but she’s cooling off fast. I’m pretty sure this is how she does business.
“Alright,” she says, “But I’m only going to do that if the dirt is good. Story of the year good. And I think I know just the thing.”
After a few seconds of searching, Anna turns her monitor around again. “Guess who’s in Hawaii?”
On the screen, there’s a picture of two skinny legs sitting on a towel, facing a beautiful beach. I don’t recognize the legs, so I squint at the username next to them.
“Jason Hayward?”
“Bingo,” Anna says, “And look at the logo on the corner of the towel. He’s staying at Royal Shores.”
Yeah, I’d say there’s story of the year potential there. Jason Hayward is a boy band superstar with a swooshy haircut and a million fans that obsess over every little thing he does. Tori’s pretty much in love with him, but he’s not really my type…
“We both know why people like Jason go to Royal Shores…to hide from the paparazzi while they do something no one wants them to see. If you can find out what that is, or get me another story that’s at least this good, I’ll get your article published. Otherwise…it’s not happening.”
“Deal. And don’t worry, I’ll find something good. It’s Royal Shores.”
“I know. That’s the only reason I’m even offering.” Anna motions to her coffee-covered desk. “By the way, on your way out, could you send another intern to clean this up?”