Free Flavor of the Month by Goldsmith Olivia

there, shocked into silence until her breathing slowed. “I despise you, you fucking faggot.” Lila turned to the door and opened it for him. “You’re no different than those disgusting old nellies that hang all over my mother. I should have known. I want you out of here. Now.”
    Kevin stepped back, as if slapped. Then his face hardened. “Yeah, you’re right. You should have known. And Theresa told me you did, that it was all taken care of. Freedom and respectability for you, a nice income for me. I guess we’re both fucked. None of us gets what we want now. Not even your mother.” He shook his head and walked through the open door. “It could have all worked out. But— someone fucked up. And it wasn’t me .” He was about to close the door behind him, then stopped, reconsidered, and smiled. “No hard feelings?”
    Lila pushed the door shut on him, then stood in the same spot for what seemed like a long time. She wasn’t shaking, not a tremble. It was just that she couldn’t seem to move, to think. At last, from behind her, from the door now open at the other end of the solarium, she heard Theresa’s voice. “Better take him as he is, pet. He’s the best you’re ever going to do.”
    Lila spun around. “Oh, my God! Why didn’t you tell me? You lied to me. I hate faggots, you know that. You said he didn’t want that. You said…”
    “What I said was, he doesn’t want you .” Theresa paused. “Just the good life. I said that he’d leave you alone. You’d be safe with him. We both would.”
    “Why didn’t you come right out and tell me, then?”
    Theresa, as she so often did, ignored the question. “It was a one-in-a-million deal and you blew it. I did it all for you, Lila.”
    “But it’s my life!”
    “And my money! And my house, and my clothes on your back. You wanted to drop out of Westlake. Okay, I let you. You want to move out? I was letting you. But not without someone around to take care of you. Not to live some wild kind of life and start rumors. So I arranged it. I set it up. I found him, I paid him, and this is the thanks I get? After all I’ve sacrificed to keep you safe. To give you security.”
    “Spare me, Mother. Next you’ll be telling me Candy and Skinny are more grateful than I am.” Lila took a deep breath. She wouldn’t cry. She was too angry, but the anger was cold. It had frozen all her tears. She looked at Theresa, the wreck of a star. “The truth is, you’re jealous of me. You’re jealous, and you have been for a long time.”
    “Jealous! That’s a laugh! I’m Theresa O’Donnell. I’m a star. I’m famous. You’re the one who’s jealous of me! ”
    “I can get famous, Mother. You can’t get young!”
    Quick as a flash, Theresa struck out and slapped Lila, hard, across the face. Lila gasped, reached up to her cheek, took a step toward her mother, towering over her, then stopped. Her voice became low, deep, and frightening. “You will never do that again. I’m certain of that. Because, if you do, I’ll kill you. And you’re not worth it. I’m sick of you. Sick of your constant manipulations. I’m not a puppet. For chrissakes, I’m not even your goddamn daughter .”
    Theresa’s face went ashen. “Don’t you dare say that to me. Or to anyone. Ever! ” Specks of spittle had formed on the corners of Theresa’s mouth.
    Lila turned to go. “I’m leaving.” She turned her back and began to walk back to the house.
    “Don’t you dare leave! Where are you going to go?” the Puppet Mistress screamed behind her. “You can’t be on your own. You don’t have a dime. And who’s going to take you in?” Lila heard her mother’s voice shrieking now. “Don’t you dare leave, Lila. You have no place to go.”
    Sobbing now that her back was turned, Lila kept on walking away.

6
    To understand this story, you’ve got to know Neil Morelli. Everyone knows him now, but no one knew him before that big Emmy award night. Now he’s infamous, but back