Free Bridesmaid Lotto by Rachel Astor

me,” she continued. “What am I supposed to tell my friends at the club?”
    “You belong to a club?” I asked.
    “Don’t change the subject!” she said. “What do you have to say for yourself, for God’s sake?”
    “Well, if you would let me finish, I have been trying to tell you that they’ve twisted the whole story around.”
    “Well did you say those things or not?”
    “Yes, but they totally took it all out of context.”
    “Josephine! How could you?”
    “Mom, you don’t understand. I was trying to make Jennifer feel better. Rebecca was totally trashing her, and I didn’t know that anyone could hear me.”
    The phone beeped.
    “That makes no difference Josephine. You don’t just go around saying…”
    “Mom, I have to go. I have another call,” I said and hit the call waiting. Anything had to be better then listening to my mother go on and on.
    “Hello?”
    “Oh Josie, I am so sorry,” Jennifer said. “This is horrible, just horrible.”
    “Oh, hey Jennifer. Don’t worry; it’s not your fault. Those stupid reporters twisted everything around. I can’t believe that I’m supposedly the bad guy after that whole scene that Rebecca made.”
    “I know,” Jennifer said. “I just feel like phoning that editor and telling him he has it all wrong.”
    “I know, me too. But that’ll probably just make things worse,” I said. “Besides, this is just one paper. Some of the other reporters must have actually used the real story, right?”
    “I guess,” she said. “At least I hope so.”
    “Yeah, me too.”
    I felt bad that Jennifer felt bad. It was no more her fault than it was mine.
    Stupid Rebecca, I thought. It’s totally all her fault and she gets to play the victim card. Unbelievable.

 
     
     
     
    ~ 7 ~
     
    As expected, work took forever. Everyone was giving me the glares and whispering behind my back. As if I couldn’t hear them. In the ladies, I had the pleasure of hearing an entire conversation about me. Something about ‘who does she think she is’ and ‘poor Rebecca Singleton. She really does deserve to be with Jake.’
    Oh God, Jake. I realized for the first time, right there in the ladies room, that Jake was probably going to think the worst too. Not that I had my hopes up for actually dating him or anything. Except that secretly I did. Ever since we shared the laughing fit at the engagement party, I thought that maybe we had found a spark.
    Stupid, I scolded myself. Must consult disaster diary.
    After work it seemed like everyone everywhere had caught up on their entertainment news. I was getting nasty looks from complete strangers and I knew people were purposely talking loud enough about me so that I could hear. I chose to ignore them. I mean, what was I supposed to do? Go start a fight? That was pretty much the last thing I needed. I put on my biggest pair of sunglasses and continued home, hoping to remain undiscovered.
    I fell into my apartment and curled up on the couch in the fetal position. A few minutes later, Calla walked through the door.
    “Hey,” she said, throwing her keys down. “Ooh, I guess I won’t ask how your day was.”
    I tucked my head in closer to my body and let out a little moan.
    “That good hey?” she said. “Well if it’s any consolation, I found out today that everyone in the modeling world knows that Rebecca Singleton is a mega bitch.”
    I peeked one eye out of my cocoon. “Really?”
    Gossip was just one of the perks to having a friend who worked at a fashion magazine.
    “Totally,” she said sitting across from me. “Apparently you were completely right. It’s all about stroking her gigantic ego.”
    “Aw man. I don’t want to be right. I wish I had never said anything at all.”
    “Chin up girl. The worst is over.”
    I slowly sat up and nodded.
    Calla clicked on the TV. Except, of course, ‘Entertainment News’ was just about to start.
    “Today’s top story. Rebecca or Josephine? Victim or Instigator? Sources say