Page 355 of Call Me Baby 2: Side B

Celie unleashes a string of curses.

I squeeze my eyes shut, the image punishing me all over again: Andrew behind the bar while I drown the ballroom in my arousal.

“I’m a fuckup.”

“Allie…”

“I’m a horrible, horrible person.”

“No,” Celie says gentle.

“You’re human.”

“C’mon, let’s be real. I was two seconds from octopussying the crooner’s face, Celie,” I yell a level above a whisper. “Soaked so hard, I thought I pissed myself. How the fuck do I come back from that?”

“What’re you gonna do?” she asks.

My face falls slack.

“What am I gonna⁠—?

“What do you mean ‘what am I gonna do?’ I called you, friend. That’s your job to give me advice without me askin’ for it. You know how this works. The fuck else you think I called you for, to vent?”

“Ah. So lemme get this straight.

“You hate unsolicited advice

“unless I don’t give it?”

My eyes roll. “Ding, ding, ding.”

“You’re unreal.

“Aight, hooligan.

“Gimme a second to think…”

I sigh.

And the longer the silence stretches,

the deeper the nerves dig.

Then I can practically hear her smile before she says, “Bitch… I got it.”

She pauses.

“But you ain’t gonna like it.”

Lirrah—twenty, blonde, wrapped head-to-toe in black lace—lingers close to Teddy as six of us circle in conversation. She’s Raymond’s latest obsession and the ‘future of music’… if the future means whisper-singing from the throat while staring into the camera as if high off NyQuil.

She looks up at Teddy through four sets of lashes. “So what’s the secret to the best love songs?”

Ace groans loud,

making the whole group laugh.

My gaze falls to the floor.