The Sweetest Summer

Chapter Sixty - Five - Boss Bitch

Six months later

Doja Cat's Boss Bitch blared through a surround sound system and I fought the overwhelming urge to move my shoulders to the beat. Katrina would positively murder my ass if I showed that much pep during our joint Vanity Fair interview. This was serious business. As was the premise of the article. Women in fashion : The body issue issue.

My ongoing crusade had managed to sell millions of dollars worth of clothing to girls of all shapes and sizes, through five different collections..and the fashion world was taking notice. More inclusive campaigns and lines were popping up, and the magazine had offered us the cover, along with a 'tell all interview'.

I had no idea what that even meant, but I was learning quickly. The interviewee was a sharp, Ivy League educated journalist, who was straight to the point.

Katrina seemed to get off on the power play, barely smirking behind her black blocky sunglasses, but I was less at ease. My fingers strummed against my knee as I broke eye contact to glance around my new New York City loft.

My old apartment had reminded me too much of Eli, and Ethan, and everything else I'd fucked up, so I sold it and spent even more money to move three blocks and three stories. It was kind of stupid when I considered it, but the white walls, and plethora of windows made me feel happy, even on a cloudy NYC day like today.

"So, Avery." Fuck me, I was up again. "Tell me. Are you seeing anyone?"

I tried not to roll my eyes, hoping Columbia would've come with something a little stronger than my love life. She sensed my trepidation and hurried to add that 'her editor would kill her if she didn't at least ask'.

I decided to cut her some slack. "No. I'm not seeing anyone at the moment." I'm seeing lots of no ones. I checked my watch. Five-fifteen. I had exactly one hour and forty-five minutes until my date with Tevin, or was it Kyle tonight? Warren the entertainment lawyer had been last week, and Ricky the Wallstreet guy was the week before that. I could barely keep up with the revolving door of men. All of them were handsome and interesting in their own right, but none of them had first names beginning in the letter E. And that was intentional.

I'd been spending more time on the East Coast too, meeting with Katrina regularly, and working out different business ventures...simultaneously neglecting anything West Coast related. Not that anyone had noticed. Collins was too busy wrapping up law school and playing house with Leisha, and Marissa was trying to figure out the whole keeping a newborn child alive thing.

"Come on, there has to be someone." The interviewer prodded a little and I admired her determination. "Are you trying to tell me you've never been in love?"

"I never said that." I smirked and could feel Katrina's curious eyes on me too. I leaned in toward the interviewer. "I've been in love exactly three times in my life."

She scribbled shamelessly, thanking her lucky stars for the scoop.

"I fell in love with the wrong guy, and then the right guy, and finally with myself. And it only worked out once." I gestured to my apartment, and my life, and my fashion empire. "Care to guess which time?"

The interviewer sat back and appraised me with respect in her eyes. She may be a professional, trying to get the best story possible, but she was also a woman. She knew the trials and tribulations of falling in love, with the constant threat of getting your heart broken.