Wouldn't You Like to Know?

Nineteen

Nineteen

Eloise Bridgerton was anything but subtle. She hadn't been friends with Penelope in a long time, but she had figured out Penelope's secret a long time ago, and although she could have. Figuring out who Lulu Rochester was had been something people had been trying to do since the books came out. There were whole posts talking about who the author actually was. When Eloise saw the interview, the first thing she did was leave her office early, and storm to the hotel room she knew her brother was staying in.

She knocked on the door, fiercely.

"One moment!" Colin called.

"COLIN BRIDGERTON! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!" she shouted, aware of how much of a mother she sounded like. If she weren't so annoyed with him, she would have been a little embarrassed.

There was the sound of something that sounded like a glass dropping. "Fuck," she muttered, worried that she knew exactly what was happening going on behind that door.

The door opened, and her brother stood there. He was glassy-eyed and had a drink in his hand. "El!" he shouted. "You're here! Congratulate me."

Eloise clenched her jaw. "Are you drunk, Colin?"

This was something that had been a problem since they were teenagers. When he had first become famous, he had gotten addicted to partying. That was partly how his whole Marina Thompson relationship had happened. They'd been going out to clubs together, drinking, smoking, and doing who knows what else.

Colin giggled. "Of course, I'm drunk. I'm celebrating! I just announced my own production company. I'm in love with my best friend! I've got fucking everything!" He picked Eloise up and hugged her tightly. "C'mon! Have a drink."

"Put me down, you absolute, idiotic ass!"

Colin stared at her and he reluctantly put her down. He hiccupped, and she could smell vodka on his breath. Eloise sighed and pushed him back inside his hotel, closing the door behind her and locking it.

"Do you have any idea what you did this morning?" Eloise demanded.

Colin hiccupped again. "I went on a talk show! I announced my new movie! I let the world know I was with Penelope! Exactly like she wanted."

Eloise sighed. She went to the bathroom and grabbed one of those plastic cups for ice chips and got some water. She walked over to where her brother had flopped down on his bed and she tossed the water onto his face.

"Shit!" Colin hissed, like a vampire that had been exposed to sunlight. "El, what the hell was that for?"

"For being an idiot," Eloise said, "you told the world that Penelope was Lulu Rochester!"

She took out her phone and pulled out the clip from Good Morning America. Colin watched, and seemed to sober. He grabbed the phone and watched it again.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" he shouted.

"Were you drunk when you did this?" Eloise said.

He sighed. "I had one drink to help with the nerves!"

"Drinking isn't how you help your nerves, Col!" Eloise hissed. "Penelope isn't my favorite person, but she doesn't deserve this. You know how her mother is. Do you know how she'll react to finding out what her daughter has been doing for a living?"

"Oh, fuck Portia!" Colin hissed. "She doesn't understand her daughter and she never has. Penelope's-----"

"No! No! You fucked this up, Colin. You need to make it right."

"I'm trying!" he shouted. "All I was trying to do was to show her that I'm proud of her. She told me that I've never once showed that, and I did that today! I let the world know how amazing she is."

"No!" snarled Eloise. "You acted like a complete dumbass on live television and exposed someone's secret identity to the whole world."

"Pen deserves recognition!" Colin insisted.

"That wasn't what she was talking about, Col. That's never been it. Look, you weren't friends with Penelope the way I was, so you didn't see the shit she went through. Do you know how many people thought you were friends with her because you saw her as some kind of charity case? Cressida Cowper used to joke about her being your little fat fangirl. She never thought she was good enough for you, and you might have liked her, but you were just as bad as the rest of them, Colin. You had your shot at prom to tell the whole school you liked her and tell them to fuck off and you didn't!"

"You hated her!" Colin shouted. "I went with her because I wanted to, but Mom knew she wouldn't be asked because everyone else was calling her a bitch and a criminal after her father stole that money. You threw her to the wolves just as much as me!"

"It was different!" Eloise insisted. "You can't understand."

"How was it different?"

"Because Pen wasn't like a sister to you! She was to me. In fact, you're worse, because you claim that you are in love with her! Fix this. Penelope deserves better."

"What about you and Pen?" he challenged. "When was the last time that you talked to her?"

Eloise sighed. "Our history is different."

"Your history is the same. Once she wasn't useful to you, you dropped her."

She scowled. "I hate having siblings that know you well. It's a pain in the ass."

"Hey," said Colin, "you're a writer. I've got an idea about how we can fix this."

Eloise raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"

"You have a notebook?" he asked.

"I always have a notebook."

"Right, write this down----"