What Is Left Unsaid : An Ashley Purdy Love Story

Making A Splash

ASHLEY'S POV :

     We all dash through the door into the next room , to find a sizable number of people standing around muttering and whispering to each other , with Tiana , Juliet , and a third woman standing next to the indoor koi pond , watching a blond dude with glasses and a scraggly goatee scrambling around in the water . Juliet looks sort of rattled , the other chick seems to be somewhere between annoyed and uneasy , and Tiana is flat - out furious .

     "You absolute BITCH !" , the dude in the pond bellows .

     "Oh , you have no idea !" , Tiana says , giving him a rather unpleasant looking grin ."I've barely gotten started ."

     "What the hell is your problem , Keenan ?" , the unknown woman says through gritted teeth . "You're one of us , or did you forget that ? Just because you don't want to do your job , doesn't mean the rest of us don't"

     "No, I am not one of you , Brenda , I'm a journalist , you're one of the parasites that give journalists a bad rep , and if you EVER make the mistake of comparing us again , you'll spend the next six weeks or so taking your meals through a fucking straw . Do I make myself clear ?", Tiana snarls , backing the chick toward the wall .

     She sort of gulps , but says , " It's not like nobody else is gonna be on this , you can't be dumb enough to believe that , Tiana ." 

     "No shit , Sherlock ! But so far nobody else has been enough of an idiot to sneak into a place where they're not welcome and try to corner one of my guests and badger them about something that's none of your fucking business . Y'know , actually , I'm pretty sure I saw Russ a few minutes ago , so maybe I'll go catch up with him . We can have a nice conversation about the political convention you and I covered a couple of years ago . That should be rather amusing ."

     This Brenda chick turns practically green , and turns to the guy who is finally climbing out of the pond . "Let it go , Lance , we're out of here !"

     "Like hell I'm gonna let it go ! The bitch ruined my camera , and my fucking jacket !" , he yells .

     "One more time you call my date names , assface , I'll wreck more than your stupid goddam camera !" , I inform him , stepping forward and forcing him back toward the pond .

     He looks at me , then at the rest of the guys standing here , and finally realizes he's ridiculously outnumbered . "But what about my camera ?" , he whines .

     "I'll make sure you get reimbursed , now let's go !", Brenda hisses at him .

     As she starts to walk past , Tiana reaches out and shoves her against the wall , then gets right up into her face , and says , " Pass it on to the rest of the maggots you two hangout with , Zimmerman . I will be at the awards program tomorrow , and if any of your particular breed of filth comes within an arms length of me , they'll leave on a gurney . And you know I can do it , so don't fucking test me ."

     And from behind me , I hear Andy's voice saying , "You know , I've never hit a woman in my life , but if I ever see you near my wife again , you'll very likely become the first ."

     Security finally shows up and escorts them out , and I notice a couple of other people deciding to just slip out the side door , so I assume they'd had the same idea .

     "What was that about a political convention , anyway ?" , I ask her when the commotion dies down . "That seemed to shut her down pretty quick ."

     "Well , Russ is her husband , and she really didn't want him knowing about her little one - nighter with one of the candidates while we were there . Especially since there are pictures ." , she replies , grinning widely .