Anna K Read online

  “So they made up?” Kimmie asked.

  “Seems that way,” Anna replied.

  “Because of you.” Kimmie had intended her words to be a compliment, but upon hearing them, she worried her tone sounded more like an accusation.

  “Not really,” Anna demurred. “She loves him, like, really loves him. She told me so last night. And I told Lolly only she had the power to decide Steven’s fate.”

  “How so?” Kimmie asked, surprised at being taken into this older girl’s confidence in such an intimate way. “I mean, you think she should stay with him? I know he’s your brother but…” She trailed off, remembering all that her sister had texted her. She shuddered with revulsion.

  “I think Steven’s behavior was repulsive and reprehensible. I don’t want to be so cavalier as to say ‘boys will be boys,’ but I told your sister the only way they could stay together is if she could truly forgive him. Otherwise it would never work.”

  “I’m not sure I could do it,” Kimmie said. “In fact, I know I couldn’t. It seems impossible to forgive my boyfriend for cheating on me like that. Not that I’ve ever had one.”

  “So you’ve never had a boyfriend?” Anna inquired very gently.

  “Does that matter?” Kimmie’s voice rose defensively.

  “Of course not. I was just curious because I’ve had a boyfriend for so long that it’s hard to remember what my opinions were when I didn’t. Though I’m pretty sure I would have said the same thing as you.”

  “So having a boyfriend gives you different opinions?” Kimmie asked, now intrigued.

  “Not exactly. I know it sounds like I’m making excuses for their thoughtless stupidity, but I’m not. I’m just saying boys and girls couldn’t be more different in their wants and behaviors. And when you throw in raging hormones and mix it up with emotions, it’s a wonder we don’t all go mad.” As Anna heard her own words out loud, she wondered if she was expressing her thoughts for Kimmie’s benefit or for her own. From the first moment she had opened her eyes that morning, Anna had been thinking about Vronsky. This wouldn’t have concerned her, if it weren’t for the fact that he had been the last thing she had thought about before falling asleep as well.

  “So the takeaway is that boys are stupid?” Kimmie asked, only half joking.

  “Yes,” Anna said, laughing. “My work here is done!”

  Kimmie looked up to see Marta carrying a silver tray. She placed a teacup and saucer filled with steaming hot chocolate in front of Kimmie, along with a heart-shaped crystal candy dish with several large marshmallows. She placed half a pink grapefruit in front of Anna along with a grapefruit spoon, the kind Kimmie had first seen at the Mandarin Oriental hotel when she traveled with her mother to London. She remembered being so fascinated with the beautiful tiny jagged-edged spoon she slipped it into her purse at the end of the meal.

  “If you were in Lolly’s situation, would you forgive him?” Kimmie asked. “You know, if he wasn’t your brother and all.”

  “You mean, if my boyfriend cheated on me could I forgive him?” Anna asked. She had wondered the same thing herself last night when she was counseling Lolly.

  “I’m sorry, was that rude? I didn’t mean to make you feel weird.”

  “It wasn’t rude at all,” Anna said, thoughtfully. “I have to be honest and say I don’t know. Luckily, I’ve never been in that situation. I suppose it depends.”

  “But is there ever a situation when cheating is okay?” Kimmie asked.

  “Probably not. But I’m hardly an expert on the matter. I’ve only ever had one boyfriend myself. But relationships are complicated, Steven is my brother, and I’ll support whatever Lolly decides to do.”

  “Me, too,” Kimmie said. She desperately wished for Anna to like her and had no problem changing her tune. “I know my sister loves Steven. She says it all the time. Maybe—” She paused. “—maybe this will make their relationship better? Stronger, I mean?” All this talk of love brought Dustin to Kimmie’s mind, but she dismissed the thought of him quickly, assuming he’d popped into her head because of the hot chocolate. Her thoughts then jumped to Vronsky. Since meeting him at New Year’s, she had seen him at least once a week, first for tea at the Plaza, then a walk through the park, and twice more in the evening for coffee.

  Anna noticed Kimmie’s smile and asked her who was on her mind.

  “How did you know it was a who I was thinking about?” Kimmie asked, blushing with embarrassment, but happy for the opening to discuss what she really wanted to talk about. She assumed Anna knew Vronsky and was eager to get her opinion. Kimmie knew Anna was the girlfriend of the Greenwich OG, which basically made her royalty, like America’s own version of William and Kate. Perhaps Vronsky and I could be Harry and Meghan.

  “Just a feeling,” Anna said, happy to have Kimmie here to gossip with. Anna was still wrestling with thoughts of Vronsky and she wasn’t happy about it. She wasn’t single like Kimmie, so she knew it was trouble to start daydreaming of boys that weren’t her boyfriend.

  Kimmie sipped her hot chocolate. “I met him at your brother’s New Year’s Eve party, and I’ve only seen him a few times since then.”

  “Oh, is this Dustin? Steven’s old friend?” Anna asked innocently. “Your sister mentioned something about him last night. I hear MIT practically begged him to go there.”

  Kimmie frowned at the mention of Dustin’s name and shook her head. “Not him. I mean, Dustin’s sweet and may have a crush on me. But I like someone else, though I’m not sure he likes me back.”

  Anna found Kimmie’s sudden shyness quite darling. “Of course he likes you back! Any guy would. Tell me! Who’s this mystery man?”

  “His name is Alex. Alex Vronsky, though you may have heard of him by his silly nickname Count Vronsky.”

  Anna’s eyes went wide, but she quickly checked herself. “How odd, I met him for the first time last night. I rode the train in with his mother and he was there to pick her up at Grand Central.”

  Kimmie was thrilled. Vronsky didn’t come visit her at the rink last night because he was with his mother, not because he was losing interest like she feared. She was so happy to hear the news she didn’t notice that Anna’s mood had changed slightly. “What was his mother like? Alex hasn’t told me much, but I can tell they’re close.” Kimmie was thrilled to finally have a girl she could talk to about Vronsky. Lolly was always so judgy when it came to boys and kept warning her Vronsky was famous for being a huge flirt and a total playboy.

  “She’s incredible, so beautiful and elegant. She mainly spoke of her two sons. Alexia is clearly her favorite.” Anna hoped Kimmie didn’t catch her slip of the tongue calling Alexia by his mother’s pet name, and continued, “She seems very involved in his life.”

  Kimmie was interested in Vronsky’s mom of course, but she most wanted to hear Anna’s opinion of Alex himself. “Don’t you find him crazy hot? He’s, like, movie star good-looking.”

  “He is handsome.” Anna nodded, knowing it’d be strange for her to deny such an obvious truth. “You two would make such a good-looking couple.” She knew Kimmie would love to hear about Vronsky’s heroic actions with the homeless man’s dog, but she purposefully withheld it. Vronsky rushing off to find the second dog was somehow tied to her, though she hadn’t spent any time yet contemplating why.

  Kimmie’s phone dinged and she couldn’t help glancing at it. It was a notification reminding her she needed to pick up her new dress from Bergdorf’s that was being tailored.

  “Anna, are you still going to be in the city tomorrow night? It’s Jaylen S.’s sweet sixteen party. Her father rented out the entire 1 OAK club. You should come! I’d be happy to have someone else there I like.”

  Anna frowned slightly. “I’m not big on the club scene, but maybe. Steven mentioned it last night.”

  “I see you in lavender. Do you own a lavender dress?” Kimmie asked.

  Anna laughed in response. “Who doesn’t? But I don’t have it here. I’m sure I can
scrounge up something to wear. If I go.”

  Kimmie stood up quickly. “Well, obvi Lolly doesn’t need a shoulder to cry on anymore, so I’m gonna go. Hey, I have to go pick up my dress at Bergdorf’s. I don’t suppose you’d have any interest in coming with me?”

  Normally Anna would have jumped at the chance to go to her favorite store, but she knew this would only lead to more boy talk, which she was no longer in the mood for.

  “Ooooh, I’d love to, but I can’t.”

  It was then that Kimmie’s sister walked into the dining room, humming. She was wearing an oversized men’s terry cloth robe and her hair was wet from showering.

  “Kimmie, what are you doing here?” Lolly asked.

  “I stopped by to check on you, but I hear you’re doing more than fine,” Kimmie answered, quickly adding, “I mean, after your talk with Anna last night.”

  “That’s exactly right,” Anna said casually.

  Lolly was on another planet, barely listening to either of them. All she knew was that she was starving and had planned to ransack the fridge for something to eat with Steven in bed.

  “Anna, is there any pie left?” Lolly asked in a dreamy voice. “Steven wants some.”

  Anna nodded with a smile. This confirmed her suspicions. Lolly must have decided to forgive her brother for his transgressions, and in the process, also decided to give up her V-card. Anna thought it was probably a good thing, because now the date of their “screw-a-versary” was legit.

  “Lolly, are you stoned?” Kimmie asked her sister. “You look totally high.”

  Lolly smiled. “In a way … In a way…”

  XVII

  Jaylen S. was the youngest daughter of retired NBA basketball legend Maceo S., who was now a popular sports commentator for ESPN. Rumor had it her sweet sixteen was going to be one of the biggest bashes of the year, even though it was only February. Her father had rented out 1 OAK in the Meatpacking District. The adults would be in the VIP area while every socialite teen who was anybody danced the night away. Jaylen S.’s godfather had been one of her father’s teammates and was now a part owner of the Miami Heat. He was apparently showing up with his own kids and a private plane full of their hard-partying friends from South Beach.

  The thing about new money versus old money? New money was way more fun. Old money came with lots of baggage—outdated and uptight societal rules of behavior that frowned on being showy with your inherited cash. New money had no such restrictions. If anything, it was expected for the nouveau riche to throw it and show it as much as possible.

  The theme of Jaylen’s party was ’90s Hip-Hop. And the invitation was the coolest one Kimmie had ever received … once it was explained to her. She had been delivered a small box containing a little black plastic square object with a tiny screen and two AAA batteries. When she popped the batteries in, the screen lit up green but remained blank. Thinking it was broken, she showed it to Devon M., the law student who stayed with her and Lolly whenever their mom was out late or traveled.

  “Where did you get this?” Devon asked, turning the object over in her hands.

  “It’s supposed to be a party invite, I think,” Kimmie said. “What is it?”

  Devon explained that it was a pager, a popular form of communication in the ’90s before everyone had cell phones. “Haven’t you ever heard of a beeper?”

  Kimmie shook her head. “What does it do?”

  “People used to use it to send phone numbers. You would call the number back when you got to a pay phone. Doctors used them mostly, so they could be reached outside of the hospital. Drug dealers used them, too, but eventually the cool kids adopted the look as well. Some beepers could receive text messages.”

  On cue, the pager vibrated and emitted a series of high-pitched beeps, startling them both. Just as Devon had explained, a message appeared. Jaylen’s illin’ 90s hip-hop par-tay deets arrivin’ soon … ish!

  Devon couldn’t shut up about the invite for the next ten minutes. She even took a picture to show her boyfriend. She calculated the cost of such an elaborate invite, and said it had to be at least five Gs if not more. Kimmie had been surprised by Devon’s interest. Devon rarely got personal with her, mostly because her mother had specifically ordered Devon not to become friends with her daughter. “Kimmie needs a French tutor and positive role model for the nights when I’m out late, not a BFF, got it?”

  Kimmie couldn’t help but brag a little, telling Devon about Jaylen’s famous father and his many celebrity friends. Though if she was being honest, she had no idea exactly what an old-school ’90s hip-hop party would be like. She’d never listened to much rap; Kimmie’s musical tastes were more along the lines of Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Lana Del Rey. Later that night, Lolly tried to explain the significance of ’90s hip-hop to her, which made Kimmie roll her eyes. She knew her sister worshipped at the altar of Taylor Swift, and she only knew about “old-school rap” because Steven loved it. Kimmie once caught Lolly making a “hip-hop terminology” cheatsheet and she told her she’d get better grades if she applied even half as much effort to her homework. Lolly deadpanned: “Bih please, the right bf is way more important than school.”

  Lolly later told her that a lot of girls were planning on dressing like Fly Girls, which was yet another ’90s term Kimmie needed explained to her. Lolly was of course horrified at the idea of girls showing up to a party wearing jeans and high tops and informed Kimmie that she was going to wear a dress, and she should do the same.

  “Make sure it’s short. This may be the only chance to dress like a total ho-bag until Halloween.”

  Kimmie thought of this moment now as she stared at herself in the mirror at Bergdorf’s. She wondered if Vronsky would approve of her new Zimmermann dress. She stared at her reflection, annoyed she hadn’t made it another inch shorter when she had the chance three days ago. The saleslady recognized Kimmie’s look of doubt and quickly suggested that perhaps what the dress needed were some sexy new heels to go with it. Relief flooded through Kimmie. That was exactly what she needed.

  In the second-floor shoe salon, Kimmie tried on eighteen different pairs of heels and finally landed on a pair of Azzedine Alaïa signature cut-out white leather booties with a four-inch heel. They cost over twelve hundred dollars and she charged them to her mother’s store credit card knowing that she’d have a few weeks before her mother spotted them on her statement. Her rationale was simple: her mother would surely be so pleased about her daughter landing Vronsky as her new boyfriend, all she’d have to do was explain how these shoes helped her get him. She’d still get in trouble, but Lolly had already paved the way for such behavior as she had been obsessed with fashion since middle school, throwing tantrums if she didn’t have the latest designers to wear. Kimmie had never cared much about everyday clothes, though her competition dresses were always Vera Wang.

  Since Kimmie had started at Spence, she cared more and more about what she wore to school. Mainly because Lolly pressured her. Apparently if Kimmie dressed poorly it reflected on her. For the last six weeks Kimmie had really elevated her fashion game. Even though she was loath to admit it, she knew it was because of her newfound interest in boys, or rather, the attention she now garnered from boys since appearing on the Hot List. Kimmie denied that she cared about the dumb list, partly because Lolly had never made it on, and it felt tacky to rub it in her sister’s less critically-acclaimed face, and partly because she only really cared about one particular boy’s attention.

  Kimmie wanted to believe she was dressing up for Jaylen’s party for herself, but she knew that was a lie. Perhaps if every detail was perfect, Vronsky would be so taken with her they’d spend the whole night dancing together and he’d ask her to be his girlfriend. Clearly things were getting serious between them, and the other night when she told him she liked him, he had looked into her eyes and said he really liked her, too.

  Now that she was already going to get busted by her mom for the new shoes, Kimmie figured she might as well go com
pletely rogue, deciding that she needed a little bit of flash to show her fun side. She walked out of the Chanel department with a new cross-body evening bag, a limited edition in neon-pink patent leather. If tomorrow night was to be her night, she wanted to look her best.

  XVIII

  Anna spent her snow day afternoon hanging out with Steven and Lolly. After Kimmie left for Bergdorf’s, Lolly asked Anna if she could use her bathroom to blow out her hair and Anna agreed. While Lolly was busy, Anna used the time to check on her brother. He was in his bedroom with an iPad on his chest, playing Fortnite. Anna flopped onto the bed next to him, careful to pull up his duvet first, and asked him whether she should bring her dogs in or not.

  “Are you staying through the weekend?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the screen.

  “Maybe. Tell me more about the party tomorrow night. Can you get me on the guest list?” she asked in a teasing way, knowing full well her brother had a lot of power because of his own reputation in the party circuit.

  Steven paused his game and turned toward his sister. “Anna, you could ask me for anything right now and I’d do it for you. Seriously, you saved my ass. I don’t know what the hell you said to Lolly but she really came around. And around and around.” He didn’t wink at her, but he might as well have.

  “Don’t gloat, Steven. It’s unbecoming,” she answered with pretend sternness. She felt delighted over her good deed, proud of the part she’d played in her brother’s happiness. And now that her brother and Lolly were doing it, perhaps they could avoid the same problem happening in the future. All the magazines she read stated men usually cheated for sexual satisfaction, while women tended to cheat for emotional connection. She kept this in mind for her own relationship, which of course explained why Alexander insisted they never go more than three weeks without seeing each other.