Being Audrey Hepburn by Mitchell Kriegman

Author:Mitchell Kriegman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

32

Tabitha was silent. There was definitely a bad vibe in the limo, which made my mind race and my stomach ache. I was the most weak-willed poseur ever. I started to panic. Was Tabitha experiencing one of her mood swings?

“You know, darling,” I said, summoning my inner Audrey, “if you need to go somewhere and it’s not convenient, we could shop later.”

“I’d rather not,” she said. Her tone of voice reminded me of the time in the bathroom when she demanded to know who I was, severe and regal despite her dress being up around her ears. It occurred to me that she was most arrogant when she had something to hide.

“I have to go to the studio first.”

“The recording studio?” I asked.

“Yes, I’ve been avoiding it,” she answered. “But I need to tell you something.” I folded my hands in my lap and tried to remain composed and calm. “I need someone there with me, and I wasn’t sure you’d come along if I told you first.”

I tried to think of some way to respond. There was a long pause before she spoke again.

“You might as well know the night you showed up, I had taken a shitload of pills. I was trying to kill myself,” she continued. “That would have been a great TMZ story, right?” She seemed as if she might fall apart. The image of her beaded purse on the bathroom floor flashed through my mind. I remembered fishing for lip gloss and finding all those bottles of pills.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know…”

“It should have worked. I did some blow, too, but it made me throw up.”

I became keenly aware of Mocha in the front seat. The glass partition was closed, but couldn’t he be listening? How much did he know?

“Then you showed up out of nowhere,” she said. “I had the pills. I would have taken more, but you were there and you helped me. No one else would have.”

I felt bad for her, and at the same time I felt like a total liar.

“I know who you really are,” she said, and I froze, suspended, unable to breathe, waiting for what might come next. “You’re an angel. Someone somewhere wanted me to survive, and I know with you here now, I will.”

I let out an audible sigh, exhaling sharply despite my desire to be unobtrusive.

“I don’t understand,” I said, trying to take the focus off me. “Why did you feel you needed to do such a thing to yourself? You have everything,” I added quietly, “to live for.” Tabitha rolled her eyes, annoyed, like it was the dumbest thing to say.

“Because I hate every single thing about my life,” she said, her eyes tearing up, trying to hold it back. She turned and stared out the window again. “You probably can’t understand because you don’t live your life pretending to be someone you’re not.”

My brain felt like a piece of paper that someone had ripped in half. If anybody in this car was a phony, we all know who would get the prize.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.