Groaning quietly and rolling over in her bed, Kirby watched Fallon step around the open case of whiskey on the floor next to her closet and disgustedly grab the blanket off of the end of her bed. Tossing it onto the redhead haphazardly and barely bothering to straighten it out, Fallon sat down next to her feet and pulled out her phone, tapping away at the screen. Kirby had never seen her this angry, ever - it was so clear on her face that it cut through all of the bleariness in her eyes and fogginess in her head. Her head pounded and she used all of her physical strength to sit up enough to prop herself up on her elbow.
Fallon glanced at her for a moment, then went back to her phone before speaking.
"You're un-fucking-believable, you know that?"
Kirby frowned, squinting a little and then wiping aggressively at her eye, leaving a streak of black across the heel of her hand. Skipping past Fallon's obvious anger, she asked a question of her own.
"How'd you get into my apartment?"
12 HOURS EARLIER
Kirby woke up with her alarm, and felt completely well-rested for the first time in a while. Her ride home with Jeff had turned into a few errands, which in turn had turned into the two of them stopping at his house and dropping off dry-cleaning, which had then finally turned into her heading home and tidying her own apartment. Inspired by the cleanliness in the last two, much fancier, homes that she'd been in, she felt that despite its humble size, she would make her small apartment as sleek as it could be, too. She'd even gone to bed early, after a bubble bath and a cup of tea, sleeping on her freshly cleaned sheets like a baby.
Despite the physical bliss that she slowly came to in, her brain immediately sent her into panic mode, and she sat upright, grabbing her phone from her nightstand. Her manager had texted her an excited reminder about the trailer that would be released that day, though her text was much less pressure-filled than the ones she'd missed from Fallon.
[6:10AM] Fallon PR: Trailer day!
[6:12AM] Fallon PR: Stay off of Twitter. Don't do that thing where you overthink or stress yourself out, I don't have time to babysit today.
She could hear Fallon's voice as she read the messages, but still couldn't take the advice to heart. She was desperate to know how the release was going to go. She knew coffee wouldn't help her nerves, and hoped that she'd be alright for the day without any caffeine, anyway. Her sleep had been good, even if it had ended in worry.
Getting out of her apartment would have to be her course of action. She wanted to text most of her other friends, though she felt bad about having fallen out of touch with a lot of them over the last week and a bit. Instead, she texted Alice, leaving her phone as she wandered to the bathroom and began getting ready for the day.
She was surprised that Alice had texted her back by the time she was done her short shower - though she hadn't seen Alice not clutching her phone once in the entire time they'd spent together, so she supposed it wasn't that strange.
' How was your party?' Kirby asked, trying to sound conversational instead of needy. She felt bad for leaving so quickly - especially after falling asleep at her place after their drinks, but was glad to see that it seemed like the other woman wasn't harbouring any weird feelings about it.
[7:01AM] Alice Alby: it was so good! u should have been there! next time !
Kirby smiled at her phone, feeling relief wash over her.
'How about I make it up to you and buy you lunch? I still owe you for drinks.'
Her phone buzzed in her hand immediately.
[7:03AM] Alice Alby: make it brunch. i can leave to pick u up in like 10 minutes girl i am starvingggggggg.
Glancing at the time in the corner of her screen, and then back at her empty apartment, she typed back:
'For sure. I'll text you the address.'
Within the hour, Kirby was back in Alice's limo, sipping a mimosa and recounting the events of the other night.
"Sorry again for falling asleep."
"Don't be! It sounds like you've been super busy. You deserved a rest."
No matter what Alice was saying, she seemed to be able to make Kirby feel like the most important, cared for person in the room. The singer reached over and grabbed her knee, shaking it gently in reassurance.
Smiling back at her, Kirby pulled her hair up and back, away from her neck, and fanned herself. It was been hotter than she had been expecting, and she hadn't dressed particularly well for it.
"Are you hot? It's really nice out, we could sit on a patio somewhere," Alice suggested, already handing Kirby a second mimosa despite her first only being half-empty.
Brunch on a patio did sound nice, but Kirby thought of Fallon, and her carefully planned out timeline for her new image, and decided against it. There was no point working against Fallon and being spotted out with Alice. Still, it wasn't like she wasn't allowed to have friends. She felt guilty thinking about turning Alice down based on what other people would think of her image.
"Sure. That sounds really good, actually."
Despite Kirby's offer to pay, Alice chose the restaurant. Kirby had never been to The Farm , and upon learning that, Alice had lost her mind. It was a farther drive than Kirby had been expecting, and she was just polishing off her third mimosa when the two of them climbed out of the car into the bright sunlight and made their way in.
Alice had a hundred and one questions for Kirby as they sat outside.
"You said your trailer comes out today, right? Is it out? Can I see it?"
Kirby was surprised she even remembered that, considering how their night had gone after she'd mentioned it.
"Not yet, later today. I'm actually supposed to be staying away from social media and distracting myself, so, this is perfect."
"Oh, so you're just using me." Alice's grin didn't leave her face, her wide eyes narrowing playfully.
"Oh, caught." Kirby grinned back at her.
"Well, maybe I'm using you too. Getting in on the ground floor of being seen with the next Oscar winning movie star."
Kirby laughed at that, feeling a blush immediately heat up her cheeks.
"Oh, you're blushing. Cute. I'm sorry." Alice waved a hand, tucking her hair back over her shoulder and sipping her drink with a sly grin that told Kirby she was absolutely not sorry. "Should we get beergaritas?"
"It's like, eight-thirty in the morning," Kirby pointed out, laughing.
"And? It's easier on the stomach than the champagne you were just chugging. C'mon, this is basically lunch, anyway."
Kirby considered it for a moment. She really didn't have anything to do all day except sit on her hands and keep herself distracted. A day drink or two could turn out to be a perfect way to spend the next few hours.
"Fine. Not too many, though." Kirby smiled a little when Alice squealed happily at her decision, glancing out at the street near them instead.
The flash of red didn't stand out in Beverly Hills like it did by her own apartment, but she still felt it light up her senses and cause her to perk up, trying to follow the car with her eyes and make out the model.
"Someone you know?" Alice's words snapped her out of it, and she turned to her with a small smile.
"No, I mean - I don't know. It looked like my publicist's car."
"Oh!" Alice smiled brightly, at that, as if it were great news. "Did you wanna call her? She could join us, if she's around."
"No!" Kirby protested a little too quickly, before clearing her throat. "Sorry. No, she's probably really busy. Our relationship is pretty professional and at arms length, anyway."
"Oh, okay!" She turned away from Kirby to order them both 'beergaritas', and then leaned in close across the table. "There's a guy on the corner taking pictures. Just so you know. No - don't look ."
Kirby stopped mid-turn and stiffened in her seat, raising an eyebrow impatiently as she awaited instructions. She was glad that their drinks had yet to arrive. She could already hear Fallon's annoyed tone when she would have eventually phoned her to complain about her being spotted drinking for breakfast.
"I think he's leaving." Alice leaned over a little, watching the space behind Kirby, and then smiled at her and squeezed her arm, once, before dropping her hand back to her lap. "He's gone. Sorry, I just - didn't know if you wanted everyone in your business today. You seem a little bit stressed out."
Kirby felt a sudden warmth pool up in her stomach and chest, and the smile on her face doubled in size.
"That's… really sweet of you. I'm kind of nervous about what people are going to think of the trailer, I guess, but that's all."
"Don't be!" Alice squeezed her arm again, knocking her knee against Kirby's under the table. "It's going to be so great. I'm excited."
It was hollow reassurance, but it still felt nice, and Kirby felt considerably better as her weird beer-slush-cocktail was placed in front of her, taking a few generous sips quickly.
Hanging out with Alice made her feel good about herself. She guiltily understood why she could be a liability - she was a magnet for scandal, even though Kirby could see clearly that all of her intentions were good, and her past followed her everywhere - but she wanted everyone else to know the real her. It was unfair for her to expect people to take her as she was - or at least, the slightly Carrington-censored version of herself - and not do the same for anyone else.
They each finished two drinks before deciding to order, at 10 o' clock, and Kirby felt the alcohol-induced hunger crashing over her as they found multiple items to split between the two of them.
"You know what would make this even better?" Alice asked, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she inhaled another onion ring.
Kirby thought hard about a genuine answer, but nothing came to mind.
"Weed."
Alice's response to her own question made the redhead laugh out loud, almost dropping her piece of french toast that she'd been eating as if it were meant to be handheld.
"You're not wrong."
"You don't have any, do you?"
"I do!" Kirby lit up, before remembering that it was back at her apartment - a place she didn't necessarily feel confident enough sharing with the woman across from her. "Oh, actually, I'm out, now that I think about it."
She assumed that would have been the end of it, but Alice pulled her phone out and began tapping away at the screen, wiping her hand off on the napkin beside her.
"I'll get Leigh to pick up." She glanced up from her phone as their server passed them, flagging him down. "Could we get another round, please?"
Kirby squashed her feeling of uneasiness by reminding herself that she really did have the day to herself. She blamed the turning in her stomach on the alcohol and the heat, paired with greasy and sugary food. She'd been nervous the last time that she and Alice had escalated their plans into partying - and it had gone perfectly fine.
"I could hang out," Kirby agreed, finishing off the last of her drink before it could be replaced.
"Good! I'm really glad you called." Alice smiled brightly at her, "Ooh! We could have a pool day. Nothing goes better with weed than laying by the pool on a nice day."
"I thought it would be greasy food," Kirby supplied, feeling a flutter in her chest when Alice pushed her arm again, laughing. The sound of it made Kirby feel like she was in high school all over again, making jokes and trying to get a girl to laugh for attention. This time, it felt more giddiness-inducing than nerve-wracking, though.
They each finished another two drinks before the food was gone and the bill had been paid. Standing up made Kirby realize just how drunk she'd become, and she was thankful that everyone seemed to be paying attention to Alice, not her, and that the limo was waiting for them only a few short steps away. She walked a little uneasily, but made it into the back seat unscathed. Checking her phone showed that she hadn't missed any important notifications or messages, and with that weight lifted from her chest, she let herself relax, singing along with Alice to every song on her playlist as they made their way to her penthouse.
When they arrived, there were considerably more people there than Kirby had been anticipating, but Alice introduced her to everyone as if she were the most VIP, and as they passed around the bong, Kirby found herself making easy conversation with everyone around her as if they'd been friends for years.
They moved outside into the sun once more, and both women began shedding layers in a desperate attempt to not overheat.
"Told you that this was the best," Alice reminded her, sprawled out on the chair next to her with a lazy grin on her face. "You're gonna burn, though. You want some lotion?"
Kirby waved a hand.
"In a minute. I think my next place needs a pool," she decided wistfully.
"Oh, absolutely," Alice agreed. "But you're welcome at mine, any time. No one else ever uses it except me, it's such a waste."
"That's… criminally wasteful," Kirby insisted dramatically, feeling a fit of giggles rising up in her chest and spilling out before she could stop them. She turned to Alice and squinted in the bright sunlight at her.
"Hey, thanks again for hanging out. I really needed the distraction today."
"Speaking of," Alice sat upright, putting her sunglasses on top of her head for safekeeping, "Is the trailer out yet?"
Kirby glanced at her phone.
"Not yet, still about an hour to go."
"We should all watch it together!" Alice exclaimed, throwing both hands up when she spoke. "Oh my god, it'll be perfect. We can put it up on the projector and then do a countdown and get drunk."
Kirby chuckled nervously - but the idea did sound appealing, the more she rolled it around in her mind. Having friends nearby - or at least friendly faces - and the ability to drink to forget all about the stress right afterward was a better plan than her own (which had been to watch it alone, in her bedroom, and panic).
"Alright, fine."
"Good, because I already ordered the booze."
Kirby's jaw dropped a little, and Alice laughed loudly in response to the look on her face.
"Hey! Don't do that. If you wanted to go home, I would have given you a ride. But I still would have been coming back here to celebrate. I'm proud of you!"
Kirby thought for a moment about Fallon's texts that morning. Don't do that thing where you overthink or stress yourself out, I don't have time to babysit, today.
No 'good luck', or anything of the sort. Certainly not an 'I'm proud of you'.
Her silence obviously bothered Alice, who suddenly looked embarrassed, scrambling to add, "Sorry, that was probably weird. I just feel like I've known you for a super long time, or something. I'm excited for you."
Kirby melted , leaning across the gap between their chairs and kissing the other woman on the cheek before standing up and holding her hand out.
"I appreciate it. This is going to be fun," she assured her, watching the smile light up her face and feeling an excited pull in her chest. "Let's get in the pool, though, at least once before we have to join the killjoys."
Kirby's apartment seemed exceptionally depressing, after spending so much time in the beautiful sunlight and then in Alice's much more impressive home. She barely had time to take off her shoes before her buzzer went off, letting her know that the alcohol delivery she'd put in a request for had already arrived. Perfect timing.
Alice showing her the app had been a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the convenience was wonderful, and on the other, she knew that she was buzzing in a crate of whiskey and the swift death of whatever was left of her liver after a full day of drinking.
The delivery woman regarded her almost worriedly when Kirby opened the door, reaching for the first crate before even saying so much as 'hello'.
"Hey, aren't you that girl from -"
"Sorry, I didn't know how to tip in the app. First time." Kirby cut her off, slurring, and shoved a hundred dollar bill at her before she could continue.
The woman swallowed her question and took the money, releasing the bungee cord from her cart and allowing Kirby to use one knee to shove the boxes inside, promptly closing the door.
She hadn't eaten anything at Alice's, and knew that she should, at some point, but the convenience of a strong drink and a nap on her couch seemed much more appealing.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she tugged it out, watching as the notifications that had started shortly after the trailer premiered - and hadn't stopped since - continued to pile up.
Nothing from Fallon, though.
She decided, against her better judgment, to open Twitter, and took bleary inventory of the fact that her followers, which had been sitting at a humble 950, had jumped to over 7500 since the last that she'd checked it. Feeling like her phone was suddenly more powerful than anything she was equipped to be in charge of, she held down the power button until it shut down, and tossed it onto the kitchen counter.
She picked up one of the cases of whiskey and waddled toward her bedroom with it, opening her window and then digging around in her side table drawer for her stash box. Stripping to her underwear and feeling the heat already dissipating from her (probably sun-stroked) body, she imagined herself as some sort of male-fantasy from a GQ magazine, sitting against her wall half-dressed with a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 Year in one hand and a lit joint hanging from her lips.
She thought about Alice, her friends, and the way that hanging out with her made her feel.
Drunk , she heard Fallon's voice in her head. She makes you feel drunk, because that seems to be all you do when you're together.
Shaking the thought away, she swigged straight from the bottle and promptly felt bile trying to rise in her throat. Stumbling to her feet, she set the bottle down and decided that some sort of mix would definitely be in order. Kirby stubbed out her joint on the ashtray by the window, and made her way back to the front hall, pushing the second case of whiskey toward the fridge as she began to search for a suitable mix.
She had a half carton of orange juice left, and a bottle of wine, both of which she promptly pulled out and set on the counter. Orange juice and red wine was close enough to a sangria, she decided. The whiskey was for flavour.
Once her strange experiment had been properly concocted, Kirby made her way to the living room couch and collapsed into it, spilling a decent amount of alcohol on herself in the process, but simply laughing it off and sipping her drink as carefully as she could in her half-horizontal position.
Flicking on her television, she scrolled through until the preview of TMZ showed her Alice, from earlier that day, and she frowned as she scrambled to sit up and watch the episode.
The first shot of herself made her stomach drop, and she squeezed her eyes shut from the sudden stress-induced bout of dizziness that came over her.
She and Alice were sitting knee to knee, comparison photos of Alice alone plastered in the split-screen shot. Alice Alby and unknown friend , they titled it. She would have normally been relieved, but with the release of her trailer about to pick up even more speed, she knew she had fucked up.
Fallon was going to kill her.
Stumbling to her feet and gripping her glass tightly in her hand, she considered her options.
She thought about turning her phone back on and calling her, but knew that she was in no state to try to make any sort of professional phone calls. Besides, being locked in the safety of her apartment seemed like a better option, anyway. Just as she decided to hole up and let the dust settle, the glass slipped from her hand and shattered at her feet. Watching it fall, she took a couple of stumbling steps, before feeling a sharp migraine-like wave roll over her at the same time as debilitating nausea, and blacked out as she hit the floor.
"So then, after having to assure your probably-too-stupid-to-be-working manager that I wasn't planning on breaking in and stealing your… IKEA furniture or low-grade weed, I had to actually find parking, which, by the way, you owe me like $50 for."
Kirby tried to sit herself up, wincing at the noticeable stickiness on her arms and chest, then remembered the spilled drink.
"I'm not sure you should be talking to me like this after breaking into my fucking apartment." She felt the room spin and closed her eyes for a moment, but heard Fallon scoff.
"Do you remember, this morning, when I specifically said that today I did not have time to babysit?" Fallon's voice was almost gravelly from frustration. "Today, of all days, was not the day to pull this kind of shit. It smells like death, in here, by the way."
"Oh, right." Kirby sat up and propped herself against the headboard, reaching over and pulling her unfinished joint from the ashtray. "Well, now that you've invited yourself in and insulted everything, are you going to tell me what the hell you want?"
"Where's your phone?" Fallon snapped.
Kirby shrugged.
"I turned it off when you didn't seem to need to get ahold of me."
"Oh, please," Fallon stood up, ready to begin her search. "Don't do that pouting thing, again. It gives me secondhand embarrassment. If you need someone to pat you on the back every step of the way and tell you how great you're doing, you can hire an entourage of yes men. You're not the only thing in my schedule right now."
Kirby didn't bother answering that, feeling the swell of embarrassment in her chest explode as Fallon left the room without another word, returning shortly with her phone.
"I'm handing your social media over to someone on our team."
"What, so now you're saying you don't trust me? With my own Twitter? " Kirby asked around the joint, struggling to relight it.
She jumped when Fallon was suddenly back on the bed with her, so close to her face that she could smell her perfume.
"That is exactly what the fuck I am saying," she growled.
Kirby was sure that she could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she stared back at the brunette, wide-eyed, and almost afraid to break eye contact for a moment.
"From now on," Fallon said as she pulled away and walked out of the room again, taking Kirby's phone with her, "You're… grounded. Until this fucking campaign isn't so vulnerable."
Kirby laughed outright.
"I'm not kidding!" Fallon called from the bathroom across the hall, digging around under the sink. "If you want to act like a fucking child, I'll treat you like one. Whatever weird mommy-kink that you're trying to play out with me is about to get very, very real. Am I clear?"
She stood in the doorway, clutching a box of bandaids, and Kirby smirked as she levelled her gaze with her.
"Crystal."
Fallon sat on the bed again, and Kirby let out an embarrassing sound that she wouldn't have admitted to making under the threat of torture or death when the brunette suddenly grabbed her ankle from under the blanket and pulled it toward herself.
"Shit, stop! I think I'm sunburnt." Kirby hated how whiny her tone sounded after trying so hard to keep the power dynamic in balance only moments earlier, but holy shit, that hurt.
"No, you're not. You're a dumbass and possibly an alcoholic." Fallon turned her leg over for her to see, and Kirby took note of the massive, sticky gash running up the inside of her calf. Ah, right, the broken glass.
"Did you… carry me to bed?" Kirby asked, after watching Fallon struggle with the cap of antibacterial ointment for a few seconds. "And I wouldn't bother with that, it's probably expired anyway."
"No, I woke you up and half-dragged you. You don't remember trying to tell me how excited you were to see me?"
"I think you're making that up because you know I can't remember if you're lying."
Fallon rolled her eyes, pressing one of the bandaids to the cut with much more pressure than necessary, causing Kirby to groan and try to pull her leg free for a moment.
"I swear to god, if you don't stop being such a fucking baby-" Fallon didn't even finish her threat, pressing a second bandaid above the first one, though, Kirby noted, she was a little more merciful in her execution this time.
"So, what now? Someone else tweets stupid shit from my account, which, by the way, is always super obvious, and you just shield me from the world like those babies that are afraid of sunlight?" Kirby watched Fallon open a third bandaid, suddenly very aware of her state of undress.
"Kirby, if I could make a programmable clone of you and lock you in a meat freezer so that winning you this Oscar was easier, I would," Fallon insisted. "You're lucky that this is the only option that I have right now."
Standing up, Fallon handed Kirby back her phone, and then took one last disparaging look at the room around her.
"Go to sleep. I'll call you with your new schedule in the morning."
"Goodnight to you too, Fallon."
Adding insult to injury, Fallon flicked off the bedroom light and threw the redhead into total darkness before Kirby heard her let herself out the front door.