Chapter 34: The usurper

“Wow,” Luna said as soon as Moira walked far enough away. “That was…. amazing.”

Rita shrugged, she sipped her champagne. “Thanks.”

“How did you do that?” Luna asked, staring at Rita like she was a mini goddess.

“I speak bitch,” Rita replied, turning her head to look at Luna, she smiled at her friend. “I had lots of practice at my old job. When I realized those assholes at Crasters were not going to be letting up on me anytime soon seeing as I was the only woman in a male-dominated company, I had to get creative.”

Luna placed a hand over Rita’s hand. She knew her friend so well, so she heard the concealed hurt and bitterness in her voice even though Rita’s words were said carelessly.

“I know,” Luna said softly, “and I’m sorry you had to relive all that again because of Moira.”

Rita smiled a little, it didn’t reach her eyes, she patted Luna’s hand reassuringly. “You have nothing to apologize for, Moira was the one who brought it up. And besides, I pulled out my guns first.”

“Yeah, about that, why didn’t you tell me you researched her?” Luna asked. “Look at me being all surprised here when you started hitting her with all this background info on her.”

Rita’s smile was more genuine now. “Bitch rule number one: you gotta meet bitch with bitch. I knew she knew about me already, even before I introduced myself. Hell, before I even stepped foot inside this hall. You’re her nemesis, and I’m the closest person to you aside from your family, I knew she would have researched me. I wasn’t going to be left in the dark. Besides,” Rita shrugged again, she looked Luna directly in her eyes, “she hurt you.”

Luna felt an emotion clogging her throat at Rita’s loyalty, she smiled.

“You are a badass,” she said.

Rita’s smile turned sly. “You know it.”

The two women laughed and drank from their champagne flutes. They both turned to look around the hall.

“Half of the people in this room pity me,” Luna said. “The other half despise me. Both halves don’t even know me, the real me. And both halves also know my story, everything was plastered in the media for them to read about, to talk about in their tea parties and their book clubs.”

“That part of your life is over now, Luna,” Rita said quietly beside her. She placed a comforting hand on Luna’s shoulder.

Luna smiled a little. “I know. It’s just, here I am again, right back in the room full of people I swore to never see again three years ago.”

Luna remembered her discussion with her mother earlier that afternoon.

“My mom is worried for me,” she revealed to Rita. “She’s worried I have a sick obsession with these people, she says I keep pulling myself back in when I should be running the other way.”

“You will,” Rita said beside Luna after a few silent seconds. “You will eventually, and you will not run, because no one will be chasing you, you will walk. But not now. Now, you have to prove to them that you can walk the other way when it’s time to do so, and there will be no scars on your heart when it’s time.”

Luna closed her eyes in relief at Rita’s words. She hadn’t known she had been afraid Rita was going to side with her mother until she heard Rita’s precisely accurate words. It was like she was in her own head, she got exactly what Luna was feeling.

“Yes,” Luna whispered, glancing at her friend with gratitude in her eyes.

Just then, a woman walked up to them. Lily Davis. A thread of irritation wound through Luna for a second as Lily made her way towards her, before she pasted her automatic smile for people she didn’t like but didn’t want them to know she didn’t like them, on her face.

“Luna!” Lily exclaimed, her face lighting up like she hadn’t seen Luna for twenty years. “Fancy meeting you here!”

She leaned forward to give Luna air kisses on both her cheeks. Luna obliged her, mostly to prepare herself for the conversation ahead. They separated, and Lily beamed at her. Luna knew all too well the viper’s poison behind that fake smile, so she just kept her small smile on her face.

“Seems like you’re going to be invited to a lot of important parties like these now too, seeing as you’re one of us now,” Lily said, her voice dripping with sweetness. “And this time, it’s not because of your husband either.”

Luna’s smile remained, Lily’s words didn’t touch, as Luna was sure Lily hoped they would. They barely grazed her even, and that was because she knew exactly who Lily was. A venomous viper who preyed on women of her peers out of bitterness and little to no real satisfaction in her own life.

“Rita, meet Lily Davis, wife of Mac Davis, who is a cousin to Justin,” Luna said.

Lily blinked when Luna didn’t say more. Luna cocked her head sideways a little bit, her eyes narrowing as she pretended to think.

“I’m sorry, I think there’s more, but I can’t really remember. What did you say your job was again? Designer? Event planner? Socialite?”

Lily’s gaze darted between Luna and Rita, she shifted on her feet. “I have a non-profit,” she said, her voice small like she was unsure of herself.

“Right,” Luna said, “non-profit. What does it cater to again?”

Lily shifted again, her voice was even smaller. “Orphaned kids in Africa.”

Luna heard Rita snicker beside her, and it wasn’t discreet either.

“Yeah, and you go there monthly to show them exactly who’s giving them those things, don’t you?”

A smile started to spread on Luna’s face, she curled her lips into a polite smile.

“Are you insinuating that I am only doing this for the glory?” Lily managed to look upset.

“I’m not insinuating anything, darling, I’m saying,” Rita said.

Luna put a hand on Rita’s arm to stop her from saying more.

“It was nice meeting you again, Lily,” she said.

She and Rita walked away, leaving Lily blinking like a faulty flashlight.

“You forgot to add one category,” Rita said as they walked away. “Self-righteous usurpers.”