Page 104 of Drive Me Crazy
“Language,” my parents warn him.
Blake adds twenty-eight points to his tally for the double word score his tiles fall on. He’s now beating Tyler by five points. Neither of them seems to care that I’m kicking both of their asses by twenty points. I’m zoning out as my mom takes her turn when my phone rings. Standing up before anyone can object, I head to my dad’s study to take the call.
“Hello?” I answer the phone.
“Ella!” Remi greets me. “How’re you?”
“Very full.” I sit in my dad’s oversized office chair. “I just ate my weight in turkey and cornbread.”
“I hope you’re getting stuffed in more ways than one,” she jokes. Suddenly, she lets out a string of expletives. “Oh my God, it’s Thanksgiving! I’msosorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. It completely skipped my mind.”
“Don’tworry about it,” I assure her. “I can use a break from Scrabble. It’s getting a bit intense.”
Her contagious giggle carries through the phone. “Well, I was just calling to tell you that I read over your business plan and think it’s brilliant.”
“Really?” I tighten my grasp on my phone so it doesn’t slip out of my clammy hand. “I can handle the criticism if you think it’s bad.”
“It’s great, Ella,” she congratulates me. “I love the mix of interviews and commentary. And how you want to segment each episode? So clever.”
I don’t realize I’ve been holding my breath until it comes heaving out of me. When Remi offered to look over my business plan, I knew it would be dumb to turn her down; she’s mastered the indie podcast world.
“I have a few ideas,” she continues, “but we can chat tomorrow. I don’t want to barge in on your family time.”
I can hear Tyler yelling that there’s no fucking waycodgeris a real word. Dear Lord. I bite back a laugh when my dad asks if Larry David would be considered a codger. The fact that I can hear them through the door means I’m safer in here than I am out there.
“Trust me, Remi. You’re not.”
Blake’s head pops in sometime later. I’m still on the phone, but I wave him in. He closes the door quietly behind him; leaning against the desk, he waits as I finish up the call.
“Everything good?” he asks after I’ve hung up.
I glance at my watch; I’ve been in here for almost an hour. Swiveling the chair so it’s facing him, I make sure he’s not bleeding or bruised thanks to Tyler. “Sorry for leaving you to fend for yourself. Did you survive your hazing?”
“Your brother’s brain may have short-circuited,” Blake whispers conspiratorially. “But we had fun. How was your call?”
“Itwas good. Remi asked me what you meant when you said you loved me so much you’d put popping candy on your dick.”
Blake groans into his hands. Out of everything he said on the podcast, people are really focused on what he meant by that. “What’d you say?”
“I told her I’d come on her show and give her the exclusive,” I tease, poking his rock-hard abs.
“Hardy har har,” he grunts before ruffling my hair. “Now tell me about the call. Did she say you’re the most brilliant woman in the entire world?”
“Not exactly,” I reply. “But she did finish reading my business plan and said it was really good.”
“Of course she did.” Blake nods like he was expecting that answer. “What’d she say about still usingCoffee with Championsas the name even with all the changes and updates you want to make?”
“She thinks it’s totally fine,” I answer. “She also told me about this co-working space in SoHo that I should look into. There are a lot of entrepreneurs who work out of there, which could be good for networking.”
“SoHo is above Tribeca, right? Poppy tried teaching me Manhattan geography.”
“What? No.”
“Oh.” His brows furrow together. “What’s it near then? I can’t keep them all straight.”
“No, SoHo as in … well, I don’t actually know why it’s called SoHo there, but I’m talking about London, not New York.”
“What?” He flinches back slightly. “London?”
