Lauren Weisberger 5-Book Collection: The Devil Wears Prada, Revenge Wears Prada, Everyone Worth Knowing, Chasing Harry Winston, Last Night at Chateau Marmont. Lauren Weisberger

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СКАЧАТЬ whatever. No worries. I’ll catch you guys later.’ He was on his feet and headed to the bar so fast that Lily hadn’t yet noticed he’d left.

      ‘Stuart and I are getting to know each other, aren’t we, Stu?’ She turned to the place where he had sat and looked confused.

      ‘Stuart had to run, Lil. Come on, let’s get out of here.’

      I pulled her drab green peacoat on over her sweater and yanked her to her feet, where she swayed precariously until she regained her balance. The air outside was searing and cold and I figured it’d help her sober up.

      ‘I don’t feel so good.’ She was slurring again.

      ‘I know, sweetie, I know. Let’s get a cab back to your apartment, OK? Do you think you can make it?’

      She nodded and then leaned over very casually and threw up. All over her brown boots, with some of it splashing up the sides of her jeans. If only the Runway girls could see my best friend now, I couldn’t help thinking.

      I sat her down on a window ledge that looked reasonably like it wouldn’t have an alarm and ordered her not to move. There was a twenty-four-hour bodega right across the street, and this girl clearly needed some water. When I got back, she’d thrown up again – this time all down her front – and her eyes looked droopy. I’d bought two bottles of Poland Spring, one for her to drink and one for cleaning, but she was too gross now. I dumped one all over her feet to wash away the sick, and half of the second one over her coat. Better to be soaking wet than covered in puke. She was so drunk she didn’t even notice.

      It took a little persuading to get a cabbie to let us in with Lily looking in such bad shape, but I promised a really big tip on top of what was sure to be a really big fare. We were going from the Lower East Side to the far Upper West, and I was already figuring out a way to expense what was sure to be a twenty-dollar ride. I could probably just write it off as a trip I had to make in search of something for Miranda. Yes, that would work.

      The trip to her fourth-floor walk-up was even less fun than the cab, but she’d become more cooperative after the twenty-five-minute ride, and she even managed to wash herself in the shower after I’d undressed her. I pointed her in the direction of her bed and watched as she collapsed face-down when her knees hit the box spring. I looked down at her, unconscious, and was momentarily nostalgic for college, for all the things we’d done together then. It was fun now, no question, but it would never again be as carefree as then.

      I briefly wondered if Lily might be drinking too much these days. After all, she did seem to be drunk pretty consistently. But when Alex had brought it up the week before, I’d assured him it was because she was still a student, still not living in the real world with real, adult responsibilities (like pouring the perfect Pellegrino!). I mean, it’s not like we hadn’t together done too many shots at Señor Frog’s on spring break or too ambitiously worked our way through three bottles of red wine while celebrating the anniversary of the day we’d first met in eighth grade. Lily had held my hair back as I sat with my face resting on the toilet seat after a postfinals binge, and pulled over four times once while driving me back to my dorm after a night that had included eight rum and Cokes and a particularly horrid karaoke rendition of ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.’ I’d dragged her back to my apartment on the night of her twenty-first birthday and tucked her into my bed, checking her breathing every ten minutes, and finally fell asleep on the floor next to her after I’d made sure she’d live through the night. She had awakened twice that night. The first time was to throw up over the side of the bed – making a sincere effort to make it into the garbage can I’d set up beside it but getting confused and vomiting down the side of my wall instead – and once more to apologize sincerely and tell me she loved me and I was the best friend a girl could have. That’s what friends did: they got drunk together and did stupid things and looked out for one another, right? Or was that all just college fun, rites of passage that had a time and a place? Alex had insisted that this was different, that she was different, but I just didn’t see it that way.

      I knew I should’ve stayed with her tonight, but it was nearly two and I had to be at work in five hours. My clothes smelled of vomit and there was no way I could find a single appropriate piece of clothing in Lily’s closet to wear to Runway – especially with my new upgraded look. I sighed and pulled a blanket over her and set her alarm for 7:00 A.M. so just in case she wasn’t too hungover she’d have a shot at making it to class.

      ‘’Bye, Lil. I’m heading out. You OK?’ I placed the portable phone on the pillow by her head.

      She opened her eyes, looked directly at me, and smiled. ‘Thanks,’ she muttered, her eyelids dropping again. She wasn’t fit to run a marathon, or probably even operate a motorized lawn mower, but she’d be fine to just sleep it off.

      ‘It was my pleasure,’ I managed, even though this was the first time in twenty-one hours I had stopped physically running, fetching, rearranging, moving, cleaning, or otherwise assisting. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow,’ I said as I willed my legs not to give out. ‘If either of us is still alive.’ And I finally, finally, went home.

       10

      ‘Hey, I’m glad I caught you,’ I heard Cara say on the other end of the line. Why was she out of breath at quarter of eight in the morning?

      ‘Uh-oh. You never call this early. What’s wrong?’ In the split second it took me to say those words, a half-dozen scenarios of what Miranda could need raced through my mind.

      ‘No, no, it’s nothing like that. I just wanted to warn you that B-DAD is on his way in to see you, and he’s particularly chatty this morning.’

      ‘Oh, well, that’s sure great news. It’s been, what, nearly a week since he’s interrogated me about every aspect of my life? I was wondering where my biggest fan had gone.’ I finished typing my memo and hit ‘print.’

      ‘You’re a lucky girl, I have to say. He’s lost interest in me entirely,’ she pined dramatically. ‘He only has eyes for you. I heard him say that he was coming over to discuss details of the Whitney party with you.’

      ‘Great, that’s just great. I can’t wait to meet this brother of his. So far I’ve just spoken to him on the phone, but he sounds like a total schmuck. So, you’re sure he’s on his way, or is it possible there’s a kind spirit up above who just may spare me that particular misery today?’

      ‘Nope, not today. He’s definitely on his way. Miranda has a podiatrist appointment at eight-thirty A.M., so I don’t think she’ll be coming with him.’

      I checked the appointment book on Emily’s desk quickly and confirmed her appointments. A Miranda-free morning was indeed on the schedule. ‘Fantastic. I couldn’t think of anyone dreamier to do a little early-morning bonding with than B-DAD himself. Why does he talk so much?’

      ‘Can’t answer that other than to point out the obvious: he married her, so he’s clearly not all there. Call if he says anything particularly ridiculous. I have to run. Caroline just smashed one of Miranda’s Stila lipsticks into the bathroom mirror for no apparent reason.’

      ‘Our lives rock, don’t they? We’re the coolest girls. Anyway, thanks for the heads up. Talk to you later.’

      ‘OK, ’bye.’

      I glanced over the memo while СКАЧАТЬ