THE WRITER | glass onion : knives out

THE POOL

“Hey,” Whiskey finally made her presence known, Andi’s head snapping to her in an extremely intimidating way. She had heard she was intimidating.

“Hi,” she replied, seemingly surprised.

“Andi,” Whiskey spoke, mostly as a continuation of her greeting. Her mind was all jumbled from before, but she quickly set it back to its usual ordered fashion.

“Yes,” Andi nodded, and Whiskey understood that there wasn’t a lot to say.

“I’m Whiskey,” she introduced herself, making her way up the steps. “We didn’t really meet.” Andi only nodded once again, the blonde recognizing that the woman preceded her reputation of being unimpressed. “Are you looking for the pool?”

“I am.”

“Do you want to walk?” Whiskey asked happily.

“Sure.”

They started down the path and Whiskey remembered the kombucha in her hand, pushing it towards Andi. “Do you want this? I’m not into it. It smells like that guy Derol.” And Andi took it.

“That’s a beautiful necklace,” Andi spoke as they continued their way down a back staircase, neither unsure of the way they were going. Whiskey looked down at it hanging round her neck again, feigning a soft smile. “You’re a Taurus?”

“Yeah,” Whiskey replied, clearing her throat. “Um, Miles got it for me. He, um, surprised me for my birthday. He filled his entire penthouse apartment with roses. It was very cute…” She cleared her throat yet again, thinking back to a different memory. “But it was nothing compared to what Iris did. She invited me out to New York for the weekend, and she had strung lights over this secluded corner in Central Park, a picnic all laid out. We spent the whole night watching movies outdoors, the stars above us, and we talked, and it was—” She realized she had been talking a lot, turning back to Andi, shaking away the thoughts. “But Miles… yeah, he’s a really good guy. He’s just— complicated. But… I think it’s really shitty what they all did to you. And how they all treated you. I read your court transcripts, and you got shanked.”

“Thanks, Whiskey,” Andi told her, it sounded like the most genuine thing she had said in their whole conversation. Whiskey sent her a small smile, returning the genuinity.

They took another turn in the courtyard, finding themselves in a garden filled with glass statues, all square art. The island just got more twisted the more they walked through it.

“Yeah, this is my second one of these things,” Whiskey explained, opening up a bit more since Andi was as closed as a clam. “We did a yacht thing last year.”

“Well, that sounds fun,” Andi shrugged.

Whiskey let out a loud laugh, shaking her head. “No. I mean, when they’re all together, it’s kind of the worst. Duke just treats me like arm candy, and they just ignore me.”

“Even Iris?” Andi questioned, and Whiskey heated up at the thought that she was that see-through.

“Iris? Well… No,” Whiskey shook her head again, twirling a piece of hair between her fingers. “If anything, she’s the one I like the best. She’s the only one that… sees me. I guess. Like, really sees me, you know?”

“‘Course,” Andi agreed, not pushing the subject anymore. “Why do you put up with it?”

“With Iris?” Whiskey asked, furrowing her eyebrows, but Andi shook her head. The blonde gasped quietly and carried on, ignoring her previous slip up. “Oh, Duke? I’m building my brand, and he’s putting me on his channel more often. Though, he’s leaning harder right into his mandom stuff. Like, if I’m going to go into politics eventually, I don’t think that’s a road I wanna go down. Like, it’s expeditious, but it’s kind of a shitshow.” All of a sudden, they looked through the trees and the shimmer of water glinted towards them. “Oh, here’s the pool.”