Haven't heard from you in a couple of days. Everything still good with the column?

Emily glanced at the text message on her phone. She set her bag and yoga mat down on the living room sofa, the only spot free of the boxes and clutter that had been left piled up in every room but her bedroom since she and her best friend, Shelby Marlowe, had moved into their new Hollywood Hills apartment earlier this week.

The text was from Wally Hood, and the column he meant was the first that would be posted for "Celeb Wore Wha-a-a-t?," her new byline for Wally Hood Goes Hollywood.

Good to go, Emily typed. You'll have the final version this afternoon. She hit send.

The celebrity fashion column had been Wally's idea, and Emily hadn't been sold on it at first. Shelby had persuaded her to look at it as a chance to get more readers for Zeeked, the fashion website Emily had founded and had been running since her senior year of college, and as extra income to help her afford their new apartment. After considering Shelby's argument, she'd decided it was a good opportunity and had agreed to do it.

Now, though, Emily was wondering what she had gotten herself into. She mostly trusted Wally, since he'd told her side of the Cory-and-Jesse story to the world and had stuck by her ever since. Things had quieted down after that, and Wally had made a point of keeping her name out of any new posts related to Cory that ran on Wally Hood Goes Hollywood. Until this week, that was, when he'd decided her appearance at a charity event was the perfect lead-in to promote her new column.

Emily launched her phone's web browser, where the article Wally had posted a few days ago was still open in one of the tabs.

Happily Em-er After

SPOTTED: Emily Watts at the Microsoft Theater in downtown L.A. last night, for a rare appearance at the star-studded Reach Out 'N' Rescue charity event. Sources in attendance say she looked as radiant as ever, and rumor has it that there's a new man in her life.

It's been several months since Emily's then-rocky personal life was a well-documented fixture of the Hollywood scene, when she was involved in what was thought to be a love triangle between her, Blistering Twilight singer Cory Sampson, and Jesse Cinder, guitarist for what we hear is the now-defunct indie band Ashes of Brooklyn. Both C-Samp and Flameboy were notably absent from last night's fundraiser, which was held to raise money for several animal rescue non-profit organizations.

C-Samp, we're told, was resting at home, where he's recuperating from a broken ankle. As we reported last week, he suffered the injury after tripping over ex-girlfriend Cady Sugarman during a pick-up basketball game between his band and crew and hers. The ill-fated game followed a music festival both had performed at. To update all you Blistering Twilight fans, the band's postponed North American tour dates have not yet been rescheduled.

Hanging out with your exes is only going to get you in trouble, C-Samp. We'd hoped your experience with the Em-Girl had taught you a lesson about that, but you might have time to ponder it while laid up at home.

Jesse Cinder, we imagine, didn't make the relevance scale for this event, and he seemed to have had a scheduling conflict anyway. We're told the function overlapped with his shift serving food at Hollywood dive bar Big Wangs. Maybe he's working there to scout out the karaoke talent—after all, with Ashes of Brooklyn singer Cole Brooklyn and drummer Gavin Hunter having returned to New York City, it looks like Cinder may need to form a new band.

So who's Emily's new beau? She's keeping mum so far, but we're pretty sure we'll get it out of her soon. If you missed the official announcement earlier this week, Ms. Emily is joining forces with us here at Wally Hood Goes Hollywood for a new weekly feature we like to call, "Celeb Wore Wha-a-a-t?"

And loyal Zeeked fans, have no fear: your favorite fashion snark destination will remain very much intact. The Em-Girl is simply loaning us her wit and sarcasm in addition to the daily snarkalicious posts she makes to her own site. The regular column she writes for Sweltry has also made its return, following a short hiatus.

The story had been kind of funny at first. Wally had used it to not-so-subtly slam Cory and Jesse, and he was clearly in Emily's corner. The problem was the rumor he had started about her dating someone new. Since she was done with Cory and had been lying low, she had assumed anything about that particular piece of fiction would only appear in Wally's story. Then she'd made the mistake of looking at Twitter. Other media had picked up on what Wally had written and, of course, there had been a few rude comments from some of Cory's fans. She hadn't said anything, and the questions and tweets had slowed down by the next day. Still, it had shown Emily her dating life was something the media was still interested in. She had to wonder if her column would invite more tabloid intrusion, even though she wasn't dating Cory anymore.

If only she'd known what she had been agreeing to when Cory asked her to go out with him a few months ago. Emily had been a normal twenty-six-year-old before that night. After her first date with Cory, though, and the kiss on Sunset Boulevard someone had photographed and sent to the tabloids, her personal life had become public news and millions of people knew her name.

It had seemed so perfect for a few weeks. Emily had ignored Shelby's warning about Cory's reputation for loving-and-leaving a string of women after having his heart broken by Cady Sugarman, the ex-girlfriend he'd once planned to propose to. Cory had seemed genuinely interested in Emily, and she had let herself fall for him. Then he'd backed off and vanished from her life. Someone had sent Emily a photo of Cory and Cady together at a bar on a night he'd claimed to have band rehearsal, and between the photo and Cory not answering her texts or calls, she hadn't been sure what to think.

All of it had left an opening for Jesse, Emily's longtime friend, to swoop right in and be her shoulder to cry on. She hadn't thought to question his intentions. Jesse had claimed they should spend an evening together having some fun so she could take her mind off of Cory. She hadn't thought hanging out with Jesse for a few hours would attract tabloid attention at all. And it probably wouldn't have, if his band's manager, Bailey Carson, hadn't taken advantage of the recent media interest in Emily. She'd discovered later that Bailey had put an alert out to the tabloids and had made it seem as though something romantic was going on between her and Jesse. At that point, the media had been oblivious to Cory's disappearing act. When Jesse took her home that night and had leaned in to give her a hug, a photographer had been staked out nearby, concealed from Emily's sight. Although she and Jesse had only exchanged a friendly hug, a photo snapped at the right moment and from just the right angle had made them look like they were about to kiss. The photo was plastered all over the Internet that night, along with rumors she was cheating on Cory. People had seen what they'd wanted to, and Cory's devoted legion of fans had turned on her. The intense backlash against Emily had led to advertisers pulling their campaigns from Zeeked, and to companies she had done freelance writing contracts for cutting ties. Her reputation, her career, and her bank account had been headed toward complete destruction.

Emily had hoped things would blow over, and that she would soon be old news. Jesse hadn't helped things, though. He'd wanted to have his name and his band associated with her, simply because it got them press. The more there was about her in the tabloids, the worse her career situation became. She'd received hateful emails from people she had never met, and complete strangers had made rude comments to her in public places as she'd tried to go about her daily life.

Then Cory had resurfaced. The timing had been suspicious, given a quote from Cady in the news where she had denied interest in getting back together with Cory after being spotted with him several times. On the eve of a new album release from Blistering Twilight, Cory had given an interview in which he'd claimed he was heartbroken over Emily and wanted another chance. It was possible she would have believed him, if it hadn't been for the recent quote from Cady—clearly, he had been rejected by her again—and her knowing Cory wanted to stay at the top of his media game so he could sell albums and tickets to his band's upcoming shows.

In the end, undeniable proof she and Jesse weren't together had turned up, thanks to Shelby catching him making out with a former reality show star and getting pictures of it. After the tabloids caught wind of Jesse's exploits, Emily had been able to tell her side of the story. Wally had believed her. He'd also felt bad, since the stories he had written about her, Cory, and Jesse were a big part of what had turned Emily's life into a huge mess. In the end, she and Wally had become friends and business partners. She hadn't spoken to Cory or Jesse since.

Little by little, Emily's life had gotten back to normal, and now she wanted to keep it that way. She looked at her phone again. Wally inventing a new romance for her wasn't doing anything to help her goal.

Her text alert sounded again, and a new message from Wally popped up on her screen.

Watch for something later today. More pre-launch promo for your column.

Emily's heart leapt into her throat. She wasted no time texting back.

No more articles following what I'm doing or reminding everyone of both-guys-who-shall-not-be-named. Okay?

She sent the text, holding her breath as she waited for his reply.

Just trust me. It will be fine.

It was easy for Wally to say, or in this case, to text. It wouldn't be, though—the last article he'd posted had barely been fine. Emily moved her finger up to the call icon on her phone. It would be much simpler to reason with Wally by talking to him, rather than hashing this out in text messages.

Her phone started ringing before she could call Wally. The number that came up on her screen wasn't Wally's—it was Shelby's.

Emily answered her phone. "Hey, do you miss me already?" she asked, putting Shelby on speaker. "I mean, I know it's been practically forever since I stumbled into the kitchen this morning, looking for coffee, while you were running out the door."

"How could I not miss your morning grumbling and crazed caffeine-or-die look?" Shelby teased. "Hope you woke up a little before seeing your new hottie at yoga."

Her new hottie? The air whooshed out of Emily's lungs. Was her conversation with Raine already all over the news? Wally hadn't said a word. She opened her phone's web browser again, this time heading for Tinseltown Buzz. When the site loaded, she scrolled down the page, bracing herself for a photo of her and Raine.

"Em? You with me?"

There was nothing on the site. Emily began to breathe normally again. "My new hottie?" she asked. "I'm confused."

Shelby laughed. "There has to be one. Why else would you, the world's worst morning person, suddenly be going to a morning yoga class every day?"

"You know why I switched to the morning class."

"Uh-huh." Shelby's voice had an unconvinced, sing-song tone.

Emily was about to ask if Shelby had spies in her class, but stopped herself. That would be admitting to something, and there was nothing to admit to. So Raine had given her his phone number. Big deal. She hadn't asked for it.

"I like to practice yoga in peace," Emily replied instead. "Any other questions?"

Shelby chuckled and Emily rolled her eyes. She adored her best friend, but Shelby was relentless when she suspected something was going on in her dating life. Not that she could blame her after what had happened with Cory.

"I have more of a favor to ask than a question," Shelby said. "Any chance you've seen a box around with a bunch of my shoes in it? I need something from it for a dinner I got asked to go to tonight. I'll barely have time to shower and change when I get home, let alone go hunting through our moving mess."

Emily looked around her at the boxes piled in every corner of the room. "I'm sure it's here, somewhere. Did you label all your boxes?"

"No." Shelby sighed. "I thought I'd have time to unpack everything right when we moved in and wouldn't need to. Who knew my client would have an accounting crisis?"

It was true. She and Shelby had planned on spending the first few days in their new place getting everything organized and decorated, but Shelby had barely been home.

"I'll look for your shoes once I send my column to Wally," Emily told her. "Which ones do you need?"

"My black leather knee-high boots with the four-inch heels."

Emily knew those boots well, and they were definitely not for a work dinner. Those were weekend-out-on-the-town or hot-date-night boots.

"My turn to grill you," she said, mimicking Shelby's sing-song tone from a couple of minutes ago. "Who's the new hottie, and where's he taking you?"

There was a pause on Shelby's end of the line. Jackpot.

"Ha, I'm right!" Emily could barely contain her glee. "This is good. At least one of us should have a functional dating life. Who is he?"

"Down, girl," Shelby said. "It's not really a date. More like a catch-up dinner."

"Anyone I know?"

"Yep."

Shelby was dodging her, she was sure of it.

"That's all I get?" Emily prompted.

"For now," Shelby answered.

"If I know who it is, then you have to tell me. Who do you and I both know who's single? The cute guy in your office I met for five minutes that one time?"

Shelby cleared her throat, and then there was silence.

"You're starting to worry me," Emily said. "Are you going out with Cory or Jesse or something?"

"Yeah, because that would go well. I couldn't get within fifty feet of those guys without telling them off or wanting to smack them." Shelby sounded exasperated.

"So? If it's not either of them, then there's no reason not to tell me who it is."

She heard Shelby take a deep breath, then release it. "It's Darren."

Now it was Emily's turn for silence. She stared at the phone, sure she had heard Shelby wrong.

"You still there?" Shelby asked.

"Darren as in the-guy-you-dated-in-college Darren?" Emily crossed her fingers, hoping there was another guy in Shelby's life named Darren she had forgotten about.

"That's him."

A few possible replies flitted through Emily's mind, but none of them were things she could say out loud. There wasn't a single kind word she had for Darren after the way he'd left things with Shelby in their senior year of college.

After pausing for a beat too long, Emily spoke. "I didn't know he still lived here." There. That was diplomatic. She was also sure Darren had moved out of the state after graduation, because she'd been glad to hear he was going to be far away from Shelby.

"Neither did I until we ran into each other on the sidewalk outside of my office. He said he just moved back." The lightness in Shelby's voice seemed forced.

"And he asked you out?" That took a lot of nerve, at least from how Emily saw it. She knew Shelby's history with Darren, and it wasn't pretty.

"He wants to catch up."

"Do you think things will be different now?"

"It's dinner." Emily could tell Shelby was starting to get irritated. "It's not like I'm marrying the guy."

No, but there was a time when you thought you would. The filter between Emily's mind and her mouth kicked in just in time to stop her from saying what she was thinking and how she felt about Darren. She didn't want to start an argument with Shelby.

"I just think you deserve someone who treats you like you're the most amazing person in the world, because you are," Emily told her.

"Darren seems like he's grown up a bit, and as I said, it's just dinner."

People don't change, Emily thought. She had a feeling now wasn't the time to remind Shelby of that. Besides, it wasn't as if she'd listened to her warning about Cory. Did she really expect Shelby to listen to her? There was no reasoning with attraction sometimes, and she knew that.

"Let me know if you need any help getting ready," Emily offered, trying not to come across as half-hearted about it as she felt.

"Find my boots and I owe you big time."

"I'll text you if I do. I should go finish my column so I can start looking."

"You're the best." Shelby sounded as though she meant it.

"I know. Talk later." Emily shook her head and hung up the phone.

The odds of finding Shelby's boots in the mess around her were slim. She would try, though, because that's what best friends did. But first, it was work time. Emily grabbed her bag and yoga mat from the sofa and headed for her much-more-organized bedroom.

When she tossed her bag on her bed, the napkin with Raine's phone number fell out and landed on the floor. There was that to deal with, too. She picked the napkin up, looking at it for a minute. Then she reached for her phone.