Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve
Olive
“What are you doing in there, Olive?” Char
asked.
I drew my head out of the freezer and
looked at her over my shoulder. “Have you seen my ice cream? I hid it behind
the peas, but it’s not there.”
She laughed. “I’m afraid you’re too late, I
saw Lucy inhale that last night.”
“Damn you, Lucy,” I muttered, giving up on
my search.
“Are you nervous?”
“Nervous? Who, me? About what?”
Tilting her head, she waited expectantly.
Rolling my eyes, I mumbled, “He hasn’t been
gone that long, just a few months, and he texted me every now and then, but
yeah, I’m excited to see him again.” Even though I knew I shouldn’t have been,
I was. “And as if that’s not enough excitement for my fragile heart, I’m gonna meet
the casting director and actually be there when they pick who’ll play Evie. I’m
definitely freaking ecstatic about that.”
“You’re so lucky. I wonder who’ll come in to
audition for her. If Keira Knightley is there, you have to take pictures. A ton
of them. From every single angle.”
“Ah, Char,” I said as I hopped up on the
counter empty-handed. I wanted to eat ice cream to calm down my nerves. “Talking
about Keira Knightley isn’t helping at all. If I see Keira Knightley, I’m going
to embarrass myself even more than I did the last time they saw me, and I don’t
want to think about that.”
Walking around me, she opened the
refrigerator and took out two small boxes of apple juice—taking advantage of a
sale, we had bought them the day before. Handing one of them over, she jumped
on the counter right across from me.
I sighed. “My savior.”
“I would offer alcohol to take the edge
off, but I’m thinking that wouldn’t be very helpful in your state.”
“No, it wouldn’t,” I said, with a wince.
“I’ll drink to my heart’s content when we go out tonight. Still coming, right?
Don’t bail on us like you did last time. It’s karaoke night.”
“No bailing necessary. I wouldn’t miss
karaoke night. So, how does it feel to be an early graduate? What are your
plans now?”
“I haven’t decided how I feel about it yet.
I’m happy, of course, but a little sad, too, I think. I paid off all my student
loans with the money I made from the book, so that’s something. I feel as light
as a feather. Don’t have a lot of money left in the bank, but at least I won’t
have to worry about loans.”
She shook her juice box before jabbing the
straw into it. “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to paying student loans every
month. I wish I had the time to write a book, too.”
It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard the past
few months. I’d quickly learned that when you write a book, and surprise,
surprise, you’re making money off of it—even if it’s only fifty bucks a
month—suddenly everyone around you turns into a writer. Of course, they’re a much
better writer than you, only they don’t have the time to sit down and go into
la-la land because they are so very busy with real life already.
“Oh, you’re thinking of writing a book?” I
asked mildly as I inspected the juice box in my hand.
“Well, I’m English lit, too, so yeah, I’ve
thought about it. I mean, even you wrote one,” she chuckled nervously.
Raising my eyebrows, I looked at her. “Even
I
wrote one?”
“Oh.” She went poker-faced. “That didn’t
sound right. I just meant, you never mentioned that you were writing a book and
then
bam
,
you published it on your own. It was just surprising.”
Lucy had been my beta reader since the day
she’d stolen my laptop to see what I was always working on, but I hadn’t had
the courage to share my words with anyone else. It wasn’t because I didn’t like
Charlotte, it was just because I was too nervous about the whole thing.
In the silence that followed her words, she
took few long sips from her apple juice before putting it down on the counter.
“Anyway, the reason I asked about your plans…I was wondering if you were
thinking about moving out?”
“Moving out? Of here?”
“Yeah. I mean we have one more semester,
but since you’re gonna have money coming in from the movie, too…” She shrugged.
“I just thought maybe you’d get your own place.”
“You trying to get rid of me, Char?” I
asked, slightly amused, slightly wary.
“Of course not.” She jumped down and tossed
the box into the garbage can; she hadn’t even finished it. “You know Lily, right?”
I nodded. “Well, her boyfriend tossed her out so she is looking for a place to
stay for the rest of the semester. I said maybe your room would be vacant if
you decided to move out.”
“Sorry to hear that about Lily, but I’m not
considering leaving. I like living with you guys.”
“Oh.” She looked genuinely confused. “The
way you’ve been acting around Marcus lately, I thought you were uncomfortable
here.”
“Marcus was my friend for a year before we
started our relationship; we’ve been living together for almost three years
now. I’m not uncomfortable around him, Char, we just don’t hang out together as
much as we used to. Other than that, I have no problems with him. He is the one
acting weird after this book deal happened.”
“I understand.” She avoided my eyes.
“Well,” I started, edging off the counter
to get down. “I’m glad we did this.”
“Are you angry at me?”
“No. Is there a reason I should be?”
“No. Then can I ask you something else?”
I settled back again. “Sure. About?”
I pulled the short straw into my mouth and
sighed a happy sigh when the cold apple juice hit my tongue.
“Jason Thorn.”
Intrigued, I gestured for her to go ahead.
Charlotte didn’t ask many questions. She watched. She listened. She was shy to
the point that it was painful to watch sometimes.
“When you saw that video of Jason in that
alley…”
My face fell. Why was she even asking me
about that?
“Were you upset?”
Do birds shit?
What the hell?
Letting go of the straw, I raised an
eyebrow. “Where are you going with this, Char?”
“Nowhere.” Avoiding my eyes, she played
with the coffee machine I had bought with Lucy the day I got my first payment
from Amazon. “I just don’t want to see you get hurt. He is a movie star, Liv. I
saw you two together that day—when he was dropping you off—”
“You left as soon as you met him Char.”
“I know. I know. But I see how excited you
get every time you’re talking about him.”
“So?”
“Marcus thinks you’re—”
“I don’t care what Marcus thinks, Char. And
to answer your initial question, yes, I was upset to see it, but not because I
was jealous or anything like that. I don’t have a say in his life. Hell, I’m
nothing more than a friend or an old friend’s sister to him right now.” I
shrugged. “I’m not stupid enough to think otherwise. So what if I enjoy hanging
out with him, wouldn’t you? It’s not news that he, um, enjoys having sex, for
lack of a better word. Did all those people who bashed him on TV and online
think that he was a virgin or something?”
She nodded thoughtfully. “I heard that
after the video was released, he was booted out from a few movie projects, and
there were rumors that he was actually losing his role in your movie, too.”
“Obviously, he didn’t.” I hopped down from
the counter and tossed the now empty juice box into the garbage can.
“Well, still. It seems like he is a ticking
bomb. I just hope that he won’t ruin your movie, too.”
The apartment door opened, and Marcus and
Lucy walked in.
I focused on Char. “He is a damn good
actor, Char. He can have any role he wants. They’ll forget about the video in a
few weeks when some other celebrity cheats on his wife with the nanny, then
everyone will focus on them instead. What’s gotten into you today?” I asked,
frowning at her.
“What do you mean?” she mumbled, not
looking at me.
“Hi, Liv,” Marcus greeted me on his way to
the fridge and oh-so-casually brushed a kiss on my hair.
Startled, I turned to him as he took a
water bottle from the fridge and walked right out. “What was that?” I asked to
his back, pulling myself together.
He glanced back over his shoulder. “I said
hi. Or is that banned, too?”
Lucy bugged her eyes at me from the doorway.
“Something is wrong in this apartment
today,” I announced.
My phone pinged.
Thank god!
“My Uber is here. I’m leaving.”
“But I just got here!” Lucy whined. “You
didn’t even hear what Jameson did to me today.” She widened her eyes at me. “In
an empty classroom!”
“He rocked your world?” I asked, raising an
eyebrow.
She gave me a wolfish grin. “That he did.”
“See, I’m all caught up now. Text me when
we’re leaving for karaoke night, and I’ll get back here to get ready.”
I grabbed my purse and walked out the door,
not meeting Marcus’ eyes.
***
Finally reaching the building where the
auditions were being held, I got out of my Uber and stood there to stare at the
building for a moment. Was I excited because I was about to see my characters
come to life? Or was I excited because I’d get to spend some time with Jason
again?
“Olive!”
I turned around to see Jason getting out of
his car. The way he stepped out and closed the door of that ridiculously sexy
car of his…then, as if in slow motion, put his Ray-Bans on…
Damn…
Mini orgasm attack
.
Then he got closer and closer, and I got an
even better look at my dimple—mine, because I was staking my claim on that damn
thing. After all, I’d seen it before all of his loving fans. First come, first
served, right?
“Hi,” I managed to sputter when he reached
me.
“Hi to you too.”
We just stood there and stared at each
other for a moment, his smile getting goofier.
Should I hug him?
Could
I hug him?
Was that even allowed? Why was I so weird?
Finally, he laughed and said, “Come here.” He
gave me a sideways hug and looked down at me. “I might have missed you a bit
more than you missed me, little one. It’s good to see you.”
Not the best thing he could’ve said, but
then again I’d take anything that came out of his mouth when he was hugging me.
With my head tilted back, I looked up at him.
Reaching up, I lifted his sunglasses and finally looked into his eyes.
“Nice to see you, too, Mr. Jason Thorn.”
Laughing, he kissed my temple. Had his lips
lingered for more than two seconds, or was it just me? Did those two extra
seconds mean something? Why go for the forehead and not the cheek? Did it have
a different meaning?
Different meaning or not, my heart gave a
happy sigh and the butterflies pretty much fainted from all the excitement
Jason was giving them. I closed my eyes and savored the moment.
After we reached the floor where the
casting crew was situated, he took his time to introduce me to everyone. The
whole setup had a relaxed vibe, nothing scary at all. The casting director, Bryan,
his assistant, and a cameraman to tape the auditions were the only ones left
behind, and Jason seemed to know them all.
“I’m not late, am I?” Jason asked after
shaking hands with everyone.
His eyes on the papers in front of him, the
casting director waved his hand over his head. “Just on time, as always. Have
you looked through the script we have ready?”
The script is ready?!
Jason nodded at Bryan and took the papers
the assistant handed him. “I got them this morning.” After turning a few pages,
he asked, “Which scene do you want to go over for this?”
“We’ll try the first time he finds his way
back to Genevieve.”
“Ok. Great.” Glancing at the corner where I
was sitting, Jason looked at me and winked.
I gave him a lame thumbs up and smiled.
Clearly amused, he shook his head and
turned back to the director.
“Who’s coming in for Evie?” he asked no one
in particular.
“We’re down to three names. We’ll see how
you do on camera and then go from there.”
When I saw the first actress, Claudia
Colbert, walk in, I was very proud of myself for not losing my cool. Even
though nobody was paying attention to me, I still thought I deserved a pat on
the back.
She was wearing a simple white tee with
black jeans and Toms. Her hair was in a ponytail that was effortless in a way I
could never achieve, and from what I could see, she had no makeup on. While us
mortals had to have at least some concealer on, of course she’d been blessed with
great skin on top of everything else.
She shook hands with Jason, talked with the
director for a few seconds, then took her place in front of the camera with her
script in her hand and waited for Jason to take his place.
“You guys ready?” Bryan asked, giving them
all his attention as he got up and sat down next to the cameraman.
Both Jason and Claudia nodded.
“Let’s start reading from the top. I want
to record the ending from two different angles so we’ll stop and take the last
part again.” When they started reading their lines, Bryan was watching them
through the little screen that was on the table. I tried to lean to my left to
take a peek, but they were in my way, so I settled back and focused on hearing
Isaac and Evie for the first time.
“How could you leave me, Evie?” Jason
asked, already sounding like a different person—tired, broken, hopeless. He was
becoming Isaac right in front of my eyes.
Claudia took a step toward him and tilted
her head to the side. “I’ve never left you, Isaac. I tried, but I can’t leave
you. But I won’t come after you either; I won’t force this on you.”
Jason’s voice turned harsh as he laughed.
“Force this on me? What is this, Evie? Is there even anything left of us in you?”
She took another step toward him and lifted
her hand, but then dropped it as both of her hands formed fists.
“Do I disgust you now? Is that why you
can’t touch me?” Jason all but spit the words at her as his eyes took in her
movements.
Claudia flinched and shook her head, her
voice beaten and small. “I don’t want to hurt you any more.”
Jason dropped the papers and clasped
Claudia’s wrists, lifting them up and pulling her against his chest in one
quick move I wasn’t expecting. “You think your touch can hurt me? You killed me
the moment you let me go in your heart, Evie.”
“Isaac,” Claudia murmured, and when she
looked up at Jason, there were tears swimming in her eyes.
Holy cow! If only I had some popcorn and
tissues.
“You were the one who left me,” she
continued. “You broke my heart into so many pieces that I never fully
recovered, Isaac. But none of it matters, does it? You aren’t here to stay. You
will never stay.”
Whooaaa there!
That was most definitely not my dialogue.
They had turned a perfectly romantic scene into a cheesy one.
She looked heartbroken.
I saw a teardrop fall from her eyes and
Jason let go of her wrists as if they had burned him.
“I came back. I came crawling back to you,”
Jason choked out. Leaning down, he cupped her cheeks in his hands, forcing her
to look at him. “Evie. You’re my only one.”
They both closed their eyes and rested
their foreheads against each other’s.
“Take me with you,” she whispered into the
silence. “Don’t leave me bleeding again. Don’t let them take you away from me.”
Jason kissed her nose, her eyes, and then drew
back a few inches, his hands still holding her face. “Say you still love me,
Evie. Give me the words.”
She stood up on her tiptoes and whispered
her love for him against his lips. Then they were going at each other as if the
world was ending.
Well, mine kinda ended anyway. I was
supposed to watch this take place in front of my eyes two more times with two
different actresses? What in the world had I been thinking when I’d told Jason
I would love to come along?
Someone say cut, goddamn it!
Then it was over and they parted. Bryan
thanked them and asked for another take from a different angle. I refused to
watch it for the second time. Seeing the same scene in a movie set would be a
different story, but in here, with only a few people around…it looked intimate,
real. Each and every one of us was an outsider, intruding upon their moment.
Finally, Bryan was happy with what he got,
and after thanking Claudia, they sent her away.
I watched the same thing happen with two
other beautiful, very well known, very talented actresses. The third one,
Lindsay Dunlop, pretty much blew it out of the park. Bryan asked her to do
three different scenes with Jason. At the end of it all, they had their Evie, and
Lindsay was smiling just as big as Jason.
Even though I wasn’t being specifically
ignored or anything, I was still sticking out like a sore thumb sitting in the
corner like that. I had a feeling I was just there because Jason Thorn had
brought me in. They didn’t care that I was the author at all.
Feeling overwhelmed with the kisses, the
acting, the words…I sneaked out of the room—not that I needed to sneak out. No
one gave a damn about what I was doing.
I was digging into my bag looking for my
phone when someone came around the corner and collided with me. I stumbled
back.
A second of shock, then I yelped in pain.
I glanced down at my front and saw that my
entire shirt was soaked with some kind of green liquid. It smelled like coffee,
but it was green.
Scalding
green liquid.
“Jesus! Are you okay?” someone asked.
“Oh, shit! Shit! Shit!” My eyes burning
with tears, I dropped my bag onto the carpeted floor. Peeling the shirt away, I
started to blow on my skin to find some relief.
Some girl came running to the guy’s side.
“Sir, is everyth—”
“Go get me something to clean her up with,”
the guy snapped at the girl.
“Olive Taylor?” He softened his voice for
me.
Hearing my name, I looked up and saw Keith,
the exec with the bleached teeth, hovering over me.
“Oh. Hello,” I said, my lower lip slightly
trembling. I peeked into my shirt and realized my chest was already red.
Wonderful
.
The girl reappeared next to us and handed Keith
a wet towel.
“Let me,” Keith murmured, taking a step
toward me.
I was in too much pain to decline his help,
so I pushed my hair out of the way and let him gently press the cold towel onto
my skin.
“Thank you,” I murmured. “That feels
great.”
He met my eyes and gave me an apologetic
smile. He was probably in his mid thirties, but for his age, he looked good—minus
the teeth situation. When he slowly reached the swell of my breasts, I
swallowed and looked away.
Maybe a wet towel wasn’t the best solution,
but it was working. For now. I still had to lose the shirt somehow. It was completely
soaked through and right then competing in a wet t-shirt contest was not on my
to-do list.
Just as he opened his mouth to say
something, someone grabbed my wrist and I was wrenched away from Keith. My head
jerked up and I saw Jason pushing me behind his back, glaring daggers at Keith.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing
touching her?”
“Jason!” I gasped, a little belatedly. His
hand was still around my wrist, but his touch was gentle.
Keith appeared calm, but upon hearing
Jason’s tone, he raised his brows.
“Jason,” I said, tugging at his arm, trying
to get his attention. “There is coffee all over me, he was trying to help.”
“It is smoothie, Olive,” Keith said looking
at me with a small smile.
Hot smoothie?!
Seriously?
“By groping your breasts?” Jason growled. He
looked down at me with his flushed face and I frowned up at him.
“Jesus,” he exclaimed when he finally
dropped his eyes enough to get a look at me. “Jesus!” he repeated. Looking into
my eyes, he asked, “Are you okay, little one?”
“I’ll be fine.” I looked at Keith over his
shoulder and decided an apology was in order.
“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was
going. Thank you for your help.” I looked at Jason, lifted my arm, and eyed my
wrist that was still in his grasp. “If you can let me go, I’ll just leave.”
He didn’t let me go, but at least his face
wasn’t flushed with anger any more.
Glancing at Keith, he said, “Sorry, man.
When I saw you two…I assumed wrong.”
“Understandable. She is your friend.”
Jason’s mouth tightened.
What in the world is going on?
“I hope we’ll see each other soon, Miss
Taylor,” Keith said to me and walked away from us.
Jason dropped my wrist and gently brushed
the hair that had fallen over my shoulders away from my chest.
“We’re going to the emergency room.”
“No, we’re not. What’s wrong with you?” I
asked, genuinely curious. “He was helping me. What did you think he could be
doing out in the open like this?”
He had the decency to look away.
“How can I help?” he asked instead.
I sighed. “You should go back in there,
Jason. I was leaving anyway.” Again, I peeled the shirt away from my skin. If
another Uber was close by, maybe I could make it back to the apartment without
being seen by too many people.
“We’re done with the reading.” He put his
hand on my back and urged me forward. “Let’s go. I should have an extra shirt
in my car. We’ll look at the damage as you change and then decide if we’re
going to the emergency room or not.”
“Fine, Mom,” I mumbled, and he gave me a
dark look.
“Your car really looks adorable from the
front,” I said, once we reached the parking lot.
“It’s a Venom GT Spyder, Olive. It’s
not
an adorable car.”
I shrugged behind his back. To me, the eyes
and the small mouth looked adorable.
Unlocking the doors, he leaned in and
reached for something behind his seat.
A gray t-shirt.
“Take off your shirt,” he said,
straightening up and turning to me.
“What?” I gaped at him.
His fingers reached out to lift the hem of
my shirt, but I slapped his hand away.
“What are you doing?” I hissed quietly as
two girls hurried passed his car, their phones glued to their ears.
“Olive,” he started. “I need to see how bad
it is. Take it off.”
His hands came at me again. I slapped his
hand harder.
“You want me to take off my shirt out in
the open?”
He met my eyes. “We’re in the parking lot.
No one who isn’t supposed to be in here is allowed to be in here. No one will
see you between the SUV and my car. Go on.”
He reached at me again.
So, naturally, glaring at him, I slapped
his hand even harder.
This time he laughed.
“Don’t make me take it off for you, Olive.
I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Your car doesn’t even reach your chest,
Jason. I doubt it will do much to hide me from sight.”
“Face the SUV. I’ll turn around and cover
your back. Or we can go straight to the ER. Your choice.”
“No,” I snapped.
“Then do as I say.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re
annoying.” After a short staring contest that only ended up making me hot, I
was the first one to turn away.
Grumbling under my breath, I gingerly
lifted my shirt off of my stomach and took it off. It wasn’t hurting as much as
it had a few minutes before, but I wouldn’t say no to rubbing some ice cubes on
my chest either. Dropping the shirt to the ground, I…
Shit!
The
extra shirt was still in his hands.
“Hand me the damn shirt,” I whispered,
looking to my left to see if anybody was walking around.
“Why are you whispering?” he asked right
over my shoulder, his hot breath tickling my neck.
The annoying-hot-jerk chuckled when I
squealed and jumped around.
“You were supposed to turn around,” I
accused him hotly.
His eyes dropped to my chest. His jaw
hardening, he quickly looked up and away.
“What is
that?
” he gritted through
his teeth.
Covering my breasts with my forearm, I
snapped, “They’re breasts. What does it look like?”
Did he think they were too big? He probably
did. I definitely didn’t have those small elegant breasts where you could go to
bed without wearing a bra.
“Why aren’t you wearing something white and
simple?”
Despite the stupid situation, I looked down
at my chest and laughed. “Why do you care what I wear? And what is wrong with
this one?”
He looked up at the sky. “It’s…it doesn’t…do
anything. You can see through it.”
“So?” I asked.
“You aren’t supposed to wear stuff like
that.”
“Says who? I’m sure you must’ve seen much
better stuff than this.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “Just give me the
damn shirt, Jason,” I said impatiently. “It wasn’t my intention to disgust you
or embarrass you or whatever it is happening right now.”
“Disgust me?” His eyes shot back to my eyes.
“Olive,” he said, taking a step toward me.
I cut him off before he could tell me
something brotherly and piss me off, or—even worse—break my heart even more.
“Jason, there are people around. Please
give me the shirt so I can cover myself.”
His jaw ticked, but he handed me his shirt,
and I quickly pulled it over my head.
“Thank you.”
He took yet another step and I plastered my
back against the SUV behind me. He lifted the shirt up, just a little. This
time I didn’t slap his hand away. He’d already seen more of me than I’d been ready
to show him.
He gently touched my stomach, then started running
the back of his knuckles over my slightly irritated skin.
That thing that resides in your chest? Took
wings and flew away.
The other thing that was in my skull? Turned
to complete mush
.
I sucked in a breath, my heartbeat suddenly
slowing down to the point where I wasn’t sure if I was still alive or had
stepped into heaven. When I lifted my head up, he was staring down at me
—right
into my eyes.
By then I was the perfect example of one of
those ‘My body is ready’ gifs.
“It doesn’t look as bad as your…chest area,”
he said, softly dropping the shirt over his hand.
He didn’t back away.
I didn’t look away.
His hand was still in there.
On my stomach.
Under my shirt.
Then he sighed and pulled it away. Suddenly
I could breathe again.
Instead of begging him to take me right
against the car like I desperately wanted to, I said, “I’ll be okay. I’ll put
something on when I get home. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
He wasn’t happy, but he opened his car door
and helped me get in.
Jason Thorn, my childhood crush and now
movie star, had touched my stomach, gently, and I wasn’t hyperventilating.
Huh…
Maybe I was getting the hang of this obsession/love
thing.