Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65643 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
I couldn’t imagine why he was asking. Did he know something about Andrew I didn’t? “Sometimes,” I said, managing to grab the frame from his hand. “Why?”
“Because I think you need to give him a call.”
“I—why?” I looked up at Garrett in confusion and realized how close he was. His amber eyes were focused on my hair, a faint frown on his handsome face. He really hated it. It kind of made me like it more. I tossed it back so that it caught the sunlight, a snapping, shimmering blaze of candy apple red. “Why?” I repeated.
Garrett’s eyes moved slowly to my face. “What?”
“Why should I call Andrew?” I said, enunciating my words and speaking slowly as though he were hard of hearing.
The amber eyes cleared, and Garrett took a step back, putting a normal amount of distance between us. “Because you need to be seen around town with him.”
I tried to imagine something more embarrassing than making one of my oldest friends pretend to date me to save my reputation. Maybe even doing a reenactment of the last most embarrassing moment of our lives–when Magical Melody and good old Michael finally kissed in the series finale. Two pairs of lips mashed uncomfortably together under the hot studio lights, pressed together so close that we could feel each other’s hearts beating through our neon t-shirts.
But this time, with paparazzi.
No way.
“What else you got?” I asked.
Garrett frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, what’s plan B?” I put the picture frame down carefully and then looked back up at him.
“There isn’t a plan B. There’s one plan, and this is the first step.” Garrett rubbed his bottom lip and looked at my hair again. “Second step,” he corrected himself.
“I’m not calling Andrew, so there needs to be another plan.”
Garrett looked infuriatingly unconcerned. “Then Noemi will call him. Same end result.”
I narrowed my eyes. Either Garrett had an unparalleled poker face, or he wasn’t bluffing. Would Noemi do it, though? I thought about it and decided that yes, Noemi would. Without qualm. Would Andrew do it though? That was a trickier question. I hadn’t heard that he was dating anyone, but then again, I hadn’t talked to him in a few months.
“He’s dating someone,” I told Garrett, remembering that it wasn’t the truth that mattered but rather, what you could make someone believe.
Garrett laughed. The sun caught his eyes, turning the amber to gold. “Your acting skills are getting rusty, Magical Melody.”
I frowned. They weren’t–I just hadn’t tried hard enough to sell the lie. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. I could catch up with Andrew while my career rehabilitated in the glow of his stardom. “He might be.”
Garrett nodded to my phone. “Let’s see.”
I felt strange calling Andrew under Garrett’s unwavering gaze, but he wouldn’t let me go in the bedroom to do it. “Like I trust you to tell me what he really said.”
I walked to the window, putting my back to Garrett, while I listened to it ring. There was no way Andrew would pick up. He was way too busy. He probably didn’t even have my new number. And besides, he was probably–
“Hi, Dez.” His voice replaced the ringing, happy and warm and so familiar it made me smile for what felt like the first time in a while.
“Hi. Are you in town?”
In the wavering reflective surface of the window, I saw Garrett nod approvingly behind me. It was unspeakably irritating.
“Just for the week,” Andrew answered, oblivious to what was happening on my end of the call. “Can I see you?”
I laughed a little. Could he see me? As though I were the one with the scheduled jam packed with back-to-back commitments. Like I was the one who was the hottest thing on the industry grill. That was Andrew, though. He always made you feel like you were special, like it would mean a lot to him if you made time to see him. It looked like having the world clambering for his attention hadn’t changed him a bit. “I think I can make time in my busy schedule,” I said, only a hint of self-mockery in my voice. I didn’t want to bring Andrew down with my problems. I wasn’t sure I wanted to involve him at all.
We made plans to meet up for lunch after he filmed a morning interview, before he had to go back into the studio to loop some post-production dialogue. I told him to let me know where, and he promised he would.
I got off the phone and turned back to Garrett. “There, we’re going to lunch. Are you satisfied?”
Garrett looked up from his phone, his thumbs still moving across the keyboard. “It’s a start.” He looked back down, smirked.
“What?” I asked, walking closer and trying to see his screen. I had a feeling that whatever he was smirking about had to do with me.