Senior Year Box Set

Trip and Teresa joined us for dinner. Rosy outdid herself, and we’d all stuffed ourselves by the time we were finished. We spent the evening catching up. Teresa had moved in with Trip at the oceanfront house. Rita said that Halle had put a contract in on a home for herself in the same neighborhood where I’d bought mine.

I would bet that having her kids grow up and move out would be hard on Rita. Change after twenty years wouldn’t be easy.

◊◊◊ Friday April 14

I woke to someone molesting me. Since I had Bandit curled up on my chest, I made the wild-ass assumption that it was Halle. I hadn’t seen her last night because she’d been on set shooting a new movie she’d been cast in. I knew she’d be back for the weekend because she was one of the presenters for the MTV awards. Halle had agreed to perform with Billie Angell, who had two songs currently on the radio. They were supposed to rehearse over the next two days.

“Oh, Brook,” I moaned.

I felt teeth in response to my bad joke.

“Jeez! Careful,” I yelped.

“I wake you like that, and you use Brook’s name?” Halle bitched.

“In my head, it sounded funny,” I said and then gave her my drowned-puppy look.

I’d stayed at the Jameses’ house two years ago when we filmed The Secret Circle, before Brook and I became a couple. She’d been one of the girls I was dating then, along with Halle, Zoe, and Pam. Brook had worried that Halle would take advantage of the fact that we were living under the same roof and give me morning blowjobs every day. Unfortunately, Halle hadn’t.

Then I tried a different approach.

“Mr. Happy really liked what you were doing. He thinks you should give him a kiss to make him better.”

“Maybe you should give me a kiss to make me better,” Halle suggested.

Bandit about took my left nipple off when he clawed me. He didn’t appreciate being put on the floor. Before I could kiss Halle, she checked the bruises on my chest.

“Cassidy was right. You’re lucky to be alive.”

“It did sting a little,” I said to put a brave face on.

I’ll admit, what she said had run through my head more than once. Putting that aside, I touched Halle’s face to make her look at me. I gave her my sexy-boy look, which made the corners of her mouth twitch. Teen Celebs magazine had said that look made girls go crazy. They contended that I’d been selected for my role in the next James Bond film solely based on that look. I wasn’t sure about that, but I knew that when I gave it to Halle, good things followed.

Yep, it still worked.

◊◊◊

Lexi was waiting for me when Halle and I finally made it downstairs.

“Hey, stranger,” I said as I kissed her cheek.

“Rita suggested I come over and try some of Rosy’s pancakes,” Lexi said, pointing to the stack in the middle of the table.

The pancakes were chock-full of pecans. I grabbed a plate and joined Lexi. Halle passed on the pancakes and instead went the whole ‘healthy’ route with fresh fruit and yogurt. I didn’t take offense. That just meant more for Lexi and me.

“What’s on the schedule for today?” I asked.

“This morning, you have a meeting at the studio with my dad and Rita to talk about Love Letters.”

“Why?” I asked, confused.

“You’re one of the investors,” Halle reminded me.

“Why aren’t you going?” I asked.

Halle and I had been given ownership interests in the film as part of the settlement with the studio. I’d accepted because it was either that or the movie would be shelved. We’d moved it to Lexi’s dad’s studio so the film could be finished.

“I gave my mom my power of attorney,” Halle said.

“Why didn’t you think of that?” I asked Lexi.

“You could give it to me,” Lexi suggested.

The way she said it gave me pause for thought. To this point, I hadn’t been involved in any of the management of the movie’s creation. This would give me a chance to see what happened behind the scenes. Someday, I might want to follow in Rita’s footsteps and be on the other side of the camera.

◊◊◊

Rita rode over in a separate car since she had other things to do after the meeting. Chuck drove Lexi and me in one of Rita’s Land Rovers. We met Rita at the front door of the studio’s creative building, where we waited until Paul Andon met us.

“Since you’re in town, I wanted to show you the movie and then talk next steps,” Paul said as he showed us in.

He led us to a small theater that probably sat twenty people max. About half the seats were already filled. As soon as we sat down, the lights dimmed, and the movie started. If only this would happen at the multiplex.

Love Letters turned out to be what I expected: a cute little rom-com that had some laughs and just enough touching moments to keep it from being too sappy. I predicted girls would love it, and a lot of guys would be dragged along for a date night.

After the viewing, we were taken to a large conference room, where we were joined by several of the studio’s staff. Paul stepped up to the front and kicked off the meeting.