Under the Lights

She looks at me like she’s waiting for the punchline. When it doesn’t come, she looks helplessly at the cappuccino maker, sighs, and turns on her heel.

I follow her out; apparently, she doesn’t realize the guest house requires a key. She taps her foot as I unlock the door, but she doesn’t seem impatient, exactly. More like she’s filled with nervous energy or something. As I watch her dive for the coffee machine, I can’t help thinking caffeine is probably a bad idea. Too bad she’d probably rip my balls off for saying so.

“What do you even do with this place?” she asks as the machine rumbles to life under her fingertip. “It doesn’t look like anyone’s ever slept here. I know Ally only pretended to when she was staying at Liam’s.”

The place is a little sparse. “I dunno. My parents used to have people here, back when they came more often, but they both prefer to stay in Bel Air as much as possible. Anyway, it’s really just a bedroom and bathroom.”

“Still, it has cool potential.” She slides one of the mugs on the table into the coffeemaker, presses another button, and little by little, the scent of coffee fills the air. “You should do something with it.”

“Like a sex den?” I ask, just as she says, “Not a sex den.”

I grin. “You gonna move out of your parents’ place anytime soon?”

She mutters something under her breath that I don’t catch, and I have a feeling I don’t wanna ask her to repeat it. Then she grabs the mug, sprinkles in some sugar and one of those creamer things from the little hostess tray, and takes a long, deep sip without even waiting for it to cool.

“Oh God,” she groans in appreciation, sounding so orgasmic there’s a shift in my shorts. “That’s perfect.”

“Hit it a little hard last night, did you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you drink so much. Sorry Mini-Jade missed it. She left pretty early.”

Her eyelids flutter shut. “Will you stop calling her Mini-Jade? It’s creepy. You know her name.”

“I know yours, too, but K-drama’s just so much better.” I hop up onto one of the stools lining the breakfast bar. “Is this about your boyfriend skipping out on last night?”

“For the millionth time, Joshua, he did not skip out. And for your information, I’m going straight from here to see Zander, so don’t get any ideas into your over-gelled head.”

A vague memory from last night stirs in my brain. “I thought you said you had a meeting with Jade. Didn’t you say you needed to get back to LA by noon for that?”

She wrinkles her nose, and even through my hungover haze, I realize what’s happening here. I throw back my head and laugh. “Seriously? Haven’t you learned your lesson from the whole thing with Liam last year? Don’t you get tired of this endless publicity fauxmance shit?”

“This is not the same thing,” she insists, her knuckles whitening around the mug. “Liam was a stunt, obviously, but Zander and I…it’s not the same.”

“So you’re genuinely into him?”

She takes another sip of coffee, and I smirk, recognizing it for the time-buying tactic it is. K-drama’s a halfway decent actress, but that doesn’t mean she’s a good liar. By the time she says, “Yes, I am,” I already know without a doubt it’s complete bullshit.

“So what’s the meeting about?”

“Just event stuff,” she says stiffly, leaning against the island. “It’s really not a big deal.”

“You’re meeting on a Saturday and it’s not a big deal?”

“It works around my filming schedule, thank you very much. Some of us still have regular jobs.”

Ouch. “Not that I’m dying to go back to a life of ass-crack-of-dawn call times with you any time soon, but for your information, you’re not the only one who has meetings today,” I tell her. I take a swig from my water bottle. “I’m coming in with you. Meeting up with Holly to discuss some more options.”

She raises her eyebrows. “More…acting options? For you?”

“For your information, I’m testing fabulously well for my work on the show, so, yes. Acting options. Hopefully less lame ones this time.”

“Oh, please. You loved every minute of working on Daylight Falls.”

“Only the ones where I got to torture you.”

“Like I said,” she says wryly. “Every minute.”

I smile around the neck of the water bottle and let a little more trickle down my throat. “You’re funny, K-drama. Don’t worry — one of these days you’ll get your own boyfriend, without Hollywood help.”

“And one of these days, you’ll die single and alone. Probably in your own vomit.”

“That is how all the best celebrities go,” I say, stroking my chin thoughtfully. Which reminds me that I need to shave. And shower. And brush my teeth. “You gonna be ready to leave here in half an hour?”

“Mmhmm,” she murmurs, already diving back in for another sip. I swear, you’d think that shit was laced with bourbon.

I start to walk out, leaving her to worship at the altar of caffeine, but I can’t help noticing her nervous energy hasn’t settled at all. She looks stressed as hell, and as much as I don’t wanna give a shit, she helped me out last night. I feel like I owe her one.