Part 15 (1/2)
”I got my feelings hurt.”
”Well, I'm sorry.”
”By someone I trusted.”
”With the initials Z.W.”
”It hurt.”
”I can tell.”
I sniffle into the phone. ”We got in a fight.”
”I sensed that with my keen powers of intuition.”
”He really hurt my feelings. He was so cold, and he said just totally awful stuff about Chloe.”
”Well, thank you.”
I lift my head. ”For what?”
”For loving Chloe that much.”
”Enough to ditch Zach over her, yeah.”
”Yeah, not easy for you to do, huh?”
Yeah, I don't want to talk about this with Jason.
A knock on my door startles me. ”Who is it?” I call out.
”It's Zach,” says Jason.
”Shut up,” I tell him.
”It's Zach,” says that unmistakable voice on the other side of the door.
My sniffle cuts short in a sound rather like a gasp.
”Was I right?” says Jason.
”I gotta go.”
”All right. Kiss and make up.”
”You don't know what you're talking about.” I hang up my phone and go to open the door.
Zach stands in the hallway, hanging his head. He looks at me through his lashes then at the phone in my hand.
I turn to toss it onto my bed before I turn back to face him.
He stands stock-still and says nothing. The moment stretches on and on until I begin to wonder if I'm supposed to say something.
”Um...” I begin.
”Okay,” he says, ”tell me what you know about film contracts.” His posture is pure resignation, as if he's had a fight with himself and lost.
”I know nothing about them. I can call around and ask, though. Or maybe you should talk to your lawyer about what rights you have under your contract.”
”Our lawyers would probably tell us off.”
”Why?”
He bites his lip hard enough that it's a wonder he doesn't draw blood. ”They didn't review the contract before we signed it.”
A panic rises in my chest. I feel like I'm watching someone I care about ride on a car hood on the freeway, certain they're about to get squashed. ”You didn't have them look at the contract at all?”
”That was the decision, yeah.” He shrugs. He motions for permission to come in, which I grant. He saunters through the door and I shut it behind him.
I go to sit down on my bed and rake my fingers through my hair. ”Where is the contract? A copy of it at least?”
”I dunno.”
Don't yell, I think to myself. You've fought with him enough already. ”Can you find one? Let me show it to my grandparents or my uncle.”
”Vanderholt has time to read contracts?” Zach sidles over to the one chair in the room and sits down.
”I meant my other uncle. Steve. He's a lawyer like my grandparents.”
”Well, they'd be your step-grandparents.”
I roll my eyes. ”You sure do have a lot of opinions about my family, whom you've never met.”
He ducks his head, chastened. ”I'll try to find a copy of the contract.” After a pause he adds, ”Thank you.”
”You shouldn't ever sign stuff lawyers haven't read. Every word counts in a contract.” It's not like I ever really paid attention to Steve babbling away with Doug and Lillian about this, but I guess I noticed how much time they spend in their discussions. Sometimes it seems to take a whole afternoon to hash out one paragraph.
Zach looks down at his hands as if his fingernails have suddenly become fascinating. ”I know.”
”Then why did you-”
”It was Ben and Logan's decision. The whole concert movie was. And yeah, it made me nervous to sign the contract, but Rick was so positive about it.”
”Does Rick know anything about contracts?”
He won't look at me.
So I wait. I don't just want to sit and lecture all night.
”I screwed up, didn't I?” he says. ”I should have forced the issue. The thing is, Logan and Ben don't listen to me like they listened to my mother, and I get tired of being the bossy one.”