Part 10 (2/2)
”Look, this is my cover, and you're trying to steal it from me!” Madison said angrily.
A young woman standing nearby was looking at them with a little too much interest. That's all Scarlett needed, for some eavesdropping stranger to call the tabloids with a hot tip about the two of them arguing over the stupid August cover.
Scarlett fake-smiled, s.h.i.+fting gears. ”I'm soooo late for a dinner date,” she told Madison apologetically. ”I'll catch you later, okay? Good luck with your meeting!”
With that, Scarlett turned and rushed out the door, trying not to laugh at the stunned expression on Madison's face, and savored her tiny victory.
”Hey, these fish tacos are great! I thought you said you didn't know how to cook.” Liam was seated next to Scarlett at her apartment, scarfing down the tacos she had just made.
”I don't. This is all I know how to make. And the main ingredient was in the freezer twenty minutes ago,” Scarlett said, secretly pleased.
Liam grinned and leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. ”I've missed you,” he said.
”I've missed you, too. I wish the semester was over already, and we could spend more time together.”
”That's, like, in a month, right?” Liam said, taking another bite of his taco.
”Yeah, I'm counting the seconds.”
”I'm gonna teach you how to wakeboard this summer.”
”Wrong, Ferguson! I'm gonna teach you how to wakeboard this summer.”
Liam laughed, then kissed her again, this time on the lips. Scarlett twined her fingers through his long, light brown wavy hair, then pulled him closer. She had wanted to prepare him a special dinner, complete with candles, wine, and romantic music in the background. It was a little cheesy for her taste, but she wanted to make up for being so MIA lately. (Jane was out with Caleb, so they had the place to themselves.) And to put him in a relaxed, happy mood before she had The Talk with him about Naveen.
She had been avoiding the issue for a while, and she really couldn't put it off any longer. For one thing, she knew that the episode featuring the Caleb-Naveen dinner party (as well as Jane and Caleb's official ”first date” at some fancy Italian restaurant) was airing next week. After it aired, the blogs would be buzzing with insane headlines like: THE NEW BOYS OF L.A. CANDY and SCARLETT'S NEW MAN?
But more important, one of the big tabloids had hit the stands this morning with a trashy piece about Scarlett and Naveen filming together, going on dinner dates, and becoming an item-compliments of a ”source close to Scarlett.” WTF? Where did reporters get this c.r.a.p? Liam apparently hadn't seen the article yet, judging from his pleasant mood tonight. But she couldn't exactly keep him away from magazine stands, bookstores, grocery store aisles, and the internet.
”Soooo.” Scarlett sat back in her chair and began fiddling with her napkin. Just get it over with, she told herself. ”You remember those two guys Janie and I know from high school? Caleb and Naveen?”
”Yeah. I mean, I've never met them. But I saw their pictures in a magazine at my dentist's office, remember?” Liam said wryly.
”Um, right.” Add ”dentist's offices” to the list, Scarlett thought. ”Well, I wanted to tell you . . . that is . . . Trevor kind of made us invite them over for dinner last week,” Scarlett blurted out.
Liam frowned. ”I don't get it.”
”Trevor said he wants us to hang out on camera as a foursome because there needs to be guys on the show,” Scarlett babbled on. ”He said it's not good for ratings that Jane isn't dating anybody, and I'm dating you, except you can't be on the show, so as far as the public is concerned, I'm not dating anybody, either. Except now Janie is dating Caleb.” She didn't stop to voice her opinion on the subject, namely, that she wasn't thrilled, and she hoped her best friend wasn't going to get hurt-again. ”That's going to be on the next episode. And so is the dinner party with the four of us. And I just wanted to let you know that dinner party was totally innocent . . . well, except when Jane and Caleb started making out in the kitchen. But Naveen and I are friends from a long time ago, and you know that Trevor is always looking for a story. It's just, you never know how Trevor's gonna edit stuff, right? And then this crazy article came out today, but it's all made up, and-”
”Wait, what?” Liam put his fork down and pushed his plate away. ”What article?”
”One of the tabloids lied and said Naveen and I hooked up,” Scarlett explained. Was it her imagination, or was she talking really, really fast? ”Which we never did! I mean, not never, because we did kind of have a thing in high school. But it was high school, and it only happened once. Now we're just friends. I mean, we're barely friends. We're only hanging out because Trevor is making us.” She leaned closer and gazed into Liam's blue eyes. ”You understand, right? This is my job, and it's not like I'm choosing to hang out with these guys.”
She stopped and took a deep breath, waiting for Liam to nod sympathetically and tell her that he understood completely. But he was looking at her with a weird, tense expression and not saying a word.
”What? Say something. You're not mad at me, are you?” Scarlett said.
Liam sighed. ”No, I'm not mad at you, Scarlett. But you should have told me this stuff before. And yeah, I get that this is your job. But do you have to pretend you're dating this guy for the show?”
”I'm not! Trevor just wants us to hang out, that's all.”
”Yeah, well, what does that mean, 'hang out'? What does Trevor mean by that?”
”I have no idea what goes on in Trevor's mind. Well, maybe I do, but I'd rather not think about it. The point is . . . I'm not Trevor's puppet. He can't make me do stuff I don't want to do. And I absolutely, positively don't want to even pretend to date Naveen. I want to date you. I am dating you.”
Liam regarded her silently.
Scarlett grabbed his hand. ”In a perverse, mixed-up kind of way, maybe it's a good thing that Trevor's into his make-believe head games about me and Naveen. Maybe this way, he won't give me a hard time about dating you.”
”He's giving you a hard time about that? Still?”
Scarlett shrugged. ”He's not happy that I'm dating someone who can't be filmed. It was the same thing with Jane and Braden. Not that they were dating, exactly. But you know what I mean.”
”I guess? G.o.d, this show is really messed up.”
”Yeah, I know. But it's a job. A good job with serious money. And I'm lucky to have it.” When Liam gave her a strange look, Scarlett quickly added, ”I wasn't saying that because you don't have a . . . I mean, I need the money to pay for tuition so I don't have to freeload off my parents. And someday, after I graduate, I'll have a way better job where I won't feel like I'm living in a fish bowl. I mean, you know this is totally twisted, right? There's my real life, like tonight. Then there's my other life, in front of the cameras. And then there's my third life, after Trevor's done editing my scenes and they air on TV.”
Liam cracked a smile. ”Yeah, that's twisted, all right.”
Scarlett leaned over and hugged him. Liam hugged her back. Good. He was okay. Things were going to be okay between them.
”I'm gonna change the music. What is this? You getting sappy on me?” Liam said after a moment, extricating himself from their hug and walking over to the CD player. He pulled a CD case off the shelf and studied it. Scarlett could tell that the subject of Naveen and Trevor and the rest of it was closed. Which was fine with her. ”Hey, we're still on for this Sat.u.r.day and Sunday, right? For your birthday surprise?”
”Yes, we are, sir,” Scarlett said, digging into another taco. ”What are we doing? Can you give me a tiny hint?”
”It's going to be amazing. Other than that, you're not getting a single hint, so don't even try.” Liam pulled out a cream envelope peeking out from between two CDs. ”What's this?”
”NOOOO!” Scarlett leapt to her feet and grabbed the envelope out of Liam's hands. He looked totally confused. ”It's . . . um . . . it's a surprise I have for you! So you can't look, okay?”
”O-kay.” Liam c.o.c.ked his head. ”What kind of surprise? My birthday's not till September, you know?”
”It's not a birthday surprise. It's a different kind of surprise. Just be patient, please? I promise I'll tell you soon.”
”You'd better.” Liam slid his arms around her waist and hugged her again. Scarlett crammed the envelope into the back pocket of her jeans as she nestled in closer, hugging him back. She couldn't believe he had come this close to seeing the return address on the envelope. She had hidden it on the CD shelf yesterday, quickly and carelessly (obviously), because it was on the coffee table and Jane had almost picked it up.
It was Scarlett's first acceptance letter, from Columbia University in New York City. She had danced a little victory dance around the apartment when she read it. Then grown very subdued when she realized that she had a choice now. She could leave USC this fall if she wanted to.
The problem was, she didn't want to leave Liam. Or Jane.
What was she going to do?
<script>