Part 17 (1/2)
YES, PLEASE! Scarlett typed.
WELL IF I MANAGE TO FIGURE OUT YOUR LIFE, DRINKS ARE ON YOU :-).
Scarlett smiled to herself. If Chelsea could solve all her problems, she would be happy to buy her whatever the h.e.l.l she wanted.
Chapter 27.
That Crazy, Lovesick Girl
”I'm sorry I couldn't make your restaurant opening. How'd it go?” Caleb asked Jane. He reached across the table and lightly stroked her arm.
She smiled and squeezed his hand before reaching into her purse for her lip gloss and compact, trying to buy herself an extra moment to formulate a response. Because how should she answer this question? It was awesome! My crazy ex-boyfriend, who just got out of rehab, showed up at the party with Madison's little sister. I think they went through most of the vodka in the place. And I'm afraid to leave my apartment because there are paps with camcorders camped outside, wanting a quote from me about the two of them hooking up. A couple of mornings, I had to have one of the PopTV production vans pick me up at the side gate so I could avoid them. . . .
Of course, she couldn't say any of that, since the PopTV cameras were filming their dinner date at Katsuya. Instead she replied, ”It was fine. Now I'm totally focused on Aja's party next weekend. There's still so much to do!”
”I am definitely not missing that one,” Caleb said, taking a sip of his drink. ”I've never been to Vegas. It's pretty wild there, right?”
”It's a lot of fun.”
”What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?” Caleb joked.
”That's what they say.” Jane forced a laugh. ”Hey, here's our food.”
The waitress set their appetizers on the table: a green salad for Jane and raw oysters for Caleb. Jane used to come to Katsuya a lot with Jesse; it was one of his favorite restaurants in L.A., although probably not anymore, not since their disastrous date in January when she'd confessed to having met up with Braden earlier that day. Jesse hadn't taken it too well. . . .
Jane had tried to avoid Jesse at Sirloin the other night; she hadn't been up to a confrontation or even a conversation, under the circ.u.mstances. But he had managed to corner her briefly while Sophia was in the ladies' room.
”Well, look at you, Jane. Working hard at your important job?” he had said in a gruff, slurry voice, his hot breath reeking of alcohol. ”Yeah, you definitely didn't waste any time getting a new boyfriend. Not that I give a d.a.m.n. I'm hooking up with Sophia now. I guess you can say I upgraded.”
Jane-aware that there were at least two cameras trained on her-had simply replied that she was happy to see that his rehab had paid off, then excused herself. It was a low blow, but it would also make it difficult for Trevor to use the scene, since he would never address Jesse's alcoholism on the show. Although knowing Trevor, he would probably find a way.
”You want one of these? They're pretty tasty,” Caleb said, offering her an oyster.
”Um, no, thanks,” Jane said, making a face. She didn't know how he could eat those slimy things. Gross.
Jane's cell buzzed. She sighed. Of course it was a text from Dana: YOU'RE ON A DATE WITH YOUR BF. SMILE!
Jane groaned inwardly as she placed her cell back in her lap, took a deep breath, and forced a smile. She knew all about Trevor's efforts to try to ”heat up” her and Caleb's relations.h.i.+p from reading his little notebook. Was their chemistry, or rather, lack of chemistry, that obvious? That was kind of sad. But watching the last few episodes of the show, Jane had noticed that she and Caleb weren't the most exciting couple ever. Of course he was gorgeous (he already had a huge female fan base from the show), and of course they had fun together. But something was . . . missing. And things had become kind of strained between them lately because of his continued obsession with being filmed, photographed, and interviewed. She was starting to wonder if he actually liked her, or if he was just with her for the media attention. What had he said to her at STK? You know me, Janie. I'm your biggest fan, and I'll always be your biggest fan. Not because you're a star, but because you're Janie Roberts from Santa Barbara who saves stray animals and likes to eat Cheerios out of an Elmo bowl.
What happened to that Caleb?
As for Trevor's notebook . . . well, it was a gold mine, but it was a curse, too. Jane spent way too much time going through it and plotting ways to mess with Trevor's head. She'd wasted her entire lunch hour yesterday figuring out how to foil his plans for her in the coming weeks. She was going to ”run into” Madison at Kate Somerville on Tuesday? She would tell her how pretty her manicure was! She and Caleb were going to ”run into” Jesse and Sophia at Beso on Thursday night? She would tell Sophia that she should order the Bibb salad!
But frankly . . . Jane wasn't sure she would follow through with either idea. The game was already growing tiresome, and eventually, she would have to face the real problem, which was that Trevor treated her like she was a mouse in a maze-his mouse in his maze that he had carefully constructed with a predetermined outcome.
Jane was still trying to make out some of the entries-Trevor's handwriting was a disaster-and trying to understand some of them, too. There were entries about Scar and Naveen (which Scar was not happy about when Jane had shown her) and also Madison, Gaby, Hannah, and Sophia. But there was one entry which Jane couldn't figure out at all. It seemed to be about a guy, and the entry had intrigued her because the guy in question didn't appear to be either Caleb or Naveen. She reminded herself to make another stab at deciphering that entry later.
Her cell buzzed again. Oh, G.o.d, Dana. Without bothering to read the text, Jane automatically reached across the table and laced her fingers through Caleb's. ”This place is nice, isn't it?” was all she could manage to come up with. She was out with her handsome boyfriend on a Sat.u.r.day night, having dinner at a trendy L.A. restaurant. So why wasn't she enjoying herself?
”Yeah, it's pretty cool. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow? Dodgers have a home game, and Naveen and I were thinking of going. Maybe you and Scar could come with us?”
”Love to, but I've gotta go into the office,” Jane said apologetically. ”I know, I know, it's a Sunday . . . but I'm meeting with Hannah to go over some stuff for Vegas.”
Jane's cell buzzed almost immediately. She already knew what it was going to say: JANE, WHAT MEETING WITH HANNAH? SHE'S OUT OF TOWN. SAY YES!!!!!!
Jane knew Hannah was in San Diego, visiting with Oliver's parents. She felt bad lying to Caleb. But she'd had a lot of Caleb time lately. She could use a day off.
Caleb grinned. ”I wish Princ.i.p.al Enemark could see you now. If you'd worked half this hard in high school, you would've gotten straight As instead of-”
”Okay, that's enough,” Jane cut in, laughing.
The rest of the evening was fine, mostly talking about whether or not Caleb would return to Yale in the fall. He seemed as though he was leaning toward it, in part because his parents were putting pressure on him to finish his education . . . and much to Jane's surprise, she didn't feel bothered by it. But shouldn't she feel something? When he left for Yale the first time, to start his freshman year, she had missed him so much, so achingly. They had called and texted several times a day (at least for a while, until he stopped being quite so attentive). She had put photos of him on all her screensavers and never taken off the silver heart necklace he had given her for graduation.
So what happened to that crazy, lovesick girl?
Jane's cell rang as she drove down Hollywood Boulevard. She and Caleb had decided to spend the night at their own apartments since Jane had to ”work” in the morning.
She glanced at her phone, figuring it would be Dana or maybe yet another reporter wanting a quote about Jesse and Sophia . . . and was surprised to see BRADEN CALLING pop up.
She felt breathless. She hadn't spoken to him since he left for Banff a month ago. She tapped on her Bluetooth. ”h.e.l.lo?”
”Hey.” Braden sounded relieved that she had picked up. ”Is this a bad time?”
”No, not at all! How are you?” Jane couldn't believe he was calling. She also couldn't believe how happy it made her.
”Good. Tired. We've been shooting, like, twelve hours a day every day. A lot of the scenes are outdoors, in the snow and wind.”
”Sounds intense.”
”Yeah, it is, but it's going really well. My part's awesome. I can't wait to take you to see the final cut.”
”Yeah, I can't wait, either.”