her to Ben , the way in which she had thrown herself at the only person I had ever expressed any interest in wasn’t totally forgotten.
Sophia had asked me to com e out with Chris, right? I try to remember exactly what she had said. An old friend…interested in what he’s been up to… That didn’t mean she wanted to date him, right? Right?
Ok, Hallie , stop.
Why are you even thinking about any of this? It’s not like you’re on a date. You are his charity work for the day. He is only here because Sophia asked, and G od knows what she promised him. Just take this for what it is, and have a nice day and a good time, like you’ve been having all morning, and then chalk it up to a good adventure. He happens to be incredibly sexy and thoughtful and you have a million things in common , that’s all, the other part of my brain yelled.
I mak e a quick decision. Obviously, this little New York tour wasn’t a sign of his interest in me , but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t have a perfect New York day . I decide irrevocably that nothing he had said or would say to me would be shared with Sophia . I would just tell her that he was perfectly nice and that we had a good time and I wasn’t able to find anything out. Telling her anything would be a betrayal of this time with him.
“Are you ok?” Chris asks , concern in his eyes. I had apparently stopped the story while I had been lost in thought.
“Sorry. Just remembered the booing of tens of thousands of fans. Bad memories.”
He laughs . “At my first premiere, I was sitting next to this girl who kept telling her friend that the guying playing Evan was absolutely the worst actor that she had ever seen and that she couldn’t figure out why anyone thought he had any talent. I was laughing right along with her until I realized that she was talking about me.”
“You didn’t even realize that your cha racter’s name was Evan? I may need to retract my statement that you will become a movie star. I think goal number one is for you to start remembering your own name.”
We laugh for a minute and I’m putting butter on my toast as h e reaches across the table to brush the hair out of my face. Every other sensation goes away and the only thing I can focus on is the touch of his fingertips on my face. There it is again—the volts of electricity running up my body.
He looks guilty for a minute and then winks at me. “We wouldn’t want you to get jam in your hair now. That would ruin our whole day.”
Oh. I was about to pull a classic Hallie by getting jam all over my face in front of the most beautiful boy in the world . I had already spilled a little bit of coffee on my pants— I almost never made it through a meal without getting some sort of drink or food on my clothing or face. Of course he didn’t want to touch me. He was just protecting me from the jam. “I wouldn’t let a little thing like j am stop me from enjoying my first real day in New York,” I say , slightly deflated.
“Then, you’re already different from, oh, one hundred per cent of the girls here . Jam would be considered a serious emergency worthy of a clothing change.”
“I think we established my differences last night when I was put in social pariah territory,” I say without thinking.
“ I happen to like social pariahs.” He reaches up again to brush my hair away for the second time . While I’m pretty sure that the jam is gone now, I wipe my face with a napkin anyway. “Sorry,” he says , brushing his own hair away. “ Just wanted to make absolutely sure .”
There’s a glob of jam on my lips and I try to pass it off like I meant for it to be there . “ This could totally be the new lip gloss .” I wipe it away again. I am such a moron.
He smiles at me, and it spread s all the way across his face. “ You’re the next lip gloss millionaire.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence for a minute. He’s definitely trying to figure out how to get rid of me, and he’s
Sophia had asked me to com e out with Chris, right? I try to remember exactly what she had said. An old friend…interested in what he’s been up to… That didn’t mean she wanted to date him, right? Right?
Ok, Hallie , stop.
Why are you even thinking about any of this? It’s not like you’re on a date. You are his charity work for the day. He is only here because Sophia asked, and G od knows what she promised him. Just take this for what it is, and have a nice day and a good time, like you’ve been having all morning, and then chalk it up to a good adventure. He happens to be incredibly sexy and thoughtful and you have a million things in common , that’s all, the other part of my brain yelled.
I mak e a quick decision. Obviously, this little New York tour wasn’t a sign of his interest in me , but it didn’t mean that I couldn’t have a perfect New York day . I decide irrevocably that nothing he had said or would say to me would be shared with Sophia . I would just tell her that he was perfectly nice and that we had a good time and I wasn’t able to find anything out. Telling her anything would be a betrayal of this time with him.
“Are you ok?” Chris asks , concern in his eyes. I had apparently stopped the story while I had been lost in thought.
“Sorry. Just remembered the booing of tens of thousands of fans. Bad memories.”
He laughs . “At my first premiere, I was sitting next to this girl who kept telling her friend that the guying playing Evan was absolutely the worst actor that she had ever seen and that she couldn’t figure out why anyone thought he had any talent. I was laughing right along with her until I realized that she was talking about me.”
“You didn’t even realize that your cha racter’s name was Evan? I may need to retract my statement that you will become a movie star. I think goal number one is for you to start remembering your own name.”
We laugh for a minute and I’m putting butter on my toast as h e reaches across the table to brush the hair out of my face. Every other sensation goes away and the only thing I can focus on is the touch of his fingertips on my face. There it is again—the volts of electricity running up my body.
He looks guilty for a minute and then winks at me. “We wouldn’t want you to get jam in your hair now. That would ruin our whole day.”
Oh. I was about to pull a classic Hallie by getting jam all over my face in front of the most beautiful boy in the world . I had already spilled a little bit of coffee on my pants— I almost never made it through a meal without getting some sort of drink or food on my clothing or face. Of course he didn’t want to touch me. He was just protecting me from the jam. “I wouldn’t let a little thing like j am stop me from enjoying my first real day in New York,” I say , slightly deflated.
“Then, you’re already different from, oh, one hundred per cent of the girls here . Jam would be considered a serious emergency worthy of a clothing change.”
“I think we established my differences last night when I was put in social pariah territory,” I say without thinking.
“ I happen to like social pariahs.” He reaches up again to brush my hair away for the second time . While I’m pretty sure that the jam is gone now, I wipe my face with a napkin anyway. “Sorry,” he says , brushing his own hair away. “ Just wanted to make absolutely sure .”
There’s a glob of jam on my lips and I try to pass it off like I meant for it to be there . “ This could totally be the new lip gloss .” I wipe it away again. I am such a moron.
He smiles at me, and it spread s all the way across his face. “ You’re the next lip gloss millionaire.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence for a minute. He’s definitely trying to figure out how to get rid of me, and he’s
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