Hidden Gem Short Story Collection (9781301405985) by India Lee

other
extras, fresh from hair and makeup and wearing a tight, pink sequin
dress for some party scene. Initially, she’d approached the other
blonde casted as “Cool Girl #1,” but when the girl had looked
startled and asked, “I’m sorry – what?” Zoe had walked away,
instead approaching Harper with her out-of-context request.
    “’ Kay. What am I looking
at?” she had responded, unfazed, keeping her dull eyes locked on
Zoe. TV shoots, as it turned out, were boring as all hell and
repeated the same takes over and over despite the fact that they
all seemed pretty similar and usable.
    “ Marco Donovan. You know
which one that is?” Zoe asked.
    He was the actor who played Zoe’s love
interest, Justin. Harper hadn’t known him by name but she could
guess who he was and why Zoe was asking. “Yeah, he’s looking at
you,” she responded before the question could even be asked. When
Zoe grinned, Harper couldn’t help snorting. “He looks like a
douche. Why does he wear sunglasses between takes?”
    Zoe burst out laughing. “Dude, I have no
idea, but he’s hot.”
    “ If you like
guidos.”
    “ I’m kind of in that phase
right now.”
    Harper wrinkled her nose. “I hope he’s
really good in bed or something.”
    Zoe’s brows shot up. She looked at Harper
with wide eyes and a crooked smile, seeming taken aback. “Uh.” Her
glossy lips parted to say something else but she decided against
it, snapping her mouth shut. Suddenly, Harper felt as if she had
the upper hand in the conversation. She smirked.
    “ Oh. You’re a
virgin.”
    Zoe’s eyes went wider as she shot her a
look. “Jesus, be louder. I don’t think Cool Girl Number Five heard
you.”
    Harper opened her mouth, faking as if she
might actually repeat herself. Before she could, Zoe made a
squeaking sound, pressing her finger to her lips and grabbing
Harper by the arm, dragging her off set and toward her trailer.
“Taking fifteen – sorry!” she’d called breezily to her sputtering
director.
    “ Dude ,” Harper laughed once she’d been successfully shuffled into
Zoe’s trailer. “Stop freaking out, you’re supposed to be a virgin
right now. Aren’t you like, fourteen?”
    Zoe shot daggers. “I just turned fifteen.
How old are you?”
    “ Almost
sixteen.”
    “ When did you lose
it?”
    Harper hardly wanted to answer. Even she
felt as if she’d lost it too early. It had happened shortly after
Hudson and Nadine divorced. Mortified over her parents’ pictures on
the front page of every tabloid, Harper had gone to stay with Joie,
her best friend from The Cabot School whose older brother she’d
been eyeing for a year. To him, she had lost her virginity and
since, she had been with three other boys – which even she found
excessive.
    “ I lost it, that’s all you
need to know,” Harper responded to Zoe’s question.
    “ Seriously? You
suck.”
    “ I don’t know you. At
least buy me a drink before you start asking such personal
questions,” Harper joked dryly.
    Zoe gave her another curious look. “You act
older than fifteen,” she said with narrowed eyes, as if she
believed Harper might actually be lying about her age.
    “ I feel older.”
    “ Does… that happen when
you lose your virginity or something?”
    Harper gave a laugh – a genuine one, though
that didn’t make it any less mocking of Zoe. “You act way younger
than fifteen.”
    Zoe gave a laugh of her own. “And you act
weirdly dickish for someone who doesn’t even know me.”
    Harper tried to suppress her smile.
“Speaking of dicks, how old is Marco, anyway?”
    It was Zoe’s turn to want to keep mum.
    “ I’m just going to Google
it if you don’t tell me.”
    “ Almost
twenty.”
    Harper stared, her face contorting with
disgust. “I will literally call the cops if you have sex with
him.”
    “ You didn’t strike me as
someone who cared about the law,” Zoe snorted.
    “ I care when I want
to.”
    Zoe cooed. “Does that mean you care about