me. And with the most comfortable smile, “Did you wear it just for him?”
“Actually, just for you.” The words fly out of my mouth before I have a chance to think twice. “Imagine my heartbreak when you weren’t around.”
She scrutinizes me. “Being a fellow actress, I can imagine even more than that.”
“Should I be scared of you? Because if you’re going to cut me, please not the face.” At which point she laughs long and hard and phony. Andrew clocks it all, and his face is oddly neutral. Which is interesting.
As she pockets his keys, “So what’s up with you guys?”
“Up?” Andrew says in only a slightly squeaky voice. “We bumped into each other at the park and…”
“I’m buying him lunch to pay him back for a favor.”
“I hope he was worth it,” Carmen says straight back.
“I’ll find out tonight, right, Andy?” Yes, it is a test. I’m hoping he has the guts to tease her a little.
“Looking forward to it,” he says brightly. I breathe an inward sigh of relief that he came through. I really don’t want to be disappointed in this guy. Now the actress is worried. So I say, “Tonight’s the audition he’s been helping me rehearse for.”
Her relief is pathetically transparent. No, this skinny kid isn’t stealing her boyfriend. Like she really should’ve been worried. The thing you learn rather young is that a spicy bombshell always holds a trump card where men are concerned.
She gives Andrew the forty-five-minute kiss I expect her to. I’ve seen shorter weddings. Classier, too. When she is sure she’s staked her claim, she shocks me by grabbing my face and kissing me goodbye. On the mouth. I’m still blinking by the time she disappears through the door.
He is smiling, we are getting along, so why am I getting this unpleasant feeling in my stomach?
“She’s quite a character”—he grins—“more than a handful.”
And then…
“Why do we love who we love? It’s just so inexplicable, huh?”
“My very thought.”
And with that I know what the feeling is in my stomach. I want Andrew to want to be with me. I don’t know what I’d do if he did, but I sure don’t like hearing about how much he loves Carmen. I’m a girl. And I want the guy across the table to want me with every beat of his heart.
The Apple store is just down the street, so I tag along as we wait this obscene length of time for a Genius to tell us the phone is broken. Once we officially establish the obvious, we have to wait for an iPhone Specialist to set up his new one. So we get on computers, watch a selection of cats farting on YouTube, one of whom can actually hiccup at the same time. He (or she, I didn’t get a good look) is my favorite.
Andrew touches me to get my attention, to punctuate a sentence or a joke, or to express his delight, like when I stop him from clicking on “Why I became a call girl” (I explain that this is the shortest clip on the Internet—just a skank saying the word
Duh
). Once, he actually slips his arm around my waist, and I honestly don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it. It’s sort of like the way Gordy treats Sloane, and as a girl who never really had a close guy friend, I find it all really comfortable and even a little exciting.
Out of the blue, Jerome calls breathlessly telling me that Nicole has been “actually pulled into a meeting” (poor dear thing) and canno longer pick up my kid sister ten minutes ago, which is how long Jade has already been sitting on the curb feeling like the loser kid who was forgotten. Which she’s absolutely not, although she absolutely has been.
It’s four thirty, right when the cabs are switching shifts and Wall Street is getting out, so there are none to be found. Amazingly, Andrew says he can drop me because he happens to have one of those nerdy, adorable GEM cars (which are like the Jetsons’ cars, but they don’t fly—imagine a fancy golf cart for six), and his place is only four blocks away.
I’m
“Actually, just for you.” The words fly out of my mouth before I have a chance to think twice. “Imagine my heartbreak when you weren’t around.”
She scrutinizes me. “Being a fellow actress, I can imagine even more than that.”
“Should I be scared of you? Because if you’re going to cut me, please not the face.” At which point she laughs long and hard and phony. Andrew clocks it all, and his face is oddly neutral. Which is interesting.
As she pockets his keys, “So what’s up with you guys?”
“Up?” Andrew says in only a slightly squeaky voice. “We bumped into each other at the park and…”
“I’m buying him lunch to pay him back for a favor.”
“I hope he was worth it,” Carmen says straight back.
“I’ll find out tonight, right, Andy?” Yes, it is a test. I’m hoping he has the guts to tease her a little.
“Looking forward to it,” he says brightly. I breathe an inward sigh of relief that he came through. I really don’t want to be disappointed in this guy. Now the actress is worried. So I say, “Tonight’s the audition he’s been helping me rehearse for.”
Her relief is pathetically transparent. No, this skinny kid isn’t stealing her boyfriend. Like she really should’ve been worried. The thing you learn rather young is that a spicy bombshell always holds a trump card where men are concerned.
She gives Andrew the forty-five-minute kiss I expect her to. I’ve seen shorter weddings. Classier, too. When she is sure she’s staked her claim, she shocks me by grabbing my face and kissing me goodbye. On the mouth. I’m still blinking by the time she disappears through the door.
He is smiling, we are getting along, so why am I getting this unpleasant feeling in my stomach?
“She’s quite a character”—he grins—“more than a handful.”
And then…
“Why do we love who we love? It’s just so inexplicable, huh?”
“My very thought.”
And with that I know what the feeling is in my stomach. I want Andrew to want to be with me. I don’t know what I’d do if he did, but I sure don’t like hearing about how much he loves Carmen. I’m a girl. And I want the guy across the table to want me with every beat of his heart.
The Apple store is just down the street, so I tag along as we wait this obscene length of time for a Genius to tell us the phone is broken. Once we officially establish the obvious, we have to wait for an iPhone Specialist to set up his new one. So we get on computers, watch a selection of cats farting on YouTube, one of whom can actually hiccup at the same time. He (or she, I didn’t get a good look) is my favorite.
Andrew touches me to get my attention, to punctuate a sentence or a joke, or to express his delight, like when I stop him from clicking on “Why I became a call girl” (I explain that this is the shortest clip on the Internet—just a skank saying the word
Duh
). Once, he actually slips his arm around my waist, and I honestly don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it. It’s sort of like the way Gordy treats Sloane, and as a girl who never really had a close guy friend, I find it all really comfortable and even a little exciting.
Out of the blue, Jerome calls breathlessly telling me that Nicole has been “actually pulled into a meeting” (poor dear thing) and canno longer pick up my kid sister ten minutes ago, which is how long Jade has already been sitting on the curb feeling like the loser kid who was forgotten. Which she’s absolutely not, although she absolutely has been.
It’s four thirty, right when the cabs are switching shifts and Wall Street is getting out, so there are none to be found. Amazingly, Andrew says he can drop me because he happens to have one of those nerdy, adorable GEM cars (which are like the Jetsons’ cars, but they don’t fly—imagine a fancy golf cart for six), and his place is only four blocks away.
I’m
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