I knew I could count on you.”
“Don’t go thanking me yet, Chester. You owe me a replacement exclusive, something that’s not only never been written before, but something that no one but you even knows . And you’d better come up with it quick.”
He sat back down on the sofa, scratching the stubble at his chin as he thought. I saw the lightbulb go off over his head, so I pressed record on the digital as Trip offered, “Well, back before she was a world-renowned reporter, I did nail this one girl in a tent...”
I practically jumped across the table to hit the stop button. “Trip!”
He started laughing, gave my knee a good squeeze. “Oh, please. Let’s just acknowledge the elephant in the room, shall we? Damn, that was a good night.”
Of course he was right, and I was flattered that our night still ranked in his memory, even after the gazillions of other girls he’d been with since. But I still felt like I was crossing some imaginary line when I acquiesced, “Yes. Yes, it was.”
He looked at me for way too long, the memory of our one amazing night together passing between us.
He slowly cocked a brow and admitted, “You know... I use it sometimes,” the smirk on his lips telling me more than I had any right to know.
“Trip! For godsakes!”
That caused him to bust out laughing, and caused me to turn the most embarrassing shade of crimson. But I said, “You’re so bad,” as I shook my head and gave his leg a smack, trying to regain our casual banter.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Trip was the one to jump up and answer it. Sandy was there, expressing her apologies for interrupting, but explaining that Trip had another interview to get to. I couldn’t hear what he said, but he closed the door and came back over to the couch. “I was able to buy us five more minutes.” He flopped down on the sofa like he owned the place, which, I guess, in a way, he sort of did.
I had a million more questions for him. I wanted to ask about his family, find out how things were going between him and his father. I wanted to know more about what he did in the years between dropping contact with me and striking it big in Los Angeles. I wanted to convince him that he was making a huge mistake with the underwear model, and to ask him if I’d get to see him again before he left New York.
Not that I should have cared about any of those things. I was grateful enough just to have reconnected with my old friend. It’s not like I could have expected us to go back to being best buddies all over again just because of this one chance meeting. He had a big new Hollywood life to get back to, and I... well, I didn’t. We were on two completely different paths in life, two completely different worlds.
Trip’s voice broke my train of thought. “Hey, I’ll be done with this crazy day in a little while, and then I need to drop by the set for a couple hours to reshoot a quick scene. Why don’t we go to a late dinner afterward?”
I was sure that he was only asking me out so we could finalize the interview, but something just didn’t feel right about it. “Trip, I’d love to, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
He waved off my reservations and pressed the issue. “Oh, come on. One of the restaurants downstairs serves the best Kobe beef you’ve ever had in your life. Melts in your mouth.”
I’d never even had Kobe beef at all , much less would I be able to judge whether it was the best. I looked up to tell him as much when I registered the look in his eyes.
The warning lights started flashing at the invitation I saw there, written all over his face. I guessed that “dinner” wasn’t really what Trip was trying to talk me into.
Tossing over my fiancé for a night between the sheets with my ex-boyfriend wasn’t even up for consideration, but damn. It was tempting to take Trip up on his
“Don’t go thanking me yet, Chester. You owe me a replacement exclusive, something that’s not only never been written before, but something that no one but you even knows . And you’d better come up with it quick.”
He sat back down on the sofa, scratching the stubble at his chin as he thought. I saw the lightbulb go off over his head, so I pressed record on the digital as Trip offered, “Well, back before she was a world-renowned reporter, I did nail this one girl in a tent...”
I practically jumped across the table to hit the stop button. “Trip!”
He started laughing, gave my knee a good squeeze. “Oh, please. Let’s just acknowledge the elephant in the room, shall we? Damn, that was a good night.”
Of course he was right, and I was flattered that our night still ranked in his memory, even after the gazillions of other girls he’d been with since. But I still felt like I was crossing some imaginary line when I acquiesced, “Yes. Yes, it was.”
He looked at me for way too long, the memory of our one amazing night together passing between us.
He slowly cocked a brow and admitted, “You know... I use it sometimes,” the smirk on his lips telling me more than I had any right to know.
“Trip! For godsakes!”
That caused him to bust out laughing, and caused me to turn the most embarrassing shade of crimson. But I said, “You’re so bad,” as I shook my head and gave his leg a smack, trying to regain our casual banter.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and Trip was the one to jump up and answer it. Sandy was there, expressing her apologies for interrupting, but explaining that Trip had another interview to get to. I couldn’t hear what he said, but he closed the door and came back over to the couch. “I was able to buy us five more minutes.” He flopped down on the sofa like he owned the place, which, I guess, in a way, he sort of did.
I had a million more questions for him. I wanted to ask about his family, find out how things were going between him and his father. I wanted to know more about what he did in the years between dropping contact with me and striking it big in Los Angeles. I wanted to convince him that he was making a huge mistake with the underwear model, and to ask him if I’d get to see him again before he left New York.
Not that I should have cared about any of those things. I was grateful enough just to have reconnected with my old friend. It’s not like I could have expected us to go back to being best buddies all over again just because of this one chance meeting. He had a big new Hollywood life to get back to, and I... well, I didn’t. We were on two completely different paths in life, two completely different worlds.
Trip’s voice broke my train of thought. “Hey, I’ll be done with this crazy day in a little while, and then I need to drop by the set for a couple hours to reshoot a quick scene. Why don’t we go to a late dinner afterward?”
I was sure that he was only asking me out so we could finalize the interview, but something just didn’t feel right about it. “Trip, I’d love to, but I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
He waved off my reservations and pressed the issue. “Oh, come on. One of the restaurants downstairs serves the best Kobe beef you’ve ever had in your life. Melts in your mouth.”
I’d never even had Kobe beef at all , much less would I be able to judge whether it was the best. I looked up to tell him as much when I registered the look in his eyes.
The warning lights started flashing at the invitation I saw there, written all over his face. I guessed that “dinner” wasn’t really what Trip was trying to talk me into.
Tossing over my fiancé for a night between the sheets with my ex-boyfriend wasn’t even up for consideration, but damn. It was tempting to take Trip up on his
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