by Tasha Fawkes
"Of course." I gestured for her to continue. "Let's hear them."
Brin sat up a little straighter, taking on the visage of a stony businesswoman. She looked miles different from the vixen who'd strutted across that stage like she owned every inch of wood beneath her heel, like she'd taken that intimidation and flipped it, turned it into something new. I knew right then I couldn't have made a better choice of companion in this endeavor.
"First of all, the whole 'hey beautiful' thing,"—she flattened her brows—"that kinda shtick is fine on camera, but off camera you and I are complete professionals."
"You don't like it when I call you beautiful?" I asked with a wry smile.
She was unfazed. "I just think the idea of me being a pretend girlfriend is difficult enough without adding further complications. We should draw a line in the sand and stick with it to keep things simple."
I shrugged. "If that's what you want."
"It is." She added a firm nod. "I'll be the best, most doting girlfriend you've ever had on camera, but off camera you and I are just in a business relationship. That means no funny business."
"Funny business?" I inquired.
Brin blinked. "You know what I mean."
I chuckled. "That could mean any manner of things, darling. Clowns, mimes, an improv group..."
"No sex." She was glaring at me now. I could tell I was going to enjoy teasing her. Did she have to make it so easy? "No sexual touching of any kind when we're not filming."
"Oh? And how much sexual touching do you expect us to be doing while we’re filming? What kind of videos do you think I make?"
Just like that, the hard businesswoman exterior cracked. Brin's cheeks burned red, and it wasn't from the lights. She gulped hastily and shook her head.
"I just mean..." She struggled to find her words. "Gah! You know what I mean. New rule: you're not allowed to be a dick."
I laughed. She was so cute when she was flustered. It was the only time she seemed to be made of something other than cut steel.
"I'm just messing with you," I said in a conciliatory tone. "I completely agree with your conditions thus far, though I would make one small amendment.”
Brin slowly pulled herself back in until she was stalwart and composed once more. She glanced over to the bar, and I wondered if our little conversation was making her thirsty. Our eyes met again, and she was all back to business.
“What’s that?”
“I would ask that instead of just being a consummate business professional during our times off camera, you’re still friendly with me and still, in name at least, my girlfriend. It’s important that nobody else knows this whole thing is fake, including my crew. But when we’re alone together, you can be as cold as a freezer full of snow if that’s what you want.”
She seemed to consider this for a moment before finally nodding. “I can do that.”
“Good.” I smiled. “Is there anything else you want to put on the table for discussion?”
Brin nodded. "Since I'm not sure what kind of adventures we'll be going on, I want the right to veto doing anything that I'm uncomfortable with. Basically I just don't want you to be able to force me into something I don't want to do."
That was more the kind of condition I'd expected from her. It was an easy request to grant.
"Absolutely. The camera will be able to tell if you're not enjoying yourself, so I want to avoid that anyway. I just hope you'll keep an open mind and remember that I'll never ask you to do anything unsafe."
"I can do that."
"Good." I looked over my shoulder and caught the eye of the waitress, who bustled over to our table. "How about a drink?"
Brin eyed me skeptically. This girl seemed to have a lot of suspicions for someone so young. I smiled warmly.
"We've gotten the boring business stuff out of the way, so why don't we get to know each other a little better? We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, after all.”
“True,” she replied. “I guess it’ll make my job a lot easier if I know more about you than just the fact that your common sense is on permanent vacation.” She shot me a cheeky grin. Full of surprises.
The waitress arrived at our side, and I ordered a round for us. The moment she was gone, I set my sights back on the beautiful redhead across from me.
"So tell me about yourself." I gestured toward her.
Brin's expression deepened into a scowl. "I hate when people say that. What are you even asking? Do you want to know my life story? My hopes and dreams? My opinion on pineapple on pizza? What?"
I laughed. "I want to know everything. Especially your stance on Hawaiian pizza."
"Well, that's easy at least. Pineapple most certainly does not belong on pizza."
"I disagree."
She shrugged. "You also enjoy jumping off cliffs and into ravines and whatnot. I don't think you get to speak for what's normal."
"Touché, though I'm sure your tastes will be a little bit more adventurous by the end of our trip."
The waitress returned with our drinks and I took a swig of my beer, swirling the taste around my mouth as I studied my companion. She sipped at her Pinot Grigio, the cheapest one on the menu though I'd insisted she order whatever she wanted. She was certainly a girl who'd gone without in her life. I suspected the stories of our childhoods would differ greatly.
"Onto the next topic then," I announced. "We can get back to the subject of pineapple once you've cut your teeth a little. Maybe you'll be more adventurous."
Her eyes sparkled. "I doubt it. You couldn't have picked a worse person to take with you. I'm as boring as boring comes."
"You're not boring at all. You're a burlesque dancer."
She shrugged. "And an aspiring model, but my favorite thing to do on a night is still to curl up on my couch and catch up on my favorite shows."
"Not much of a party girl?" I asked, taking another mouthful of cool refreshment.
She chuckled and shook her head. "My best friend Kimberley and I go out sometimes when we feel like dancing, but I'm more likely to be found in bed at midnight on the weekend than I am shaking my ass on the dance floor. I'm a couple steps away from being a complete shut-in."
Though I loved parties and being surrounded by revelry, I certainly saw the appeal in getting to stay in, bundled up on the couch. If she were there too, of course.
"Aspiring model, burlesque dancer, blossoming hermit." I ticked off on my fingers. "Anything else I should add to the list?"
"I'm taking a few online classes at the university," she said. "Though I'm still a long way off from a degree. I only started recently."
"How long have you lived in Vegas?"
She tilted the glass back and swallowed down a healthy mouthful of wine. "Since I was eighteen. I grew up just outside of Paradise, Nevada, though it was far from that."
"What made you want to come here?"
She winced and I immediately regretted asking. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't a happy one. I was just about to ask her another question instead when she answered.
"I just needed to be somewhere bigger than the place I grew up in. Somewhere with more people."
Somewhere I could hide, I could almost hear her say.
I was getting a lot more than I'd bargained for with this girl. She was smart, sensible, basically the complete opposite of everything I stood for. I chose her initially for her good looks and the magnetism I felt to her on stage, and the idea to bring along a fake girlfriend hadn't even occurred to me until I saw her lost in her dance and made that impulsive decision to find her backstage. My impulsivity would be the death of me one day.
"What about you?" she asked suddenly, surprising me.
"Me?" I cocked a brow. "You already know all about me, don't you?"
"I'm sure that's what your ego would like you to think," she shot back.
I laughed. "Alright, fair play. What do you want to know?"
"I know you're from LA originally, or somewhere close by. What I do
n't know is how you got into making videos, and how you got so wildly successfully so young. How old are you, anyway?"
I smiled. "Twenty-two."
Her eyebrows shot up. "It really puts things in perspective when you're only a year older than me, but you've already accomplished so much."
"I wouldn't be so down on yourself. I was lucky. And it didn't hurt that I grew up well-off, so I had a decent chunk of change to get started with. As for how I got started, I’ll tell you the same thing I say in every interview. I started making videos for fun, and people liked them. The rest is history.”
She gave me a flat look. "I doubt you're very popular with interviewers if that's the kind of answer you give."
I met her expression with a toothy smile. "It's not the interviewers I aim to be popular with."
Brin rolled her eyes but smiled, taking another sip of her drink. She was visibly more relaxed now than she was even a couple minutes ago. She practically glowed. Lori was going to lose her mind with jealousy when she saw Brin in my videos. She had to. I couldn’t wait.
"What kinds of adventures are we going to be undertaking in Hawaii?" Brin asked.
"If I told you, that would take out half of the fun." I winked. "Rest assured, you're going to have fun."
"You can't know that for certain," she challenged.
I laughed airily. "Oh, but I can," I said. "Because you're going to be with me."
Four
Brin
The morning of the trip came faster than I could have anticipated. It felt like one second I was grinding seductively on stage and the next I was being felt up by a TSA agent with a permanent scowl. I was meeting Chad and the rest of the crew at the resort, so I had to entertain myself for the whole day. It seemed appropriate to do so by checking out a few more of Chad's videos. The fact that I also just loved looking at his face was a sneaky side benefit that I would go to my grave before admitting.
I couldn't help myself. His high cheekbones, long, angular jaw, and bright blue eyes would be enough to send any girl into a frenzy. In many of his videos he was shirtless, to add insult to injury. His broad shoulders were roped with thick muscle, though I suspected he would’ve been a lanky teen. He was so long, so lean. And dear god, was he cut. If his six pack was as mouthwatering in real life as it was in his videos, I was at serious risk of passing out the moment he took off his shirt.
I only meant to watch a few videos to get myself in the Chad Harlan mindset and prepare for the next three weeks, but by the time I got on the plane, I was completely hooked. I understood why he was such a sensation and why his fans were so devoted. Each video made me hungry for the next, and I steadily worked my way up from his early days to his most recent clips. That was when things started to get weird.
His earlier videos were mostly just him and a few friends here and there, but the more recent they got, the more I noticed that one girl kept popping up, until finally many of the videos featured her. She was insanely pretty, with blonde hair that cascaded halfway down her back, the cutest button nose I'd ever seen, and a body that practically screamed to be painted. She was obviously his girlfriend, and they shared some pretty cute moments together in the clips that were super popular with his followers. After watching a few videos, I finally caught her name: Lori.
Something nipped at the bottom of my stomach, and it took me awhile to realize that, that feeling was jealousy. Just a little bit. I wasn't even his real girlfriend, so why should I be jealous at all? It was more curiosity than jealousy that compelled me to search out her last appearance, and I was a little alarmed to find their last video together was posted only two weeks ago. Their breakup must've been recent. What did that mean for me? Where did I fit in to all this?
Looking at the comments, I supposed it would make sense that he'd want another girlfriend to fill in the gap. The videos with him and Lori together were shared more often, and loads of girls in the comments talked about how dreamy he was and how lucky she was to be with him. I could see Chad liking that kind of attention.
I don't know why discovering this recently ended relationship put such a dark cloud over my day. They weren't together anymore. The fact that he felt compelled to find some random girl on the Vegas strip to be his new onscreen girlfriend was a little strange, but that was Chad's style. He lived in the moment, and it was obviously working for him.
I was distracted for the rest of the flight, mulling over this latest piece of news in what was turning out to be a more complicated trip than I had anticipated. I hated every kernel of jealousy that popped up and wished I could make it stop. I held onto the armrests of my seat until the plastic bit into my palms, using that as a reminder of where I was and why.
I was on an airplane. That airplane was heading toward Oahu, where I was about to spend three weeks in a luxury resort. All I had to do to earn my keep for those three weeks was pretend to be the girlfriend of an ultra-successful, ultra-beautiful YouTube star who was going to take me on all sorts of crazy adventures and hopefully give me the time of my life. Why the hell was I getting hung up on who his last girlfriend was?
I wasn't here for that. I wasn't here for him. Not like that, anyway. I was here to get my tan on in a tropical climate far away from the sweat-soaked streets of Las Vegas. At the end of the day, I was probably the one getting the most out of this arrangement. And to make sure it stayed that way, I had to stay completely professional. We made a business deal with terms and everything. Sticking within those parameters would be a breeze, but only if I didn't let myself get hung up on Chad. Unfortunately, this little unpleasant attack of jealousy seemed like a precursor of things to come, so I had to nip it in the bud while I could.
Easier said than done. There was something about Chad, something that drew me in more than even just his electric personality and that award-winning smile. Maybe I was merely imprinting my own perceptions of the world onto him, but I felt deep in my bones that there was more to him than met the eye. There was something to discover underneath his ego and part of me was trying to figure it out, even while the rest of me was putting up walls. He was the first guy in a long time, maybe ever, that I'd felt such a connection to without either of us having to say a word.
The landing announcement shook me out of my head, and I was determined to stay out. I politely raised my tray table, pulled my seat to an upright position, and took a deep breath as we began to descend.
My anticipation of seeing Chad again grew more and more with each passing second as I went through the motions in the airport. I told myself it was because I had nothing better to think about, since waiting for luggage on the world's slowest carousal isn't exactly a nail-biting adventure. Chad told me they would send someone to pick me up and bring me to the hotel, and I couldn't wait to have somebody else to talk to. If I had to spend another second alone with my thoughts, I was going to go insane. Then again, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. Chad wanted someone to go on his adventures with, after all. If I completely lost my marbles, I might exceed expectations in that respect.
I stepped into the arrivals hall, eyes flitting from sign to sign to find the one that said my name. When I couldn't find it among the row of suited drivers, my heart picked up in my chest. What if they'd forgotten about me? What if I couldn't get a hold of Chad and I had to spend the next three weeks in this airport? Now that would be an adventure.
A waving hand caught my attention, and I looked over to see Chad's beaming face just behind the barrier. Once he knew I'd seen him, he started walking down to meet me. I numbly put one foot in front of the other, blindsided by this latest development.
"Hey," I greeted once I stood before him.
"Hey, bea—" Chad stopped, his smile dissolving into a comically stoic expression. "Hello, comrade."
I rolled my eyes, which earned me a chuckle.
"How was the flight?" Chad hoisted my backpack onto his shoulder and grabbed the handle of my suitcase.
Once the shock passed, I reached for my bags back. "I can
take those. It's the twenty-first century, after all."
"That may be so," he replied, yanking them just out of my reach, "but I am a very amenable boyfriend. It's why your parents love me so much."
"Love you? They only think you're so-so," I shot back. "They still don't understand why I couldn't have found a nice lawyer or doctor."
Chad snorted through his nose as we started walking toward the exit. "Doctor or lawyer? Boring. You can do way better."
"Then why am I here with you?" I asked primly.
Chad laughed, a deep belly laugh that was so infectious I couldn't resist joining in. The doors slid open and heat blasted my face. I was used to heat, but I wasn't used to this level of humidity. I was suddenly glad I had my hands free, so I could push back the hair from my forehead and start rapidly fanning my face.
We navigated through the rows of taxis and buses to a sprawling parking lot, where Chad led me between row after row of cars, finally stopping just in front of a black open-topped Jeep. He gave it a hearty smack on the side.
"Here's your ride, m'lady." He loaded in my bags as I leaned against the hot metal, desperate for a drink of water. I suddenly regretted not gulping down as much of it as possible on the plane.
Chad unlocked the doors and started to walk to the driver's side. "Hop in," he called.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a dewy bottle of water waiting in the cup holder beside my seat. "Is that for me?" I asked.
Chad nodded, donning a pair of wayfarer sunglasses and coaxing the engine to life. "I always get thirsty after flying. Figured you might too."
I snatched up the bottle without pause and started chugging down the cool, refreshing water. Only after I'd downed half the bottle did it occur to me how unexpectedly thoughtful this little gesture was. Chad clearly thought nothing of it. He was drumming his hands on the steering wheel as he navigated the parking lot, sunlight and wind threading through his hair.