by Tracy Tegan
Jennifer just sat there with her mouth open, so I continued.
"I found Grayson, who was with a hot slutty girl, I told him I was ready to leave, so he called for his car to take me home. He, however, stayed at the party."
“Are you kidding me? No way. Not Grayson. No way, no how.”
“Yes way, yes how. That’s exactly what happened. I kid you not.”
“Not possible.”
“I’m serious Jennifer. That’s really what happened.”
“Did he at least try and explain himself or anything?”
"No. How could he possibly explain away that? The next day, Andrea and I did the whole tourist thing, so I didn't see him and then we came home today. He did try and talk to me as I boarded the plane but luckily, Andrea held him back and sent him on his way."
“I would have done the same thing. Screw that. What a dick. And here I was thinking how great Grayson Chase was. He just seemed so sweet and caring.”
“I know, right?”
“Just goes to show you don’t really know someone as well as you think you do.” She looked over at my luggage. “Let’s go get you unpacked.”
I still hadn't turned my phone on since I turned it off on the way home from the party that night in LA. I just wasn't ready to deal with all that yet. Not only did I not want to hear the voicemails and read the text messages, I was sure Grayson left me, but I also didn't want to put up with the calls from other people either asking about me being all over the internet as Grayson's new love interest."
Instead, I decided just to block out the rest of the world and concentrate on my studies. It was my last year in college after all, and in two weeks we had finals. That is where my focus and attention needed to be. Which is about how long it took for the attention on me to die down. It seemed everywhere I went, a cameraman or two or three followed.
Soon enough, though, I was yesterday's news and people lost interest in boring little old me. I then put all of my attention into my final exams, especially my Business Impact Leadership class, which required me to memorize a lot of stupid facts and statistics about core business principles and successful leadership techniques.
I was able to opt out of my Business Law final because I had a perfect score and those who had over a ninety in the class didn’t have to take the test. That at least was a relief. It was one of my harder classes of the semester.
I worked my ass off and in the end, I did it. I graduated college with a bachelor's degree in Business Management and an associate's degree in English. I would need to take a few more classes to get my bachelor's degree in English, but I didn't really need to. I didn't need a degree to write. What I learned so far taught me the fundamentals of what I needed to know to become an author. That was all I was after.
I even began my first romance novel, a thinly veiled story about my relationship with Grayson Chase. Only, in my version of the story, he didn't turn out to be such a jerk.
My graduation ceremony would be in two weeks. I had no idea what I was actually going to do with my life. I supposed I would continue to work at the bookstore while I wrote my first novel and then try to find a publisher. The problem was since Jennifer and I lived in student housing, we would have to move out this summer. We were no longer students and that meant the house was no longer available for us to rent.
I went to talk to Jennifer. I needed to figure out what her big plans were now that she had her degree. Maybe she had thought of a place for us to move to already.
“Now that we are finally graduating, Ethan helped me get an internship at the firm that handles his PR.”
“In LA?” I asked in shock. I had no idea she was thinking of moving out there.
“Yes, of course in LA.”
"Have things with you two gotten that serious? I knew he's flown here a few times to see you, but I didn't realize …"
“I’m not moving to LA to be with him silly. I mean sure that’s an added bonus. But I’m moving to LA to get the opportunity to work at one of the best PR firms in the country, not to be with some guy.”
“I had no idea you were even thinking about moving to California. I’m so excited for you.”
"Why don't you come with me, Alison?"
“LA? Seriously? No. I couldn’t.”
“Why not? You can write from anywhere, so why not there?”
That was a good question. The short time I was there with my sister, I did love it, well what I was able to see of it. The weather was incredible; the palm trees were beautiful.
“I don’t know Jennifer. That’s so far away.”
"What's keeping you here Alison? Your sister is going to be busy now that she's out of law school. Why would you not come with me? We are starting a whole new chapter in our lives and this way we could do it together."
“Where would we even live?”
“I was looking at some apartments online near where I would be working and found the rent ranged anywhere from $2,000 a month to over $20,000. Of course the $2,000 a month places were more like drug dens or crack houses, so those were out.”
I looked at her in stunned silence. She just smiled and continued.
"But after having an all-out heart attack, I found out that one of the perks of my job at Ginger Flora is an apartment. It's not fancy, but it's got two bedrooms and is near downtown, right by where I'll be working."
“I don’t know. What would they say about you having a roomie who doesn’t work for them?”
"In hopes that you would consider coming with me, I already talked to them about it. Listen Alison, let's be real. You and I both know the only reason they are giving me a two-bedroom apartment near downtown LA is because of Ethan. He’s like their biggest client so obviously they want to make me happy.”
“Are you sure about it?”
"Hell yeah, I'm sure. The place is ours for a year, and it will be ready for us moving in on the first of next month, just a little over a week after graduation."
I eyed her wearily. Still unsure about all of it.
“What if you and Ethan break up, then what? Not that I want that, obviously. But it’s something we should consider. I don’t want us to get all the way to LA and then be stuck because you know …”
"I already thought of that too. Ethan and I talked about that in detail, and so did me and my future boss. She gave me a guaranteed one-year contract for both the job and the apartment. Just think about it. While I’m at work all day, you can be home writing. You won’t have anyone to bother you.”
“Okay, fine. You win. Let’s do it!”
Jennifer squealed in excitement. “I can’t believe it. I had this whole speech worked out in my mind to talk you into it in case you said no.”
“How long have you been thinking about this? Not long really. I guess I’ve been going over what to say to you to convince you to come with me for a few days now.”
And so that was it. Just over a week after graduation Jennifer and I moved into what Ethan described to us as our tiny little apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Turns out, however, the place was bigger than where we lived before. It wasn't a lot bigger than our house in Houston, but it was most definitely fancier.
The Parkway Plaza Apartments was in Culver City and was only about a twenty-minute drive for Jennifer to work each day. It was much closer than that, but with all the LA traffic, it took a while to get anywhere.
The only thing I really worried about was running into Grayson. We still hadn’t talked and if I had my way, we never would.
One day, Jennifer and I decided to join Ethan for lunch. He was filming some stuff at one of the studio sound stages, and he invited us to check it out. When we walked in we saw him lying on a bed with half of his face covered in these weird black dots. It turned out the movie he was making was heavy on the special effects, and when they were done with it all, half of his face would be turned into some futuristic robot and the dots were just markers for where the CGI would be filled in.
When he was finished, it
took him about twenty minutes to get all cleaned up so we could head out. He was taking us to the Grove to eat for lunch that day.
When we got there, it was much like our time at The Ivy. We were mobbed by camera crews taking a zillion pictures of us. I overheard a few of them whisper “That’s her, that’s her,” but I did my best to pay them no mind. I didn’t care what they were talking about. I was old news and no longer in Grayson’s life. He probably had a new girl by now, some supermodel or up and coming actress.
When we got inside, I was noticeably shaken. Ethan and Jennifer did their best to cheer me up, but it still took a moment for me to pull myself together.
Ethan started to say something about Grayson, but I put my hand up and stopped him. "No. Don't speak of that person in my presence."
Ethan turned to Jennifer, giving her a look. I didn't care, though. I didn't want to be rude, but at the same time, I didn't want to talk about Grayson either.
“So what sounds good for lunch?” I asked as I picked up the menu.
A chill ran down my spine as a man cleared his throat. “May I join you?”
I knew that voice. I dropped the menu and whipped my head around to see if I was right. No way could he be here in this restaurant, no way, no how. But there he was, standing there in all his glory, looking better than ever. Damn it.
“What are you doing here?” I asked quietly in hopes that others wouldn’t hear me. I didn’t want others to stare at us if they thought we were fighting.
“I needed to see you. Can we talk?”
"Are you kidding me? Do you think that just because we are in public, I won't make a scene?"
I started to stand up, and Jennifer jumped up to stand beside me. "Please, Alison just hear him out."
I glared at her. Did she just say that to me? I couldn't believe it. She's my best friend, and she knew what he did to me. How could she side with him? How could she do this to me?
"I'm going to walk out this door where there will be a bazillion cameras trained on me. You are welcome to follow me, but if you do, I can't promise I will have anything nice to say to you. We both know they will catch every single minute of it on film. The choice is yours."
I stood up, grabbed my purse and headed for the door. I would just take a damn taxi back home.
I didn't get as far as the front door before Grayson caught up with me. "I promise never to bother you again if you would please just give me five minutes of your time," he pleaded.
I turned to him and glared. "I'll give you two, and the clock has already started."
I stood there before him with one hand on my hip and the other looking at my watch.
“Not like this. Can we please go somewhere quieter?”
“Is your limo out front?”
"It can be in a second if you need it to be."
“Fine. Call for it and you can take me home.”
“You don’t want to stay and eat?”
“No. Are you going to call for your car or what?” I asked impatiently.
He waved his hand to someone, and a moment later he took me by my arm and led me out the door and into the back of his limo.
Chapter Ten
“How did this happen to us?” Grayson asked when we got in the back of the car.
“I saw something on Facebook this morning that sums this whole thing up perfectly Grayson.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing stays the same. Nothing is permanent. Feelings, people, circumstances. They all change eventually.”
“That’s so negative. That’s not like you Alison.”
“No Grayson, it’s not me being negative, that’s me being realistic.”
He sighed and then turned to face me and put my hand in his.
"Ali, I've waited for you my whole life. I didn't even know it was you I was waiting for, but when I found you, I just knew you were the one. You bring out the best in me, and you make me want to be a better person. You make me smile with just a single thought of you. You make me crazy at the thought of anyone else being with you. And not talking to you these past few months has been more than I can handle."
I took a deep breath, trying my best to hold back the tears.
"I'm sorry Grayson, but we are just two very different people. I could never be with someone like you."
I looked out the window trying to figure out how close we were to my apartment, but sure enough, we were stuck in LA traffic.
"That night at the party, I don't know how we got separated, but I really did look for you. I just kept getting pulled in every direction."
"I understand, when eventually, instead of finding me, you found Miss Nude Universe. I got it. It's fine. Whatever. But not to worry, I was being kept more than entertained by your little druggie friends."
"I don't know who those assholes were but when you left, I made sure they were kicked out of the party."
“Yeah because escorting me home wouldn’t have been the right thing to do so instead you go back and join your whore at the party.”
“Are you kidding me? You left me. I was only a minute behind you and you had the driver peel out of there, leaving me at the party." He growled and said something under his breath that sounded like "I can't fucking believe this."
"I tried to call your cell phone and ask why you left me at the party, but you didn't answer any of my calls. I ended up having to wait for my driver to return after he dropped you off at the hotel. When he came back for me, I immediately went to your room to find you, but you weren't there.
“How did you get in my room?”
"You are kidding right?" When I didn't answer, he just continued. "Being Grayson Chase does have some benefits."
I rolled my eyes.
"Alison, you have to believe me. I called you the next day numerous times, and when I was doing interviews, I had my assistant call you too, hoping she would have better luck reaching you than I did. You ditched the bodyguard I assigned to protect you and Danii too. She said she parked out in front of your hotel room door for hours waiting for you. Where did you go?"
"My sister and I went sightseeing. We'd never been to LA, and we wanted to see things like the Hollywood sign."
“On your own?”
“Yes, we went on our own.”
“I wished you wouldn’t have done that Alison. It wasn’t safe. That’s why I assigned you a protection detail in the first place.”
He put my hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly. I pulled it away and put it back in my lap.
“Whatever, we were fine. It all worked out in the end.”
"Alison, not a day goes by that I don't think of you. I've tried to call, text, email and Skype you without any luck. Any flowers I sent were refused. Please just talk to me."
"Grayson I am talking to you, and you aren't saying anything that changes my mind. We are two very different people from two very different worlds. Even if you didn't mean to leave me alone at your big fancy party, you did. Even if you didn't mean to hang out with some drunken whore while I was all alone, you did. Even if you didn't mean to leave me alone while three guys perved out on me and gave me drugs, you did. I'm sorry, but that isn't right. What kind of man does that? You say you care about me, but your actions speak much louder than your words."
“You are right Alison. You are absolutely right in every way. I have no excuse for it and all I can do is apologize and assure you it will never happen again if you please just give me a chance to make it up to you.”
"I'm sorry Grayson, but that party showed me that we aren't the same, we come from two very different worlds. I would never take a friend to a party with a bunch of druggies. I'm sorry, but that just isn't who I am. Call me naive or whatever, that's fine. But it's not who I am, and I don't want to be around those kinds of people."
"You are right. Those kinds of parties suck. That's why I stopped going to them years ago. I don't know why I went that night with you. I just thought it would be something you might want to experience being your fi
rst time in LA and all."
“That you thought I would enjoy something like that shows me just how little you really know me.”
"No Alison, you are wrong. That this is your reaction to that kind of party shows me just how much I need you in my life. You are everything to me, and I didn't realize it until it was too late, and you were gone. I knew I had feelings for you before you flew out to LA to go to the premiere with me but once I lost you, I realized just how deep those feelings really go."
He put his hand over mine again.
"I would even leave LA and move away with you. We could go back to Texas to be near your family or maybe Oklahoma and be near mine. I own a lot of lands out there; we could start a ranch or something. You could write all day, and I could grow us food or rustle cattle or something. I don't know. I don't care. I just want to be with you."
I couldn't believe he would be willing to give up everything just to be with me. Still, as flattering as that may be, there was more than just his Hollywood lifestyle between us. How could I expect him to understand? Even if I wanted to be with him and a huge part of me really did want just that, someone like him would never be happy with someone like me. I've kissed fewer men in my entire life than he's probably had sex with this year alone. He's a man, an incredibly sexy man with thousands of women who want him, all of which have more experience than me. What could I ever bring to the table to satisfy him?
"Grayson, no. I don't want you to give up your career. It's not about your acting. It's not about overzealous fans or even the paparazzi. Okay, I admit I don't exactly love the paparazzi but even that I could learn to live with." I sighed. "It's … I don't know how to say this. When I say we are very different, I mean that in a fundamental way."
"I don't understand; please explain it to me. Don't just say we are different and walk away without giving me a chance to know what you mean by we are so different."
"As you pointed out before, your entire life is documented through the media. You're a major star and pretty much everything you do, they catch on camera and write story after story about it, including the women in your life."