A Little Less than Famous

by Sara E. Santana

  Jake laughed humorlessly. "You mean, you haven't read it all over the gossip rags?"

  I thought of the pile of magazines that lay around my room, a product of Amanda's celebrity obsession. "Um, no?"

  "We broke up. Not a big deal. We've been growing apart for awhile; our careers were going in way different directions." This was true enough; Andrea Tremaine had just won a Golden Globe for best supporting actress. "But I wasn't happy about it. I really cared about her. But shit happens."

  "Okay..." I said, slowly.

  "I'm not done yet. Mere four days after we called things off, only two days after our publicists confirmed it to the media, she was engaged to some film director from Scotland."

  "Ouch," I said, wincing.

  "Yeah," Jake agreed, his voice hollow. "He's nineteen years older than her. And...four days later? There's no way that she hadn't cheated on me."

  I wanted to disagree with him, tell him he was wrong, but he was right. There was no way someone got engaged after only four days. The only logical explanation was that she had cheated on him. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. He had leaned back, and his shirt had lifted enough to show a strip of bare stomach. I felt a blush flush in my cheeks and I turned away to hide it.

  Jake cleared his throat. "So, McKinley, can I ask you a question?"

  "Yeah," I said, quickly and a little bit warily.

  "Do you really watch Crime Scene?" I nodded. "Am I...am I good? On the show, I mean?"

  I burst out laughing; I couldn't even help it. "Oh my god, Jake, really?"

  The corners of Jake's mouth twitched a little. "Seriously?"

  I thought about it for a moment. "Yeah, I think you are. It’s a role you were made for. You are really overdramatic at times, like I want to tell you to ease up, be subtler. But you're great. You keep this girl watching."

  Jake smiled. "Thanks."

  "You know, I'm just one girl, right? There are millions of girls who love you."

  "Um, yeah, I think that’s more to do with my looks than my acting skill."

  I glanced over at him, noticing his bare stomach again. "Wow, someone is sure of their good looks."

  "Oh shut up," he said, amusement coloring his voice. "I'm just tired of playing the same stupid characters in the same stupid movies. I want to do something real, something I'll be remembered for."

  I looked up at him, surprised. "You really like acting, huh?"

  Jake paused for a moment. "It's all I've ever really known. Other people want to be teachers or lawyers but I love what I'm doing."

  I noticed a spider crawling on the ground, obviously in a hurry, and stayed silent, not sure of what to say. This boy was confusing me more and more as this conversation went on.

  "What about you, McKinley? What do you want in your life?"

  I laughed. "You know, I'm twenty-two years old and I get asked that a lot. A lot of people I went to high school with are graduated or married or have kids. I've been in school, taking random classes and trying to fix all the screw-ups I made in high school and right after. The only thing that makes me happy is being in that diner. Its the only thing I can picture myself doing." I finished and sucked in my breath, wondering why I had said all that.

  "The diner? Why the diner?"

  I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "My mom left me at the diner when I was five years old. And I don't really think I understood that at first. I thought-no, I knew-she was coming back. And anytime someone tried to take me out of the diner, I screamed and kicked. Part of me remembers thinking, I can't leave, I have to be here when she gets back" I paused, wondering why I continued to tell him this. Amanda was the only person I ever felt even remotely comfortable confiding in. There was something about Jake Kennedy, “teen heartthrob”, that made me feel at ease. Maybe because I knew that whatever I said didn’t matter; he wouldn’t remember me after this and my story wouldn’t matter.

  I continued. "So I stayed at the diner. Luke was only twenty-three years old and was my mother's boyfriend, living in the diner with his dad, also called Luke, who was the original owner of the diner. And as time went on, the diner became my home. The same regulars have been coming in since I was kid. They're my family and I get to see my family every day. What can be better than that?" I turned to Jake and saw him watching me intensely. I cleared my throat. "Plus I feed people. Nothing makes people happier than food."

  "You know, at five years old, we were both experiencing way different things. I mean, Jesus, that’s a lot for a five-year-old to handle," Jake said.

  "Becoming an actor at five-years-old still had to have been crazy. That was probably a lot to handle too."

  "Yeah, it was, now that I think about it. At the time, it was the coolest thing that had ever happened." He smiled, faintly. His eyes were somewhere else.

  "You know, you weren't exactly what I had expected, Jake Kennedy."

  "Oh, yeah?" he asked, twirling a blade of grass in his fingers. "What did you expect?"

  "Someone who was spoiled and conceited and completely capable of taking advantage of a diner girl like me," I said, quickly, but smiling. "But you're a nice guy, Jake Kennedy."

  "And you are a nice girl, McKinley Evans."

  My smile faded a little at that. If there was one thing in life I was absolutely sure of, it was that I was not a nice girl.

  "So I'm going to ask again..." Jake said nervously. "Did you maybe want to hang out sometime?"

  I hesitated as Jake pulled out his phone. It showed on his face. It must have showed on my face.

  Jake's nervous smile stretched into a genuine amused smile. I found myself liking this smile; it was so much better than the one he showed on the big screen. He slid his phone, some intimidating-looking thing with no buttons, only a touch screen, back into his jacket pocket. "Okay, I can see that didn't go over well," he said, slowly but he was grinning. "Okay, how ‘bout this, McKinley? What if I give you my number and you can call me? That way its all up to you."

  "But Amanda..." I said, feebly, remembering what Amanda had told me before we had gone to take our "walk".

  "Really, McKinley? You have got to stop using Amanda as a shield."

  I took out my iPhone-my two year old, completely out-of-date iPhone-out of my back pocket and held it my hand nervously. Before I could make a decision, Jake reached over and grabbed my phone and started tapping the screen.

  "McKinley?"

  I looked up and saw Gabriel, standing over on the law, looking at us curiously. I took my phone back from Jake and stood up. "Hi," I said, smiling at him, taking a few steps toward him. "What are you doing out here?"

  Gabriel came over and slid his arm around my waist, eyeing Jake curiously. I could tell by the smell of his breath and the redness in his eyes that he was too drunk to be suspicious. "Just came looking for you. You've been gone awhile."

  "Oh, I just came out for fresh air," I said, placing a hand on Gabriel's chest. I could see Jake out of the corner of my eye and noticed that though he was trying not to show any emotion, his eyes were slightly narrowed.

  "Well, come on back and play a round of pong, okay? Amanda wants to play."

  "Yeah, sure." I turned to Jake. "It was nice talking to you."

  Jake stood up, a frown on his face. "Wait, McKinley."

  "Wait," Gabriel interrupted, squinting at Jake. "Aren't you..."

  "No, I'm not," Jake said, cutting him off and looking straight at me.

  "Yeah, yeah, you are!" Gabriel said, getting louder. "You're fuckin Jake Kennedy!"

  Jake spared him a glance. "No, I'm not. Really."

  Gabriel, swaying a little on his feet, didn't appear to hear him. He seemed a little too excited to see Jake even though he was a twenty-six-year old guy. "Jake fuckin Kennedy. What the hell is up man?" He walked forward to shake Jake's hand.

  Jake looked at me incredulously, shaking Gabriel's hand. He quickly changed his expression to a smile, a camera-ready smile. I wondered why it felt so familiar. "Hey, man. Nice party.
"

  "Dude, thanks. It’s not much, just for my friend Ricky's birthday. Not like those fancy parties you go to all the time."

  Gabriel was rambling. He tended to ramble when he'd had one too many beers. I felt my cheeks heat up.

  "Nah, those are super overrated," Jake said.

  "Okay!" I said, loudly. "Come on, Gabriel, let’s not keep those guys waiting." I looked over at Jake. "It was very nice meeting you, Jake." I grabbed Gabriel's hand and, placing my other hand on his back to steady him, practically pushed him back into the house.

  Later than night, after the party had ended and I had gone over to Gabriel’s house instead of making my way home, I realized something. I realized that even though I would have hated to admit it to anyone, the only thing on my mind was Jake Kennedy.

  Chapter Three

  Amanda bugged me for days about what had been said between Jake and I, asking whether or not he was going to call her. I felt insanely guilty about the fact that I hadn't talked her up at all. I noticed that Jake had managed to put his number in my phone and sent him a quick text, telling him that it was nice talking to him and he should ask Amanda out sometime.

  "But what exactly did you tell him?" Amanda asked, for the millionth time.

  I bit my lip, hoping that she couldn't tell I was lying. "I told you, I just told him how awesome you are. Now help me answer this email."

  Amanda got off the bed and came over to me to read over my shoulder. "To your grandmother?"

  I nodded. "Yes."

  "What's the email say?" Amanda said, looking away from the screen and to my face, as if gauging my reaction.

  "Oh, you know, she just kind of introduced herself to me and asked a TON of questions about me." I squinted at the email. "Hand me my glasses, will you?"

  She grabbed them off the nightstand and handed them to me. "What's she like?"

  "Well," I said," she born in 1950, which makes her sixty-one years old, which seems pretty young for a grandma. Her name is Olivia Trent Evans, and she's lived in Raleigh, North Carolina her entire life."

  "Wow, your mom traveled kind of far, huh?" Amanda interrupted.

  I barely winced at the mention of my mom but I managed to nod in agreement. "She used to be a housewife and mother until my mom took off and now she spends most of her time gardening, doing charity work and being the events coordinator for her local Women's League."

  "Sounds pretty old school," Amanda remarked, amused. "Your grandfather?"

  "Head of his own law firm, though he's been planning for retirement for years but probably won't ever actually do it." Amanda looked at me, curiously. "Verbatim from the email." I sighed. "How am I supposed to tell them about myself?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "I'm twenty-two years old, I've worked in this diner my entire life. I've been at community college with no idea what I want to do with my life. I don't even have a serious boyfriend."

  "At least you didn't get pregnant and take off when you were sixteen."

  I glared at Amanda and she immediately looked guilty. "You know, low blow, Amanda."

  "I know, McKinley, I'm so..."

  I waved her away. If anyone knew about mommy issues, it was Amanda. "Its fine.” I paused. “Are you going to see her next month?"

  Amanda didn't need to ask whom I meant. "You know, I won't." She used to visit her mother in jail twice a year up until she turned eighteen and then she stopped going. It wasn't required anymore so she didn't go. "When are you seeing Gabriel again?"

  I noticed the not-so subtle change in topic but I didn't remark on it. I shrugged. "I don't know. He said something about a movie when I left the morning after Ricky's party. I'm thinking its time to end the Gabriel period."

  Amanda looked up from her Us Weekly magazine and her face fell. "Aw, come on, McKinley, why?"

  "Because I'm bored," I said. "The guy has no personality and we have nothing in common."

  "Except sex?" she asked, dryly.

  "Exactly and even that is not worth the boredom anymore," I agreed. There was a knock on my door. "Come in."

  "Hey McKinley."

  I turned away from my computer and looked to the doorway. "Holy bunch of roses, Batman," I exclaimed.

  "These just arrived for you," Luke said, bringing over a vase of red roses and setting them next to me on the desk. This was no normal dozen roses that you could pick up at a grocery store for less than twenty dollars. There were at least three or four dozen perfect yellow roses. Someone had obviously splurged.

  "For me?" I asked, surprised.

  "It says McKinley Evans on the envelope," Luke said, taking it off and handing it to me. I stared at it for a moment, not recognizing the handwriting, which made me think of a girl. I ripped it open and pulled out the cord. I continued to stare for a moment.

  McKinley, I had a great time talking to you the other night. Let’s do it again sometime. Jake.

  "Well, who is it from?" Amanda said, impatiently. "Come on, come on, come on."

  "They're from Gabriel," I said, easily. "Who else would they be from?"

  "Well," she said, smiling, "do you really want to break up with him now? What does it say?" She leaned over and tried to reach for the card.

  I held it out of her reach. "Come on, Amanda, that's private."

  She kept at it, trying to grab it.

  "Amanda. Seriously."

  "All right," Amanda said, dropping her hand and fluffing her hair. "Have it your way. Let's just get out of here. I'm tired of being in this room."

  "Best idea you have had yet," I said, spinning in my chair towards her. I glanced behind me, at the email I hadn't answered yet. I shut my laptop and turned back to Amanda. "Let's go."

  * * * * * *

  I was getting for work one day, when Luke came into my room to talk to me. Crystal and I had switched shifts and she probably wouldn’t need me until about eleven, right before the lunch rush. I was pulling my hair back into a ponytail when he came in and sat on my bed. I glanced at him through the mirror, waiting for him to say something. When he didn’t, I continued to get ready. Luke always had a way of stretching out something he had to tell me that he didn’t want to. I remember the sex talk, the curfew talk, and the “you need to get a job or help out in the diner” talk. He would talk when he was ready. He was a good parent, if not an awkward one. I wasn’t his biological child and he had taken over my care when I was five. Most of my school pictures had involved me dressed in mismatched clothes and extremely uneven pigtails.

  I was about halfway through applying mascara to my eyelashes when he finally spoke up. “So we need to talk,” he said, after he finished thumbing through my economics textbook that had been sitting on my bed.

  I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh?”

  He gave me a look, the dad look that had taken him a good fifteen years to perfect. He had let me get away with a lot when I was a kid because he didn’t really know any better. As I get older, he got smarter, especially when it came to me and my personality. “Look, McKinley, you’re twenty-four years old. You’re going to be twenty-five in a few months. And as much as I love having you here, you’re getting older and I’m just wondering what your plans are.”

  “What do you mean, plans?” I asked, turning around to face him, leaning against my dresser drawers.

  “Well, you work the diner as the assistant manager, you take classes here and there and you spend time with Amanda and Daniel.”

  “It’s Gabriel,” I corrected him. “I’m not dating Daniel anymore.”

  Luke rolled his eyes. I knew that he wasn’t always the happiest person in the world when it came to my dating life but I was an adult and there wasn’t much that he could do about at. He wasn’t the best example either. Even though he was a good looking guy and owned his own business, he had just never settled down, though I had plenty of women in my life that I thought would’ve come close. “My point is, I’m just wondering what you’re going to do with your life. Now I’d love for you to stay here a
t the diner, and take it over when I’m retired. But I can’t ask that of you, especially when there may be something else you want to do with your life.”

  I paused for a moment, not exactly sure how to answer that. I felt like I had just had this conversation with Jake, just a few days earlier. “I’m honestly not sure.”

  Luke nodded. “And that’s okay. I’m not expecting you to know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life.”

  “It’s not that I don’t know. I love being in this diner and I love working in this diner,” I admitted. “But sometimes I think, it’s all I’ve ever known so maybe this isn’t something I want to stick with.”