by Gemma Brooks
She nodded.
I followed Luke out to his beat up, red, rusty pickup truck as he kicked the gravel under his boots. Sometimes being around him was like walking on eggshells, but I was used to it. I was sure there were quirks of mine that drove him up the wall, but we spent a lot of time together. It came with the territory, and we were used to it.
I climbed in and buckled up, observing his every move from the corner of my eye as he started up the truck. It rumbled loudly and he peeled out of the parking lot without any sort of warning.
“Hey,” I said as I reached over and braced myself on his arm. “Slow down.”
He said nothing.
“Luke, what is your problem?” I said. “You’re acting weird.”
“I’m fine,” he said. His jaw was clenched tight. I didn’t believe him.
“Nothing happened,” I said as I folded my arms across my chest.
“Okay, Brynn,” he said. He didn’t believe me.
“I don’t know why you care all of a sudden,” I said. I knew I was opening up a can of worms, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do.
“I care,” he said. “I care because you’re better than that.”
He pulled up to my apartment building where he slammed his truck in park and then turned towards me, waiting for me to exit.
“I’ll call you tomorrow,” I said. I thought about leaning over to hug him goodnight and to remind him that I was still me, but I suddenly remembered that I’d just been kissing Hudson Smith. If he smelled a hint of Hudson on me it would send him over the edge and he’d never believe me that nothing happened.
I stood outside of his truck, watching as he pulled out and drove down the street, his red taillights growing smaller in the distance until they were eventually out of sight. I pulled my keys from my bag and headed inside my building, climbing the two flights of stairs to my apartment on the third floor.
My apartment was quiet and still and peaceful, just the way I liked it. I kicked off my heels and shuffled my feet across the soft carpet and towards my room. I peeled off my jeans and top and slipped into some silky pajama shorts and a plain, white tank top. In the bathroom, I washed all the makeup off my face. Under the garish fluorescent lighting, I looked hideous. I’d kept meaning to get those lights switched out to something a little more flattering, but trying to get my landlord to do anything was like pulling teeth. The lights weren’t broken, so he didn’t have any reason to spend a single dime to change them. It was a lost cause.
I shuffled back to my room where I climbed under the covers and replayed the nights’ events in my head. I squeezed my eyes tight and remembered what it felt like to lock eyes with Hudson Smith. I parted my lips and tried to remember what it was like to kiss him. I wondered what it would’ve felt like to go all the way with him, but I knew I’d never know.
The images flashing before me of the beautiful Hudson Smith were soon replaced with images of Luke’s angry face. Was he really just disappointed in me? In what he thought I did? Or was it something else? I knew Luke better than anyone else, but when it came to our friendship and the way he felt about me, he was always a closed book. It drove me wild.
Soon my eyes grew heavy, and my fluffy feather pillow and downy duvet swallowed me whole as I felt into a deep slumber.
CHAPTER 4
I picked up an extra shift at the Brown Bag Diner Monday evening as a favor to one of my co-workers. Sundays and Mondays were usually my day off, but I didn’t have much going on that week and the extra cash was always nice.
We weren’t too busy that night, probably thanks to our boring spaghetti special, and I spent most of the night in the back helping with dishes or chatting up the cooks. I’d worked at that diner since high school and those people had become like a second family to me.
“Brynn,” Sarah, another waitress, called out. “There’s a guy out here requesting your table.”
I glanced up at the clock. It was 8:30pm.
“Doesn’t he know we close in a half hour?” I whined. I hated when we had those last minute patrons. They always seemed to take their time ordering and they always ate a little slower. They never seemed to care that we were all tired and wanted to go home. “Guess I’m going to be here late tonight.”
I straightened my pony tail and retied my sagging apron around my waist before heading out to the dining room.
“Table ten,” Sarah called out.
I didn’t take but four or five steps when I realized who it was. I stopped dead in my tracks as we locked eyes from across the room.
What was he doing here? I wondered.
I headed over to his table. “Hi, Hudson.”
I tried not to act surprised or excited or anything else for that matter.
“I hope it’s okay that I came here,” he said, his eyes never leaving mine. “We just wrapped up filming for the day, and I’m starving.”
“It’s totally fine,” I said. Of course it was fine. It was Hudson Smith, not some Joe Schmoe off the street. “What are you hungry for?”
“What do you recommend?” he asked.
“We’re known for our burgers,” I said. “One hundred percent grass fed, organic Iowa cattle sourced from local farms.”
“That sounds good,” he said. “I’ll take a cheeseburger and a side salad with ranch.”
“Look at you,” I teased. “You already sound like a local.”
He cracked a smile and the intensity in his eyes lightened up.
“Let me go put that order in real quick, then I’ll be back to take your drink order,” I said.
I nearly ran back to the kitchen and flagged down the cook who was already cleaning up his station.
“I need you to make one cheeseburger,” I yelled. “It’s for Hudson Smith.”
Marty, our cook, shrugged and then waddled over to the refrigerator to grab a beef patty as I quickly threw together a side salad and poured some ranch into a small cup.
“Here you go,” I said as I returned to Hudson’s table with his salad. “What did you want to drink? Sorry, this is all backwards.”
He laughed. “No worries. Iced tea is fine.”
I probably seemed so nervous and scatterbrained, but I ran off to get him some iced tea. I threw in an ice cold spoon and brought him a few packets of sugar just in case.
“Here you go,” I said.
“Thank you, Brynn,” he replied slowly as he looked up at me and took a sip of his tea. The way he said my name made me weak in the knees once again.
“Let me know if you need anything else, okay?” I replied as I turned to walk away.
“Brynn?” he called out. I stopped dead in my tracks.
“Yes?”
“Want to sit with me for a bit?” he asked.
“Oh,” I said. Hell yes I wanted to sit with him. “I’m not allowed...”
I looked up at the clock and it was now a quarter until nine. The boss lady was at home, probably snoring away in her warm bed, and it wasn’t like Sarah or Marty were going to tell on me if I did.
“I guess I can sit with you for a little bit,” I said.
A smile spread over his full lips as I scooted into the booth and sat right across from him.
“How was filming today?” I asked him.
“Long day,” he replied between bites of ranch-drenched lettuce. “Glad to be done. How was work?”
“Same,” I said. “My feet are killing me.”
I heard the ding of the bell which mean his food was up.
“Your burger’s done,” I said as I sprung to my feet to retrieve it. I presented the piping hot plate in front of him as drips of grease from the meat and cheese fell off the sandwich.
“Looks great,” he said. “I’m starving.”
“Can I get you anything else?” I asked as I lingered for a bit.
“I think I’m good,” he said as he shoved a big bite into his beautiful mouth. He chewed for a bit before adding, “Do you want to hang out tonight? When you’re off work?”
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br /> “Oh,” I replied, not expecting him to ask that. I thought about how Luke still hadn’t talked to me since Friday night. He had a tendency to ignore me when he got into one of his moods. I was pretty sure he still didn’t believe me that nothing happened with Hudson, but if rumors swirled that I’d hung out with Hudson again, it would definitely not help my cause.
“Production for tomorrow was halted,” he added. “Something about permits and your mayor or something. I don’t know. Anyway, I may not have to work tomorrow, so I was thinking we could hang out tonight. I don’t know anyone else around here. Don’t really feel like drinking at the bar with the crew.”
I looked out the window and noticed the sun had long gone down. It was dark out. The chances of anyone seeing us together were slim to none.
A smile spread across my lips. I couldn’t fight my excitement any longer.
“Sure,” I said. “As soon as you’re done eating, I’ll give you a tour of Rock River. How’s that sound?”
He gave me a thumbs up as he shoved another big bite of burger into his mouth, grease trickling down the sides. He was probably the only man on the face of the earth who made eating a burger look sexy. Four more bites and he was finished.
“Oh, man,” he said as he shoved the plate clear across the table. “You weren’t kidding. That’s a great burger.”
I picked up the plate and ran it back to the dish room.
“Can we go now, Brynn?” Sarah asked as she turned from her conversation with Marty.
“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I waved at both of them. “Get out of here.”
It was just a little past nine, so fortunately no one had to stay too much longer, but I still felt bad. Hudson had come to see me, and it was my fault they had to stay late. Sarah and Marty couldn’t have gotten out of there fast enough, and soon Hudson and I had the entire diner to ourselves.
As I ran his credit card and closed out the cash register, he came sauntering up to the counter. He rested his head on his hands and watched me work.
“Why are you watching me?” I asked with a nervous laugh.
He shrugged and said nothing as he continued to stare.
“Okay, done,” I announced as the register dinged, and I locked the drawer. I flew out from around the counter, flipped the sign to “closed” and locked the front door. “Ready?”
He followed me out to my modest little silver Toyota and climbed into the passenger seat.
“I can’t promise that this tour is going to knock your socks off,” I disclaimed. “But I’ll do my best.”
“I’ve never been anywhere like this before,” he said. “I grew up in Los Angeles, so I’ve always lived in bigger cities. This is nice. A little slow-paced for me but nice.”
“This is all I know,” I said as I turned off Main Street. “So obviously you’ve seen the square.”
“Yep,” he said as he peered out the window.
“There are four main roads in Rock River: Main Street, First Street, Howard Street, and Orbacher Avenue,” I said. “Not that I expect you to remember those.”
He laughed. “And I won’t.”
“Think of Rock River as a square made up by those four roads,” I said. We drove south a little ways until we got to the school. “This is the K through twelve.”
“Wait a minute,” he said. “You have all those grades in one building?”
“Yep,” I said. “Weird, huh?”
“I probably had more kids than that in my graduating class,” he replied.
“I can’t even imagine,” I replied. As we approached one of the two stoplights in town, I couldn’t help but notice he was staring at me. I wondered how long he’d been staring my way and if he was even paying attention to my little tour in the first place.
“Do you want me to keep going?” I asked as I turned towards him and bit my finger nail. “This is really boring. I know it is. Don’t lie.”
He laughed as a sly grin formed on his face. “It’s up to you.”
“I knew it,” I laughed. “It’s boring. What do you want to do? Want me to take you back to your hotel? You must be exhausted.”
He shrugged. “We can hang out at my hotel if you want?”
He was totally inviting me up to his room again. I thought about what happened Friday night and how Luke had responded, and then I thought about how Luke hadn’t talked to me for three days.
“You don’t have to,” Hudson said. “I don’t want you to feel weird about it or anything. It’d just be nice to have some company, that’s all.”
Knowing he was just wanting someone to talk to instantly took the pressure off me and forced my mind to stop feeling weird about it.
“Yeah, I can come up for a bit,” I said. I turned my blinker on and headed back towards his hotel.
“Great,” he replied as his face lit up.
CHAPTER 5
In the shivering coldness of his hotel room, I couldn’t help but rub my arms to keep warm.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “The cleaning people jack the air up every time they come in here.”
He walked over to the thermostat and bumped the heat on.
“Should warm up for you here in a second,” he said as he turned and walked back over to where I sat on the edge of his bed. “Do you want something to drink?”
“What do you have?” I asked.
“Why don’t we just raid the mini bar here and see what we have?” he replied as he pulled out tiny bottle after tiny bottle of alcohol. “What’s your poison? I don’t see any amaretto.”
He remembered.
“Vodka is fine,” I said.
“Grey Goose okay?” he asked. He walked over to the mini fridge. “Orange juice? Coke? What do you want to mix it with?”
“Whatever,” I replied. “Orange juice is fine.”
He pulled out a little plastic cup wrapped in plastic and began mixing my drink.
“Here you are, Miss Brynn,” he said as he handed me my cup. I wasted no time in washing it down. For some reason I was even more nervous with him than I was Friday night.
He fixed a drink for himself before strutting back towards me and sitting next to me on the edge of the bed. He sat a safe distance from me, and I didn’t get any sort of weird vibes from him. I didn’t feel like he was trying to seduce me or get in my pants. He really just wanted my company.
“So how many more days do you have here?” I asked, trying to make conversation.
“Uh, I think I leave Thursday,” he said. “So one more day of shooting, two if they can get the permits cleared by tomorrow.”
“Wow, that was quick,” I said.
“That’s the way it works,” he said.
“So what’s the next movie you’re doing?” I asked.
He leaned back and smiled graciously. “You really want to talk about me?”
I nodded. “My life is so boring. Seriously. This is the most excitement I’ve had in a long time. You’re fascinating to me. Your life is fascinating to me.”
For someone as famous as he was, I loved that he didn’t like talking about himself. He was so humble and so not what I expected him to be.
“The next project is a romantic comedy,” he said. “I can’t say anything more than that because of the contract.”
“Ah, I see,” I replied. “I’m used to you being in action movies and thrillers. What made you want to do a romantic comedy?”
“Just something different,” he said. “My manager thinks it’ll bust me out of this rut I’m in.”
“You’re in a rut?” I asked. I found it hard to believe since he was featured so prominently in almost every issue of Us Weekly.
He nodded as he sipped his drink and then pursed his lips.
The drink he made me must have been on the strong side because soon my entire face felt numb and my body felt hot. I began to relax around him, and the alcohol felt good coursing through my body. Without even thinking, I leaned back onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.
“Y
ou feeling it or something?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Mm, hm,” I replied. I closed my eyes. I was going to remember this moment the rest of my life, and I didn’t want to forget a single detail.
When I finally opened my eyes, I realized Hudson was lying right next to me, his head propped up by his arm, staring deeply at me. I startled and jumped in a bit.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said. There was still a good foot or so between us, so he wasn’t trying anything. Not yet.
“It’s okay,” I replied. I rolled onto my side and propped my head on top of my bent arm as well, facing him.
He reached his hand over and tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear. My hair was still pulled into a work pony tail, and I was sure I’d looked tired and drained from a long day of waitressing.
“That was bugging me,” he said.
I took my free hand and smoothed the rest of my hair down, making sure it wasn’t hanging in my face.
“Do your feet still hurt?” he asked. “You said earlier your feet hurt.”
“They always hurt after a shift,” I said. “I’m used to it.”
He sat back up and leaned down to grab one of my feet. He pulled my sneaker off then yanked off my sock and began rubbing my tired, achy soles with his strong hands.
“Oh, thank you,” I said, shocked. “You don’t have to do that.”
In the seven years I’d been with Luke, he had never once offered to rub my feet. He worked such a physically demanding job that it was always me rubbing his achy body. He never thought to repay the favor, and I guess I never expected it.
Hudson reached over and grabbed my other foot, repeating the same process. When he was finished, he laid back down next to me, only this time he was a little closer. The gap between us had narrowed, and we were so close I could feel his breath on my neck.
“Thanks,” I said with a smile. “They feel much better now.”
He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped.
“What?” I asked. “What were you going to say?”
For the first time ever, he looked sheepish. I’d never seen him lose his cool. He almost seemed nervous around me.
“Can I just say something?” he asked as he rolled back over to face me, his eyes shifting back and forth into mine.