Just Like Me

by Dani Hall

  “You’re very welcome. Please, enjoy yourselves.” He excused himself and made his way to the door, greeting new guests that were dressed up like evil looking pigs.

  “Isn’t he a little high up on the celebrity food chain to be robbing girls in parking lots?”

  Taylor gave a sheepish grin.

  “He owed me a favor.” He paused, looking around the room. “Do you want anything to eat?” Taylor yelled over the music. I turned to look at him.

  “I’m fine.” I yelled back. He nodded.

  “Ok. I’m going to grab something to drink.” He glanced around, looking for something. Finally he spotted something; or in this case, someone. He grabbed my arm and led me over to a guy I vaguely recognized from somewhere.

  “Kale. This is Jude Harolds. Jude, this is Kale.”

  I felt an inward crunch as I met the guy on top of Lisa’s To Do list. The blond guy nodded, looking me up and down. Pig.

  “Nice to meet you, Kale.” He was trying very hard to keep his eyes on my face.

  “Nice to meet you.” I tried muttering while yelling. I turned back to eye Taylor but instead watched his backside as he disappeared into the crowd. Where was he going? I guess instead of leaving me alone I had to have my own personal babysitter.

  I sighed. Ok, maybe it was better if he did leave me with someone. It would have been bad if I had been standing there awkwardly, alone.

  “You and Taylor fuck?” Jude yelled, quite loudly. My face burned.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Why are you with him?” He asked, plainly stumped.

  I contemplated punching his face.

  “Maybe because I like his personality?” Jude shook his head at me.

  “No, Jett’s a jerk. If you like jerks, you should be dating me.” He winked. He looked ridiculous in his vampire costume. He had blood dripping down one side of his mouth. Expensive looking fangs were glued onto his teeth.

  “I think I’m good.”

  “I think you should consider a night with me. You’d never forget it.”

  Finally I felt someone come up behind me. I turned and Taylor offered me a glass of something. I took it, quickly nodding and moving away from Jude Harolds. He looked annoyed as Taylor pulled me from his vicinity.

  When we had walked a fair distance away from him, I turned so Taylor could see I was trying to talk to him.

  “Why did you leave me with that jerk?” I yelled over the music. Taylor grinned.

  “I knew you wouldn’t like him.” He answered.

  “So you left me with him?!”

  “Yea, I didn’t want you to meet someone nice and decide you liked him better than me.”

  He took a sip of his drink, his gaze fixed on something in the room. I turned, trying to see what he was seeing. Then I spotted what he was eyeing. Over near one of the food tables was the guy that I had said was hot from the previews we had seen on our movie date. He was difficult to recognize at first because he was wearing a pirate costume, but it was him.

  “Oh, I see.” I looked down at the drink he had given me, skeptical of what was in it. He caught me looking at it.

  “It’s an alcoholic drink.” He answered my question. “I thought you might want it. You know, since you’re so offended that I don’t think you drink.”

  I shook my head, offering it to him. “I’m not into illegal activities.” He took it, finishing his other.

  “Want to dance?” He asked, nodding his head over to where celebrities were bumping and grinding in ridiculous looking costumes.

  “I don’t know how.” I answered. Which was the truth, I had never danced like that with someone. He grabbed my arm, dragging me to the dance floor.

  “I’ll teach you.” He called.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  I felt as if my nerves caught fire. Oh god. What kind of dancing did he have in mind? Was he thinking about the demeaning way in which men grind on women’s backsides?

  Before I knew it, we were surrounded by bodies moving this way and that. I looked uncomfortably at women who weren’t facing their dance partners, but facing away as the guys made awkward motions towards their rears. Taylor set down his drinks, placing his hands against my lower back, facing me toward him. He took a second to drape my arms around his shoulders.

  “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I yelled. He shrugged.

  “I just go with it.” He replied.

  I was grateful he didn’t turn me around to face away from him. I liked it better being able to see his face, to judge his reactions. It felt more meaningful this way, that I wasn’t just a piece of ass to him. He pretty much took over moving me this way or another. Our bodies moved with the beat of the song and pretty soon I realized I just couldn’t think about it. I had to just go with it, like he said.

  “You’d be a good dancer if you stopped thinking about it.” He remarked, amused at me concentrating on not concentrating.

  “I can’t help it.” I muttered.

  I saw a familiar looking girl making a beeline for me and Taylor. It was with horror that I realized she was his co-star off of the zombie movies, one of the ex-girlfriends. She was in a genie costume, showing a lot of stomach. Her hair was pulled high on top of her head and her eye makeup was in subtle swirls going up to her temple. My internal jealousy goddess hissed.

  “Taylor!” She shouted, excited. “My boyfriend couldn’t make it. You remember him, right? So, I’ve decided you owe me a dance!” She took a moment to look me up and down. He looked at her, shaking his head, but she wasn’t having it. “Oh come on! We just finished our trilogy; this could be our last time being together. You’re ok with it, right?” She directed her full attention to me now.

  “I…I guess not-”

  “Perfect!”

  She began pulling on him and he began letting me go. “Will you be ok?” He shouted. My internal jealousy goddess hissed again. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked like he was in pain. His eyes jumped and focused on something behind me. I looked back to see the guy that I had called hot in the previews, he was now standing behind me.

  “I’ve got her.” He said, nodding to Taylor. He gently took my arm and nodded towards the genie girl. “Ya’ll have fun.”

  Taylor opened his mouth in protest, but Veronica was already dragging him away. I turned to the guy. He had brown hair and green eyes, a lot like me. Only he was attractive. And a guy.

  “Do you mind?” He bellowed, holding out his other arm to me. I shook my head. He placed his hands higher up on my back than Taylor had and allowed more space between us. I draped my arms loosely around his shoulders, trying to remember how not to concentrate. It was one thing when Taylor was leading me, now I had to depend on my own limited knowledge of dancing.

  “Tony Ricardo.” He said.

  “Kale Delaney.”

  “Nice to meet you, Kale.” I smiled, glancing around for Taylor. I spotted him, awkwardly grinding on Veronica. I swallowed as I watched her move a lot more gracefully than I had. But I felt better when I saw Taylor was watching me and Tony with a mute expression.

  “You have a movie coming out?” I asked.

  “Yea, in a couple weeks. I’m really excited about this one.”

  “That’s great. It’s about the tourist thing, right?”

  “Yea.”

  Taylor was still watching us carefully. Veronica had finally turned around and they were facing each other dancing. She had long, sharp fingernails that she used to trace his arm.

  “You excited for Jett’s new movie?”

  “I guess.”

  “Oh yea, you don’t follow that stuff do ya?”

  “Well, kind of.”

  He shook his head in disbelief.

  “I can’t believe you’re not mesmerized by all of his movies. Most girls are.”

  “I’m not most girls.”

  “I’m starting to get that.”

  The song changed to a slow one. I watched Taylor as he went to pull away from Veronica, but she
wrapped her arms around his shoulders, apparently begging him to dance with her. She was like a viper, or a boa constrictor. He reluctantly agreed. Tony eyed me, asking permission for another dance. I nodded, not wanting to risk running into Jude again. Tony seemed much more pleasant.

  “You like Jett for his looks, then? If it’s not the acting, I mean.”

  “I don’t seem to get why no one understands that I’m dating Taylor because of his personality.”

  “Yea, no one would get that. He’s a jerk to girls.”

  “Well, I guess I’m drawn to jerks.”

  “Ah, well, the first step in fixing a problem is admitting you have one.”

  “Yea, funny.”

  “You keep looking over there, you worried he’s got eyes for Stouza?”

  “No.” I said, but I couldn’t help the monster of jealousy that was snaking through me. Even if he didn’t take his eyes off of me and Tony, I still couldn’t help but wonder about Veronica.

  “Tony. No affiliation to the beer, I’m assuming.” I asked, looking up at his green eyes. He smiled a polite smile.

  “Well, actually, my dad is the founder of the company. But most people don’t even make that connection.” He assured me.

  The song hadn’t ended yet, but I felt someone touch my waist. I turned to see Taylor.

  “Thanks, Tony. I’ll take over.”

  Tony nodded quickly, giving me a smile.

  “Thanks for the dance, Kale. See you around, Taylor.”

  I returned the smile, feeling Taylor quickly turn me to face him.

  “Yea, see you around, Tony.” He called after his retreating form. “I hate that guy.” He muttered against my ear. He kept me a lot closer for the slow song. Our bodies were pressed together and he was swaying me gently, keeping his face close to mine. I felt an energy buzzing through him; I couldn’t put my finger on what nerves were running through him so wildly.

  “You hate him because he’s nice?”

  “I hate him because he had a right mind to take you home with him.”

  “I don’t know about that. He was nice.”

  I glanced up and he was glaring at Tony. I put a finger up to his chin, turning his gaze on me.

  “He wouldn’t have convinced me.” I leaned up to his ear and he smiled. “I mean, I’m more into the tight pants type of guys. Those baggy pirate pants just don’t cut it.”

  He laughed finally easing up as the song came to an end.

  Taylor had said that it’d be better if we left the party early. He mentioned that there would be a lot more cameras about after the party ended. So the limo pulled around and picked us up. We headed in one direction for a while, but stopped. We switched into a darker car and the limo kept heading in the same direction. After seeing my confused expression, Taylor mentioned it was so the paparazzi would get thrown off the trail. The car took off back the way we had come.

  “Stop by the drugstore by the house.” He told the driver. The driver nodded.

  “Why a drugstore?” I asked.

  “I need to pick up some stuff.”

  “Ok. Am I flying back tonight? Or?”

  “I thought, if you wanted, you could spend the weekend with me. Go on set tomorrow. See what it’s like.”

  “Ok, I guess so. I’m going to need something to sleep in.” Then I blushed. “Well, wait, where will I be sleeping?”

  Taylor let out a low chuckle. “In your own room, nervous nelly. No pressure.”

  “I’m still mad at you for making me quit my job. And I still don’t have anything to wear this weekend.”

  “I’ll lend you a t-shirt or something. We’re stopping by the drug store to pick you up a toothbrush, soap, all that great stuff. Of course, you can always share my toothbrush.” His eyebrows danced up and down suggestively. “We’ll just leave the stuff at my place. That way we won’t have to send someone out every time you come.”

  “Sounds alright to me.”

  The car pulled up to a small convenience store. Taylor reached behind a seat and brought out two hoodies and pairs of sunglasses. We shrugged them on and looked pretty ridiculous, only half-way revealing our Halloween costumes.

  ‘They won’t know who we are tonight, so no one will think to record us.” Taylor remarked.

  We walked inside and he targeted something in the store. “You go ahead and grab anything you’ll think you’ll need. I’ll be right back.”

  I watched him head over to the fridges. I sighed and started picking my way through isles. Shampoo, conditioner, razors, shaving cream, toothbrush, deodorant, hair brush. I considered every item, making sure to grab the cheapest stuff I could find. I knew my Robin Hood skirt looked suspicious in the store, probably. But the one guy on the cash register didn’t seem to be paying any attention. I had thought to slip my debit card in an inside pocket of the skirt. I tapped it, wondering how much money I had in my personal account. It made my stomach churn to think about it. I had also put in Taylor’s card that he had given me. But I didn’t want to use his card. It felt wrong. How much was on that card? A thousand? More than that? Unlimited? I didn’t want to know.

  Taylor walked over to me, he was carrying something, but I wasn’t paying any attention.

  “You grabbed the cheap stuff? Kale, grab some stuff you really want.” He said nodding towards the more expensive items. He grabbed a pink, swirly shampoo bottle off the top shelf. “Look, this looks legit. Nothing like massaging pink goo into your hair.” I shrugged.

  “It’s all the same crap. I think I’m good here. Ready?”

  He nodded and we both headed to the register. I piled my stuff on, expecting to pay for mine separately. But Taylor put his one item up there with mine. I realized it was a twelve pack of beer, not Tony’s. How was he going to get away with buying that when he wasn’t 21? Sure, he was close, but close didn’t cut it.

  “I got my stuff.” I told the guy at the register. I caught Taylor shaking his head out of the corner of my eye.

  “Ring it all up together.” Taylor told the guy behind the cash register. The guy nodded, ringing the stuff up. I was about to start my women rights spiel, but caught Taylor shaking his head again out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look at him.

  “Don’t even try it tonight.” He said. His expression was hard to read behind his sunglasses.

  “Sir, I need to see an I.D. for this.” The cashier waved toward the twelve pack.

  “Right.” Taylor muttered, but to my surprise, handed over an I.D. The cashier glanced at it, and then gave it back. I was expecting him to say put it back, but he rang it up. I stole a glance at Taylor, but Taylor was watching the cashier.

  “Be $21.39.” The guy drawled. Taylor handed over two bills and told him to keep the change. He grabbed the twelve pack and went to reach for the bags with my stuff, but I beat him to it. Something was off about him.

  “I’ve got it.” I said when he reached to take it from me. “You go ahead.”

  We walked out to the idling car, throwing the stuff in the trunk. We climbed in and Taylor was silent the whole way back.

  It hit me that I’d never seen his place before. I wondered what it was like. Was it an apartment? A house? I remembered that Hector said that he rented whenever he was in a different place shooting a film. Then my thoughts traveled to Hector. I wondered how he was doing.

  The car pulled up in front of a fairly large house. Taylor pushed his door open and I did the same. I went around, grabbing the bags before he could. Taylor lugged the twelve pack up the stairs, pulling keys out of his Halloween costume. He jammed them in the door and opened it, stepping back and letting me go in first. He reached over and flicked the lights on.

  The door led to a hallway, it had hard wood floors. I followed Taylor as he hung a left and we ended up in a fairly large kitchen. He dropped the twelve pack in the fridge.

  “Did you want to look at the spare bedrooms?” He asked. “See which one you want?”

  “I don’t care.” I answered honestly
. He nodded, seeming deep in thought. I followed him down the hallway until he reached a door on the right. He opened it revealing a bedroom with a blue and white bedspread. The walls were a pale blue color, a lamp on a desk beside the bed and a bureau to put things in. A closet was on the right side of the room, a door to a bathroom on the other.

  “I’ll be right back.” He said and left the room. I took all the supplies out of the bag and went into the bathroom. I neatly aligned the shampoos and things in the shower, putting my toothbrush on the counter. It was a nice bathroom. The shower had a curtain like I was used to. A counter/sink was on the right with a mirror. The bathroom continued the blue and white theme.

  I heard Taylor come up behind me. He threw me a t-shirt and a pair of black boxers, in his other hand he had an opened beer can.

  “That shirt’s pretty big. Should be fine.” He said, nodding toward the items. I wondered about the boxers. I had never worn something like that before. He took a sip of his beverage.

  “Thanks.” I said finally, I went back into the bedroom and laid them out on the bed. Taylor watched me.

  “There’s a towel on the rack with some wash cloths. You drink coffee in the morning, right?” I nodded. “Alright, I’ll brew you a cup. I’ll wake you up if you want, we need to be at the set early. What, wake you up an hour before we leave?”

  “Yea, that’s fine. I guess I’ll go ahead and shower tonight.”

  He nodded, smiling for the first time in a while.

  “Well, I guess I’ll let you rest. My room’s the one right across from yours, if you need anything.”

  “Ok.”

  “So…goodnight?”

  “Goodnight.”

  He stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I ran a hand through my hair, looking toward the bathroom. I sighed with a mixture of relief and curiosity as I stepped into the bathroom. I shut the bathroom door behind me.

  I spent the shower deep in thought about Taylor. I wasn’t sure why he was acting so quiet. Maybe he was tired from the party. Maybe he was thinking about his movie set. Maybe that’s what happens when he drinks.

  I watched the water for a long time, watching soap suds go down the drain. Imagine being soap. You’re used for a matter of minutes and then washed down the drain. What seemingly seems like a small job…over and done with and never thought of again. Was that how it was going to be like when I got older? That blip on Taylor Jett’s screen, a big deal while it’s happening. But when it’s over? Maybe they’ll just wash me down the drain, never think about me again.