by Dahlia Adler
“Wha? How did you not tell Vanessa?”
I exhaled sharply. “She and Liam have been attached to each other—and to the cameras—this entire weekend. I want to tell her in person but I don’t seem to be able to make that happen.”
“Then just tell her over the phone,” Nate suggested. “She’s going to be seriously pissed at you if she finds out from someone else.”
“Trust me, I know.” The truth was there was a tiny part of me that didn’t want to tell her. I was too afraid that it was just some sort of ridiculous dream and, in about five minutes, he was going to realize that he was about as interested in me as Van was in Nate. Then going to work would not only mean suffering through seeing him but enduring looks of pity from Vanessa as well. Not that I was going to tell any of that to Nate.
“I’ll call her after lunch. Come on, let’s go.”
“Just call her now, Duncan. What are you waiting for?”
“I’m not calling her now just so you can bug me to get on the phone with her.”
He grinned. “Am I that transparent?”
“Yes. Now come on. I want a damn fish taco.”
11
THE ENTIRE WEEK WAS A bizarre and confusing mess. I continued to help out during their last week on set and pretend I didn’t want to hurl when I listened to Vanessa recount all the funny and crazy things that happened on their “dates.” I even managed to have the occasional conversation with Liam and even more occasional “break” in his trailer when Van was in a scene without him. However, at the end of every day, it was Liam and Vanessa who left together to create another “couple alert” while I returned home to life as a pathetic high schooler.
I’d decided to wait until after filming to tell Vanessa about me and Liam, figuring it would lessen any potential awkwardness on set. After all, it was only a few more days, and I kind of liked having the time to adjust to having a boyfriend before I had to talk about it. He was like my fun little secret, and, to paraphrase him, getting to hide in his trailer with him for a while at the end of a long evening sure made my day not suck.
Still, I was almost relieved to be back in the hospital with my dad during spring break the next week, just for the sake of putting life into a little perspective. Unfortunately, even on meds, my dad could tell something was up.
“What’s the matter, honey?” he asked fuzzily, reaching out a hand to stroke my head while we watched some boring talk show on TV. We had to watch it on fairly low volume; private rooms weren’t covered by insurance, and we could no longer afford for my dad to have one.
“Nothing important,” I said dismissively. “How are you holding up? Do you want another blanket?”
“Nah, I’m okay.” He smiled weakly, and I smiled back, but God, it was hard to watch him like that. His body was retaining water, and it was making him bloat in his button-down PJs. His hair, which had previously held just a sprinkling of salt and pepper, was starting to get seriously gray at the temples. His skin looked ashy, and he was constantly hiccupping. But, of course, he never complained for a minute. “Can we watch something else, though? This is incredibly boring.”
I laughed and reached forward to squeeze his foot, the only body part sticking out of the blanket that wasn’t hooked up to wires. “Hey, you know your feet are weirdly soft?”
“Yeah, that’s because the stuff running through my system right now makes me shed all the skin there.”
“Oh. Gross.”
He smiled, clearly tired, and ruffled my hair again before turning over in an attempt to fall asleep.
I flipped through the channels, but nothing looked any more interesting, so I stopped flipping and settled back in the sleeper chair, hoping to catch a little nap myself. I was jolted out of my seat two minutes later, though, by the sound of Van’s voice.
“Liam’s so great. With the two of us, it was really just, like, instant chemistry, you know? He’s such a gentleman, and he’s so smart.”
I rubbed my eyes and sat up while I tried to determine where her voice was coming from, and a shift in the bed next to me revealed that my dad was doing the same.
“Is that Van on TV?” Dad asked.
Sure enough, there she was, being interviewed by Madison Something-Something, going on and on about all of Liam’s wonderful attributes. At least she was being accurate.
“Yup, that’s her,” I confirmed. “Cute dress, too.” I wondered if that was a new purchase or if she’d been styled. It looked like she’d just been ambushed on the street, though. It took me a moment to realize that Liam was at her side, his eyes on the ground as he trailed a foot or two behind.
“She has a new boyfriend?”
I tipped my head. “Sort of.”
“Do we like him?”
“We like him very much,” I confirmed, afraid to say any more in case his roommate might have been listening. “He’s a great guy.”
“Good,” Dad murmured, already starting to slip back to sleep. I waited until I heard the sound of his light snoring before padding out to the waiting area with cell phone in hand.
Liam picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Al.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and even over the phone, it seemed to brighten up the dull hospital walls. “How’s your dad?”
“He’s okay. He had to move into a shared room because private ones aren’t covered by insurance and they’re, like, thousands of dollars more. It’s making him pretty miserable, but right now he’s asleep. We actually just saw you on TV, sort of.”
He groaned. “That stupid ambush interview from last night?”
“That’s the one. Did you at least get better food this time?”
“Sushi. It’s a step up, but still not as good as pizza with my actual girlfriend,” he replied, dropping his voice for the last bit.
I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling too broadly. “Sorry you’re suffering so much,” I teased. “Your actual girlfriend is very available for pizza tonight if you are. It’s kind of awkward being in the room with that other guy so I think I’ll probably leave soon anyway.”
“I—” The rest of his response was lost in the sound of an argument going on behind him. “Sorry, one sec,” he murmured into the phone. I heard some more arguing, and then Liam muttered, “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“Everything okay?”
“Zoe came in hung over and can’t seem to remember any of her lines. We’re gonna be here forever. I’m—”
The yelling that cut him off this time was much louder, and I realized that he was the target. I winced when I finally recognized Zoe’s voice screaming, “Who the hell are you talking to, Liam? That had better not be the press! I will kill you!”
I quickly hung up the phone, suddenly terrified for both Liam’s and my safety. Zoe had mostly limited herself to the occasional nasty comment about why I was on set so often and diatribes about why she deserved to be Bailey, but I’d hate to be on the receiving end of her genuine wrath.
I scrambled back into my dad’s room to grab my stuff. If I wasn’t going to stick around here and I wasn’t going to see Liam, I had a practice AP to take.
* * * * *
I went to sleep on the later end that night, opting to take my mom’s mind off my dad’s absence with a chick flick and a pint of Cherry Garcia, but I’d been asleep for hours when I heard my cell phone ring. A quick glance at my alarm clock revealed that it was a little after 3:00 a.m., and I had no idea who would’ve been calling me that late, although I hoped it was Liam since we hadn’t gotten another chance to talk that day.
Sure enough, his name and an adorable picture I’d taken of him in his apartment flashed onscreen. “Hey there,” I greeted him sleepily.
There was no answer on his end.
“Liam?” I yawned. “Hey, babe, you called me, remember? How was the rest of your day? I hope it was worth missing out on pizza with me.”
Silence, and then Zoe’s voice, cold and triumphant: “I knew it.”
Shit.
�
��Zoe, what the hell are you doing on Liam’s phone at 3:00 a.m.?”
“What the hell are you doing expecting a call from Liam at 3:00 a.m.?” she returned smugly.
“It’s not what you think,” I said lamely, too sleepy and fuzzy-brained to think of anything less cliché to say.
“Oh, really?” she said mockingly, ignoring my question. “So you’re not secretly dating Liam while he pretends to date Vanessa so the two of them can become even bigger stars while I get shoved into the background?”
Okay, maybe it was exactly what it sounded like.
“It must kill you to watch them, doesn’t it?”
“Not as much as it apparently kills you,” I replied, immediately realizing that it was pretty much the stupidest thing I could’ve said. Way to confirm everything, Alexandra. Job well done. And while simultaneously antagonizing her! Do they let people that stupid go to Columbia? “Listen, Zoe, I’m not going to call any gossip sites and tell them you were out partying or whatever. Daylight Falls secrets are just that—secrets. I get it. I promise.”
“Do you, Vanessa’s Little Friend? Because you are around an awful lot, and you don’t seem to get that you don’t belong there.”
I will not let her bait me. I will not let her bait me. “Uh-huh,” I responded through gritted teeth. “So is that what you want? Me to be around less? Consider it done. Isn’t this your last week of filming anyway?”
“I don’t want anything,” Zoe said smoothly. “After all, you probably hate Vanessa just as much as I do for doing this to you, no? That’s good enough for me—just having someone else acknowledge that she is a thieving bitch.”
I barked a laugh. “Oh, please. That part was never yours, and it wasn’t even her idea to audition for Bailey. If you’re looking for a co-prez of the ‘I Hate Vanessa Park’ fan club, you’re not gonna find it here.”
“So you really don’t mind that it was her idea to date Liam for publicity even though he’s your boyfriend?”
“Nice try, Zoe,” I snapped. “It was not Vanessa’s idea. She doesn’t even know—” I froze, realizing my mistake as the words came out of my mouth, but it was too late.
Zoe’s laughter floated over the phone, and I winced against the harsh sound. “Goodnight, Vanessa’s Little Friend,” she cooed, and then she hung up.
Oh God, oh God, oh God. Despite the ridiculously late hour, I immediately called Van. It went straight to voicemail. I tried again. Same thing. I hoped the third time would be the charm, but when it wasn’t, I left her a message telling her we had to talk first thing in the morning. With nothing else to do, I put my phone away and attempted to fall back asleep.
* * * * *
I don’t know when I finally dozed off, but I woke up bright and early with a feeling of dread still sitting heavy on my shoulders. No missed calls from Van, probably because she wasn’t even up yet, but I knew I had to try her again and get to her before Zoe did.
No chance I was going to be able to get through this phone call without a morning coffee, though. I swapped my nightshirt for my comfiest jeans and the worn-out Viva la France! T-shirt my mom had given me when I got my first A+ in French. Then I slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed my car keys, and I was good to go.
I shuffled down the stairs as quietly as I could so as not to wake my mom and made a mad dash for the front door. I could practically inhale the wonderful scent of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf from here.
Unfortunately, I had a much ruder awakening waiting for me.
“There she is!”
“Alexandra Duncan, is it true you’re the one who’s dating Liam Holloway?”
“Ally, over here! What does your best friend Vanessa Park think of the fact that you’re dating her onscreen boyfriend?”
“Ally! Are you and Vanessa still friends, despite the fact that you stole her boyfriend?”
“Miss Duncan! Miss Duncan! Who stole whose boyfriend? Were you dating Liam Holloway, or was she?”
Holy mother of God.
Panicked, I screamed the same thing I’d seen Vanessa say way more casually on a number of occasions: “No comment.” Then I jumped back into the house and slammed the door behind me. My heart was pounding, and despite the fact that it was still pleasant out this early in the morning, I could feel myself sweating from head to toe.
Who would do this to me? The obvious answer was Zoe, but how would she have any clue where I lived? Plus, I’d already told her I wouldn’t talk to the paparazzi about her drinking, so why would she send them straight to my door?
I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but my stomach dropped even further, and I started to shake so hard I needed to grab onto the kitchen counter for balance. Was it possible Van had done this? Had Zoe gotten to her first and made her so angry that she’d sicced the paparazzi on me? After all, she knew this sort of thing was my worst nightmare and one of the absolute biggest reasons I had no desire for her life. The revenge was almost too perfect for it to have been anyone else.
Still, it was hard to imagine Van wanting to hurt me this much just for keeping one measly secret from her. (Okay, so it wasn’t so measly. Still.) After all, I wasn’t the only one who came out bad in this scenario; it didn’t really do any favors for her either. God, I hoped that meant it was Zoe, even if the idea that Little Miss Crazy had my home address chilled me to the bone.
Before I could contemplate any further, my cell phone rang. Please, please tell me the paparazzi doesn’t have my number now. I checked the caller ID, praying it wouldn’t be a restricted number. Instead, I saw Liam’s name and the picture that used to make me smile and now made me want to throw up.
I was tempted to ignore it but knew that I couldn’t. “Zoe?” I asked immediately. “What did you do?”
“Ally!” It was indeed Liam, and he sounded relieved to hear my voice. I couldn’t decide yet how I felt about hearing his. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
I was still shaking, so no, I was probably not okay. I told him as much.
“Al, I’m so sorry—”
“How do you have your phone?” I interrupted him.
“What do you mean?”
“Zoe called me on your phone all of four hours ago. How is it possible that she had your phone at 3:00 a.m. and you have it now?”
Liam groaned. “That bitch. My doorman handed it to me this morning when I went out for a run, said someone turned it in. She must’ve stolen my phone and then come by my building to drop it off after she called you.”
I inhaled sharply. What the hell was happening to my life? How had I become a walking, talking episode of Daylight Falls? I couldn’t deal with this now. Not with my father in the hospital and me without my coffee and psychotic starlets out to ruin my life.
“Look, Liam, I have to go. Can we talk later?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, his voice still tinged with concern. “Sure.”
All I wanted was to climb back into bed for the rest of the day. So I hung up with Liam, tossed my cell phone onto the kitchen counter, and did exactly that.
* * * * *
When I finally emerged from my room, it was nightfall, and I was relieved to see my mom downstairs, unharmed, and an empty front lawn. I could tell from the look on my mom’s face that she had a zillion questions and no idea where to start, but she simply said, “I sent Lucy to sleep at a friend’s.”
“Definitely a good idea,” I replied, walking to the fridge. I was starving after my day of self-imposed exile. “I’m really sorry about this whole mess, Mom.”
“Would you mind explaining exactly what’s going on?” she asked, and I could tell she was trying to keep her voice calm.
I sighed, pushing around various containers on the shelf until I found some leftover tuna casserole that had been brought by one of the neighbors. “I wish I knew exactly what was going on.”
“Is it true that you’re dating this boy?”
“I was,” I said with a shrug, putting the casserole in the oven; I suspected my mom hadn
’t eaten much either. “Not sure if I still will be after today.”
“And he was Vanessa’s boyfriend?” she asked, sounding confused.
“Only for paparazzi purposes.” I explained how the publicists had set it all up before I’d even gotten a chance to tell Vanessa there was something going on between me and Liam. “Anyway, now everything’s a mess and there’s a part of me that’s afraid that Van’s the one who did this to me.”
“Sweetheart.” My mom walked over and tucked a messy strand of my hair behind my ear. “You know Vanessa. She would never do this to you, to us. Especially not with your father like this.” At the mention of my father, I felt a wrenching in my gut. None of us had visited him today, thanks to the monsters in the front yard. He was all alone. Well, not all alone—he had his grumpy stranger roommate. I only hoped my dad was too out of it on meds to notice that he’d had no company.
“That may be true,” I said, “but I knew better than to let Van find out from someone else that I had a boyfriend, so who knows? Things have changed.”
“I’m sure they haven’t changed as much as that.” She walked over and kissed me on the forehead. “I’m going to go visit your father. Your phone rang a few dozen times while you were in your room. You might want to see to that.” She left me alone in the kitchen, my traitorous cell still on the counter where I’d left it and the smell of tuna casserole filling the air.
I picked up the phone and scrolled through the missed calls, grimacing at the number of them that had come from numbers that were either restricted or totally foreign to me. Peppered in with those were several from Dana, Leni, Liam, Van, and a text from Nate that just said, “Nice going, Duncan.”
No chance I was dealing with Dana and Leni now, and I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do about Liam. I did know, however, that I needed to talk to Van ASAP. I immediately dialed her back, and she picked up on the first ring.
“A! Are you okay?”
“Still breathing,” I assured her. I hesitated before saying anything else. On the one hand, I wanted to apologize for keeping Liam a secret. On the other hand, if she was behind this, I was a whole lot less sorry.