HDU

by India Lee

  “Oh, this,” Amanda mumbled, looking down at her dress and feeling an odd sense of dread. Only Megan could turn compliments into something to be weary of.

  “Yes, that. I could never pull that off! You just can’t go braless if you’re bigger than a C – oop!” She put a hand to her mouth, appearing suddenly bashful. Amanda tried not to roll her eyes out of her head. “Can’t talk about that with a guy here!” Megan giggled demurely. Liam laughed.

  “By all means, go ahead,” he said. Amanda refrained from shooting him a look. It was not the response she’d hoped for, and it of course delighted Megan.

  “Well, what an understanding boyfriend,” she murmured as their drinks arrived. With her eyes still on Liam, she sipped her Prosecco cocktail. “Poor thing, you must have had to wait forever for her to get dressed tonight. Mandy hates getting out of her sweatpants!”

  Amanda bristled. Okay, that’s not even true, she thought as Liam chuckled something low and sexy that made Megan’s lashes flutter.

  “Well, yeah.” His eyes met her blue ones for a moment as he smiled. “But it was worth the wait,” he said, putting a tender hand on the back of Amanda’s neck. He gave it a little rub, helping to relieve the surprise from her face.

  Megan’s nose flared for a second before she recovered. “Oh… you guys are… too sweet,” she drawled, her eyes darting back and forth between them. “Gosh, I feel like I shouldn’t even be here interrupting this moment. I know Sexy Amanda doesn’t come out too often!”

  Really? Amanda turned back to her slowly, eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?” she asked, though she had a feeling she knew exactly what Megan meant.

  “Hm? Oh, Mandy, don’t make that face! It’s just a little birdie told me that you don’t get in… sexy moods that often.”

  Liam cleared his throat. Amanda glowered, burning red. Brandt may very well have never said that – it wasn’t even all that true – but it was still embarrassing and totally uncalled for. There had to be some sort of etiquette against referencing stolen boyfriends to the victim of the crime, especially when using that reference to steal the victim’s new boyfriend.

  “We should probably order,” Amanda muttered, her throat dry.

  “Oh, honey, don’t take it personal! You’ve just always been conservative with the romance stuff. But it’s not a bad thing! Some people just don’t have the energy for it,” Megan said reassuringly. She bit her lip, casting eyes on Liam. “And other people have more than their fair share,” she murmured. “Am I not right?”

  He gave a half smile. “You might be onto something.” Again, not what Amanda wanted to hear. Megan gazed at him and sighed, her look flirtatious.

  “God, Mandy, you should just let someone else have him so all that energy doesn’t go to waste.”

  Ex-ca-use me? Amanda felt her skin prickle with a mounting rage, but before she could say anything, Liam gave that sexy laugh again.

  “Don’t worry,” he grinned at Megan, sliding a hand up Amanda’s neck and into her hair. “Nothing goes to waste with her.” His fingers entwined in her curls, grabbing a handful and giving a lustful little tug. The gesture quickly sent chills down Amanda’s spine. She exhaled, her neck suddenly hot and tingly. Her whole body soon joined in on the feeling.

  Liam was murmuring something in her ear now but she couldn’t bother to listen with his hot breath tickling her skin. The red lights of the restaurant flared in her eyes and for a moment, she was convinced that they were an uninhibited and ferociously passionate couple. Without thinking, she put a hand on Liam’s thigh, tilting her head up to give a look that said, kiss me. He did.

  “Excuse me, I need to use the restroom,” Megan decided, her face bright red and splotchy as she slid out of the booth. Amanda heard her leaving, but she didn’t truly register it until a little bit later, Liam’s lips still on hers and her hand on his – oh my God.

  Amanda jolted away from him and snatched her hand off of his inner thigh, where it had somehow migrated while they were making out. We were making out, she realized, her heart pounding and her head dizzy. For how long? How long ago did Megan leave? Her lusty actions rewound and played again in her head. She had practically grabbed his crotch. Oh my God, Amanda, she berated herself. Who’s the horny one now?

  She heard Liam let go of a huge sigh as he leaned back against the booth. Through her peripheral vision, she could see him running both hands up his face and through his hair. She waited a few moments before peeking over at him, mortified to find him already looking at her. His expression was unreadable.

  “Hey,” he finally said.

  She blinked and shook her head in confusion. “Hey?”

  He broke into a small laugh. “That wasn’t nice.”

  “I…” Amanda stammered. “You started it.”

  He didn’t respond, though he still stared at her, head resting against the back of the seat as if he were exhausted. Oh my God, Amanda thought. I just blue-balled Liam Brody.

  They sat there in silence for the next ten minutes, Liam intermittently breaking it with a tortured grunt or groan.

  “Should we go?” Amanda asked apologetically, feeling suddenly awful about his sexual frustration. “We should go,” she said. He could at least go home and take a cold shower. Megan probably wasn’t coming back anyway. They had kind of shown her up and purposely made her feel beyond uncomfortable. It was definitely obnoxious but in Amanda’s eyes, totally called for. The girl was blatantly hitting on her boyfriend and hinting at some very sexual things. She couldn’t have possibly been more shameless.

  Or so Amanda thought.

  Suddenly, the curtains on their booth tore open and Megan reentered. Her hair was down now, her face back to its usual color. She looked normal again – better than before, actually. Amanda and Liam watched her together, their eyes following her curiously as she retook her seat. She threw back the rest of her drink before looking up. A bitter laugh escaped her pursed lips to break the stony silence.

  “I know she can’t keep you.”

  Amanda squinted. “Excuse me?” she asked. Megan reluctantly turned to her, her expression hard.

  “You couldn’t even keep Brandt, so how could you keep him?”

  Liam laughed derisively before motioning to the waitress for the check. Megan was undeterred.

  “She doesn’t deserve you, I’m just being honest.”

  He ignored her as he took out his wallet. Megan persisted.

  “Let’s pretend you’d never met either of us before,” she said, leaning forward on the table so that her cleavage plunged. “And you saw me and Amanda. Who would you go for, realistically?”

  Oh man. It was officially a train wreck. Even Amanda was beginning to get chills from secondhand embarrassment. Liam hastily grabbed the check from the waitress when it arrived, grateful for something to do besides listen to Megan, who, judging from his sudden flinch, was trying to play footsies under the table.

  “We all know the answer,” she said with a curl of the lip. “You’d never look at her and choose her over me.” In the silence that followed – Amanda too stunned to speak, Liam apparently too uncomfortable – Megan searched herself for her best final argument. “I just want you to know that I’d do anything for you,” she finally said, clasping both hands over Liam’s.

  Whoa. Amanda stared in sheer amazement of her audacity. Was she actually appealing to be Liam’s… one-night-stand or other woman? He looked up at her, wordless as he stared. Megan breathed heavily as he did, her endowed chest rising and falling, rising and falling. Amanda shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Liam’s eyes were really starting to wander about Megan. What is he doing? Was he really so sex-starved that he would consider her offer?

  Just then, Amanda’s phone vibrated. She jumped, staring at it resentfully for bothering her at such an inopportune moment. The fact that it was Ian calling barely affected her. So he’s alive. I’ll call him back later, she decided, trying to turn her attention back to Liam and Megan. But her phone rang aga
in. It was Casey this time. Amanda ignored it, but no matter how many times she let it go to voicemail, Casey called back. In less than a minute, she had racked up four missed calls. Amanda frowned. What is going on? She picked up, irritated.

  “Hello?” Through the din of the restaurant, she could only faintly hear Casey’s voice, though it sounded like she was urgent. Yelling, even. “Casey, what’s wrong?” Amanda asked, suddenly stricken with worry. Ian overdosed on something – that was her first thought. But why would Casey know? She was still in London. And she sounded more angry than panicked, though Amanda couldn’t make out a single one of her words. “Ugh!” she practically growled, climbing over Liam and out of the booth. With her cell phone pressed to her ear, she turned to flash him a look of warning. “I’m going to be right back,” she said before running for the exit as fast as she could in her heels. Casey’s words began fading in with every step closer to the front door.

  “This is humiliating, Amanda… I can’t believe him!”

  Shit. Ian had done something stupid. She knew it.

  “I didn’t think he would put it up on the Internet!”

  Amanda’s heart nearly stopped. If Ian had leaked some sort of sex tape of himself with Casey, she would be just about ready to drop dead with horror, confusion and disgust.

  “What are you talking about, Case?” Amanda shouted as she burst through the metal doors. “Tell me everything again, I can’t hear you!”

  “He made a short film about us, Amanda, you and me,” Casey rasped, her voice hoarse and wretched. So that’s what he was doing. “And he made me look like… some fucking…”

  Amanda held her hands in the air, shivering on the sidewalk as she waited for Casey to finish her sentence. “Like what? What did he make you look like?”

  “A fucking out-of-control, psycho, lunatic drug addict! And now the entire world knows because it’s everywhere, it’s on every possible website! There’s already news about it!”

  Amanda paused. The appropriate question probably wasn’t, “But are you a psycho, lunatic drug addict?” so she didn’t ask it, but she wanted to. “Okay, just give me a minute to process this,” Amanda said, walking left and then right and then standing still again. She had no idea what to do. She didn’t have a smart phone, she couldn’t see the video, and she wasn’t about to ask anyone about it.

  “He’s your friend, Amanda, so tell him to take the fucking video down now! I swear to God he won’t get hired anywhere if he doesn’t do it fast.” Casey’s voice was shrill, unrecognizable. “I can’t even tell you how easy it would be for me to end his career before it even starts. And not just his – any career, for that matter.”

  And… that was a threat. Amanda tried to chalk it up to Casey being upset. “I’m going to talk to him now. Right now. I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

  “Fine.”

  “Bye.” Amanda hung up and ran back into the restaurant. Beyond stressed at this point, she was certain she could throw a drink or two if she returned to the table to see any hanky-panky going on.

  But she didn’t even make it there, crashing straight into Liam on her way back. He barely reacted to her barreling into his chest.

  “We need to go home now,” he said, reaching for her hand. She held it away.

  “What did you do?” she asked, fired up about too many things to fake being calm for the diners hawking them.

  He paused, a tinge of disappointment in his face. “Are you serious, Amanda?” When she persisted with silence, he answered. “She made a move, I turned it down, she tried again, I got up and left. And now I’m here. Can we go now?”

  Panting, Amanda stared at him and then past his shoulder. A splotchy, red Megan was finally emerging from the booth in a huff, looking partially livid but mostly mortified. Okay, so nothing happened.

  “We’re going outside,” Amanda said rigidly once Megan was within earshot, practically ordering her to follow as she and Liam headed for the doors. Before she could even deal with whatever mess Ian had just gotten them both into, she was determined to rid herself of the one that had followed her to New York from Merit. But when they reached the sidewalk outside, Megan stopped a few paces behind them.

  “Whatever, okay, Amanda? You win, you’re awesome, you’ll be famous for another fifteen minutes, congratulations!” she shouted, arms out and loud enough to make a few people on the sidewalk stop and watch. “I’m done, okay? Are you happy? I hope you are,” she snickered. “Because I give this relationship another two weeks, tops. He’s going to wake up and realize that you’re an ugly, little nobody.” Amanda blinked, somehow taken aback by the words. She could tell that her confidence had visibly wavered for a second because Megan smiled with satisfaction. “That’s right. Ugly and nobody. You’ll be back in Merit before you know it and the world will forget all about you. It’ll be like you never left.”

  Amanda eyed the lingering passerby. None of them appeared to be paparazzi, thank God, but she did spot a few pedestrians with their iPhones out, and she doubted they were texting. In her fury, she didn’t give it much thought. It could all end up on the Internet, but Amanda couldn’t help marching right up to Megan anyway.

  “Just stop for a moment,” Amanda hissed through her teeth. She was careful not to be audible to anyone else, careful not to even let her lips be read. “Now I get to say something because this will be the last time we ever speak,” she said sternly. “Stop wasting your time, Megan, because I’m not going anywhere no matter what you say. So, do whatever you can to be satisfied with your own life instead of trying to rip off mine. You took from me once, which I can live with now, but I promise you will never ever do it ever again.”

  BREAKING: CASEY MULREED A DRUG ADDICT, LIFE IN SHAMBLES!

  Pop Dinner

  February 3

  It’s only been a couple hours since its release, but it’s likely that you’ve already seen the artsy video shot and edited by filmmaker Ian Marsh. In a shaky, gritty and revealing four minutes, the short exposes Casey Mulreed’s alleged addiction to a variety of substances. Scenes range from prepping at home for her What Was Left premiere with a naïve Amanda Nathan to flirting with Marsh during the premiere’s after party (it appeared the two were alone in a private room).

  Since the fantastic film will no doubt be pulled from the Web soon thanks to the Mulreed family’s pesky lawyers, we at Pop Dinner would like to provide a transcript of our favorite quotes by Casey! The film is chock full of juicy ones, including gems like, “I still feel like [Lucy Holt], but when don’t I?”

  Uh-oh… it’s never good when you feel just like your suicidal addict of a film character! And if that isn’t enough to confirm Mulreed’s probable addiction, she later says the following when Marsh asks her if she deserves an Oscar for her raw portrayal of a dope fiend:

  “No, that wouldn’t be fair. There wasn’t any acting involved besides toning down the real me.”

  Oh my!

  When Marsh asks Mulreed what she means by that, she responds with the juiciest line of all: “I’m exactly like my f***ing family. I tried my best not to be, but I’ve been my whole life – worse than them, really. No one has a clue though, and it’s like I’m tricking the world. I hate it.”

  Whoops. Looks like America’s sweetheart ain’t so sweet after all!

  At Amanda’s request, Liam’s car took them both to Ian’s apartment. To her surprise, there were already paparazzi there – and they were there just for Ian. But of course, they didn’t at all mind the fact that Amanda had shown up for them to badger. Already, the questions were starting and they didn’t miss a beat.

  “Amanda, do you know if Casey is planning to go to rehab?”

  “Amanda, has Casey spoken to you at all? Is she humiliated by all this?”

  “Amanda, what do you know about Casey’s addiction?”

  For once, the questions stumped Amanda. She hadn’t known anything about Casey’s alleged addiction until watching the film in the car on Liam’s phone. Between
hearing about it and finally seeing it, it had gone officially viral, its Internet popularity by far exceeding Amanda’s first and second blog entries combined. The world was blindsided, shocked that their beloved Casey Mulreed was not who she seemed.

  But more surprising to Amanda than the addiction was the fact that Casey had confessed to it on camera, and to a person she barely knew. She was known for her smarts – how could she do something so stupid? But there were too many other questions on Amanda’s mind to entertain that one for long.

  To her relief, Ian promptly buzzed her up when she pressed the button of his apartment number. She had a feeling he would. He had called before, which meant he did finally want to talk. But when he opened the door for Amanda, his bloodshot eyes darted to Liam. “Why is he here?” he asked, his boozy breath wafting out into the hallway.

  “Trust me, asshole, I don’t want to be,” Liam said curtly. With that, Ian shut the door.

  “Wait, Ian – ” Amanda wrapped her hand around the doorknob just before he slammed it shut. She let out a sharp gasp, her knuckles grating hard against the doorframe. She blinked down at them, dizzy for a second. Chunks of skin had scraped clean off. Within a second, there was blood.

  “Amanda?” Ian opened the door a crack but in a flash, it was propelled open by Liam.

  “You asshole,” he grit his teeth, grabbing Ian by the collar of his ratty T-shirt. Ian swung blindly, grunting as he tried to free himself from Liam’s powerful grip. Amanda’s eyes fluttered from the drops of her blood on the hallway tiles to the scene inside the apartment. Ian’s limbs continued to flail as Liam easily pinned him against the wall, but finally, his fist made contact with the side of Liam’s head.