22. Kylie
22
KYLIE
“I didn’t get the job,” Alyssa said with a sigh. It was Friday evening, and I was sitting on the balcony. The weather had gotten colder, but I had a blanket over my legs.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, holding the phone up to my ear. “The one here in Denver?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I didn’t even make it to the interview round. They just sent an email saying I was no longer considered.”
“That sucks.”
“What sucks?” Mason asked from the other side of the small table. His eyes never left his phone screen.
“Alyssa didn’t get an interview for that engineering firm here in town.”
“Not even an interview? That sucks. But it’s a really hard place to get into,” he said.
“Did you ever apply for it?”
Mason downed half the Sazerac I’d made him at our brand-new bar. “No comment,” he said, his voice raspy after gulping down the whiskey.
“He says it’s a really hard place to get a job at,” I told Alyssa.
“Did he ever apply there?”
“Yes, but he won’t admit it,” I said.
Mason looked up. “Wait, what did you just tell her?”
I rolled my eyes. “Maybe you’d know more about what was going on in Alyssa’s life if you actually talked to her.”
He shrugged. “We’re talking now.”
“This doesn’t count,” I said at the same time Alyssa said it in my ear. Apparently, she’d heard his comment.
“I knew it was a long shot, but I at least thought I’d get to meet with them in person,” she continued. My heart went out to her. She was incredibly stressed out by her schoolwork already, and she had to conduct a job search on top of it.
“Are there any other good prospects on the horizon?”
“I have a phone interview next week.”
“A phone interview’s good.”
“Where?” Mason asked.
I covered the phone, shooting him a look. “It’s in a little town called Talk To Your Sister.”
He rolled his eyes and resumed scrolling on his phone.
Stress was evident in Alyssa's voice as she returned to the subject of the rejection. “I didn’t even get an interview , Kylie. What does that say about my job prospects?”
“It says it wasn’t the right place for you.”
“No, it says I wasn’t the right person for it.”
“Same difference,” I said, though I knew it was easy for me to say that. “You wouldn’t want to work in a place that’s a bad fit.”
“I also don’t want to end up jobless after I graduate.”
“You won’t,” I said. I truly believed it, but she didn’t seem to. “You’ve still got time. It’s not even October yet.”
“Yeah, but I’m graduating out of cycle. There are a lot more entry level engineering openings in the spring.” She paused, and I wondered if she was holding back tears. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound so pessimistic. I just—I didn’t think it’d be this hard.”
“You sound like you need a break,” I said. “Luckily, it’s the weekend.”
“TGIF,” she said with zero enthusiasm. “That just means studying all day instead of studying most of the day.”
“What if it didn’t, though?”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“What if you took a real break? Like away from school and work and stress. Think about it—it might recharge your batteries.”
Mason looked up from his phone. “What’s got batteries?”
I ignored him. “You need a break, Alyssa. Otherwise, your head will explode.”
She sighed. “Yeah, probably. But what would I do, go on a 2-day cruise? There’s just no way to get away from all the stress.”
“Yes, there is,” I said, a huge grin on my face as I thought it through. “Have you ever met a Hollywood actress?”
“Welcome,” Sierra said, as Alyssa and I entered her suite. It was large and spacious, but for once, I ignored the view of the mountains.
“This is amazing.” I dropped my bags and gave her a hug.
I felt the actress’ smile against my shoulder as she hugged me back. “I don’t usually rent a suite on the top floor, but for some reason, they pulled out all the stops this time.”
“Too bad Ronnie couldn’t come.”
“Yes, but I had lunch with her last week. She’s doing well.”
I squeezed Sierra once more before letting go. I hadn’t known her for long—less than a year, actually—but she was a friend and a familiar face. So much had happened since the beginning of the semester, I was dying to talk to someone about it.
“This is Alyssa,” I said.
Alyssa looked awed by the room, or perhaps it was the presence of a movie star that’d done it. After I told her who we’d be staying with, she’d watched one of the movies Sierra had made as a child—one I’d always enjoyed. “Thank you for inviting me,” she said, slightly awkwardly. She and Sierra were probably only a year apart in age, but Sierra had the polish of an actress while Alyssa was tall and thin and looked a bit like a young colt that’d bolt at any moment.
“Make yourselves at home,” Sierra said as we entered the living room. There was a butter-colored sofa taking up most of the open space. A kitchen and dining room were on one side, and doors presumably leading to bedrooms on the other. The vast expanse of windows showed downtown Denver and the Rockies off in the distance.
“This is really amazing. All this for a Chase Cooper film?” I didn’t really understand how the Hollywood publicity machine worked. Sierra had been in a big-budget action movie that’d filmed not that far from my hometown over the summer. That’s how we’d met.
“No, actually, they invited me out here because of an indie film I did a few years ago. A local film school is having a showing of indie films featuring female leads, and they asked me to speak at it.”
“Wow, that’s great,” Alyssa said. “But aren’t you nervous?”
“No.” Sierra gestured for us to sit down. She wasn’t the type that got hung up on public speaking or panels or interviews. Now men, on the other hand… men made her nervous. Luckily, it was just us girls for the weekend. “How did you two meet? Are you getting an MBA too, Alyssa?”
“No.” Alyssa crossed one thin leg over the other. “Kylie’s dating my brother.”
Crap.
I’d completely forgotten Mason had told Alyssa I was his girlfriend.
Sierra perched on the edge of an armchair as she turned to me, her gorgeous waves of flaxen hair flipping from one shoulder to the other. “You didn’t tell me you were seeing someone! I want to hear everything about him.”
“Well… “ Damn. I hadn’t anticipated this. It’s not like I couldn’t trust them with the truth, but I was afraid Alyssa would be upset about the lie, and she’d had a crappy enough week already.
Getting no answer from me, Sierra turned to Alyssa. “What’s your brother like? Tell me everything.”
Alyssa shook her head ruefully. “He’s my half-brother, actually, and Kylie probably knows him better than I do.”
They both looked at me expectantly, and I huffed out a loud breath. “Okay, here’s the thing…”
I explained it all. The mistake the housing office made. How incredible the suite was, and all that. “The thing is, it’s working out really well, as long as we don’t get caught.” I turned to Alyssa. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth when we had lunch. We just had so many other things to talk about, I forgot you didn’t know.”
Alyssa tried hard not to look upset. “At least you told me. Mason never tells me anything. If I’m lucky, I get a text every so often that says, ‘How’s it going?’ I should’ve known someone like you would never date him.”
“Why’s that?”
“You’re nice. He’s not.” Disappointment tinged her voice, and I exchanged a glance with Sierra, who looked puzzled as well. And then I thought about it for a moment. Had Alyssa hoped Mason and I would end up together so she and I would stay close? After all, it didn’t sound like her family life was all that great, and Mason had said most of her friends had already graduated.
I smiled at her. “It’s better this way, because if we had gone out and broke up, it might make things awkward between you and me. But you and I became friends on our own, so it doesn’t matter what happens with him.”
“I want in on this friendship deal too,” Sierra said, smoothing things over. “But first, I ordered lunch. Do you mind eating up here in the suite?”
Neither of us did.
Lunch was incredible, but in a nice hotel, that wasn’t surprising. Alyssa and I asked Sierra questions about the indie film featured in the film festival. It would’ve been normal for Sierra to ask Alyssa about her plans after graduation, but I’d already warned the actress to stay away from that subject.
Toward the end of the meal, the conversation returned to my unusual living arrangement. “I still can’t believe you share a room with three men,” Alyssa said.
“But it’s not a room, it’s a pretty substantial suite, right?” Sierra clarified.
“Well…”
“You share a room ?” Sierra exclaimed.
“Yeah. It’s kind of a long story.”
She shook her head. “I thought Ronnie had a strange situation when she shared a house with three men. But a room? I’d rather set up a hammock on the balcony.”
“It’s not all bad.”
Sierra raised an elegantly arched eyebrow. “Are you blushing?”
“She is.” Alyssa squinted at me. “Do you have a crush on one of them? I met Parker last year—he’s a cutie.”
“Have you met Jude, too?” I asked, hoping the flush had faded from my cheeks.
“Yeah, a few times. He and Mason have been friends for years.”
“Which one do you like best?” Sierra asked, like we were in grade school.
“You can tell us,” Alyssa encouraged. “I won’t be offended if it’s not Mason.”
“I like them all,” I admitted.
Alyssa gave an exasperated sigh. “Well, yeah, they’re your roommates, but which one do you like best?”
“I like them all,” I repeated.
Alyssa still looked frustrated at what she likely considered to be an attempt to dodge the question—but Sierra’s gaze sharpened. “I think what Kylie’s trying to say is: she has feelings for more than one of them.”
I nodded while Alyssa looked at me with surprise.
“For all three?” Sierra asked.
“Yes.” My gaze was firmly on the cream-colored rug under the coffee table.
“But how will you choose one?” Alyssa asked.
“I don’t think she is,” Sierra said.
Alyssa was aghast. “What, are you just going to let them figure it out among themselves? Like flip a coin for you? Or do they not know you like them? Mason can be really obtuse, but Jude and Parker?—”
“Alyssa,” Sierra interrupted. “Sometimes a woman doesn’t have to choose.”
I felt a bit like an older sister explaining the birds and the bees, as Sierra and I told Alyssa about our friend Ronnie and her relationship with her men.
“It’s not a very common arrangement, but it happens,” I concluded.
With effort, Alyssa pulled herself together. I got the feeling she’d lived a rather sheltered life, and it had shocked her quite a bit. “Do you think the three of them would want something like that?”
“I don’t know.” It was the honest truth, though it was something I’d thought about more and more, especially after the intimacy I’d shared with Parker in that tower of the business building.
“Wow.” Alyssa looked so charmingly naive, I had to bite back a laugh. Sierra seemed to do the same.
The rest of the weekend passed quickly. Sierra got us tickets to a show on Saturday night, and on Sunday, we had brunch at the restaurant downstairs and swam in the hotel pool. It was a little intimidating swimming next to an actress who had the body of a goddess—nicely showcased in a bikini probably costing more than my car—but it was a fun, relaxing weekend.
Alyssa seemed to enjoy it, too. On Saturday, I caught her making notes to herself on her phone about all the things she needed to do. By Sunday, she seemed more relaxed.
Sierra was attending a formal dinner at the film institute Sunday evening, so we said our goodbyes in the afternoon.
“I’ll see your next movie when it comes out,” Alyssa said after giving Sierra a hug.
“What is your next project?” I asked.
Sierra hesitated, but her eyes were bright. “I, um, I’m taking a little break.”
“Really? What will you do?” I asked. “Travel?”
“No.” She took a deep breath. “It sounds completely pretentious and like the most Hollywood thing ever, but I’m writing a screenplay.”
“For a movie?” Alyssa’s voice was part squeal.
“Yes.”
“That’s awesome,” I said. “Have you written anything like that before?”
“No.” Sierra sighed. “And that’s a problem. But I’ve taken some classes, and I just… I’m not seeing scripts that have strong female leads. That’s one of the reasons I was so eager to come to this film festival. We need more movies where the woman’s role isn’t just to be rescued. Or where she’s not put in danger solely to provide motivation for the leading man.”
“That sounds amazing,” Alyssa said, and I agreed wholeheartedly.
“Thank you,” Sierra said, sounding grateful for the support. “Don’t tell this to anyone—the people I know back home would laugh, but I have this dream that I’ll write the screenplay and I’ll be able to direct it myself.”
“I hope you get to do that,” I said sincerely. “Have you ever directed anything before?”
A rosy blush filled Sierra’s cheeks. “Yes, once. Sort of.” Her cryptic response made me vow to text Ronnie and see if she knew what it was about.
Alyssa was quiet as I drove back to campus. “Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” she said instantly. “Thank you. I didn’t realize how much I needed a break until you dragged me away.”
I laughed. It had definitely taken some convincing to get her to come.
“And Sierra’s a sweetheart. Such a normal person but she’s acted with such huge stars, like Aiden Hunt… I can’t even imagine.”
“It’s a whole different world.” I wondered if Sierra would miss it when she took some time off.
Alyssa flashed me a mischievous smile when we got closer to campus. “Do you think your three men missed you?”
“I don’t know.” It made me wonder what they’d been up to over the weekend. I was fairly certain they hadn’t continued our tradition of role-playing bedtime stories while I was gone.
“Well… let me know how that works out,” she said. “I’m really curious about the possibilities.”
That definitely made two of us.