Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
I have the strangest dream that night that involves me in a space suit, floating through the vast darkness.
Space snakes slither around me, trying to bite me through my suit.
Crispin is inside the spaceship, manning the controls that keep me tethered to the ship.
Something other than snakes catches my attention, and I look up to see my dad outside the ship, without a suit, and without a tether.
I try to scream his name as he begins to tumble head over heels away from the ship, but sound doesn’t carry in space, so he can’t hear me.
His mouth is open, but I hear nothing coming from him either.
He tumbles and tumbles while I try to shout at Crispin to give me more tether.
I can’t reach him in time and watch as the distance makes him appear smaller and smaller until he disappears completely.
Jerking awake, I rub my face. Usually, I dream about Dad’s car accident.
How I imagined it to be, though I never saw the scene or the cars or even Dad, for that matter.
I hate that I keep killing Dad over and over again in my dreams. He’s rarely the bright, happy person he was in real life, because he’s so busy dying in one tragic way or another.
I just want to remember Dad for who he was, not reimagine how his life ended.
Climbing out of bed, I hop into the shower. I might not have time, but my head feels thick, and a cool rinse might wake me up.
“Note to self. Don’t stay up so late on a work night.” I tip my head back under the stream of chilly water, loving how the shock of it jolts some of the fog from my brain.
I call Glory on my way to work and tell her about our outing the night before.
She sounds appropriately jealous. Then it’s my turn to sound that way as she describes a visit to the pond with friends.
Such a mundane thing we used to do, but it was always fun, and I ache for the simple pleasure of hanging out with everyone.
At the set, I pull up the app to see if they’ve changed the schedule at all.
They haven’t. I’ll be filming with Chandra and Trent this morning.
We are expected to wrap by lunch, and then I get to see the publicity photos they took of Crispin, Sally, and me ages ago.
I guess they’ll be starting the publicity campaign, so they want me to answer a standard questionnaire that they’ll include with the press packets when they send them out.
I stop short when I find Crispin sitting in my makeup chair.
“What are you doing?”
He grins as he scans me from head to toe. “Whoa, you look adorable. I love the fuzzy slippers.”
I look down at my feet in confusion. Sure enough, I’m wearing my slippers. I groan. “Yeah, I haven’t stayed out that late in…well…maybe ever. My mind is not firing on all cylinders today.”
Other than the slippers, I’m wearing a pair of booty shorts and an oversized sweatshirt.
Though the shirt is so long, it probably looks like it’s the only thing I have on.
Suddenly, I want to cover my very bare legs.
I never see anyone besides Remi and Grimilda and assorted extras.
But he did say I look adorable. Maybe the expanse of skin isn’t sexy on a girl who looks young enough to play a thirteen-year-old.
He cocks his head. “Am I to understand you avoid the nightlife scene like I do?”
My head really is stuffed with cotton this morning, so I give him a funny look. “I’m not so sure I believe you avoid it. But I’m not a party girl if that’s what you’re asking.” I blink at him. “Was that what you were asking?”
He chuckles and stands, indicating the chair. “Here, I think you need this more than I do.”
“What are you even doing here? You don’t film this morning, do you?”
“Nope. Not until this afternoon. My publicist and I have a meeting with marketing.”
“Oh, la di da. You get to have a publicist with you. I just get to go fill in a form by my lonesome.”
“The perks of being a huge star.” Crispin smiles innocently at me as he leans his tall frame against the makeup mirror. The bright lights, which I think are on twenty-four hours a day, glow against his golden skin and brighten his chocolate eyes.
Is he standing like that because he knows he looks mouth-watering? “Um…huge? Come on. I’m sure there are bigger.”
He looks mock offended. “What? Not bigger than me, surely.”
“I can think of five right off the bat.”
With a shake of his head, he pats his heart. “You are brutal, Ari. Brutal!”
Remi breezes in. “Oh, to what do we owe this pleasure? A star in our midst.”
Crispin raises a brow at me as if to say, “See?”
“He’s slumming while he waits for publicity to show up.” I bite my lip to keep from grinning when his eyes go round at my dig. I think I like keeping Crispin guessing how I feel about him. He glares at me, and I have fun holding his stare with a haughty expression of my own.
Remi picks through my hair with a comb before pulling out a spray bottle and dampening it. I have to break eye contact to close my eyes to avoid them being sprayed.
“Did you have fun last night?” Crispin asks.
When I open my eyes, I see Remi’s curious expression reflected in the mirror. She’s going to grill me later. “I did. Thanks again for doing that for all of us.” There, now she’ll know it wasn’t a date or anything.
“I had fun too.” Crispin watches me closely, as if looking for a particular reaction or emotion to show up on my face. “We should go out again. Soon. Something mellow. Do you roller skate?”
“I don’t, why?”
“I thought it would be fun to be among the many roller skaters across the street from your place.”
Uh oh. This sounds suspiciously like a just him and me type of date. I’m surprised when the corners of my mouth want to curl upward at the thought.
“We could roller skate,” he continues. “You could cook me dinner. I could get to know you and your mom better.”
Remi and I make eye contact in the mirror.
Her perfectly arched brows are at the top of her forehead.
My eyes are as round as they get. Though I want to panic, I decide I need to face whatever this is head-on.
So, I narrow my eyes and shift my gaze to him.
He’s still leaning into the flattering light, his intense gaze glued to me.
“Are you asking me on a date, or are you hoping to get a home-cooked meal out of me? Because I’m not a great cook, so you’ll be very disappointed. ”
The corner of his mouth curls into a sexy smirk. “I’m asking you on a date. You don’t have to cook dinner. We can order in.”
A little snort escapes me. “And we’ll watch a movie after?”
“Oh, that sounds fun. Where did you come up with that idea?”
I laugh, but it falls away when the full impact of what he said hits me. “Wait. You’re really asking me on a date?”
He looks a little confused, but nods. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“The question is, why would you? I’m too young. You’re a huge star.” I overemphasize the word huge, which makes him laugh. “I’m a nobody. Who can’t even drink legally.”
He crosses his arms and leans against the mirror again.
“You have a totally skewed self-image. And you’re really hung up on my fabricated nightlife.
You are a beautiful young lady whose strength and courage and sense of humor have completely captivated me.
It’s not like I want to get you drunk and take advantage of you.
I’m not a big drinker myself. I just want to get to know you better. That can usually be done over takeout.”
My mouth is flopping unattractively while I consider all the answers and several of the questions I want to share. But in the end, I ask, “When?”
“How about Friday? I don’t want to be the reason you show up to work in slippers twice in one week.”
Though I’m gnawing my bottom lip, I’m also grinning. “Okay. You can come over for takeout and a movie on Friday. Maybe we’ll even go across the street to watch the sunset. But there will be no roller skating.”
“Spoil sport.” He pushes off the mirror with a grin. “I look forward to it.”
Remi and I watch him saunter away.
“Little one, he’s like walking diabetes.”
I look over my shoulder at her. “What does that mean?”
“So sweet, you can’t stop until he’s killed you.”
I bury my face in my hands and let out a quiet scream. When I meet her gaze in the mirror, I look frightened. “What have I agreed to?”
“It looked to me like you agreed to a date with Crispin Moore.”
“Oh lordy!” I bury my face in my hands again when she raises the spray bottle to re-wet my hair a second time. Nothing about me dating Crispin Moore seems right, but it looks like I’m going to give it a try regardless.
On Friday night.
By the time we finish filming for the day, I still don’t feel settled about my date with Crispin.
Everything about the idea of me and Crispin dating feels wrong, but I can’t put my finger on why.
I swing by the cafeteria to see if Sally is around.
Maybe talking to her about it will help me define what has me so unsettled.
But she’s not there. I stop at her trailer, but Chandra hasn’t seen her.
She probably won’t be showing up until later.
She and Crispin are shooting a romantic sunset scene – which means they’ll have to do it at sunset.
Or maybe she won’t be coming to the set at all today.
I would assume the sunset scene is on the beach somewhere. I don’t know.
I might as well track down Jenny to get my questionnaire and see those photos.
I find her in an office trailer near the entrance. When I walk into the blessed air-conditioned room, she scowls at me. It’s probably the fuzzy slippers and booty shorts. I want to pull my sweatshirt down past my knees, I feel so conspicuous.
“I’m here for that marketing thing you told me to fill out.”
“Oh, right! Sorry, I completely forgot about that. It’s all in my office. Let’s run over there.”