Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Have you seen Crispin since the barbecue?” Glory asks.
“Yeah, I’ve seen him at work. We’ve texted a couple times.”
“Okay, what’s going on with you right now? You seem down, maybe?”
“No.” I sigh. “Not down per se.”
“If not down, then what? You’re not changing your mind about Crispin, are you?”
“I don’t know that I’ve made up my mind enough to change it. But—”
“Oh my gosh, Ari. What? You have to tell me.”
“I think he’s changing his mind about me.”
Glory bursts into laughter. Not the reaction I expected.
“What’s that for?” I ask indignantly.
“The guy’s crazy about you.”
“How would you know?”
“Oh, I just know. You are being so silly.”
“And you aren’t making any sense. There’s no way you can just know that when I’m here and living it, and I don’t even know.”
“He’s throwing you a birthday party. How is that losing interest in you?”
“He might have promised it before he started losing interest. Or it was one of those things that once he said it, he couldn’t un-say it.”
“Ari, Ari, Ari. I really think you’re doing that thing you do.”
I grimace at my phone, though she can’t see me. “The overthinking thing?”
“Yeah, that thing.”
“Listen, I have to go. I’m here. I’ll try not to overthink and see if my trepidations ease.”
“That’s a capital idea. But before you go, if I ever come out to visit, I want to meet that best boy you had on your channel yesterday. Holy hot stuff.”
“Ha ha. Eduardo’s a cutie for sure. We had way too much fun filming that too. Didn’t you love his stunts?”
“Love, love, loved them!”
“Scared the crap out of me to film though.”
Glory cackles.
“Love you, Glow worm.”
“Love you, Belly button.”
I grab my bag and climb out of my car. Terrell is at the door today. I already have my identification ready. In an industry where people can literally make you look like someone else, I think it’s smart that they make us show our ID every time we show up.
“Hey, Belly. How you doing?”
He’ll never call me anything else. “Morning, T. How’s your nephew? Haven’t you guys filmed anything lately? I haven’t gotten a notification that you’ve posted a new video.”
“The poor kid got mono. He’s been laid out for a couple of weeks, but he’s on the mend.”
“Oh, no. Tell him I hope he recovers quickly.”
“Will do. It’ll make his entire week when he hears that. You’re his idol. And I think he has a crush.” Terrell grins.
I make a face and shake my head. “Why would anyone have a crush on me? I’m just a goofball.”
Terrell narrows his eyes, still grinning. “Are you messing with me right now?”
I feel like I stepped into an alternate universe. I look down at myself, holding my arms out like it’ll help him to see me better. “There isn’t much here to crush on, T. I’m literally playing a thirteen-year-old in this movie.”
Terrell busts up laughing. “You’re funny, Ari. Isn’t she hysterical, Crispin?”
I spin to see Crispin approaching, sunglasses still perched on his nose, making him seem mysterious.
Baggy sweats and my favorite faded, chest-hugging t-shirt, with flipflops of course, make him look like any other guy out there in the world.
Until you notice that chiseled jawline and perfect nose.
He smiles at me, and I can’t breathe. He’s perfection personified.
And I don’t find it fair when he wields his powers at me so early in the morning.
“She is hysterical. And she’s clever. And she’s capable. And she’s stunning. She literally takes my breath away.”
I cock my head. “Wow. Good morning to you too. I’m gonna have a good day.”
He literally walks into me, wraps his arm around my waist, and escorts me through the door as he flashes his ID at Terrell.
I cannot say I mind having him accost me in such a manner.
His much larger frame engulfs me like a warm blanket.
I want to grab his arms and pull them around to the front of me and curl up with a good book.
I’m laughing as I trip along in his embrace. “What are you doing?”
“I missed you. How was your weekend?”
I squirm out of his embrace and stop. “You missed me?”
“Yes. I went to Catalina with my family, and every time I saw something cool, I wanted to share it with you. I can never go anywhere without you again.”
I cross my arms and shake my head. “I can’t figure you out. Last week, you barely talked to me. I actually thought you were avoiding me.”
He makes a funny face. “I might have been.”
My mouth drops open. It takes a few beats for me to find my voice. “Oh, but this week everything’s fine again?”
Drawing in a deep breath, he stands with his feet shoulder-width apart, his hands folded in front of him, biting his lip.
“I’m working on a surprise for your birthday, and I’m scared I’ll say something to give it away.
But I hate not seeing you, so I’m just going to try really hard to not spill the beans this week. ”
Wow. There’s a lot to unpack there. I did sort of suspect he was planning something, but I didn’t think it was a big deal type of something that he’d have to avoid me to not accidentally share.
“Oh my gosh. Are you getting me a pony?”
He makes a disgusted noise. “See. I knew I’d blow it. I should have kept avoiding you.”
He steps forward, sliding his sunglasses on top of his head, and then wraps his arms around me again, but gentler this time and with intent.
My heart immediately speeds up like it’s the space shuttle and we just launched it.
Gingerly, I rest my cheek against his warm chest, kind of not believing what’s happening right now.
“But now that you know, I can see you as often as possible. Let’s get you to makeup before Remi removes my head.”
When we turn in that direction, he takes my hand. I look down at our entwined fingers with wonder. What is happening this morning?
Remi smirks when we walk in holding hands. “I should have known she wouldn’t be late on her own.”
“Sorry, Remi.” Crispin squeezes my hand before releasing it. “It was selfish of me, but it was a long weekend without her.”
I feel like I’m being punked. I search for hidden cameras and Ashton Kutcher in disguise. “What’s gotten into you today?”
Crispin takes his usual spot, leaning against the lit-up mirror, the glow highlighting his high cheekbones and flawless complexion and making his brown eyes shine. When he speaks, his tone is so sincere it steals my next breath. “I told you. I missed you.”
I can’t hold his gaze, so I look at Remi in the mirror, dramatically arching a single brow so she knows I’m dubious about this sudden show of affection.
But she has a sappy expression like she’s witnessing a marriage proposal or something.
That doesn’t help. I close my eyes since she’s spraying my hair. “What about me did you miss?”
He doesn’t miss a beat. “Your laughter. Your humor. How you keep me in line when I’m a jerk.”
“I do that?” I open my eyes. “And you missed it?”
He nods, his gaze soft. “I think you’re like an earworm to me. Now that I’ve heard you, I can’t get you out of my head.”
“Earworm.” I scoff. “That’s very romantic. Thank you.”
“In the best way, though.” He snorts. “I was wondering if you’d like to go to dinner with me on Wednesday for your birthday. We won’t stay out late or anything. Unless you have plans with your mom. I just…If you’re free, I would love to celebrate you.”
I swallow. Not “with” me – he wants to celebrate me. “I honestly have no idea if Mom even realizes Wednesday is my birthday. I’ll ask her and let you know.”
He nods. “Now I’d better get going. I’m filming with this girl today who is unusually difficult to work with. I need to get in character.”
“I’m sure she brings the best out of you for the camera, though.”
His gaze locks on mine. It’s intense and heated. “You know it.”
As he leaves, I keep my expression even, though the passion behind his eyes kick-started a furnace inside me. When he disappears from the room, I meet Remi’s gaze in the mirror. “I’ve never been looked at like that before.”
Her smile is full of the devil himself. “That boy is definitely hot for you, little one.”
“He’s not a boy.”
Remi shrugs a single shoulder.
“That’s what I don’t understand. You are literally making me up to look like a thirteen-year-old.
How can he find me hot when he sees me like that more than in my usual state of…
well, nothingness, I guess.” I growl. “There’s like nothing to me.
I have no figure. I’m super plain-looking.
That’s why it’s always been so easy for me to dress in character for my videos – my features barely exist, so it’s easy to disguise them. ”
Remi stops what she’s doing and places her hands on my shoulders, staring at me with a look that is both confused and sad. “Have you talked to your mother about this?”
I fight the urge to shut the conversation down now that it has turned to my mom. Remi seems to really care, and I need to talk to someone. “She’s been…since we lost Dad, she’s been going through it.”
Remi squeezes my shoulders before letting go and purposefully getting back to work. She must recognize that Mom is an off-limits topic. “You have an immature view of yourself.”
I frown, holding my neck straight as she rolls the round brush through my hair.
We have to talk louder over the sound of the hairdryer, and I realize any one of the secondary actors and extras in the chairs around me could be listening.
But I’m too curious to know what Remi has to say to stop now. “What does that mean?”
“You still see yourself as a young girl. It’s probably why you can portray a thirteen-year-old so convincingly.”
I blow air through my lips. “It’s the lack of height and the pre-pubescent body that does that.”
Remi shakes her head. “There are plenty of twelve and thirteen-year-old girls with boobs and hips, little one. But you still embody that age. Therefore, you don’t see yourself accurately.
You don’t recognize your womanly body, your mature features.
” She runs a finger along my cheekbone before curling the brush under another hank of hair and blasting it with the dryer.
“You don’t see what I see. What I have to erase and remake each day so that you don’t look too old. You don’t see what that boy sees.”
“I thought I was figuring it out, but today I’m back to square one again.” My gaze hops between her and the cheekbone she pointed out. Because suddenly I’m realizing that it’s more pronounced than I’ve ever noticed.
We’re shooting the funeral scene today, so Remi is leaving my hair down and making me look like a clean thirteen-year-old who took the time to comb her hair.
But since I don’t have makeup on yet, it’s just me looking like me.
And she’s absolutely right. I’ve been seeing that middle school-aged me in the mirror and in my mind.
I’ve never noticed the changes my body has gone through.
Maybe because my body hasn’t changed all that much, but also, it has.
My shoulders are strong and square, not thin and concave like they used to be.
I might not have much of a waist, but it’s definitely more defined than it used to be, which means I do have some semblance of a curve to my hips.
I lean forward to stare at myself because I’m only just realizing that all my facial features are angled.
I turn my face to see my profile and then angle it to see the other side.
My chin juts in a rather alluring way, and the plane of skin from my cheekbone to my jaw is flat and smooth. When did I lose my baby fat?
Remi waits for me to finish my examination, holding the brush in one hand and the still-blowing dryer in the other.
I sit back. “Huh.”
She chuckles and continues with my hair. “How are you feeling about today?”
I shrug. “It won’t be as hard as that scene with the police officer.
We didn’t have a traditional funeral for my dad, so there are no memories to associate with it.
But I suspect any emotion I portray will be genuine.
” I shrug. “I can’t get out of this one.
It would be weird for me not to be in this scene. ”
“I’ll be there. You send up the bat signal if you need me to interfere for you.”
I grin. “Thank you, Remi. I’m so thankful I have you on my side.”