Chapter 16 #2
The girl slowly walks up to her mom. She looks younger than fourteen.
She’s short and thin like her mom and has long blonde hair streaked with blue and purple.
Her dress is black like mine, but made of a casual knit fabric, like a t-shirt.
Why couldn’t I wear a dress like that? It looks way more comfortable than the dress I’m wearing, which is making me itch.
“Honey, this is Rumor. She just moved here from New York.”
“Hi, Livia,” I say, practicing the fake smile I plan to use at school next week.
“It’s Liv,” she says.
“Oh. I thought it was Livia.”
“It is,” Morgan says, “but she prefers Liv.”
“Which some people can’t seem to remember,” she says, shooting an angry look at Brock.
He ignores her. “We should get going.”
“Where’s Braden?” Liv asks.
“He’s at the gym,” Brock says.
“Which is code for doing whatever the hell he wants,” I say, which gets a slight smile from Liv.
Brock takes Morgan’s hand and leads her out the door to the driveway. Liv and I stay a few feet behind.
“How old is your mom?” I ask, thinking she can’t be more than thirty. She looks more like twenty-five.
Liv huffs. “You mean Hollywood age or real age?”
“Real age.”
“Thirty-two, but she tells everyone she’s twenty-nine. And she’s been twenty-nine for the past three years.”
“So she had you when she was—”
“Eighteen.”
“But if she tells people she’s twenty-nine, that would mean she had you when she was—”
“It’s still eighteen. She tells people I’m eleven.”
“And they believe her?”
She shrugs. “Probably not, but everyone in Hollywood lies about their age so it’s not a big deal.”
“Everyone in,” Brock says, opening the door of a silver BMW SUV. This isn’t Brock’s, or is it? Did he have this in the garage, and I didn’t see it?
“It’s my mom’s,” Liv says, noticing my confusion. She’s very aware for someone her age. I’m that way too — always picking up on stuff other people don’t notice. My mom used to say I’d make a good cop or detective, then tell me I couldn’t do it because it’s too dangerous.
Brock gets in the driver’s seat while Morgan gets in the passenger’s seat. As we’re driving to the restaurant, Brock keeps looking over at Morgan as she texts.
“Any news on the cast?” he asks in a casual tone, like he’s just making conversation. But knowing him, he’s trying to find out if there’s a role he could play in whatever movie she’ll be in next.
“Casting is still being discussed.” She stops texting and smiles at him. “I know you want the role, Brock. I’ll be sure to put in a good word.”
“I wasn’t even thinking about that. I simply asked out of curiosity. I know they had several people in mind to play Joel.”
She just nods, still smiling.
Liv leans over to me. “He’s so transparent.”
I laugh.
“What’s so funny back there?” Brock asks, eyeing us in the rearview mirror.
“Just girl stuff,” I say. I lean over to Liv. “He told me to let you play with my makeup and do your hair.”
She rolls her eyes.
We get to the restaurant, and the hostess almost faints when she sees Morgan, saying she’s her biggest fan. Morgan takes a picture with her before we’re seated. The hostess doesn’t even recognize Brock, which makes me laugh.
The waiter is also star-struck seeing Morgan. He tries to tell us about some special seafood dish, but keeps tripping on his words.
“It happens all the time,” Brock says to me as the waiter leaves. “She gets recognized wherever we go.”
“Oh, Brock,” Morgan says, turning to kiss his cheek. “It doesn’t happen that much.”
“It happens all the time,” Liv mutters. “So annoying.”
Brock looks at her. “All ready for school next week?”
She shrugs. “I guess.”
“How about you, Rumor? Excited for your first day?”
“Thrilled,” I say, practicing my fake smile again.
“I hear you’ll be going to Twisted Pine,” Morgan says. “That’s an excellent school. I’d love for Liv to go there. I wish they had a school in LA.”
“They’re talking about it,” Brock says.
“They are?” I ask.
“It’s been discussed, but it won’t be anytime soon. They need to raise more money before they’d even consider it.”
So Jackson was right. Twisted Pine wants to build another school.
“Maybe they’ll get the money if the football team wins this year,” I say.
Brock gives me a questioning look. “What would that have to do with anything?”
“Sports attract money, especially if the team wins.”
“It’s true,” Morgan says. “If Twisted Pine excelled in both academics and sports, they could easily raise the money to build a school in LA.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Brock says. “But don’t tell Braden that. He has enough pressure going into a new season.”
“You think they’ll win this year?” I casually ask. “Braden’s team?”
“Given how much they practice, I hope so,” he says with a laugh. “Those boys never take a break.”
Our drinks arrive, then Brock starts talking to Morgan about her next movie, and we never make it back to talking about Twisted Pine.
But I have enough info for now. Jackson’s theory was confirmed, which makes me feel better about him and our deal.
He didn’t just make all that up to get me to spy on Braden and his team.
There really is a plan to expand Twisted Pine.
When we get home, Liv and I go to my room.
She lies down on my couch. “This is so dumb.”
“What’s dumb?”
“The way they make us hang out here while they have sex. Like they couldn’t wait until they go to bed?”
“I know. It’s annoying.” I sit on the bed and grab the TV remote. “You want to watch a movie?”
“Do you and your boyfriend do it?”
“What?”
“Have sex.”
“Um, yeah.” I nod toward the TV. “Movie, or do something else?”
She stares at the ceiling. “I’ve done it a few times. I don’t get why everyone thinks it’s so great.”
“You’ve had sex? At fourteen?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“Was it with your boyfriend?”
“We weren’t really dating. We met on set.”
“You’re an actor?”
“I was. I’m taking a break from it.”
“Was the guy an actor too?”
“Yeah, we dated in the movie. We only did it a few times. The director wanted me too, but he was old and bald and smelled like cigars. So disgusting.”
“Wait — you’re saying some old guy tried to have sex with you?”
She turns to look at me. “Don’t you watch the news? This stuff happens all the time.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I get up. “Let’s go sit by the pool. Or we could swim if you want.”
“Stop trying to entertain me. I’m not a kid. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“So you just want to sit here?”
There’s a knock on the door.
“Girls?” Morgan walks in. “Sorry to interrupt, but Liv, we need to go. My manager just called and I have an early morning meeting.”
She gets up from the couch and walks to the door. “See ya.”
“It was nice meeting you,” Morgan says to me.
When they’re gone, I call Axl.
“Hey, babe,” he says.
“Hey, are you at home?”
“Yeah, I’m in my room. What’s up?”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you more. It was a shitty day. I wish you were here to make it better.”
“I wish I was too,” I say, feeling the guilt return from spending my afternoon with Jackson.
“Did you do anything today?”
“I went to my new school to get my books. You should see this school. It looks like a castle. It’s all brick and has these pillars around the entrance. I didn’t get to go in it, but I went to the bookstore.”
“That’s cool,” he says, not sounding the least bit interested. “Anything else happen?”
“Had a fight with my uncle. He gave me a curfew even though his sons don’t have one. They stay out as late as they want.”
“Why do you need a curfew? You can’t even go anywhere. You can’t drive.”
“Yeah, about that. I started taking lessons.”
“Oh, yeah? Like Driver’s Ed, or is your uncle teaching you?”
“My neighbor. He lives a few houses down. I met him when I was walking on the beach the other day.”
“You sure you can trust him?”
Like me, Axl doesn’t trust anyone. He always assumes the worst of people.
“He’s harmless.” I smile. “He thought I was going to crash his precious Range Rover. I almost did, but then I got better. By the end of the lesson I was making turns and parking.”
“Why is he doing this?”
“To be nice.”
“Rumor, seriously? People don’t just do shit to be nice.”
“Some people do. And it’s not like I’m making him do this for months. I only need a few lessons and then I’ll take the test. I already downloaded the manual to study for the written part.”
“Who is this guy? The one giving you lessons?”
“Just a guy who lives down the street.”
“Old? Young? What’s he look like?”
“He’s my age. But he lives alone. His parents have a house in LA but they’re always traveling so they’re hardly ever there.”
“Is he rich?”
“I guess. He lives in a house that’s bigger than Brock’s.”
“So some guy your age, with money and a mansion, offered to give you driving lessons.” He huffs. “And you don’t see a problem with this?”
“No. Why?”
“The guy is only doing this to sleep with you.”
“That’s not why. He has a girlfriend. I met her. She goes to my school.”
“Doesn’t matter if he has a girlfriend. Rich guys cheat. I’m telling you, Rumor, the guy wants to fuck you. I don’t want you going over there again.”
“You’re being paranoid. He doesn’t think of me that way. He’s just a friend. He hasn’t even flirted with me.”
“You’re not taking lessons from this guy. You can learn some other way. Take Driver’s Ed or make your cousins teach you.”
“They’re never even home. And I don’t want Brock knowing I’m trying to get my license. He’s acting like he doesn’t want me leaving the house except to go to school and there’s no way I’m letting that happen.”
“If you get your license, you still won’t have a car.”
“I’ll use my allowance. And maybe I’ll get a job.”
The phone gets quiet.
“Axl? You still there?”
“I don’t want you going over there anymore.”
“Axl, you’re worrying about nothing. I love you. You know that.”
“I also know what guys are like. They see a hot girl and don’t care if she has a boyfriend. They go after what they want.”
“It’s not like that with Jackson. Forget about him and think about us. About our future. In a few short months we’ll be together again. Starting our life together.”
“It’s more than a few short months. It hasn’t even been a week and feels like forever.”
“I know,” I mutter, lying back on my bed. “But the time will go faster once school starts.”
“Babe, I need to go. I’m freaking exhausted and I got to be up early.”
“I love you, Axl.”
“Love you too.”
He says he loves me, but why doesn’t it feel like he does?
I feel like we’re growing apart, but I feel it more from him than from me.
Axl shows his love with affection more than words, so maybe that’s why I’m feeling this way.
He can’t hug or kiss me or hold my hand.
I miss that so much. Every day we’re apart gets harder.
How are we going to make it through the year? It hasn’t even been a week, and things are already changing between us.