A Little Less than Famous (17 page)

Dave smiled, looking tired. “Oh yeah, much better,” he said, taking a seat at the front counter, a few stools away from Iris’s seat. “Can you set me up with the usual?”

“Of course,” I smiled, writing out
Dave-usual
on a notepad and sliding it across the steam win
dow to Cameron, who was prepping
tomatoes for the day. “How’s everything else been?”

“Good, good, great,” he said, wa
ving me off. “Now I want to talk
about you, little missy. I saw you on TV the other night, at the fancy teen award show.”

“Oh that,” I said, brushing it off. “It was no big deal.”

“No big deal? Girl, everyone is talking about you. McKinley Evans, small town girl dating big shot Hollywood guy Jake Kennedy,” David said, teasing.

I rolled my eyes. “Of course they would call Brea ‘small town’. And seriously, it’s no big deal.”

Dave smiled in thanks at the coffee I slid across the counter to him. “That’s not what I’ve heard. Kammie has been going nuts, saying Auntie Kinley is famous!”

“Man, he is not lying,”
Cassandra
said, walking in through the front door, covering a yawn with her hand. “You were all over
Entertainment Tonight
the other night. You charmed the hell out of those reporters at the Teen Choice Awards…and completely rocked it with that Anne Fogarty dress. Which was super cute, by the way.”

“Thanks,” I said, looking at both of them. “But seriously…”

“I’ve had to call the cops three times in the last few days to get the paparazzi away from the diner so I can serve customers,” Luke said, coming downstairs.

Cassandra, Robert, Diane, Frank and Dave all turned to look at me. I smiled, devilishly and turned around to grab Dave’s food off the counter. “Okay, so maybe it
is
a little bit of a big deal. I guess being Jake Kennedy’s friend is kind of exciting.”

“Kind of?” Iris said, from her corner. “Girl, people have been queuing in to get your autograph. I can barely get any work done.”

“Well, I am certainly sorry for that,” I smirked. “Maybe, just maybe, you should make it into the office some days instead of just hanging out here with me.”

Iris paused, as if giving it some thought. “Nah. Then I’d miss all the excitement!”

I laughed, shaking my head and turned to my laptop, perched on the counter near Iris’s, available for me between orders to work on my homework and, yes,
to
Google myself. I opened my email and felt a little fizzle in the stomach when I noticed I had gotten an email from my grandma. I took a deep breath and clicked it open.

Hello McKinley!

I was so very happy to hear from you! I hadn’t gotten anything on the line in awhile so I was worried maybe it got lost.

John just told me emails don’t get lost and it’s called online. Oops, I’m sorry. Sometimes my technology skills just aren’t that good.

I’m glad to hear that things in California are good. Going to school is always a great plan and I’m sure working at the diner is offering some great leadership training for you. I’m so grateful, knowing that Luke has taken such
good care of you since Corinna
disappeared.

Oh, I was watching some TV the other day while working on the plans for a benefit we’re doing at the club in a couple weeks and I swear that I saw you on TV with that handsome Jake Kennedy! You guys just made the sweetest couple!

Anywho, I’m going to be wrapping up this email because I have so much work to do right now but please write back soon and hopefully we can talk about a trip for you out here. Or I could even go out there! It’s been awhile since I’ve taken a trip out there; my friend, Marsha, has been bugging me for ages to come out.

I’m so glad we’re talking and that I’ve finally found you.

Olivia Trent Evans.

I smiled a little at the email. She sounded absolutely ridiculous but in a way that I couldn’t mock it at all. She just sound a little naïve but curious. It felt weird talking to her. The email I had sent her had given her the blandest of details of my life. I told her about Luke, life at the diner, going to school and that was about it. I stared at the email. Of course she’d seen Jake and I at the Teen Choice Awards. Who on the whole damn Earth hadn’t seen me then?

“Why do you look like you suddenly have to throw up?” Dave said, looking up from his eggs and hash browns.

“Email from my grandmother,” I answered, sighing.

“Yeah, Luke told me about that. Sounds pretty awesome,” he answered. I looked at him. “Really, McKinley, it
’
s awesome that she found you. She’s your family.”

“You’re my family,” I retorted.

Dave smiled at me. “Of course, we are. But blood, blood is always good to have around too. You h
ave to figure out where you come
from, McKinley. You don’t have your mother anymore and that’s her fault. But your grandma is making an effort and that’s awesome.”

I thought about that for a moment. “I guess you’re right. And I mean, it can’t hurt to email her back. She’s just curious and I
am
her granddaughter.” I turned back to my computer and after a couple minutes of thinking, typed back a quick response.

Hi Olivia,

It was great hearing from you. Things here in California are still good. Weather is getting a bit colder but I’m sure it’s not half as cold as it is over there. The semester is winding down, thank goodness, it’s been a long semester. I’m looking forward to my birthday at the end of the month, then finals, and then I’ll be on vacation for a month.

Yes, you did see me on TV with Jake Kennedy. I met him at Disneyland a few months back and we’ve become really good friends. We’re not dating though, just friends. It has been a lot of fun though.

I’m really glad that you were able to find me too; I’m sure that it wasn’t very easy. I hope that we can start to ge
t to know each other through the
s
e
emails and sure, perhaps I can make a trip out there one day.

Hope to hear from you soon.

McKinley Evans

My mouse hovered over the send button. Why was I so nervous to send an email? Simple. I was too nervous to let this strange woman, grandmother or not
, into my life after twenty-two
years of no contact. It was hard for me to let her in, though at the moment, sending emails was the easiest step. Actually getting on a plane and going out to North Carolina was a completely different step. I clicked on the send button and shut my laptop. That was good enough for now.

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*

A few days later, I found myself in Jake’s dressing room, on the set for
Crime Scene.
I was helping him to rehearse a scene and I was sincerely losing my patience. Jake had no idea how to interact with this new character, Charlotte. Charlotte was a new recurring character, brought in as the sister of a crime suspect and staying to stir up some conflict between Mikey and Maggie.

“Okay, let’s try it again,” Jake said, putting the script on the table in front of us. He cleared his throat. “Charlotte, you need to tell me, you do understand that, don’t you?”

I winced a little. Mikey was supposed to be impatient, not kind. He pissed at Charlotte; she was withholding information to protect her brother and he couldn’t make her talk. I cleared my throat. “Listen, Mikey, I’ve told you. I’m not going to tell you. There is literally nothing you can say or do or promise that will make me say anything.” I paused. “Who is playing Charlotte anyway?”

Jake looked up from his script. “Her name is Isabelle Monroe. She’s done some small roles in films and scored this part. Rumor has it though that she’s been quite the diva. Anyway, moving on. Please, please, Charlotte, you don’t understand. This information that you have…it could be the most important thing in this case and the most important thing that helps your brother.”

“Don’t you understand, Officer,” I said, spitting out the word officer, “you can’t help my brother. No body can help him but me. I’m the only one who has ever been able to help him.”

“Charlotte, you’re not the only one who cares about your brother,” Jake pleaded.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I said, putting down the script. “ I can’t do this anymore. Jake, you’re reading it all wrong.”

“Wait what?” he said, looking up. His face was the perfect description of confusion. “I’m reading it wrong?”

“Yes,” I said, trying to control my patience
. “Look, you’re reading Mikey as if he is trying to reason with her…patiently, like he cares. And, I mean, he does care but he’s pissed and impatient and he just wants her to talk already. He’s trying to stay calm but he’s losing his temper.”

“Seriously, McKinley?” Jake looked kind of annoyed, and he put the script back on the table. “I think I know how
my
character feels.”

I took a deep breath. “I know, I know, I’m not an actress and I definitely don’t know your character as well as you do. I’m just saying, Jake, you need
to read the lines they way the
were meant to be read.”

“Meant to be read?” Jake asked, raising his eyebrow. “Did you write this script, McKinley? Are you aware of exactly how this is supposed to be?”

I felt my temper flare up a bit but I managed to reel it in a bit. “Do you?” I shot back.

He glared at me. “Seriously, you’re kind of pissing me off right now.”

“You know what? Three months ago, when we met, you told me that you wanted to be more than just Jake Kennedy, hot TV actor. You wanted to do something that mattered and you wanted to become a better actor,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.

“I do,” Jake said, defensively, crossing his own arms against his chest.

“Well then,” I said, “I’m just trying to help you.”
And I just can’t live knowing that I didn’t stop you from subjecting the world to your over the top, terrible acting anymore.
“But if I’m ‘pissing you off’, I can just go.” I grabbed my purse off the couch, and made to leave. Empty threat, of course. I d
idn’t even have my car with me and I wasn’t paying for a cab all the way back to Brea.

“All right, wait, stop,” Jake said, wrapping a hand around my arm and pulling me back. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

I turned around, my face blank. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Jake gave me a wry smile. “You’re right, McKinley. Go on.”

I smiled triumphantly. “And don’t you forget that. I’m right most of the time.”

“Shut up and just show me how the scene should go,” Jake remarked, rolling his eyes.

I picked up the script and looked at the lines we were just practicing. “Basically when you’re saying the lines, you’re pleading. Yes, you want this information from Charlotte and yes, you’re desperate for it. But Mikey doesn’t want her to know that so he’s frustrated and irritated and
so
he’s getting in her face. Watch.” I took a deep breath. “Charlotte, you
need
to tell me, you
do
understand that,
don’t
you?”

Jake stared at me for a moment, eyes narrowed in concentration.

I bit my lip nervously. “You really have to put emphasis on words, like a biting edge. You’re pissed at Charlotte. That’s why she bites back. You guys are snippy with each other. That’s where the attraction between the two of you is going to start.”