A Little Less than Famous (22 page)

I felt my stomach flip a little at the sound of the word “love” but I pushed on. “And what happened?”

“She was suddenly
super
popular. She was beautiful and talented, and she was dating me. Andrea Tremaine was the name on everyone’s mouth. And suddenly, those dates weren’t as fun as they used to be. It felt more like…like in the beginning, like it was for the benefit of the show and our popularity and less for the actual feelings we had for each other.” He shook his head. “Some nights I just wanted to stay home, cuddle up in our bed and watch a movie and she would tell me that we should go here, or make an appearance there. She said ‘Josh would like it’.”

“Ouch,” I winced. “That doesn’t sound good. When did you know it was over?”

Jake wiped his hand over his face and thought about it for a second. “Probably when she made
Northern Lights
. That movie did super well and suddenly she was more than just Maggie, Mikey’s girlfriend on
Crime Scene.
She was an actress with incredible talent, with incredible potential. People were suddenly watching her all the time and my character wasn’t even that popular on the show anymore. Three of my movies tanked in the box office; one of them had the same opening weekend as
Northern Lights
. Then she won the Golden Globe. That was probably the tipping point.”

“She was too good for you?” I guessed.

“Partly, that. She definitely thought so. She didn’t need to hitch her wagon to my star because she was a star now, and she had definitely surpassed me. The worst part was that she knew it. But it was more that I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t handle her being better than me. Those two things combined just spelled disaster for our relationship,” he said.

“Now, why she is still doing this? I’m not entirely sure but I do have a guess.”

I didn’t care much about why she was doing it; my main concern was that she would stop because it was starting to get on my last nerve. “And your guess is?”

Jake sighed. “Even though I haven’t really done anything lately to surpass her performance in
Northern Lights
last year, my popularity lately has skyrocketed back up. And a good amount of credit has to go to you.”

“To me?” I asked, surprised. “I’m nobody though. Why would a nobody help your celeb cred?”

“That’s exactly why. I have a lot of fans, McKinley, and those fans didn’t react well to Andrea and I breaking up and Andrea running off with her much older husband. The fact that I’ve found someone new, and someone not known for her diva ways,
and
there are rumors of turmoil in their marriage, is doing wonders right now. She’s probably really pissed off right now and knows better than to mess with me. So she’s messing with you. Because she can.”

“Hmm,” I answered, vaguely, thinking about it. Could it possibly be that Andrea was jealous of me, not because I was dating Jake, but instead because my dating Jake was actually making him more popular? It was an interesting thought. “Well, thank you for telling me that.”

“Do you want me to say something to her?” Jake asked, concerned. “I really don’t want her to bug you, especially on set. You guys have a few scenes together and I wouldn’t want her to do anything to sabotage your credibility.”

“Oh, please, God, no,” I said, horrified. “She is my problem and I’ll handle it.”

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I was staring at my reflection in the mirror, twirling a strand of my red hair between my fingers absentmindedly. I was examining my face closely. My red hair was too wild, a mane of hair that I could never control. My eyes were too big, though the green color was pretty, my freckles too noticeable. I was completely ordinary and yet I had always been so sure of myself, always known that I was pretty enough, and had always known that I’d have no problem finding a date. And yet…yet, the fight I’d gotten into with Andrea had left me feeling a little unnerved, paired with the conversation Jake and I had had.

The dress I had chosen for the night’s movie premiere was infinitely different from the one I had worn to the Teen Choice Awards and even the one I had worn for my birthday. For starters, it was much more modern than the other two h
ad been. I had called up Adrienne
Jordan and enlisted her help on what would make a smash hit on the red carpet tonight. My fashion expertise was high in the 1950s but nonexistent in what was guaranteed to make heads turn. She had definitely delivered. It was a simple but sexy strapless number; deep green
that complimented my eyes
, with a sweetheart neckline and hitti
ng me mid-thigh. It made me appear
taller than I was and hugged all the curves I had, the curves that I was proud of though most girls worked to hide them or get rid of them. I hid it away from Jake; I did not want him to see it until we were ready to leave. Wendy stole me away into the bathroom and locked the door, to prevent him from peeking.

After forty-five minutes, Jake was beginning to become impatient. “Are you done already?” His irritation was obvious through the door.

“Almost,” Wendy called back to him. “Patience!” She leaned forward to zip the dress up in the back. She stepped back to admire her work. “Oh, you are going to make a scene at the premiere tonight. Seriously.”

I cocked my head, studying myself in the mirror. A slow grin crept up onto my face. “Now this is more like it.” No more classy, 1950s party dresses for me. I wanted to make a statement, I wanted to look sexy, and I wanted to make the front page.

“Any particular reason that you completely and totally switched style choices? An
d enlisted both mine and Adrienne
’s help which you so graciously refused last time?” Wendy asked, amused, as she packed up her supplies into her ginormous bag.

“No reason,” I said, airily, admiring myself in the mirror, turning this way and that way to see the effect.

“I heard about your little spat with Andrea…”

I turned and glared at her, my hair smacking me in the face a little. I had to remember tonight to go easy on the head movements to avoid looking ridiculous. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you don’t,” Wendy said, cheerfully. “And its absolutely no coincidence that you decided to show up to the premiere of
Break
in a dress designed all for sex appeal only days after getting into a confrontation with Jake’s ex-girlfriend.”

I continued to glare at her. “Maybe I just want to show the world that McKinley Evans is more than just a diner girl.”

“McKinley!!!”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god, Jake, I’ll be right there.”

Wendy smiled a half smile for me. “You are such a goner.”

“This has nothing to do with Jake,” I said, sharply, turning back to the mirror to check out my reflection. I pursed my lips, pleased at what I saw. “This is for me. The sooner you all realize I do everything for myself, the better for you.” I ignored the look on her face and walked to the door, pulling the door open and stepping through.

The look on Jake’s face made me grin; I had completely achieved what I was hoping to achieve. There was no way that people were going to be able to look away tonight. Not with my tight, curve hugging dress, my red hair in waves all around my face, my make-up fierce and dark and
my heels making me at least three
inches taller than I normally was. I was going to be unforgettable tonight. I smiled up at Jake,
looking at him from underneath my eyelashes
. “I think we should get going, don’t you?” I asked, brushing past him, careful to touch him lightly, carefully.

“Right, exactly,” Jake said, turning on his heel and following me.

After we had gotten home that night, and I was sure Jake had fallen asleep, I climbed slowly out of bed and crossed the room. I went downstairs and let myself into Jake’s office and immediately opened his laptop. I opened a fresh page to Google and typed my name. I hesitated and then clicked ‘search’. A few months ago, the only thing that would have come up was a super old article in the Orange County Register about the diner. Now there were several hits about me and the most recent were from tonight’s premiere. I smiled, as I read some of the headlines.

McKinley Evans makes a smashing hit at the premiere of Break tonight!

Jake’s new Girl looking sexy tonight!

I made a face at the title the media was giving me but this was a small thing when compared to the attention that was reeling in at the appearance I had made tonight. I spotted one headline reading
Hollywood’s New Couple Scorching the Red Carpet at the premiere of Break!
and saw a picture of Jake and I posing together on the red carpet. Jake’s hand was on my waist, lightly, and my body was angling toward him. He looked amazing and I couldn’t l
ie; together we did make quite the statement
. We were making heads turn all night. I clicked on the link and scanned the article. I grinned when I came to a particular passage.

While Jake and McKinley were stealing the spotlights and screams all night, Jake’s ex, Andrea Tremaine was not. Dressed in a spangled dress resembling something like a disco ball, she caught more groans than compliments. To make matters worse, she hit the red carpet alone, sans her husband of one year, Scott McNeill. Rumors are abound that McNeill is in his native home of Scotland, far away from his wife, who films Crime Scene, here in L.A. In other news, we’ve heard that the new girl in town, McKinley Evans, will be making her acting debut in playing Charlotte Meyers, a new character on Crime Scene, set to stir a bit of drama between Mikey and Maggie. Here at StarStruck, we’re dying to see how this juicy drama goes down and we’re sure you guys are too!

I sighed happily, feeling immensely satisfied. I’d only seen Andrea once during the premiere, as we were taking our seats to watch the movie-which ended being as terrible as I had predicted. Our eyes had met and for a brief m
oment, she had looked astonished. She quickly changed to a look of attack and sauntered off towards her seat
. Between the awesome reaction I had gotten at the premiere and the fact that I was going to be playing a pretty anticipated character on
Crime Scene,
things just couldn’t get any better. 

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The next morning, I woke up and dragged myself out of bed, feeling super tired, completely feeling the effects of staying out way too late at the
Break
premiere. I glanced at the time and saw that I definitely did not have time to shower before I had to go downstairs to open the diner. I groaned, looking at my wild hair, still half way styled from the night before. It was unfortunately going to have to do. I sighed, running a brush through my hair before applying some light make-up and putting a pair of jeans and a diner shirt. Some days it was starting to really get to me; this waking up at five a.m. every morning to open the diner and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it anymore.

I was making my way downstairs when Luke stopped me. I nearly jumped when he said my name. I usually opened the diner on Friday mornings, giving Luke a chance to sleep in before he came down at ten, just in time to get ready for the lunch rush. “Luke, geez, what are you doing up?”

Luke yawned, stretching his legs out across the couch. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“And it couldn’t wait until later?” I asked, laughing. “It’s five a.m.”

“Well, I never really know when you’re going to be home.”

My smile slid off my face and I wondered whether this conversation was going to be a good one or a bad one. My instincts were screaming that it was bad. “Oh. Well.”

“Don’t look like that,” Luke said, a smile stretching across his face. “I’m just a concerned dad. Come sit with me.”

I walked across the living room and took a seat next to him on the couch. “Well, what’s up?” I asked, warily.