A Little Less than Famous (34 page)

             
As soon as I said that, he stopped resisting. He pulled me tighter against him and I closed my eyes tight. Jake’s fingers were pressed into my waist, and we moved together until I was right up to the edge, ready to crash, ready to jump. And then something happened, something that had never happened to me ever before. We both released, plunged over that edge, at the exact same time. My eyes opened in surprise. Jake pulled me closer to him, his lips at my ear. I heard him whisper something in my ear and I squeezed my eyes shut, shutting it out. I wrapped my arms around his neck and sighed and we stayed like for a long time, not talking at all.

             
I knew what Jake had whispered in my ear, but I would never think of it again. Never.

             
I had learned one thing tonight though: make-up sex really as just as good as everyone had always said.

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The next few days were a little awkward between us. I had most definitely heard what Jake had whispered in my ear that night in the hot tub but I refused to acknowledge it. I pretended I was so drunk that I barely remembered what was going on. This had a little bit of truth to it. I remembered the barbeque with Justin, Ashlee, Charlie and Summer. I remembered the sex and I remembered what Jake said, but the rest of the details were very fuzzy.

             
We tiptoed around each other the next couple days, acting more polite to each other than we had in awhile. Jake was doing more and more press for the upcoming season finale of
Crime Scene
and Andrea was usually with him. I had a few phone interviews, did a couple photo shoots with the whole cast, but I was mostly done.

Adrienne was arranging my contract with
Lush
cosmetics and I was spending more time at the diner, waiting to see if more deals came through. I had told Luke a couple months ago that I wasn’t sure how I felt but that was changing and fast. I liked acting. I liked modeling. I had said yes to representing
Lush
in the moment, to make Jake mad-though I definitely would deny it if anyone asked-but part of me really really wanted to do it.

I was sitting in the diner, working on homework and trying to figure out when I was going to get my essay done when I had to meet with the representatives from
Lush
, which I was really nervous about it. I heard the bell tinkle as the door swung open. I put down my pencil and turned around, ready to serve. My mouth widen, the corners of my lips turning up. “Hi Jake.”

“Hey baby,” he said, sliding into a seat across from me.

“Coffee?”

“Of course,” he said, covering a yawn with his hand.

I pulled out a mug out from underneath the counter, and poured him a full mug of coffee. I grabbed the cinnamon and added a dash of it before it sliding it across the counter to him. He smiled gratefully. He looked really tired. He was being driven and flown all over the place for various interviews. Now that the season finale for
Crime Scene
was approaching and it had been one of the highest rated seasons in awhile, he was a hot commodity and everyone wanted a piece of the action. “You look really tired,” I said.

“Is that code for ‘you look like shit’?” he asked, jokingly.

“No, of course not,” I said. “It just looks like you could use some serious bonding time with your bed.”

“Yeah, I definitely could,” he agreed, rubbing his eyes.

“You should go home and sleep,” I suggested.

“Can’t,” he said, sounding disappointed. “I have an interview for
Hello Los Angeles!
in about an hour in Burbank.” 

I looked at him, strangely. “What on earth are you doing here then? I mean, you passed by Burbank on the way to get here.”

“I know. I just wanted to see you for a bit. I’ve been so busy lately.”

“Its fine,” I said, waving it away. “You’re Jake Kennedy.”

“I guess its practice for when I’m in Washington, huh?”

I felt my stomach clench. I needed to just get this over with already. The longer that I waited to do, the harder it was going to be for it to actually happen. The harder I seemed to push him away, the more he seemed confident in our relationship. These things, combined with that night in the hot tub made me really nervous about this impending break up. “Listen, Jake, about Washington…”

“I know, I should have told you right away, once I found out that I got the part,” he said, interrupting me.

“Well, yeah, but...” I started again.

“Look, Kinley, can we talk later about this? It’s definitely something we need to talk about but I have to leave if I’m going to have enough time to get prepped for the interview.”

I swallowed hard, and forced a smile. “Sure.” I guess it
was
a better idea to break up with somebody in private instead of a very public diner, especially when you were breaking up with a particularly famous actor.

“Awesome,” he said, smiling and leaning over to give me a kiss. I turned my head at the last second to give him my cheek. He pulled away, looking curious, but didn’t comment on it. “I’ll text you when I’m done and we’ll meet up, okay?” He knocked his knuckles on the counter and turned and left the diner. I sighed.

At around ten o’clock, Luke came downstairs and turned on the TV that we had hanging out behind the counter. We hardly ever used it; Luke thought that the diner should be more about hanging out with your friends and family while you ate good food but occasionally we turned it on, especially if there was a big game. I didn’t really consider Jake’s interview to be important-he was in interviews all the time, especially lately-but Luke insisted.

Erica Williams and Tanner Donovan had been hosting the newest afternoon talk show,
Hello Los Angeles!
for about a year now. It was a hip version of some of the old and tired talk shows and had gained immense popularity. This was surprising since the people it was aimed at were usually at work or school when it aired. Apparently it was one of the highest talk shows DVR’ed. Jake had never appeared on there before, so this was a big deal, especially for Erica and Tanner.

Jake was announced to the screaming crowd and when he came out to sit on the couch, I felt a surge of attraction for him and a little bit of satisfaction that the boy causing all these girls to scream belonged to me, if only for the moment. He was wearing a white collared shirt with a black, button-down, pinstriped vest and tight black jeans. He looked great. I turned away from the TV, pouring Iris more coffee. She smiled at me and nodded toward the TV, her eyebrows raised.

“Jake Kennedy, you are looking fantastic! We are so glad to have you on the show!” Erica said, her eyes wide and bright. She was seriously tiny; she looked even smaller sitting between Jake and Tanner. Jake was so damn tall and Erica's cohost wasn't lacking in height either. The huge red couch nearly engulfed her.

“I’m really excited to be here,” Jake said, sincerely, that wide grin on his face. He stretched out on the couch, his arm thrown across the back. He looked every picture of the carefree, laidback, sexy actor that he was. 

“So tell us about
Crime Scene.
I heard the season finale is delish!” Erica asked, leaning forward.

“Oh, come on, now,” Jake laughed. “You know I can’t share that stuff with you! All I can tell you is that
it’s
going to be awesome; there’s some heavy stuff coming your way.”

“You sure know how to tease the fans,” Tanner said. “They’re not going to be able to wait until Thursday night.”

“Hey now, I don’t want to lose my job!” Jake said, teasingly. He turned to the audience. “Unless you guys don’t want me on the show anymore.”

There was a loud chorus of no’s from the audience and Jake, Tanner and Erica all burst out laughing.

“So tell us about this new role, Jake. We heard you’re playing the lead role in Patrick Edwards’ book
Going Home
,” Tanner said.

“Oh yeah, well, I got the call a couple weeks ago and man, you have no idea how excited I am to do this. It’s a great book and the character is so complex and different from playing Mikey or any other role I’ve played. I’m really looking forward to starting this movie,” Jake said, crossing his left ankle over right knee.

“You’re filming up in Washington? That’s going to be super different than living out here in L.A.,” Erica said.

“Well, filming starts in April and I’ve heard that it’s just awesome as hell up there,” Jake said, sounding pretty excited about the prospect. “It’s definitely going to be different though. I’m really going to miss my house.”

“Just your home?” Tanner asked, slyly. “We’re thinking that there’s a little more that you may miss while you’re up there.”

“McKinley,” Iris said. I looked up at the TV and saw they were showing a few shots of Jake and I: the two of us at the
Break
premiere, the two of us at eating tacos at a food truck in downtown, the
TEEN!
cover, a shot of us as Mikey and Charlotte and even one of me leaving the diner.

“Every body is talking about her, Jake,” Erica said, her own voice going up a couple octaves. She sounded like a little girl at a slumber party. “Everybody but you. Fill us in.”

I leaned up against the counter, suddenly feeling really nervous. Iris was looking at me, concerned, but thankfully she didn’t say anything. I was grateful for the fact that the diner was mostly empty. Chris was in the back cooking, Luke was sitting at a table doing payroll, Iris was typing away on her computer and there were a few customers, who weren’t even glancing my way.

“What would you like to know?” Jake asked, his grin widening. He laughed when the audience started booing. Even through the tension I was feeling, I still felt a bit amused at the way Jake’s fans-who were mostly of the female variety-reacted to me.

“Don’t be so coy!” Erica practically begged. “Neither one of you is dishing and we all want to know! Those scenes between the two of you on the show were steamy as hell! There’s obviously some chemistry there.”

“Well, of course there is,” said Jake, winking. “Have you seen how gorgeous McKinley is?” I felt myself blush and I refused to look at anyone, even though I knew at least Iris and Luke were staring at me.

“I’m going to have to agree with that one,” Tanner said, enthusiastically. “You gotta love a redhead and she seems like a little spitfire.”

“She can be a lot to handle,” Jake laughed. “Nah, she’s a great girl, seriously. We’re having a really great time together.”

“We’ve heard rumors that things have been a little tense between McKinley and your ex, Andrea Tremaine. We’re sensing a little feud here. Care to comment?” Erica asked, wiggling her eyebrows up and down at the audience who burst out laughing.

Jake hesitated, with a smile still plastered on his face. “Those rumors are exactly that: rumors. I’m not going to lie and say that McKinley and Andrea are best friends but they get along. Andrea and I parted ways civilly and I’m sure that she’s as happy for McKinley and I as I am for her and Scott,” he said, smoothly.

“That’s one way to put it,” I said wryly, shaking my head.

“So lay it out for us, Jake, is it serious?” Tanner asked.

Jake ducked his head, looking shy,
and glancing
out to the audience as if sharing a secret. “I don’t know; we’ll have to see.”

“You really like her though,” Erica asked.

“Of course,” Jake said, easily.

“No, I mean, you really like like her,” Erica said, sounding a little bit like an eight-year-old girl. The audience cracked up.